Happy Friday - The Thriller Edition

I’ve been taking some time each Friday to reflect on what is making me happy. It’s great to focus on what is going right since we sometimes get bogged down in what is going wrong.

Some of the things making me happy this week are:

• Thriller. That song came on while I was at the bookstore last night and I know I was smiling goofily because I was laughing in my head. That song always makes me laugh. I love the guy that talks at the end. “No mere mortal can resist, the evil of the thriller.” Indeed, this mere mortal can’t resist.
• My stepson’s interest in a philanthropy book I was reading the other night. He asked what philanthropy meant, then went on to find a few ideas in the book of things he wanted to do.
• Free-writing. I love to free-write. To just open my journal or my computer and write whatever comes to my mind no matter how absurd, minimal, or crazy it might be. I can simply conjecture, make observations, jump from topic to topic, or ramble. It’s freeing.
• Strawberry shortcake. My mother-in-law made strawberry shortcake for dessert the other night. I love that dessert (it is one of my mom’s specialties), yet I hardly ever have it. More please.

What is making you happy this week? Let me know in the comments.

Happy Friday!

Happy Friday - Confetti, Comfy Living Spaces, and Other Magic

Happy Friday, everyone! I don't know about you, but it's been another busy week for me. Now that my stepson's baseball season has begun, we will be busy until the end of June. Spring baseball games sure are a great excuse to spend time outside, though!

Since it is Friday, I took a few minutes today to think about what is making me happy this week:

• The glorious bloggesses I "met" this week in 5 Minutes for Mom's Ultimate Blog Party.  I now have some new reading to do in the blogosphere.  I appreciate those that dropped by this blog to toss a little confetti on this party.
• The wood floor that my husband and I just finished laying in our living room last night. I’m so excited to start bringing furniture back in. I’m also ecstatic about the faux metal work we did on the step up into the kitchen.
• Flowers! The trees along our street were in full bloom for Easter and I took that opportunity to play with my camera. This week the petals are beginning to flutter off like snow to make way for fresh, green leaves.
• My new Converse sneakers. This is my very first pair of Converse and I don’t know how I’ve gone this long without them. I love them. Their comfy and sparkly and inspired my husband to nickname me Stardust. Lovely!
• Bubbles! Blowing bubbles is whimsical. I took the bubble photo and it’s now my desktop image on my computer. Everytime I sit down to work, I feel like I’m looking at a crystal ball.

All in all, I found a lot of magic this week. How about you?

What is making you happy this week? Leave your happy list in the comments.

Affirmation Follow-Up and Happy

Affirmation Follow-Up

After the affirmations post last Sunday, I thought it might be a good idea to look back over my week and see if it was affected by my week's affirmation.

This week I chose to focus on the phrase, "Today may I breathe and let it pass." I was becoming quite frustrated with the level of housework I felt like I was doing compared with the level of housework I felt like everyone else was doing.

I'm obviously too involved in the situation to determine if I am truly doing more than everyone else or if I just wasn't giving enough credit to everyone else.

Instead I focused on my affirmation. I started letting things pass rather than nit-picking over things that I thought should be done. I backed off my "parental" side that wanted to keep everyone on schedule and let my husband handle policing my stepson's chore board.

In moments where I wondered why the dishwasher hadn't been unloaded yet while other dishes piled on the counter or why the trash was overflowing, I did not nag. I mentioned once (and only once) "you have the opportunity to earn some money today for the dishwasher, the trash, and setting the dinner table." If my husband chose to, he could nag.

(I should mention here that my stepson earns money through his chores to pay for his cell phone. My husband confiscated that phone this week due to my stepson's late payment and lack of funds.)

At any rate, I was not policing. I was breathing and letting things pass.

A miraculous thing happened. Chores got done. They may not have been taken care of on my timetable, but why did I need a timetable anyway? So what if the dishes piled up? I let it go. Whenever it got done, it got done.

By Wednesday, my husband, my stepson, and I were hitting a rhythm. We even spent extra time talking and snuggling. I'd say this week's affirmation was a success. This weekend I'll have to think about my next affirmation.

This week's Happy

Today at Stepmom Diaries on WorkingMother.com, I talk about a book blogging group that, each Friday, has me looking at what is making me happy this week.

I thought it might be fun to bring that exercise here as well, since we all get caught up in the helter skelter. It's nice to take a minute and think about what makes you happy.

These are some of the things making me happy this week.

• A "quiet" work week. That's right, no major fires to put out this week. I got to focus simply on getting things done.
• My friends. This week I heard from each of my closest friends. It was such a treasure to share joy and encouragement.
• Twitter. I have met and shared conversations with so many people I otherwise would never have met including other stepmoms, artists, and soul searchers. (Come say hello. I'm @lifeafterweb.)
• My stepson made the middle school baseball team. This is the first year he is eligible to try out and he wanted so much to make the team. Hooray for him!
• My husband who, for whatever reason, gave up his weekly game night (an xbox online meetup with his friend) and instead spent the evening snuggling with me on the couch. He even banned laptops.

What is making you happy this week?  Share your Happy in the comments.