11/16/2015 DianaK

Appreciations 4.88

A day with plenty of energy. Yay! Enough to get some really good work work done, and some really good rehearsal prep work, and then to get through another excellent rehearsal! After yesterday (I crashed on the couch for the entire evening after rehearsal and yard work ), I was feeling a little discouraged…but then today, I had all the energy I needed. Even got the kitchen cleaned up. Hooray!

Singing. Oh, what fun it is when we get to this part of the season when most of us know most of our parts on most of the songs. 😛 Peggy is so patient and wonderful. I am so happy to be singing with these fine ladies again. ❤

snail card 300x300 More drawing fun. I like how pleased I am with myself…like a little kid. 😉 I made a get well card with a snail on it for Pam who likes snails. It was so much fun to do!

11/15/201511/15/2015 DianaK

Appreciations 4.87

Fish updates from Katie. Mamas and new addition to the family, Percy, all doing well. It is weirdly fun to get pics of the fish throughout the day. 😉

Productive rehearsal with the choir. I still have a few bits to memorize (of the songs in English, of course! Hahaha!) but am in pretty good shape. Still adjusting a little to how my body responds to the standing and singing, but it sure is worth it! ❤

Chickens! Maxine (who graciously let us take over her house for today’s rehearsal) let them out when there were just a few of us left. It was so fun to watch them moving around the yard. They didn’t seem too interested in being pet, though. I like all the little sounds they make!

11/14/2015 DianaK

Appreciations 4.86

A perfectly perfect Saturday! Getting little taskies done, like clearing out my office supply drawer! I know I don’t need 10 pairs of scissors, 30 or 40 highlighters and dry erase markers, and 3,000 extra pens. And guess what — Katie and Cina needed exactly that many of those things! 😉

After getting little taskies and some work done I headed out with the kids to my folks’ annual church bazaar. So fun to catch up with those friendly people!

Then a brilliant and wonderful dinner with Sarah and Ida. Sarah made the most delicious lentil pasta with crazy-good spinach-garlic-something delicious sauce. Yum! And what a blissful evening of catching up, playing with Ida, and cuddling with cats. ❤ Even Reggie came over to say hi and be petted — a first for me! I know enough to be deeply, deeply honored. 🙂

11/13/2015 DianaK

Appreciations 4.85

Hahaha – I love that both Pam and I appreciated blustery and Winnie the Pooh yesterday! Fun. 😀

Color contrasts! I loved watching the albino squirrel scamper across the road today – a bright spot of white against the browns and grays of the fallen leaves. I also love the sumac leaves, still so vibrantly red against the same background! 🙂

Audio books. Since I’m looking at screens and reading so much of every day, It’s a treat to lean back and listen to stories with my eyes closed.

The hundreds of ideas for things to do that are always bumping around inside my head. So many things sound appealing!

11/12/201511/12/2015 DianaK

Appreciations 4.84

Hats and scarves and gloves, oh my! What a blustery day. I like things that make me feel cozy on blustery days. I also like that they remind me of Winnie the Pooh, which makes me grin and start making up hummy songs about stuff. 🙂

Making progress on an awesome secret project I’m doing for a friend. Fun to do, fun to plan, fun to think about completing. Fun fun fun fun fun! 😀

Toby, the centipede-hunting wonder cat!

11/11/2015 DianaK

Appreciations 4.83

Pretty pre-storm weather. I’m glad Sammy and I got our long walk in before the storm blew in!

Listening to the thunder and rain. Feels odd in November, but I like the sounds no matter when they happen. 🙂 Last year we had several inches of snow!

The funny contrast of hanging out with a dog all day and cats all evening. I kept thinking today that dogs should purr, too. When I told Sammy that, he just wiggled his eyebrows at me. I don’t know what that means in dog-talk! 😛

Warm sweaters and blankets and scarves, oh my. I like feeling cozy when it starts to get cold outside!

11/10/201511/10/2015 DianaK

Appreciations 4.82

Another beautiful day for walks with Sammy. Today we hung out at his house instead of mine. He seemed much more content. I’m pretty sure my cats liked it better, too… 😉

All the sensations of being outside today: the sight of beautiful blue skies and skeleton trees, leaves twisting through the air; the smell of dry leaves and someone’s last barbeque of the year; the warmth of the sun in contrast with the brisk wind; the sounds of leaves rustling as we waded through them. Mmmmm.

Seeing the kitties both on my bed at the same time when I got home. This never happens! Maybe they are at long last reaching an understanding!

Learning to let go of things, despite my genetic predisposition to stubbornness. I love the idea of #100happydays and it was fun to add it in to my appreciation practice for awhile (well, 23 days), but since its goal is to help develop a gratitude practice (which I THINK I might just have down after 3+ years…) and since I often forget to take photos, I’m going to let it go. See all that growing and changing I’m doing?!? 😉

11/09/201511/09/2015 DianaK

Appreciations 4.81

First day of Sammy daycare week. What a sweet little pup. 🙂 It’s hard to believe it’s been more than 2 years since we said goodbye to Gracie. Kinda nice to have a dog around again. ❤

Gorgeous weather. Perfect for walking Sammy. 😀

Looking forward to another fun night of singing with the Earthtones. Yay!

11/08/2015 DianaK

Appreciations 4.80

Sunshine and mild weather. I will take it as long as we can get it!

Working on fun little projects and taskies. I decided not to work on work today (what!?!) and instead did entertaining and satisfying things like adding new themes to firefox, gmail, and chrome. I also did more clean-up work on files – this time it was my google drive files (have hundreds of them). It’s so fun to get rid of unneeded stuff. Plus, I got winter stuff out and sorted through that and did a few more little cleaning projects, too. Things feel lighter and lighter. I love it. ❤

Getting to spend time with Katie again this morning. That’s 3 or 4 times this week. What a treat!

Finally getting time to write out the lyrics for some Earthtones songs. It’s an important step for me in memorizing songs in other languages. With our first show coming up in a few weeks, it was high time I got to this!

11/07/201511/07/2015 DianaK

Appreciations 4.79

Writing a testimonial for someone I appreciate, like, and admire. What a lovely opportunity to reflect on the best qualities of that person!

Remember that thing about me wanting to find fun in as many situations as possible? Well, it turns out that the impound lot is one of those places it really does take some determination — especially when you’re there for the 2nd time in 3 days! 😛

Today while we were waiting and hoping that the jump start would work so Cina could get her car out of the lot (yes, this is still from the street cleaning this week and no, the jump start didn’t do the trick), I was standing outside feeling cold and a looking for something fun and distracting, so I decided to use my feet to round up nearby rocks and make a smiley face in the parking lot.

Shortly, a security guy drove over and told me I needed to be over near my car, so I pointed to the ground and told him I was just making a smiley face. He laughed and looked a little confused, so I told him about my appreciation journal and looking for something fun at the impound lot. He sort of grinned at me and said yes, it was okay to take a photo before I went back over to the car. So that was fun! I wonder what effect it had on him!?! Hahaha!

Even though the day didn’t really go the way we’d planned, Katie and Cina and I did get to hang out a lot (mostly AT the lot – hahaha), but then we had dinner and watched a movie together, so it was a really nice day in the end.