32 Things That Make Me Happy! Link up :)

Hi Honeys,
This post is part of a link up to the wonderful Two Thirds Hazel blog written by the lovely Erin.  In her recent post 32 things that make me happy ,which you absolutely should go read it's a fabulous ray of sunshine guaranteed to make you smile :) Erin lists 32 things that make her smile and encouraged fellow bloggers to do the same. 

Image is the link up button from Erin's post, do click here & join in!

Well, I felt I had to join in, I'm a great believer in being grateful for all of the little blessings we all have, but seldom take time to think about.  It's a part of my daily routine, to acknowledge those blessings and take a moment to just say thank you :)

So, on to my list :)

1. My Husband 

On not just this list but on any list I could ever make & always first in my morning thoughts & thanks is my amazing husband.  Through good times and bad, thankfully we've been blessed to have more of the first than the latter, through my ill health, he's always been there.  My Dad told me once to marry my best friend & I'd always be happy, well I did and I have been. Gloriously so.

2. My fur & feather babies :)

Jade the sweetest little dog in the world and our beautiful bouncy budgie Wallace :)

This is Jade.....

She has the sweetest nature and is a little mobile smile on paws :) We adopted our angel from a local rescue when she was around 7 months old. She'd been removed from an abusive home and we've made it our mission to make up for her awful treatment with mountains of love and hugs.  Our baby is 4 years old now and is an absolute joy.

This is Wallace :)

Isn't he a cutie? He watches tv, loves music & dances on his little perch and loves his little hanging swing in his cage, whenever he heads for that at night, we know he's off to bed :) Wallace will be 9 years old this summer :)

3. Friends :)

As with many sufferers of a chronic illness, I am mostly housebound, this can be terribly isolating (as I discussed here ) and because of this my online friends are hugely important to me. Thank you dear ones, you know who you are <hugs tightly> xxx

4. Work.

Yes, I know. Not normally found on a list of things that make a person happy :) As I said, I am mostly housebound, travelling anywhere is difficult, so my part time, two days a week job, even though it exhausts me, makes me happy :) I have two days each week where I can (almost) fool myself that I'm the "old (pre-illness) me." Two days where I can mix with people, chat, engage and smile. A lot :)

5. Cooking.

I love to cook! I spend countless hours reading fabulous cookery blogs & scouring Pinterest looking for recipes to attempt and/or adapt. All of these kitchen experiments are tried out on my wonderful, never complains, ever, husband :) I may not be the best cook but I am enthusiastic and I do love it :)

6. Home.

I adore our home. Truly. It is my safe place, my happy place.  It needs re-decorating, we have artex on walls and ceilings, leftover from the previous inhabitant to eventually eradicate (goodness how expensive is it to have plastering work done?) It is far too cluttered with things collected over our life together, but we're working on it. We're de-cluttering, we're organizing and like everything else, we're doing it together.

7. Laundry.

Yes, you read that right :)  I adore laundry :)   Love it :) Lovely, fluffy, soft, fresh towels, crisp clean bedding, joy!  Standing in the kitchen with a cuppa looking out of the window at lines of  hubbys shirts, beddings, towels, our furbaby Jade's jackets (she has too many but she's not at all a diva about it lol) all fluttering gently in the breeze.  It makes me happier than anyone has a right to be, and oh my! the smell of freshly air dried laundry is better than the finest perfumes, it's just exquisite. Add to that the feeling of climbing into a freshly laundered bed at the end of a tiring day and, oh yes, laundry makes me happy :)

8. Sundays.

On Sunday mornings my husband cooks breakfast, beautifully it has to be said, and we have a quiet day together. We take a (very) short walk with Jade together, although she gets a much better, and farther, walk with her Dad than when I'm with them because of my mobility issues but she seems to like having us both there. It's our family time :) Later in the afternoon we meet up online with my dear friend (Hi Meme sweetheart <waves> love you!) and my Brother Paul (long ago ceased to be my BiL, just my Brother now, I adore him) for a chat and giggles :) Yep, Sunday makes me happy :) 

9. Spring.

Who doesn't love Spring? It's the time of year when the garden starts to come to life again, when pretty cardigans start to replace sweaters & mittens, when warming sunshine starts to make everyone shake off the Winter doldrums and feel better, and yes happier :)

10. Hugs.

I'm a hug addict lol, can't help it, I love to hug and be hugged. A hug from someone you love can sweep away a bad day like nothing else. Best thing is everyone has an inexhaustible supply! The more hugs you give, the more you get right back :) One size fits all & its the only gift you're happy to have returned :) Why not hug someone you love today, it might mean the absolute world to someone and maybe even make their day xx

11. Music.

I've just been trying to put into words how much music means to me and a beautiful quote by Maya Angelou came to mind:

“Music was my refuge. I could crawl into the space between the notes and curl my back to loneliness.”

― Maya Angelou

Said far more eloquently, and beautifully, than I ever could. Music makes me happy, even on bad days it makes me smile, it makes me cry (in a good way) it makes me, well, me :) Music, and reading, have been two constants, with me for as long as I can remember.  Which takes me onto....

12. Books. 

I wrote here about how NOT to let "fibro fog" steal your love of reading. I need books they're essential to me. They've always been my companions, my friends when young, truly a refuge from the world. Reading makes me happy :)

13. Quiet.

The world is such a frantic place. 24 hours news/TV/Radio/Internet. It's overwhelming! Sometimes it's lovely to just switch everything off and sit quietly, don't you think?

14. Sunny days.

Sunny days because ... well just because! If I open our curtains in the morning and the sun streams in, I just know I'll have a happier, better day :)

15. Chocolate.

That evil, diet ruining, calorie laden entity lol :) It's taken me a long time to work out that denying yourself something completely will make the craving for it all the stronger.  Sometimes there are days when a woman needs a great slab of the good feelings producing creamy goodness, and on days like that, cut yourself a break and enjoy a little. Trust me the world won't end!

16. Shoes.

I'm actually not a footwear collector. I own some shoes but just love to look at beautiful designs & styles. Even if we could afford for me to dash off and buy a pair of Louboutins (and we can't) I just couldn't do it because I simply couldn't feel good about spending that much on myself.  I'm more a George at Asda kinda gal than Couture BUT that doesn't stop me spending ages looking at gorgeous couture creations on Pinterest, happily pinning designer bags, clothes and, you guessed it! shoes onto my fashion boards :)    

17. Twitter.

I have friends there who absolutely make my day, they seem to know when I need cheering up and always rally to the rescue. You know who you are my angels, thank you, from the bottom of my heart <hugs tightly> xxx

18. Nordic Noir.

Hubby & I are great lovers of all things Scandinavian & dramatic.  We love European drama in general actually, Saturday evenings for us means sitting watching the latest European TV offering on BBC4.  It all started several years ago now. I'd heard that the wonderful, the incomparable Sir Kenneth Branagh was going to be making an English language version series of the fabulous Wallander stories. I then noticed that BBC4 were going to screen the originals. We tuned in to see the first one and pow! just like that I lost my heart to Swedish actor Krister Henriksson with his gentle beautiful blue eyes and lovely soft voice, he gives Kurt Wallander such depth, he brings him to life.   

Since then of course there have been many more favourites. A French series "Spiral" (French title Engrenages) Danish production "Those Who Kill"  and the amazing Swedish productions of the  "Arne Dahl stories"  The benchmark for quality so far tho (in my humble opinion) has been a Swedish/Danish co-production called "The Bridge"  This was recently re-made in English/French, set in England & France as The Tunnel". Definitely worth seeing if you haven't already.  

19. Ikea

Still on the Swedish theme :) Ikea is genuinely my happy place. I should quantify that by saying I am addicted to baskets, boxes and pretty storage :) 

20. Big Bang Theory :)

I so adore this series, and its characters, but seriously, how great is "Shamy" You rock, guys! Thank you for all the smiles over the past 7 years, and here's to many more years :)

21. Jade playing with her squeaky soft toys :) 

Such joy! She adores having them thrown a short distance for her to go fetch & bring back but she'll pick one at night and trot off upstairs to bed with it. Just lately it's been a peppa pig stuffie. Her bed is at the foot of ours and she climbs in with her stuffie and waits to be snuggled up with her blanket :)

22. Taking photos while I cook 

Not only pausing between stages of a recipe to take photos but also spending ages pouring over them, editing them & then inserting them into my blog to illustrate a recipe. Makes me grin with happiness, it really does.

23. Blogging.

As of tomorrow, 7th April 2014, my blog will be 10 weeks old. This will be my 22nd blog post and I'm so loving it! I spend all my time planning, writing, or thinking about my blog & have seen first hand how generous, kind and friendly other bloggers are. Always willing to help and pass on their experience and advice. Thank you all sweethearts, your help makes this so much less scary <hugs tightly> xxx

24. Sewing.

For many years I've made my own curtains, throw pillow covers, etc, even managed some dressmaking through the years. Never to the level I'd like though, and my hands hurt too much now but I still love sitting at the sewing machine from time to time to run up a cushion cover or curtains and when I do, I smile & smile & smile :)

25.  Sitting quietly with my honey. 

Right now, as I type this, Jade is lying in front of the fire with her head on a cushion napping, Wallace has climbed onto his little swing perch for a nap too and hubby is sitting with his laptop following (on twitter) the football game currently running on TV, and this is as close to heaven as I can be :) We've been together a long time my "other half" and I.  Just to have him near, makes me the happiest woman in the world, just sitting quietly on a Sunday afternoon, occasionally looking up from our laptops to smile at each other, I truly wish you all such bliss in your lives <hugs> xx    

26. Figuring stuff out :)

I've finally started adding things to my side bar on my blog, in order to do that I first had to figure out how :) My little corner of the internet is starting to look like a real actual blog now & I'm so happy and excited :) HTML still scares me if I'm honest but I'm starting to figure it out, slowly but surely. Thank you for joining me on my journey <hugs>

27. Shower & Jammies

If you were to ask anyone I work with, what does Rosie do when she gets home, anyone will say "shower, jammies, cuddle the dog" and they'd be right :) I've said the same thing at break every week for years now, when everyone is taking turns saying what they'll be doing that evening.  I get home from work, hug hubby & Jade (not necessarily in that order lol) off for shower, into jammies or nightie, settle on sofa & hug Jade :) Joy!

28. Writing.

I've always written, even as a child. This blog is a direct spin off from my needing to write. Even if no one is listening, I feel a need to write. I'm not good at it, I know but it gives me such pleasure.  I recently, during yet another of my "trying to figure stuff out" days created a printable using one of my poems. If you'd like to see it you can find, and download, it here.

29. Good memories

Life gives us good memories and, unfortunately bad ones too.  I choose to lock my bad ones up in a room in my brain and throw the key away.  I know, this is supposed to be catastrophic for one's health but I choose to hang on tightly to the good and ignore the bad. Life is too short to dwell on past hurts, and too wonderful to miss by constantly looking back. Concentrate on making good memories so that when your inner cinema decides to run in your mind it always makes you smile :)

30.  My Husband's Beautiful Blue Eyes

There, see? I only have to think about him and I smile :) I'm grinning here :) To be fair though,  he does have the most incredible, heart stopping, shockingly blue eyes & even after all these years, there are times when I glance at him and my heart really does skip :) I'm a lucky lady & I'm so grateful.

 

31. My little tablet

Hubby recently, bless him, bought me a little 7" tablet that fits neatly into my handbag.  The tablet was initially, (even though I love hubby for buying it) viewed with utter distrust (OMG what's android? why doesn't it have windows as an OS? why is it beeping at me? OMG I've blown it up! lol) I so love it now :) I don't have to take my laptop up to bed with me anymore, I can check my twitter/blog/etc during the night if I wake up (and I always wake up) & then pop it back on my bedside table again. Thank you hubby, love you xx  

32. You, dear readers! 

Yes, that's right! You, reading this now <hugs> Thank you so much for taking the time to read this, thank you for visiting, thank you for making this little corner of the internet less lonely.  Bless you honeys for being kind, sending you heaps of hugs and hoping you're having a fabulous weekend xx