Five Things That Make Me Happy:
- The cafeteria at work has added salmon to the salad bar, which mean that for around $4.50 I’m able to eat an enormous salad comprised of spinach, beets, garbanzo beans, edamame, zucchini, sunflower seeds and lots and lots (and lots) of salmon. (I should try and remember to bring some Tea Towel Salad Dressing from home for complete the perfection, as the commercial dressings are rather gelatinous and bleghy.) However, it’s still delicious and worth every penny. When I win the lottery I’m going to install my own salad bar and become the healthiest person on planet Earth.
- I follow The Title Wave Bookstore on Facebook, which sells used Multnomah County library materials in a historic Carnegie library. Every week they have a drawing for a $25 gift certificate, and last week I was the winner! I was excited beyond the realm of normal, as their usually unread magazines cost between 10¢ and 50¢. I ♥ magazines, but stay away from subscriptions due to the cost and wastefulness. I was able to bring home an armload of magazines that included HGTV, Domino, Mary Engelbreit’s Home Companion, Architectural Digest, Dwell, Atomic Ranch; as well as the Woman’s Day issue from last summer which featured an interview with yours truly. I also bought my own copy of the Design Sponge at Home book and three paperbacks for my niece. And the best part is that I still have over $11 in credit, which I plan on drawing out as long as possible. Free used library materials? Katy likey!
- My sister has been visiting with her children over the past week, and won’t return to New York City for another week and a half. We’ve been having so much fun, as our sons are as thick as thieves, (as are we.) What’s been great is that it puts my family in a vacation mindset. We’re visiting places and doing activities we normally wouldn’t do, and its added an element of summer fun to a time period when we have dull commitments here at home. The above grainy photo is from a day when we drove to a mutual friend’s property outside of Portland. Gorgeous, and would not have happened if I weren’t for my extended stay houseguest. Long live the staycation!
- Although driving my older son to work and back would normally not be classified as a happy, I’ve actually been enjoying the one-on-one time together. (Even though I’m going through gasoline faster than Paula Deen goes through P.R. reps!) We have very interesting conversations and are listening to a library audio book of Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban. My son is normally not a big conversationalist, which makes this time very precious. He only has one more year before he launches into the world, so I’m really appreciating our time together.
- McAllen, Texas has turned an abandoned Walmart building into a public library. Texas government rarely catches my eye for anything positive, so this story gives me a warm fuzzy feeling. There is hope in the world. Not to mention 124,500 square feet of delicious library goodness.
One Thing That’s Pissing Me Off:
- My new neighbors have decided that they love to sleep under the stars. Unfortunately this means they sleep on the roof of their garage approximately six feet from my kitchen window. I end up having to look at them sleeping when I’m doing the washing up in the mornings. I live in fear that I will accidentally catch them, ahem . . . in the act, and I’m starting to look forward to the rainy season. C’mon people, get a room!
What’s been making you happy lately, and conversely what’s pissing you off? Please share your thoughts in the comments section below.
Katy Wolk-Stanley
{ 41 comments… read them below or add one }
Five things that make me happy and one thing that pisses me off.
My husband went crabbing and we had his brother andnhismwifenfor crab last night! Yum and very fresh,
I get my granddaughter almost 24/7 as apposed to my other three that have lived all over the world.
My daughter , granddaughter and I had a great time at taco Time on Saturday!
My blog had almost no hits from spammers today.
The freezer is full and organized! We get blueberries and corn all winter!
The one thing that pisses me off! We got a malware on our laptop. What really pissed me off was that it looked lik it came from law enforcement accusing us of looking at kiddy porn complete with the “evidence” and extorting 300 dollars ( a fine) to unlock our computer. It only costs 150.00 to have it removed!
In Nebraska this morning we received rain! Praise God!
New closet organizers were installed by my brother this morning so it is now organized, and I have plenty to sell at the local thrift/consignment store.
A friend gave me lots of fresh veggies which are now in the process of being put away for this winter. There’s nothing better than garden produce served in the chill of winter.
Love this site! I have learned a lot.
Hmmmm…..
1.) I have all my stuff put away from the move, and the house looks nice. Just have to take some prints with me to the thrift shop so I can find some good frames and finish hanging them.
2.) I can see the sunrise over the Sound from my new office window. Hooray!
3.) I’ve finally found a farmer’s market (relatively) nearby.
4.) My daughter and grandson are going to visit me on Thursday, and I can hardly wait!
5.) I rescued a couple of plants that someone was going to throw away, and now they are recovering on the front porch. Hopefully, both of them will survive and thrive.
And what pisses me off? My well-loved Teva trail sandals have developed an ODOR that you can smell five feet away! The insoles got a good scrub with antibacterial hand soap, they’re on the back porch drying in the sun, and soon they will be in a plastic bag in the freezer for a couple of hours, to kill the bacteria that make that awful odor. (Found the remedy online, hope it works well!)
Good luck on the shoe stank, that sounds less than pleasant. 🙁
Katy
I have problems w/ shoe stank also. Try an extended soak in pure vinegar or a heavy water and oxyclean mix. Over 24 hrs. Helped my Chacos!
If only you didn’t have houseguests, and as long as the menfolk weren’t at home at your house, I’d say you should do your dishes topless, and pull a reverse-freak out on your neighbors! They’d be so embarrassed the roof-sleeping would end. (Please don’t take this suggestion as an insult, I am sure you are quite lovely top-free).
Not really liking your snide comment about Texas… I’m a newish reader with lots of appreciation for your blog! Except that.
i didn’t see it as snide – more a political comment, which Katy is absolutely entitled to, as this is her blog. I am offended by her snide comment about people who sleep on/possibly have sex on their garage roofs, as I totally do this! ok, not really. I think it is hilarious in fact. I think it would be really funny Katy, if you sent them a note to ask that they please refrain from any type of intercourse when they are on their roof, as you can both see and hear them. How embarrassing would that be for them!
It wasn’t Texas, the state and the people, it was the current government she was dissing.
I’m referring to stories such as illegal courthouse tampons and such.
C-razy!
Katy
I thought of the exact same thing! LOL!
This was supposed to reply to Monica’s comment about doing the dishes topless!
Ummmm…. Well, it hasn’t been a good few days so it’s probably healthy that this post has made me think of 5 happy things. Time to get my attitude rearranged. Let’s see:
Happies:
1. Yesterday evening, I met a really cool Army National Guard SSgt. in town w/about 200 other medical unit folks to bring a free medical clinic (complete w/prescriptions, glasses, etc.) to this very, very impoverished and medically underserved and uninsured area (the Delta in eastern Arkansas). First of all, I had the loveliest conversation with him (I used to be a community worker for an organization that took health fairs to rural, medically underserved communities in Alabama) and helped get him oriented to town and helpful people to connect with to help get those in need aware of the clinic and to the clinic (be it in church busses or whatever). Secondly, maybe just maybe this means I’ll have much needed asthma inhalers for going into harvest time this fall. My breathing was a real problem last fall as I have no insurance, no doctor, and no access to needed inhalers. And, with the harvest and all the stuff like cotton defoliant the crop dusters spray, I deal with so many asthma inducing allergins from about midSept. to end of Nov. It would be awesome to be able to open up my chest as needed during harvest time!
(Also, bonus prize: This means that for the next few days, our town has been invaded by cute Army guys. Yesssss….)
2. I had a really rotten day at work on Saturday. But, after work, my BFF had me come over to her house instead of going straight home. Her husband had cooked us all dinner, and she and I goofed around on pinterest and scouring the internet for crafting ideas in general. We also watched an epi of original Star Trek. And, big treat, I got to drink 2 cans of Pepsi. (LOL Welllll, that is a big treat for me!) It was such a pleasant evening and really unclinched me after a teeth grinding day. Also, I turned her on to how much fun Google Earth can be.
3. The county fair exhibit registration is 2 weeks from today. My crafting is moving along nicely. I’m making a lot of people’s Christmas gifts in advance and also Halloween and Christmas stock for my etsy shop. But, first I enter the items into the county fair in hopes of ribbons and, most importantly, prize money. There’s no cost to enter so it’s free money to win any ribbons. Each of the past 2 years, I’ve won $42 prize money. My goal for this year is to break $50. Here’s hoping! There’s yarn and embroidery floss all over the apartment, and I’m loving every minute of it.
4. A friend of mine from the southwestern coast of India had me over for a 2 1/2 hour Indian food cooking lesson last week. We had a lot of fun, and I learned so much about spices. I brought home 4 containers of delicious, spicy Indian food and enjoyed eating it for days.
5. Using used bookstore trade in credit, I got 3 paperback mysteries from a series I read back in 1998-2000 during what I refer to as The Exile (the 2 1/2 years we lived in Southern California). They are cozy mysteries by Anne George set in Birmingham, Alabama, which is near where I grew up and where I went to university. Reading them back then made me both happy and wistfully homesick for the South. I recognized so much of the location, mannerisms, and quirks of speech while reading those novels that it felt like reading home. I have very fond memories of reading those books. Well, when I saw 3 of the books from the series on the shelf @ a friend’s used book store, I scooped them up with a giggle and decided to revisit them. I am thoroughly enjoying them AGAIN and have recently slid the 2nd paperback in my purse so I can grab 2 or 3 pages here and there.
Pissing me off:
1. I work @ a DIY store. All weekend long, I had to deal with a long streak of obnoxious male chauvinist pigs who were very disrespectful and demeaning about a woman working in a DIY store. I usually stumble across one of these redneck jerks ever couple of weeks. But, I had a whole sack full of the mean idiots this weekend. It makes me feel sorry for their wives and daughters.
p.s. Have you considered opening the window over your sink and singing along to the radio quite vigorously while doing your morning wash up? Wouldn’t that be a lovely alarm clock for your neighbors?
That said, it is their house, and it’s totally cool if they want to sleep outside. They just can’t expect you to bend your morning routine at your house to accommodate them. Sooooooo, MAKE A JOYFUL NOISE! 🙂
Would it be really negative of me if I did this in reverse? 5 things that are pissing me off and one thing I’m happy about? Anyway, here goes.
1) I live in the midwest, where all those farmers who care about the land live. We just visited my husband’s family at his brother’s farm. We had freshly picked sweet corn from their garden. My SIL was very proud of how she prepared it for the gathering: boil in ahead of time, wrap it individually in foil sheets, put in insulated cooler to keep warm. Everything was thrown away in the same trash bin after the feast was consumed. I refrained from asking to collect the cobs, to throw onto a compost pile, or the aluminum for recycling (they already think I’m weird). It just struck me as depressing that many big cities have composting efforts to keep food waste out of the landfills, and here we were, surrounded by fields, throwing food waste in the trash. Or am I too inflexible with my environmental values?
I am going to stop at one thing that is pissing me off. the thing I am thrilled about is that I hardly needed to get anything from the grocery this week as my garden is producing like crazy!
Ha Ha – had to laugh about the neighbors. They should at least put up some kind of screen should they indulge themselves or sleep buff or near buff, you have kids that might get an eye full.
Perhaps you could run your garbage disposal or sing louder than normal, maybe a tape of a dog barking pointed out the window? The topless might signal what they do is a-o-k. Hope it rains soon (not really but said in support 🙂
Making me happy-
1. That today is hot enough to line dry my clothes at super speed. Thankfully the marine layer that has been hovering over the PNW for the has moved away!
2. The mini-vacation that exists within my clothesline… I love when I have to hang something up in the middle, but have to go through damp clothes to get there. It cools me off and smells great 🙂
3. That my husband has started a temporary part-time job on Sauvie Island at a farm stand. It means a little extra income, free produce, free grass seed for re-seeding our lawn, and a break from being a stay-at-home dad for him!
4. Legos- they keep my kids occupied for hours so I can do house work.
5. Fair season. We hit the fair yesterday and plan to hit a few more before the end of the summer. While it’s not cheap, I cherish my memories from going as a child and love passing that on to my kids!
Pissing me off-
1. Wasps. They are everywhere. Boo!
Happy things: 1. my hubby agreed to attend the Buffalo Bills game with me when I go with my co-workers in September.
2. That I am NOT pregnant. There are 8 ladies in various stages of pregnancy here at work. I am glad I am not one of them.
3. My vacation begins in 4 days.
4. That all the poisonous people have left my department.
5. I had a great birthday weekend, attending a fundraiser concert with one of my favorite singers on Saturday and Sunday attending an anniversary party put on by a local brewery. Music, sunny weather, and friends.
One thing I’m pissed about-I had plans for Friday thinking I wasn’t working. Well I AM working. Now I have to squeeze all the plans into the rest of the week.
I admit it is harder right now to list the five that make me happy, but here goes:
1) Our Golden Retriever puppy.
2) My family
3) Spending time helping at a Vacation Bible School this summer and learning along with the kids.
4) That we finally got a few ripe tomatoes off our plants.
5) Summer type weather should last at least another month.
The one that pisses me off the most is someone used my personal information to open a new credit card and ‘move’ me (per my credit report) across the country. I have spent 20+ hours getting a police report done, calling companies, etc and I am not done yet. I think I am finally coming out of shock and getting mad about it.
UGH!!! So, so sorry to hear that you are a victim of identity theft! ARGH!!! What a hassle! 🙁 {{{hugs}}}
Perhaps you should lean out your window and offer them a morning cup of coffee every morning? Maybe that would give them the hint? Can’t imagine sleeping outdoors here without some kind of mosquito protection!
Happy:
1. Got a job working very part time as an aide at my sons school which will help pay tuition.
2. Went to Goodwill and found 4 pr of pants and one skirt to wear for the job! Score! They were very needed (I own one pair of jeans that currently fit and some shorts – none of it work appropriate) and I find it very hard to find pants at Goodwill as I am short and need petites.
3. Garden is looking good, just waiting for things to be ready to pick.
4. Kids are at church VBS all morning, every morning this week. Hooray for a little quiet time.
5. The weather here in OH has been so nice, very fall like which is my favorite season.
Pissing me off –
Hard to enjoy the fall like weather when you have to shut your windows b/c your neighbors are smoking pot and you can smell it if the windows are open! Grrrr, one more thing I dislike about my neighbors. I guess I should be glad they don’t sleep on their roof!
You have neighbors that smoke pot? I’m in!
Their pot smoking is actually the least bothersome thing they do and I really wouldn’t care if they would keep it in their house and to themselves. Don’t really want it drifting in my house and around my kids. Though it smells better than the garbage they leave on their back porch to rot!
I was just kidding, but I do think garbage stench would be worse.
Making me happy:
1) My daughter is in a day camp for the next two weeks, so I don’t have to be her “entertainment” as I did for 6 weeks between Preschool and Kindergarten.
2) I just got back from visiting my parents and brothers in FL. We celebrated my Mom and Dad’s 50th wedding anniversary and my Dad’s 70th birthday. It was wonderful for us all to spend this special time together. I also met my brother’s fiancee, who he will marry this month. She is a very sweet person!
3) I’m getting my schedule all set up, which feels good. I now have set days each week to volunteer in my daughter’s class for centers, volunteer at the food bank, and volunteer at the Creative Reuse Center. Also I scheduled some individual volunteer dates with the PTA today. It’s so nice to be needed…
4) Naps! They make me so happy when I can fit them into my schedule.
5) I love reading your posts, Katy. They are intelligent, entertaining, and fun!
OK- What’s pissing me off today?
My stomach! It has been upset for about 3 days now and no matter how I try to help, it seems to be hell-bent on keeping it up.
I thought you like to listen to loud distasteful-to-most-of-us music with the window open. Then, address the neighbors and tell there are children who can see them and everything they have done.
Makes me happy
1) finished a resume for a return customer and collected $45.
2)have someone who is volunteering to get my neglected yard in shape.
3)so 50′ of wisteria from the neighbor’s yard is gone
4)someone gave me parsley and rosemary
5)Patsy Cline and Thelma finally get along and sleep together
Pisses me off:
The neighbors where the curse of wisteria emanates are renters and will not keep it under control. And, I am incapable of doing so without Roundup.
Makes me happy:
1) lots and lots of hummingbirds and Monarch butterflies
2) The weather has finally cooled into the 90s (and around 70 at night)!
3) The kids are helping around the house (and not having to be asked–too much)
4) tomatoes and cucumbers are coming on
5) I got the reimbursement check for our auto insurance deductible in the mail today. I guess I’m also happy that after getting hit, the car repair went so easily.
Pissing me off:
Like Heather, I’ve gotta say wasps. They are awful! They found the hummingbird feeder and not only fight the hummers for it, they fight each other. I put out a glass trap and it seems to be working. Maybe next week I’ll be able to say that one thing that makes me happy is No More Wasps!
so one told me today, to make a trap. Put meat in a canning jar, small hole in the top. They go in can’t get out. Like the expensive traps. I’ll have to try, as we’re having a bbq with family this weekend and the wasps have been horrible.
I’m going with hotdogs, for the wasps. They’re cheap!!
Be careful where you place the traps or the wasps will bother you even as they go for the trap.
Apparently they love sugar water (2 parts sugar to 1 part water). I was given one of those glass traps that looks like a beehive (ironic, I know). They’re designed to hold a reservoir of sugar water. The wasps fly in the bottom, but can’t fly back out. I finally had to take down the hummingbird feeder to see if the wasps will just go for the trap.
Hope we’re both successful in our efforts to eradicate!
I’m a little horrified at all the suggestions for how to make the neighbours stop sleeping quietly on their own property. Embarrassing? yes, I can see that. An offence needing retaliation? um, I hope you guys were joking.
I do believe that the suggestions are in the spirit of humor.
Katy
I totally love the idea of offering them a cup of coffee. That is hilarious! Love this blog. 🙂
5 things that make me happy:
– *Points to the right* She’s asleep finally!
– BP’s album is finished, pressed and on its way home right now.
– Today is my Friday (I don’t work for the rest of the week).
– We had a lovely Fearse Family lunch at my work today, the kids treated Little Fearse like a mini celebrity and BP and I had a mid-week coffee together.
– I have half a season of Parenthood waiting for me to watch when I log off.
Speaking of which….
1. Happy that it is still summer vacation from school and I have 3 weeks before I head back into work. I’m enjoying just puttering around the house and spending time with my teenaged daughter.
2. Found a 1930s, marble-topped dresser from Urban Ore to put in the corner of my living room to control clutter. The top was broken (but functional and not that noticeable of a break) which meant it was only $95. A similar, unbroken one was three times the price. Love the piece. It’s solid wood with dovetail construction. It needed a little TLC, but now looks nice. My house was built in 1927, and I am trying to buy furniture the first owners of the house might have bought.
3.Then, at the thrift store, I found a great $10 lamp that is perfect to put on top of it. It even came with a perfectly clean shade. Between the dresser and the lamp that corner of the room looks so much better.
4. We got a puppy last February and I am really enjoying him. He is turning into a really good dog and is a lot of fun to be around. My daughter is trying to train him to yawn on demand. We will see how that goes. 😎
5. My husband and I are heading to Hawaii tomorrow for a belated 20th anniversary trip. My daughter is going to Boston to be with her brother, so it will just be my husband and I.
And the one thing that gets my biscuits is the noise in the neighborhood right now. Two different houses are being worked on really close to me, one being a “let’s tear this lovely old house down and build a Macmansion.” Then add the other neighbor’s gardeners with the illegal(in this area) gas blowers and I often have to abandon the house during the day to get away from the noise.
The neighbor thing is hilarious. Sex aside, I wouldn’t even want to see people sleeping. My husband can never seem to keep everything in, so to speak, while he is sleeping. Portland must not have mosquitos like Virginia.
1. I thank God every day that I have a healthy toddler and a second healthy little man on the way.
2. A couple days break from the crushing heat and humidity.
3. My grad school apps are almost done! (Way early!)
4. The knowledge that my parents have plenty of money to retire in comfort and style.
5. I’m going to Costco today. I never buy more than the essentials (which are still expensive in these quantities), but my son and I both like the samples and the hotdog that I spring for during our once a month trip.
🙁 Woke up this morning to an email from the bank that our balance is below $1000. We’re working to build back up a checking account cushion we sapped off earlier in the year. I hate seeing that email, but it does remind me to keep the belt tight.
re the neighbors–do you suppose that if every time you saw them from the window, you yelled an exuberant and extra cheery “hi neighbor! how ya doing?” they might get the drift?
re. the neighbors–do you suppose that if each and every time you saw them from the window, you yelled an exuberant and extra cheery “hi neighbor! how ya doing?” they might get the drift?
1) National night out last night- free fun with neighbors, plus a free hot dog
2) Stilt walker at National Night out- I got to try stilt walking, and my son also tried (and was awesome at it)
3)Well-check yesterday- no copay, thanks Obamacare! Also, tried a lovely, new PA and she spent 45 minutes with me. Wonderful, attentive care, more thorough even than my previous MD at the same practice.
4)My mom gave me a $50 coffee gift card for my birthday- yipee!
5)I’m employed doing what I love
1) My coworker has been in the hall chatting non-stop loudly outside my door this entire morning. I finally closed my door! 🙂
Geez, I sure hope I don’t have neighbors like you someday (and this includes the commenters who find fault with neighbors’ odors, overgrown plants, unsightly this and that…). I dream of having a house where I can sleep under the stars. Of course, apartment living has given me a “live and let live” attitude about neighbors. Something tells me that there are lots of things you do that are potentially annoying to them (such as being an early riser and making noise in the morning, etc) that they politely ignore.
Please keep in mind that there can be a fine line between living frugally/mindfully, and actually becoming rather smug and self-righteous, not respecting that others may enjoy life differently from you.
I’m sorry, who is being smug and self-righteous?
Katy
I love that your neighbours are sleeping outdoor on the roof!!!!! How frugalistic and adventurous are they! They might end up being your very new besties.
You could open the window and shout out would they like breakfast in bed… That would be a Hoot! LOL
Make Love Not War 🙂