Chapter 6 of the Happiness Project

Alright already! I am finally posting this post. It's been sitting on my desktop. I’ve not been happy with it for some time. I just can’t find the words. I know, hard to believe that has ever happened to me!

The simple truth is that Gretchen Rubin is right. Friends are really important. I mean, really really important. I get that sometimes friends are mostly your family. I get that sometimes people live in such a way that a few friends is all they ever want and need. But you know what? God uses PEOPLE! Thumbing through the CBD Christmas Catalog this morning I found this. Yup. That’s it. That’s what I’ve been wanting to say.

Friends are God's Way of Taking Care of Us

We ought to consider that friendship is one of the gifts we give other people. Rubin talks about how to do that. Lots of practical advice. Lots of it. Will you take the time to read, Make Time for Friends? Chapter 6. It’s a winner.

And so is this video!

I’ll try to tell you how Rubin describes the nurturing of friendship. If you are getting buried in the other parts of life that don’t involve friends, here are a few tips to keep growing:

Remember Birthdays
Dear Friends, Thank you for the recent gift so precious it made me cry and so perfect it made me laugh and the heartfelt apology because you forgot!

Be Generous
Dear Friends, Thanks for your encouraging words. Thanks for your words of wisdom. Thanks for telling me exactly what I needed to hear in just the way I needed to hear it. Thanks for trusting me enough to be honest and loving and fair... oh! And Thanks Emily, for not forgetting me ;)

Show Up
Dear Friends, Thanks for the call. You know who you are. Thanks for visiting. Thanks for writing. Thanks.... for all the times I’ve cried on your shoulder.

Don’t Gossip
Dear Friends, Thanks for teaching me compassion and consideration, when I got snooty. Thanks for reminding me that life is hard and extending extra measures of kindness is required. Thanks for helping me be the person I want to be. Thanks for being someone I can admire. Thanks for being good and helping me be good, too.

Lastly, Rubin suggests that we make 3 new friends. How do you do that? Get the book!

I can’t help but to think how immensely grateful I am for the years in which I nurtured friendships outside of my family... because now, in this busy season, I rest well at night knowing fully that my friends (who are mostly in their very busy seasons, too) are counting the years and the months until we can make MORE time for each other. Oh friends, I miss you.

Hey Friends, did that video make you smile?

A Day In My Life - The Calendar Saga

This is an excerpt from an email I sent to a busy mom friend of mine. I promised to tell her my calendar sob story, but I have decided to also share it with you. I wonder if Gretchen Rubin has a chapter on Life Maintenance in the Happiness Project because now that my closets are clean, my calendars are a mess!

Calendar Saga. A Day In My Life. Ready. Set. Go.

So for the last 5 years Joe has been trying to get me into the 21st century and use the computer. I still write everything down on a gigantic calendar and then put the minor things on a mini calendar I can carry in my purse (when it is there and sometimes it isn't).... but THIS YEAR, I finally adapted to using the computer calendar. Easy for him because he can download our entire life onto his iPhone with a click. BUT I am still managing this mini calendar which doesn't have the space for everything and it's starting to get confusing and I'm missing things and I have to reschedule 4 different (or was it 5?) appointments the last 4 weeks. This was after I went to Hallmark to buy a "bigger" mini calendar in hopes that if I had more writing space it would help. 3 doctor appointments, and a dental appt... it was 4 appts. THEN, LAST WEEK, I do my volunteer time with the drum club only to discover when I get home that it wasn't even my turn that day and I really needed to go to Winco!!!! SO I beg my husband to buy me an iPad and of course, we can't afford one. He says, "Go to the office store and get a bigger monthly calendar that fits in your purse. I promise to use your old fashioned calendar and update my iPhone with YOUR old fashioned calendar." Okay. So I go to the office store, spend 45 minutes with 2 distracted children, looking at all my options.....and I buy a planner along with gummy worms and chewing gum thank you gifts for my distracted children... that DOES NOT fit in my purse.

I go home.

THEN, I spend time taking things out of the planner that I don't need. Eventually, I begin fishing out coupons and receipts and business cards that I want to keep from their various homes in my drawers, baskets, envelopes and wallets so that I can consider if they will have a home in my new, snazzy, red planner. I ponder the content of my piles. I sort. I restack. I toss things. I decide to keep my Colorado drivers license. 2 hours later, when I finally get down to entering drum club gigs and speech tournaments, orthodontist appointments and scout events to my calendar, I realize I bought one without NUMBERS. Yes, my friend, I had to WRITE THE NUMBERS IN!!!!..... all 12 months.....

......and now.... I need a bigger purse.

What does a day in YOUR life look like?

Yarnspiration

Oh, dear. Dear dear dear.

I know it’s fall when the knitting bug starts overwhelms my every thought.

We’ve been so busy. Soooooo busy. I mean, I don’t have time to breathe.

But, one of the benefits of being busy is making new connections. I met a mom through my son’s drum club, We Got The Beat. Mom knits. Need I say more? She dies yarns, too. Ooohhh la la! Mom recommends new yarn store. Birthday money burning hole in my pocket. Oooohhhh la la! again!

I’m having so much fun right now that I just have to share the joy. Here are a few of my latest projects on the needles. Oh! and those of you waiting for the lucy bag... well, you might get lucky because I am so Knit Happy I think I may start one of those before too long. I’m just giddy with yarny joy.

Fall. Cool weather. Hot tea. Big red chair. Worship music. Thanks Abby for the new CD! Yarn and needles in hand. Amen. Sitting at piano lessons in Mrs. Walker’s comfy couch, listening to my kids tickle the keys musically and the lilt in Mrs. Walker’s voice as she helps them play better. Bliss. Yarn and needles in hand. Kumbahyah My Lord, sung by 60 little voices. Homeschool choir. Thank you Mrs. Clark. Thank you for teaching us the most beautiful thing a child can sing is “ooooh” and thank you for helping them do it so well all together. Yarn and needles in my hands. Happiness.

Chapter 7 of my Happiness Project is Buy Some Happiness. I guess I got a jump-start with the help of birthday money and yarnspiration! I haven’t even read the chapter yet because I have been too busy knit knit knitting!.... and running my kids all over to choir and drums and piano.

Sometimes you don’t need a happiness project to make you happy. Sometimes you just need YARN!

By the way, if it looks like I am practicing my lame photography. I am. I can’t remember which chapter of the HP learning new things pertains to, but there ya go. I’m trying.


This little watermelon gem is in process. See the black threads? got more seeds to stitch... no pun intended knitters.

The red dooly bop I'm starting will someday look like an apple with a stem, kinda like the little plum hats I finished. Why does red look pink in pictures? Another photography lesson for me to learn no doubt.

This Waterfall Scarf defies explanation. It's a slice of Heaven. I'm using a new stitch technique and yarn I've never worked with before. I'm loving it. I wish my pictures could catch it's subtle texture and colors. Every row makes me want to stitch another, you know what I mean?