Comfort and Joy!

December 22, 2012December 22, 2012 Amy9 Comments

I woke up this morning and cuddled with my six year old. He still likes to cuddle with mom, thank goodness! I made Nutella cocoa and a rich, strong latte and sat down with my family in the morning light. And I felt happiness. In that way that you feel it in random moments. Tired, but relaxed and content. So lucky. Such Comfort and Joy!

And I spied our tree sitting there in the morning light and it was beautiful.

So I grabbed my camera, because that what you do, right?

You take pictures of things that are beautiful!

Pictures of Comfort and Joy!

The List…Etsy Edition

December 7, 2012 Amy1 Comment

I’m sure we’ve all fallen victim to the time drain that is Etsy. You log on “for just a minute” and an hour and a half later, you forcibly pry your fingers from the keyboard or screen. Despite the obvious pitfall to browsing (loss of sleep), I do it because it makes me happy. I love the clever, diverse, creativity you can find there. So here’s another list. This time it’s a list of Etsy finds that I think are neat. I use the word neat because not all of them are pretty, not all of them are cool, and although I acknowledge that some of them are kitschy, I find them all to be very….well, neat.

1. Blown Glass Acorn Earrings $15.00…nuff said.

2. I love this brown leather journal…hand embossed, tea stained and adorned with a butterfly. Pricey at $75.00, but very cool.

3. I love (!) these dictionary prints by Collage-o-Rama. The moose is my favorite, but frankly I’ll be buying a set of these for one of my special friends who “gets me”. Priced at $7.99 (and a buy 3 get 1 free seasonal special!)

4. I covet many things found in the Claylicious store, but I especially love these little owls. the colors are awesome at $27.00 each. I love the orange!

5. Love butterflies…love this bracelet. A sweet deal at $9.99.

6. I didn’t really know I had a thing for moose, and then I reviewed this post…This is awesome and I love it! A moosehead from WhiteFauxTaxidermy…$99.99.

And yes, I said “I love” like 50 times in this post, but can you blame me? So much Etsy and so little time!

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Archiving Happiness

December 6, 2012 Amy3 Comments

It started yesterday. I found myself randomly archiving moments of happiness. I posted a status on Facebook last night-the first time I’ve posted in months. It stated simply, “Rudolph!” Since that moment, the list has grown incrementally, and now, it’s bubbling over…I must share…

1. As stated previously, Rudolph makes me happy. Yes, he’s awkwardly animated, and the dentist is irritating, but it doesn’t matter. There’s a mob of us for whom Rudolph was an eagerly anticipated event, even if Santa was skinny and more than a little mean.

2. Sam Adams Winter Lager makes me happy. Especially at this moment, when my beer is so cold that I have to analyze whether it’s actually crystallized or just deliciously chilled.

3. Mindlessly surfing Etsy makes me happy. I’ll probably post on this topic separately. So many talented and creative souls! I love the baubles I find there, and I think I’ll have to share my favorites very soon.

4. Cozy blogs make me happy. To be specific, those bloggers that evoke a sense of comfort, beauty and home with their posts. They inspire me.

5. Christmas lights make me happy. Apparently, I won’t be growing out of it. I find them beautiful, and oddly calming. I think my favorites lights are those that take a small, modest, maybe even shabby home, and turn it into a hodge podge of color and festivus. I love the celebration implied by the effort. Lights are pretty.

6. The word “Festivus” makes me happy. If Seinfeld existed for no other purpose, then the creation of this word justifies it’s existence for me. I celebrate the concept of festivus.

7. Christmas themed fiction makes me happy. This ever-lengthening list of books is also destined to be a future post on it’s own merit. During the month of December, I read Caron, McComber and every other beautifully sappy version of Christmas love I can get my hands on. Some are wonderful! Some are terrible! And they all make me happy.

8. Sappy holiday movies on the Hallmark channel make me happy. I watch them constantly from Thanksgiving to Christmas. The conflict is predictable, the problems are solved (frequently by a Christmas miracle) and they usually end in a cavalcade of seasonal joy. They also remind me of my Daddy. Pops and I watched many a sappy Hallmark movie together. Our philosophy was simple. Life is stressful enough. Why would you watch stressful TV?

9. Anticipating someone’s reaction to a gift makes me happy. The idea that I can make them feel special is a gift in itself.

10. Spending time with all of you through “Such the Like” makes me happy. It’s gratifying in a way that supersedes the norm.

I like this archiving of happiness. I like it very much.

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Zippo

December 4, 2012December 4, 2012 Amy1 Comment

It’s our third Christmas with Zippo…Zippo Zipper. Is it wrong that I’ve considered bumping him off? Maybe a tragic accident? Electrocution from playing in the Christmas lights? A horrible Tonka truck crash? I mean, it’s a lot of pressure…25 days in a row… Compounded by the fact that we get no tangible results with him as far as behavioral reinforcement. But no…he’s part of our little family now. We’re locked in…forever… 😉