Bestest Friend and I are doing a blog project. Each day we will write a blog post on a pre-determined theme chosen by a random noun generator. The theme for the sixteenth day of the month is "Instruction."
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As part of my "to be happy, you must seek out happiness," I spent yesterday looking for joy in the everyday. Here are my ten happy things. So many of them have to do with the mail. What can I say? I am who I am.
1. There is one trash can on our regular morning walking route. It is by the middle school, but maintenance doesn't check it much during the summer, so it's been full for the last few weeks. This morning, in what I can only imagine is an effort to get the place looking spiffy for when students start showing up, the can had been emptied and fitted with a new liner. Trash cans are maybe more important for dog walkers than other people.
2. The smell of my shower oil.
3. This thank you letter from my nephew that we got in the mail today.
4. This postcard that Jenny sent me in the mail.
5. Going for a run on a lovely, unseasonably cool day. It wasn't a great run (I don't have any endurance and my right hip is a problem whenever I run, which probably indicates there's something wrong with my gait, but I don't want to diagnosis this problem any further), but it was so nice to be outside and moving my body.
6. They came and took down the Great Leaning Blue Spruce of 2023 today. Yes, there's a big hole in our yard now, but the tree won't fall down on our house.
7. Putting a birthday card in the mail for a friend.
8. Our beautiful public library. It was lit up so wonderfully on our walk.
9. This face.
10. This face.
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What's a mundane thing bringing you joy today?
I love getting mail! I always send post cards when I am traveling, as I think it is such a fun way to give someone a nice "hug" and it is like a journal of where you have been to boot!
ReplyDeleteIt is still early, but my mundane thing would be having a nice coffee and reading blogs. I love starting my morning with a little caffeine and connections!
Love this post, Engie. You know I'm always up for some #joyspotting and "happy things."
ReplyDeleteCoffee was definitely a lovely start to my day. But maybe the most "mundane" thing so far this morning was the fact my son randomly grabbed some photobooks off the shelf and started looking at those. It was so fun to look back into time and see all the happy memories of things we've done. Also, so many gap-toothed smiles from lost teeth made an appearance and that really made me smile.
Getting (snail) mail is one of the true joys of life.
Yes, only dog walkers can understand the importance of trashcans. There was a can in our neighborhood park that got ignored for a good stretch of time last winter. It was entertaining to speculate on how long it would be ignored and how long people would keep using it. And then one day it was magically empty again.
ReplyDeleteLove the term Joyspotting! Thanks, Elisabeth.
ReplyDeleteRight now, I'm incredibly happy about finally being able to turn off the airconditioner and open all the windows! Dry air has moved in and the rain is gone (for now). It's going to be a beautiful day. And this morning, while I was putting out peanuts for my blue jays, Sterling the husky was being walked across the street. He saw me, and he came to a dead stop, and I swear he smiled at me!
(I see Zelda is still camped out in Hannah's crate. LOL. That satisfied smirk.)
I think I first heard that term from Ingrid Fetell Lee and I've been running with it ever since. It just sounds so...happy!
DeleteI like your shower oil scent, too. My mundane happiness is wearing some new Birks with aqua leather straps. My toesies with the pale pink nails look cute in them.
ReplyDeleteOh, the joy of new shoes. It's really singular.
DeleteI love kid mail! The best kind.
ReplyDeleteMy happiness this morning is that I'm getting a shower door put in! No more sneak attacks by the shower curtain, grabbing onto my leg. I am not loving the noise involved, but it's for a good cause (I keep telling myself).
Ha! I have never actually had a shower curtain attack my leg, but I could see how you would want that to stop ASAP!
DeleteAh, you got the postcard! It was almost comical how complicated it was to get that sent, including getting my son to stop at a post office (he would never, EVER send anything by regular mail so he thought I was insane.) I hope you didn't read it and say 'Huh? Parkway? What in the world is she talking about?" It was in response to your post about what to call the stretch of grass between the street and sidewalk. That was when I had no wifi and could post a comment on your blog!
ReplyDeleteAnyway... the thing brining me joy today is FINALLY getting our reverse osmosis system re-installed after getting the new sink. Our tap water is not very good here, so we've been getting bottles of water to use for drinking and it was very inconvenient. I realize I sound incredibly spoiled- bottled water? Reverse osmosis? Just drink out of the tap for God's sake! No, we must have our purified water!
I get the water thing! We have super hard water (it's a river town) and while it is technically potable, it is not nice to drink without being filtered! You don't sound spoiled - water is important and it has to be right.
DeleteI am finding joy in posts like this! Congrats on getting rid of the killer tree!!!! What a relief, right?!
ReplyDeleteIt's SO nice not to have to worry about a freak storm coming through. It also opens that area up so we can do a bit more maintenance on the greenery in that area.
DeleteI love mundane happy things! I am back at my favorite Starbucks this morning and that brings me joy. 🖤
ReplyDeleteYay! Time in a coffee shop is always so nice to have.
DeleteI love the mundane things! They make for great joys. My younger son drove me to the farmer's market yesterday, and I got some amazing local cherries, plums, and peaches.
ReplyDeleteI'm drooling thinking about how good that fruit must be. I hope you made something delicious with it!
DeleteShade is my mundane happiness today. The sun is blazing hot, but in the shade there is actually a nice breeze and it makes being outside quite perfect.
ReplyDeleteIs there anything more inviting and full of possibilities than a library lit from the inside?
Our library is so lovely and I do think it looks lovely and inviting in the day and at night. We're lucky to have such a top notch library in our community.
DeleteWhat a wonderful, uplifting post! I want to take one week and just accumulate one mundane happiness picture per day. Yesterday my mundane happiness was... smelling fresh paint after I painted my pantry (never been painted from what we know). Today... Taking 30 minutes to do yoga with Adrienne on YouTube.
ReplyDeleteYes! I'd love to see what a week of mundane happiness looks like for you! Very different from this list, I'd expect.
DeleteI love reading your list! And also love snail mail :D I am glad you got out for a run in the cool weather and could enjoy it despite your hip!
ReplyDeleteI love seeing the fur babies!
My height adjustable desk is still bringing me a lot of mundane joy!
Oh, I love a good standing desk! I'm glad you love yours.
DeleteYES-- non-stinky dog walk trashcans are SO nice. Our neighborhood has 2 little dog waste collection stations that the HOA maintains, and in summer you can smell them up the block--blech.
ReplyDeleteI always laugh because the trash cans in our town are like 50% dog waste and 50% McDonald's trash and it must be super frustrating for the city workers to empty them. They do smell when they're not emptied regularly and it's super gross. Sometimes I'd rather just carry the dog waste back home with me rather than deal with the smell.
DeleteThat's such a pretty postcard! I love getting postcards in the mail from friends when they're traveling, and it reminds me that I need to do that more myself!
ReplyDeleteMundane things bringing me happy this morning: a hot shower, iced coffee, and Lila snuggles this morning. <3
Kitty snuggles are exactly the right way to start the morning! Go Lila!
DeleteYour library looks good. Ours is a very squat building.
ReplyDeleteMail is really delightful. We don't receive much fun mail so it's extra exciting when we do. I was thinking we'd get Paul's class assignment via mail so have been excitedly checking the mail every day but it turns out the info is coming via mail. Womp womp.
ReplyDeleteLet's see - something mundane that made me happy was ordering the DQ cake for Phil's birthday on Sunday. I asked that they put happy birthday Phil and that the cake have a cat on it. I can't wait to see what they come up with! Nothing like asking for the cat on the cake for a 42yo man! But he is loud and proud about his love of cats so everyone will get a kick out of the cake.
Oh, I do hope we get to see a photo of this cake! I bet the cake decorators do an awesome job of it!
DeleteI used to use the Almond Shower Oil from L'Occitane and can attest to its wonderful smell!
ReplyDeleteThat's a lovely postcard that Jenny sent you from Texas - frameworthy! :)
And this wasn't me commenting if I didn't tell you that I am excited for your trail run! That looks lovely.
A mundane thing that's been making me happy? Facetime with my family.
Oh, mundane happy things make me happy by proxy. Thanks. :) The trash can issues are for real - there's one along the trail near me that got that way during lockdown. It got to the "truly disgusting, cross the street to avoid" phase before being emptied. Bleargh.
ReplyDeleteAlso, Hannah. And Zelda. <3