What do you do on days when smiles are a little harder to find? Not every day can be fun, especially when living with a chronic illness (gentle hugs for fellow spoonies 💕 be well dear ones.) It's so important to have coping mechanisms for not so great days in our self care kit don't you think honeys?
As a child I was taught to count my blessings and on days when I'm not feeling so good or it's just a wee bit more difficult to find my smile, taking stock of how blessed I am in my life really helps me to appreciate how lucky I am and to cope with whatever life is throwing at me.
Scrolling through Pinterest looking for smiles recently I saw the sweetest graphic that immediately made me smile and truly brightened my day honeys, here it is...
This wonderful scavenger hunt was created by Stefanie from Simple Acres, a fun, smile filled site you can find here
Isn't it fabulous? Sometimes we find what we need exactly when we need it or maybe it finds us? In the case of this fun scavenger hunt, I have a feeling that's exactly what happened 😊
This has been a difficult... well I was going to say couple of weeks but it's been far longer than that but let's just say I haven't been coping very well for a while. This wonderful little quest, designed to show how to be grateful for the blessings we have was just the medicine I needed 😊
It's so easy to feel "put upon" by the universe, especially when life begins to feel overwhelming, when pain won't let me sleep, when my "to-do" list is longer than the hours in the day, but just taking time to breathe and to remind myself how blessed I am to be safe, to have food in the kitchen, to have a home I share with loved ones, these are treasures of a value that has no measure.
Recently though honeys, even counting my blessings hasn't raised the smile it normally does. It's not that I don't realise how lucky I am, I truly do and I'm truly grateful for all we have. I think that health issues have just worn me down to a point where I really can't find my happy place so easily.
Still smiling, I clicked on the graphic hoping it would lead me to whoever had created it so that I could say thank you for helping me find my smile. I found, as is sometimes, unfortunately, the case on Pinterest, that the link only led to a copy of the graphic someone had uploaded :/ I have to admit my heart sank honeys.
I tried an image search, then tried a google search and found a few leads to follow and while I'm doing this I kept glancing back to the graphic which I'd saved to a folder on my laptop. It was during one of these glances I noticed there was a (very) faint "watermark" near the very bottom of the graphic with a web address. Yaaaayy!!
I typed the address into my browser and there was Simple Acres, a wonderful blog written by Stefanie. Just from reading a couple of her posts she seems so lovely honeys, very friendly and her blog is great. I'll add a link to her blog, and to the wonderful post this smile causing graphic came from at the end of this post for you. If you go visit Stefanie, do say hello x
Having managed to find Stefanie's blog, and to read the post she'd written, I was smiling more than I had in days and decided there and then to attempt her gratitude scavenger quest 😊 It was such fun I thought I'd share what I found with you, maybe you can try it too?
There was only ever going to be one answer to this question because, other than Hubby (and his very blue eyes) the centre of my world is our furbaby Jade 💖 However, I say that in the understanding that in no way can our baby ever be considered a thing! Perish the thought! She's our baby!
This was such an easy quest! I recently took lots of photos of the beautiful apple blossom on our little apple tree. It's always been beautiful but it's been simply stunning this year.
It made me so happy to see these little ladybirds! We recently added three little "hotels" to the garden to encourage more bees, butterflies, ladybirds and other tiny creatures to visit 🐞
This is such a fun quest! I went off upstairs and fetched a clip seal/ziplock bag from the craft cupboard in our guest room (where my sewing supplies etc are kept.) The bag contains these items...
Once assembled the cute little pet cloud look like this...
Isn't he adorable honeys? This was a craft I made for a task during Blogtember a few years ago. A dear friend loved her cloud 😊
If you'd like to make some pet clouds (it's a wonderful activity to do with children on rainy, can't go out to play days) you can find my original post here with a link to where you can download the "header" for their little storage bag.
Unfortunately I can't now reach the end of our street without being in so much pain I'll be in tears but, again, as that old saying goes dear ones "use it or lose it" and I just can't lose any more so I have to try.
I look back at younger years when I belonged to a hill-walking club, when I would run everywhere and walking 4-5 miles into town on a lovely sunny day was something I looked forward to and it breaks my heart that I took it all for granted.
This quest though is all about being grateful and after battling arthritis for over twenty years I am grateful that I can still do what I do. I'm grateful that I still have a job that allows me to go out into the world a couple of days a week, I'm grateful to have such lovely friends to work with and I'm so grateful to have Hubby, our furbaby Jade, and all of the other lovely people I'm blessed to have in my life (you know who you are x)It's so easy to feel "put upon" by the universe, especially when life begins to feel overwhelming, when pain won't let me sleep, when my "to-do" list is longer than the hours in the day, but just taking time to breathe and to remind myself how blessed I am to be safe, to have food in the kitchen, to have a home I share with loved ones, these are treasures of a value that has no measure.
Recently though honeys, even counting my blessings hasn't raised the smile it normally does. It's not that I don't realise how lucky I am, I truly do and I'm truly grateful for all we have. I think that health issues have just worn me down to a point where I really can't find my happy place so easily.
Finding Stefanie and her wonderful blog..
Still smiling, I clicked on the graphic hoping it would lead me to whoever had created it so that I could say thank you for helping me find my smile. I found, as is sometimes, unfortunately, the case on Pinterest, that the link only led to a copy of the graphic someone had uploaded :/ I have to admit my heart sank honeys.
I tried an image search, then tried a google search and found a few leads to follow and while I'm doing this I kept glancing back to the graphic which I'd saved to a folder on my laptop. It was during one of these glances I noticed there was a (very) faint "watermark" near the very bottom of the graphic with a web address. Yaaaayy!!
I typed the address into my browser and there was Simple Acres, a wonderful blog written by Stefanie. Just from reading a couple of her posts she seems so lovely honeys, very friendly and her blog is great. I'll add a link to her blog, and to the wonderful post this smile causing graphic came from at the end of this post for you. If you go visit Stefanie, do say hello x
Having managed to find Stefanie's blog, and to read the post she'd written, I was smiling more than I had in days and decided there and then to attempt her gratitude scavenger quest 😊 It was such fun I thought I'd share what I found with you, maybe you can try it too?
What I Found (other than smiles) On Stefanie's Gratitude Scavenger Hunt...
1. Something that makes me happy...
If you've read any of this blog before dear ones you'll know I adore every little bit of doing laundry. Truly. I adore it more than I can say. As a child I used to sit in my beloved Gramma's kitchen while she did laundry. She'd pour me a glass of milk and some biscuits or sometimes make me a hot chocolate and toast. While she worked at the sink she'd chat to me, telling me stories of her own childhood, her sisters and brothers.
There was no washing machine honeys. Gramma's kitchen had a double sink, one shallow, one deep, with a huge "wringer" in between them and she washed with a washboard. I treasure those memories. I was truly blessed to have had such a strong, amazing woman in my life. Maybe that's why I adore doing laundry so much, it's a connection to those much cherished memories.
There was no washing machine honeys. Gramma's kitchen had a double sink, one shallow, one deep, with a huge "wringer" in between them and she washed with a washboard. I treasure those memories. I was truly blessed to have had such a strong, amazing woman in my life. Maybe that's why I adore doing laundry so much, it's a connection to those much cherished memories.
2. Something to give someone else to make them smile...
This one was so easy too! Hubby works so hard and is off out to work very early in the morning and isn't home again till after 6pm most nights so I thought I'd go rummage in the kitchen and make one of his favourite dinners 😊
In the freezer I found some wild Alaskan salmon. If I was buying fresh, I'd buy Scottish salmon but we do like the packs of frozen Alaskan salmon and usually keep a couple of packs in the freezer. I made a jacket potato, some lovely brusels sprouts and sliced a lemon and Hubby was so pleased with his dinner bless him 😊
3. Find one thing that you love to smell...
We're back to my laundry again honeys 😊 If anyone ever manages to bottle the scent of fresh, line-dried-out-in-the-sun laundry... well look out perfume houses because that scent will fly off the shelves 😊 There is nothing on this earth so good as the smell of fresh laundry. Climbing into bed with lovely fresh sheets and breathing in that gorgeous scent as you drift off to sleep is just heavenly 💖
In fairness though, and because I already mentioned laundry above, if I have to choose another scent I love, then that scent would absolutely be found in our garden, either from our much loved roses or from the lavender...
Even just looking at those images makes me smile and I'm hoping they might have made you smile too 😊
4. Find one thing that you enjoy looking at...
There was only ever going to be one answer to this question because, other than Hubby (and his very blue eyes) the centre of my world is our furbaby Jade 💖 However, I say that in the understanding that in no way can our baby ever be considered a thing! Perish the thought! She's our baby!
Doesn't she have the best, happiest smile? When Hubby's at work there's just Jade and me keeping each other company and she is just the best company. She's a great listener, always knows when her Mum needs a hug, and happily shares the sofa (and a warm throw in winter time) when we watch old movies while waiting for her Dad to come home.
No matter what kind of day I'm having I only have to see Jade's smile and it's the best day of the week 😊 The best thing about going to work is the welcome I get when I get back home 😊 Definitely not a thing but still (along with her Dad) my absolute favourite view 💕
5. Find something that is my favourite colour...
I am a huge lover of pastels honeys. They remind me of my favourite time of year, Spring, when the garden starts to wake from its long winter nap and the sky finally lightens. On the west coast of Scotland we have less than six hours of daylight for almost five months of the year. It will begin (grudgingly) to get light sometime after 9am and around 3.30pm it feels as if someone flicks a cosmic switch and we're thrown back into total darkness.
Every year I tell everyone that I want to hibernate till spring but no one will listen to me. Get over it I've been told but that's the thing dear ones, I can't. The long, long (really, really long) spell of almost constant darkness just feels as if it pulls all of the life out of me. Really though honeys, by the time we roll around to March I usually feel like a husk.
Maybe one year I'll just go ahead and try it. Maybe not hibernate as such but possibly tell my employers I'll see them in March, close all of the curtains to keep winter outside and hog the sofa with our furbaby and a coffee table loaded with lots of dvd box sets to watch. Jade would like that. She doesn't like winter either bless her.
Among my favourite pastel shades is the shade of blue found in the sky on a warm summers day...
Perfect!
Of course if I could only pick one absolute favourite colour in the whole universe, just one, it would be the startling, breathtaking, pure azure blue of Hubby's eyes. Even now after all these years his eyes can make my heart skip a beat 💖
While the whole world sighs over Bond actor Daniel Craig's beautiful blue eyes (and they are lovely.... of course so is he.. what was I saying? oh yes..) but Mr Craig's eyes (in my humble wee opinion) can't hope to match Hubbys 💕 I've never met anyone whose eyes are that blue. So, yes, that blue is my favourite colour 💕
While the whole world sighs over Bond actor Daniel Craig's beautiful blue eyes (and they are lovely.... of course so is he.. what was I saying? oh yes..) but Mr Craig's eyes (in my humble wee opinion) can't hope to match Hubbys 💕 I've never met anyone whose eyes are that blue. So, yes, that blue is my favourite colour 💕
6. Find something that you're grateful for in nature...
This was such an easy quest! I recently took lots of photos of the beautiful apple blossom on our little apple tree. It's always been beautiful but it's been simply stunning this year.
The gorgeous apple blossom gradually wilts away to reveal, when the tree is mature enough.... apples! Our tiny tree is now a little over twelve years old and must be starting to mature because this year I have (so far) counted fourteen apples! That means apple crumble yaaaay!
The most apples we've had from our little tree previously was three and one of those fell off and was eaten by birds. Not that we minded at all. Our blueberry shrub was bought and planted as a food source for our garden visitors 🐦
The most apples we've had from our little tree previously was three and one of those fell off and was eaten by birds. Not that we minded at all. Our blueberry shrub was bought and planted as a food source for our garden visitors 🐦
It will never cease to amaze me how the gorgeous apple blossom can simply transform itself into apples 😊 It's all part of the magic of nature that's everywhere around us honeys, just waiting to be noticed.
Speaking of noticing nature, did you spot two tiny garden visitors on the little growing apple in the image above? Let's take a closer look shall we?
It made me so happy to see these little ladybirds! We recently added three little "hotels" to the garden to encourage more bees, butterflies, ladybirds and other tiny creatures to visit 🐞
7. Find something you can use to make a gift for someone...
This is such a fun quest! I went off upstairs and fetched a clip seal/ziplock bag from the craft cupboard in our guest room (where my sewing supplies etc are kept.) The bag contains these items...
Once assembled the cute little pet cloud look like this...
Isn't he adorable honeys? This was a craft I made for a task during Blogtember a few years ago. A dear friend loved her cloud 😊
If you'd like to make some pet clouds (it's a wonderful activity to do with children on rainy, can't go out to play days) you can find my original post here with a link to where you can download the "header" for their little storage bag.
8. Find something that is useful for you...
Walking. You know the old saying "use it or lose it"? My mobility has become far more limited this past year or so. Even standing for any length of time is very painful now. I have osteo arthritis in the base of my spine. When I was at the RA clinic recently my Doctor called it a degenerative disc condition. Big worrying sounding words aside, its acutely painful honeys and I'm very scared of losing my mobility altogether. Even the limited walking ability I have now is better than losing it altogether.
Because of this (further) loss of mobility honeys I need to try to go on even short walks. A fun way to do this is to go out with Jade and Hubby...
Because of this (further) loss of mobility honeys I need to try to go on even short walks. A fun way to do this is to go out with Jade and Hubby...
Unfortunately I can't now reach the end of our street without being in so much pain I'll be in tears but, again, as that old saying goes dear ones "use it or lose it" and I just can't lose any more so I have to try.
I look back at younger years when I belonged to a hill-walking club, when I would run everywhere and walking 4-5 miles into town on a lovely sunny day was something I looked forward to and it breaks my heart that I took it all for granted.
You know I said that sometimes we find something when we need to find it (or it finds us?) This wonderful little scavenger hunt has been such a joy and was exactly what I needed when I found it. Thank you so much to Stefanie for creating, and sharing it. There are no words for what it's meant to me or how it changed a not so great day x
If you'd like to meet Stefanie honeys you can find her fabulous blog Simple Acres here. You can find Stefanie's post, 5 Ways To Teach Gratitude To Children, where she used this fabulous graphic, here. If you visit, do say hello to Stefanie 😊
This has been such fun! Over to you honeys, would you like to join in? What are you grateful for? When you count your blessings, what's on your list?
I hope you've had a great week honeys and that you're looking forward to a wonderful weekend full of hugs, smiles and all good things 😊 Till next time dear ones, smile lots and hug even more, huggles always xx
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