The Good Stuff: Um, lately

There’s a lot of crap out there. Crappy news, crappy people. Really crappy moments. I think it’s important to pay attention to the good things. Remember them and carry those with you or the bad things keep weighing you down.

Besides, when you look for the good things, you find more good things and maybe life isn’t quite so bad.

If it’s not your style (yet, because you can totally retrain your brain), I challenge you to find one good thing about today – even if it’s something tiny. (Also a former CIA analyst shared some coping strategies for the bad stuff.)

Life has been busier than normal with my boss on maternity leave, a presentation that wasn’t going to write itself, lots of b-ball to finish (and the start of softball), viruses, etc and I wasn’t able to make all of that, my sanity, and this space a priority so something had to give. But, now I can breathe again (mentally and physically), I so thought I’d pop in and share some really great things that have been going on. It’s been awhile!

Moments to make me smile:

• Wizard of Oz on the big screen and sushi with Sue!
• The quiet moments the girls reach for hugs or snuggles.
• Sending snail mail
• Successful Valenties’s for the kiddos
• Adventure days with E
• Irish Nachos
• Coloring
• Gluten free black licorice
• Sharing a bit of Boston and the NEA with the kiddos and Nik
• Having great conversations with kiddos about what I need to know for my job.
• Having the right answers
• Snowmobiling
• Reading 6 books in two weeks.
• Nerding out with N (science, Harry Potter, artsy stuff, and Rebel Girls)
• Productive travel for work
• Seeing E take to softball
• A perfect glass of pinot grigio over ice
• Basketball fun but also that it’s done
• Amazing conversations you never expected
• Making “mom” friends – and I’ve met some wonderful people out in the country!
• Checking things off to-do lists
• Finding the perfect gifts
• Seeing Adri and meeting her grandmother!
• Having a safe car for driving in the snow
• Aerial yoga and being invited to coteach occasionally
• Getting a project piece out and being done with it for now

Good reads:

• I don’t know if you’ve seen Selma Blair recently, but this was amazing. Jewish Mom Selma Blair Used a Cane on the Oscars Red Carpet. Here’s Why That’s Important.
• 12 Things to Do This Year to Make You Happier, Healthier, and More at Peace in Your Kitchen — Tips from The Kitchn
• OMG it was a terrible movie. ‘Bird Box’ Is A Bad Movie, So Why Do So Many People Like It?
• This post has some great points. Navigating the rocky road of girls’ friendships I’m a fixer by nature so I might struggle with some of this, but it’s an opportunity for all of us to grow, right?
• Are any of your favorites on this list?  26 Most Hated Fast Food Items From The Employees Who Make Them

I’ve also read the following books that I enjoyed so you can expect reviews for them:

• Queen of Klutz
• I Owe You One
• Pretty in Punxstawney

I’ll likely lump the ones I didn’t love into one post.

Favorite pics:

You can see more pictures on my Instagram.

Podcasts you might like:

I’ve really branched out what I listen to in the car these days! (I still listen to My Favorite Murder, Last Podcast on the Left, Smart Mouth, and Gone, but I’ve added a few more.)

• Mobituaries with Mo Rocca
• Stuff You Should Know
• Ask A Manager

Music to feed my soul:

There hasn’t been anything that sticks out video wise. Mostly we just have Google play a station these days. I have been listening to a lot of 90s on 9 and Pop Rock in the car. Lots of fun memories and sing-alongs!

Do you have anything new to share?

How about you? What good things do you have for the first quarter of the year?

The Good Stuff: September-October

On the water and last bit of summer in my face

There’s a lot of crap out there. Crappy news, crappy people. Really crappy moments. I think it’s important to pay attention to the good things. Remember them and carry those with you or the bad things keep weighing you down.

Besides, when you look for the good things, you find more good things and maybe life isn’t quite so bad.

If it’s not your style (yet, because you can totally retrain your brain), I challenge you to find one good thing about today – even if it’s something tiny. (Also a former CIA analyst shared some coping strategies for the bad stuff.)

Last night and this morning were hard. It seems the further I get from the harsh anxiety I used to deal with day in and out, the harder it hits when it sneaks up on me. Damn whoremones I tell you.

I’m making it a point to put this together to focus on the good in my life.

Moments to make me smile:

• Two months off from sports
• Crafts with the girls
• People watching at a nearby Walmart
• Sick time to use when I can’t see after a migraine
• One perfect glass of Pinot Grigio (with ice)
• Wonderful girls to brunch with
• Wrapping up a major project
• Babies to welcome to the family.
• Beautiful sunsets
• Hot tea
• Pop doing well in surgery
• Sushi lunches
• Cool nights by the fire
• Giggling with N & E
• Party planning
• Walking away with my head held high when it was their intention to tear me down
• Fall colors against the blue sky
• A hugely successful party and birthday
• How much better I feel when I drink 80-90 oz of water. Yeah I pee a lot, but it’s a few quiet moments
• A successful Halloween costume for me – except for the teeth because I couldn’t get them to stick. (I was a Warm Vampire. I know a lot of women would have gone for a sexy one, but frankly I like being warm better.)

Good reads:

September and October had me re-reading The Girl with Silver Eyes to read with N and just for fun I started The Homecoming again. I’m also working on some NetGalley books but they haven’t been great so they’re hard to get through. I’ve also been reading federal and NY regs on Lunch Shaming, federal grant administration, and my favorite and yours! Changes to the NYS Sexual Harassment laws. Oh and we can’t forget kids books. E recently discovered Fancy Nancy and I love how much she loves it.

And now onto the web. The (in)glorious web.

• I love and miss Uncle Joe. | Joe Biden Pens Tear-Jerking Tribute To Meghan McCain — ‘There’s John On That Podium’
• This made me laugh. | Hydrox Is Making War on Oreo (Does Oreo Care, Tho?)
• While interesting, I don’t know how I feel about DNA being used this way. | How an Unlikely Family History Website Transformed Cold Case Investigations
• I imagine I would have events like this happen in my classroom if I was a teacher.  | Deaf Student Finds Out the Hard Way That Farts Make Sound
• I’ve loved Adriene since the first time we yoga’d together. I should spend more time with her. ‘The people’s yogi’: how Adriene Mishler became a YouTube phenomenon
• I don’t do all of them, but I pick out  my outfit, Nik makes coffee and we clean the kitchen together. I don’t meditate, but I do stretch and sometimes read a bit (on my phone but it’s black lit.) It’s a nice wind down | ​10 Things to Do with the Last 10 Minutes Of Your Day
• Heads up about your new Pyrex | The One Thing You Need To Know About Your Pyrex Bakeware

Favorite pics:

You can see more pictures on my Instagram.

Podcasts you might like:

• The Joe Rogan Experience with Neil deGrasse Tyson
• Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me with Anna Kendrick

Music to feed my soul:

How about you? What good things do you have for September and October to share?

The Good Stuff: May-August

Killin’ time with our girls at the playground

There’s a lot of crap out there. Crappy news, crappy people. Really crappy moments. I think it’s important to pay attention to the good things. Remember them and carry those with you or the bad things keep weighing you down.

Besides, when you look for the good things, you find more good things and maybe life isn’t quite so bad.

If it’s not your style (yet, because you can totally retrain your brain), I challenge you to find one good thing about today – even if it’s something tiny. (Also a former CIA analyst shared some coping strategies for the bad stuff.)

I’ve totally let this go too long and am trying to do 4 months in one shot. Some of it was a blur, but I’ll do my best to pick out some standout smiles, joy, and wonderful moments. I don’t want to jinx it, but life is pretty good these days. Even the crappy days are often better than my best days before.

It’s been quite the summer, possibly the best ever since I was 18 or 19. (Those were pretty great!)

Moments to make me smile:

• Trading in my goggles for my glove and helping to coach N’s softball (who went on to clean sweep the All Star Tournament)
• Road Trip with Daddy-O to see OG
• Every time we sat down to share a meal with family or friends.
• Camping for Nik’s b’day
• New acquaintances who will hopefully turn into friends. If nothing else, they’re friendly faces to chat with while we wait for kid stuff to be done.
• Hours in the garden – even the hot, sticky, gross ones!
• B & Z Kid’s weekend
• Bonfires
• Adventures
• New yoga
• Nik having my back
• New babies in the family
• Getting back into reading
• Giggling with N & E
• Seeing everyone at a family wedding.
• Restorative Justice training at work.
• Great chats, emails, snail mails and texts with my best girls
• My hair self highlighting and lightening to a color I love.
• The quiet moments the girls reach for hugs or snuggles.
• Sharing joys with friends (Seriously a lot of them make my heart swell in love, pride, hopefulness, and excitement.)
• Broski being stateside.

Good reads:

• This made me laugh | Retired English Teacher Corrects ‘Stylistically Appalling’ Letter From Trump, Sends It Back To The White House
• I know a lot of people who keep their main brains in their butt! Scientists Discover A Second Brain In Human Body, And It’s Located In The Butt
• This hit a lot of heart feels for me even though our situation isn’t quite like this one and we see our girls more than she sees hers. What It’s Really Like Being a Step-Mom
• This is something to keep an eye on. |Alexa and Siri Can Hear This Hidden Command. You Can’t.
• Sometimes I stumble on some interesting things. My Month As A Member of the ‘Wild Wild Country’ Sex Cult
• This terrifies me on so many levels. I don’t care what people say it is not normal | TEDx Addresses Concerns Over Controversial Talk To Normalize Pedophilia As A ‘Natural Sexual Attraction’
• I love the Queen’s sense of humor sometimes | Prince Harry is the new Duke of Sussex | The first Duke of Sussex: Two illegal marriages and a fight to end the slave trade

Favorite pics:

You can see more pictures on my Instagram.

Podcasts you might like:

I’ve really branched out what I listen to in the car these days! A few of my favorites:

• Gone, Conspiracy Theories, Unexplained Mysteries (these are all done by the same people)
• S-Town (although I have mixed feelings about this one conceptually)
• Smart Mouth
• Wait Wait Don’t Tell me
• Smash Boom Best
• Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls
• Story Time – Children’s bedtime stories
• Pride and Prejudice

I still listen to Last Podcast on the Left and My Favorite Murders, but I’m trying to expand my horizons. I also listened to a whole series on Prohibition which was super interesting, but I can’t find it now.

Music to feed my soul:

There hasn’t been anything that sticks out video wise. Mostly we just have Google play a station these days. Do you have anything new to share?

How about you? What good things do you have for February and March to share?

The Good Stuff: April

Signs of life.

There’s a lot of crap out there. Crappy news, crappy people. Really crappy moments. I think it’s important to pay attention to the good things. Remember them and carry those with you or the bad things keep weighing you down.

Besides, when you look for the good things, you find more good things and maybe life isn’t quite so bad.

If it’s not your style (yet, because you can totally retrain your brain), I challenge you to find one good thing about today – even if it’s something tiny.

April was a pretty good month! We’re finding our groove as a family, I’m adjusting to the meds quite nicely I think and there was a lot to smile about and be thankful for. April  wasn’t without it’s challenges, but overall, I’d have to say it was a pretty good month.

Moments to make me smile:

• Getting the outside shaped up
• Warmer days even if they were mixed with more snow
• Hugs from my swim kiddos
• Getting the Google Mini hooked up
• One on one talks with N and E
• Wrapping up a few really big projects at work so you don’t have to bring stuff home anymore.
• Sick days when you get a belly bug – UGH
• Talking periodic table, molecules, compounds, amino acids and DNA with N
• The house feeling like home. (It sort of just clicked one day that it feels like “Home” now)
• Signs of life coming back
• Family dinners
• Birthday wishes from near and far and surprise gluten free bday treats at work
• Good follow up with the doc
• Coming through heated disagreements stronger even if it takes some time
• Getting organized to get the washer and dryer!
• Girlfriends to have weird boundary-less conversations with
• E claiming me as hers.

Good reads:

• This doesn’t surprise me , but I don’t know if it’s for the reasons they’re claiming. Women Who Watched “The X-Files” Pursued More Careers In STEM
• I don’t know if this is always the right approach, but it’s definitely interesting to consider The unique way the Dutch treat mentally ill prisoners
• It can be so pretty! But be careful
• I’ve met a lot of people who fit this description through the years “athletic talent, fearlessness, and mental illness” and this was a tough read but I’m glad I got through it. It sheds some light on losing some of the people we’ve lost. The Boy Who Lived on Edge
• During the time when Frank and I tried and tried to have a baby, I rarely felt like a failure because it didn’t happen for us, but there were definitely moments where I did. It was recently National Infertility Awareness Week and I read countless posts about it from blogs and sites I used to follow a lot more. This post spoke to me most though about flipping the language because we often shape our feelings around a topic based on the words we use. The End of Shame and Stigma #NIAW #flipthescript

Favorite pics:

You can see more pictures on my Instagram.

Podcasts you might like:

I stick by Brain’s On and Last Podcast on the Left , but I’d be in the wrong if I didn’t tell you that I gave My Favorite Murder another chance and was pleasantly surprised by how much I like it now. I think what I like best is that while sometimes the sound of their voices grate on me, they have good messages to share. They own their mental health (and encourage others to do the same) and addiction struggles, encourage self acceptance, have a solid equality stance, give back to the community and several other positive things that escape me at the moment. I think what I appreciate the most is that they use their popular platform to do good things and embrace who they are.

Music to feed my soul:

Google played this. I forgot how much I love this song. There’s a really long set up and intro you can watch if you want, but I linked the song where it starts.

How about you? What good things do you have for April to share?

The Good Stuff: February and March

Tubing was cold but so much fun!

Life got away from me so how about a couple of months of The Good Stuff? Better late than never, right?

There’s a lot of crap out there. Crappy news, crappy people. Really crappy moments. I think it’s important to pay attention to the good things. Remember them and carry those with you or the bad things keep weighing you down.

Besides, when you look for the good things, you find more good things and maybe life isn’t quite so bad.

If it’s not your style (yet, because you can totally retrain your brain), I challenge you to find one good thing about today – even if it’s something tiny.

February and March were jam packed with great things even if it was a very stressful time. There was packing and moving, house closing stuff, snow storms, illness, Daddy-O’s surgery etc. All of the difficult moments were offset by many lovely moments too. Here’s a few from the time.

Moments to make me smile:

• Making use of the snow and tubing with the kids.
• Still having a good relationship with Frank so we can get stuff done and sorted without angst or fights.
• The Shark hand vac which has been named “BeatleJuice”
• Surprise b’day invites from you sisterfriend’s husband
• Gluten free chocolate cake surprise
• Hugs from my swim kiddos
• Solar powered, motion activated security light for the house
• Settling into a life together and the kids finding their groove
• Missing the pool here and there, but not as much as I thought I would (I do still miss my kiddos and co-workers though.)
• Daddy-o’s surgery going really well and laughs with his doctor and being able to take time off to help and be there for him.
• My niece following me on Instagram and messaging me
• Work presentations going well and easy travel
• Great chats, emails, snail mails and texts with my best girls
• Getting my hair cut off
• The local to me grocery store stocking coconut creamer and a decent gf selection
• Seeing fb posts from my swim kids parents about their successes in and out of the pool. I’m such a lucky duck these parents share.
• Running into old friends at the store
• Sharing Bucketfeet with others (Including N who got boxing t-rexes!)
• Giggling with N & E
• Snack drawer at work

Good reads:

• 10 Interesting Facts about Pies to Raise Your Pie-Q!
• What makes a joke funny? Worlds Funniest Joke According to Science
• Are gyms the new church?  The Consumerist Church of Fitness Classes
• I’m quite certain it wouldn’t be for me, but  polygamy fascinates me. Man and Wife and Wife: The Dark World of Polygamous Wedding Ceremonies
• I’m likely going to have to read the book about this The Secret History of Secret Societies
• Self care is really important and there’s no RIGHT way to do it. You do what you need to. This Is What ‘Self-Care’ REALLY Means, Because It’s Not All Salt Baths And Chocolate Cake

Favorite pics:

You can see more pictures on my Instagram.

Podcasts you might like:

I won’t lie, I listen to Last Podcast on the Left almost all of the time unless the kids are with me. Then I listen to Brain’s On.

Music to feed my soul:

BatGirl shared another song with me and it was fun, but this played right after and I love it!

This is an old favorite too…

How about you? What good things do you have for February and March to share?

The Good Stuff: January

It’s not often I feel pretty in a picture.
I did here

I meant to post this yesterday, but the day got away from me. Instead of a cup of coffee today, would you care to join me for The Good Stuff from January? Coffee is always one of the good things!

There’s a lot of crap out there. Crappy news, crappy people. Really crappy moments. I think it’s important to pay attention to the good things. Remember them and carry those with you or the bad things keep weighing you down.

Besides, when you look for the good things, you find more good things and maybe life isn’t quite so bad.

If it’s not your style (yet), I challenge you to find one good thing about today – even if it’s something tiny.

Moments to make me smile:

• Lovely human beings to share my life with
• Magic bean water
• The treadmill at the office gym (even if I don’t really LIKE running)
• Encouragement from unlikely sources
• App to talk to MJ while he’s gone
• Google to settle debates (like the rules for UNO)
• Being handy
• Amazon
• Finding a house we like and can rent
• One on one time with N & E
• People who understand complicated situations and have good insight into them
• Being adaptable
• House buyer finally getting approved and all of the sales contract items being met (now to get to closing)
• Su(e)shi dates
• Watching N play basketball

Good reads:

• Aly Raisman. You rock. How Aly Raisman’s Leadership Reformed Women’s Gymnastics
• This is heart breaking and inspiring She Was 11 When She Was Pregnant and Married, Now She Fights to End Child Marriage in the US.
• Are you a Chaos or Order Muppet? Interesting to think about Every Last One of Us Is a Chaos Muppet or an Order Muppet
• I’m a big fan of the Notorious RBG. Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s Take On the #MeToo Movement

And these books.

Favorite pics:

I love sharing work space with him.

Sammi is a good coffee date. 

I love this skirt. The birds make me happy.
So does the pizza I was waiting for.

I did it and didn’t die. (It being running)

Podcasts you might like:

I’ve been listening to a lot of My Dad Wrote a Porno, The Moth, and a Oprah Super Soul Conversation. More on them later.

Music to feed my soul:

This is really cute.

This one has a place in my heart.

This one’s been getting a lot of play. Thanks Boss Baby!

How about you? What good things do you have for January to share?