Blogtember Day 7: Five Things That Bring Me Joy..

Hi Honeys
Back again for day two of the wonderful Blogtember Challenge organized by the lovely Bailey Jean of Brave Love Blog.

Blogtember is an annual link up challenging bloggers to post every day for a whole month using a list of prompts as inspiration.  It's also a fabulous way to discover new blogs and to meet lovely new blogging friends. It isn't too late to join in the fun honeys. Don't blog? Why not join the fun on instagram using the hashtag #blogtemberchallenge

Today's prompt then is: Five things that bring me joy...

What a wonderful prompt! A post that's absolutely designed to make everyone smile and to appreciate the happiness we're all blessed to have. Thank you Bailey, love this one x

Off we go then honeys ...
Well now, no prizes for guessing what's top of my list, now and always :)

1. Hubby & Jade

No one makes me happier than my sweet Hubby & our dear wee furbaby Jade.  I could be stranded on a desert island and so long as I had Hubby and our furbaby I'd be fine :) They are both loved beyond all measure and make my heart smile every single day.  I know, it's sickening isn't it :) I can't help it! I adore my husband and our furbaby is just the centre of our world :)

2. Laundry

I Love, Love, Love Laundry!

I love everything about laundry. I love washing, pegging things outside (I really, really, really love that!) Ironing, folding..... you're probably getting the picture by now honeys, I'm obsessed :)

Now, it could be said that it's very easy to adore a task where modern appliances do most of the work, and they so do! Thing is, I'm old enough (eek!) to be able to remember earlier versions of washing machines, such as a tiny little square washer that had an electric mangle built in which flipped up and was used to press the water from the clothes (mind the fingers!)

I also remember many happy hours sitting at the table in my Gramma's tenement kitchen (with milk & a biscuit) as a child while she did laundry by hand using her wash board.  Gramma's kitchen had two large sinks, one shallow one much deeper with a huge, hand powered mangle in between them. While she scrubbed she'd tell me stories of when she was young, about her brothers and sisters and how different life had been then.  

When Hubby & I were first married, so many years ago now, and moved into our first little flat I remember vividly the day our little twin tub washer was delivered.  I was sooo excited and couldn't wait to fill it up (via a pipe which was attached to the sink tap) switch on the in-built water heater and get my first load of laundry on the go.  I felt spoiled honeys, utterly spoiled :) It was a Hoovermatic, rectangular in shape, with one side being the washer and the other having a spinner.

Using one of these twin tubs was certainly more labour intensive than the present day automatic front loaders more commonly used in the UK.  You had to stand over the washer the whole time and the spinner wasn't very big, but then neither was the washer, even so I still felt such a buzz of happiness on laundry day :)

I was younger then and didn't have the arthritis ouchies I do now, so I was fine with all of the bending and stretching, and lugging a huge hamper of laundry down two flights of stairs and through to the communal back green to put up my rope and peg the clothes out.

Of course nowadays I'm grateful for my wonderful automatic washing machine that I fill with my laundry, set running and can wander off and do other things only coming back when it's time to peg my laundry outside on rare sunny days or arrange it on my much loved pulley on more commonly rainy days :)

3. Our Home

I don't go outside very much honeys.  Not at all really.  I work on Friday's and Saturdays and unless I have an appointment at the Doctors surgery or at the arthritis clinic I attend, those will be the only days I leave our home.  I battle depression, I have for many years.  Being outside is difficult for me. It would be so, so easy to just close the front door and never go out again.  Even thinking of doing that calms me but, as I've written in the past, it's so, so important to try to stay connected to the world around us.  Even when the effort itself can be exhausting.

Our home is my safe place, my little sanctuary from the world.  It's the place where I can be myself, if I feel sad I can be sad, if I need to keep the world away I don't open the curtains... I do that quite a lot actually honeys, I should work on that, it used to drive my dear Mother in law crazy at times, bless her.

Like many spoonies, when I have to go outside, when I have to interact with people such as at work or at our Doctors, I sometimes wear a mask.  A "nothing to see here, I'm fine, see? I'm smiling" kinda mask because I learned a long time ago that if I seem happy the world will leave me alone.   I don't want to be studied, inspected, judged. I want to be able to get from waking up in the morning to closing my eyes at night with as little drama as is possible.  I don't cope well with drama and have seen too much of it in my earlier life.  Drama made me ill. Drama is not welcome here.

I share our little home with my wonderful Hubby and our furbaby Jade and because of them I have my own little oasis of calm.  A place where I feel my shoulders relax as soon as I walk back through the front door when I get home, a place that hugs me like a soft, cozy blanket.  Our home is a happy, peaceful place that absolutely fills me with joy.  I so wish that for you too dear ones x
 

4. My Job

Yep, that's what I said, my job :)  I work in retail, I earn pretty much minimum wage for the fourteen hours or so I'm there each week and mostly it's physically exhausting.  I've noticed this past year or so that it's getting more difficult to cope, I generally lose my Sunday's because of the pain in my spine and shoulders and because I'm simply drained of my reserve of energy built up during my days at home with Jade.

Most days are good but, as anyone who has ever worked retail will tell you, there are customers who are rude and sometimes even abusive.  That can put a crimp in anyone's day :/  Woah Rosie! You're supposed to be talking about things that bring you joy! Yep, I am honeys and my daft, menial wee minimum wage job does exactly that, it really does :)

My job gives me a reason to stay connected with the world, even if it is only two days a week.  I work with the loveliest people, I have very dear friends there and daft as it seems I love doing my job! I look forward to seeing regular customers each week.  I was once told, in my teens, that you'll only ever get out of a job what you're willing to put in.  That was very sound advice.  I go to work each shift with a smile, determined to have a great day and mostly I do :)   

5. Books

Do I even need to say anything here?  I mean... books!  Hubby and I were chatting only a few nights ago about this very topic.  We both agreed that we adore our ereaders but that there was something exquisitely rewarding and irreplaceable about touching a book. The feel of the paper under your fingertips, the smell of the pages of an old book, oh my how I love that smell!  I swear I can close my eyes and it takes me right back to the library when I was at Uni :)  Such joy!

How lucky am I to have married a fellow bookworm who understands and adores the written word as much as I do :) What brings you joy?  What can be counted on to always raise a smile even on a gloomy day? Whatever it is honeys, I wish you a bottomless supply with extra portions of happiness sprinkles :)

Till next time then dear ones, huggles always xx