Smiling at the small stuff....

Have you ever been in the middle of doing something (usually something that needs to be done, but truthfully isn't all that exhilerating) and had a mini-epiphany that something you see all the time and that most people would find mundane, makes you smile? I realized this week that there are several of these types of phenomena in my life, so I thought I'd share a few with you....

1. Dish-Soap Bubbles.... About once a week (usually on pasta night when we use the giant pot that's just ridiculous to put in the dishwasher) I wash a dish in the sink. Having been raised in a home where we always had a dishwasher, I never learned the proper amount of dish-soap to use for just one big pot... This type of ignorance usually results in those tiny little bubbles that float up and out of the sink and seem to linger in front of your face, just to make you smile!

2. Reading... since I have finished school, I discovered that I have OODLES of time to read! I have been reading, nay, devouring books that had been sitting by my bed for MONTHS in the "I want to read it, so I bought it, even though I have about 50 other books by my bed that I haven't read" pile. Here's a short list of the books I've read in the last 5 months:

Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse, Breaking Dawn (those ones were easy, done in a weekend), I never promised you a rose garden, The Lord of the Rings (all three books in the "trilogy"), War and Peace (again), Eat, Pray, Love (again), Family: the ties that bind (and gag), In Our Defense, Until I Find You, The Full Collection of Robert Frost and Hamlet (again). I hope I get to the bottom of my pile some day... at this rate, it should take me.... about another year!

3. Ice crunching underneath your feet. I hate ice, and it's definitely not good for me to be walking on (see previous post re: my bad knees) but I LOVE the sound of ice just as it crunches under your feet. Whenever I hear that sound, I can't help thinking to myself "ha ha ha, take THAT winter!"

4. The face I get every night, when I get in bed, this I love most of all....

I'm not kidding, every night, this dog gets in bed (he sleeps with us... yes, the 99.7lb dobie sleeps with us) snuggles right up next to me and lays his nose directly across my chest. I am usually trying to read (see #2) and this annoys Hades, something fierce. So, he nuzzles his nose underneath my book and pushes it up, up, and away. He's usually not content until he hears me sigh, not-so-begrudgingly roll my eyes, place my bookmark in the pages and set the book aside for tomorrow. Then, he gives me this look and waits patiently for me to pet him.

Those, my dear friends, those are the small things that make me smile, all the time! What are yours?

And in not-so-recent news….

So... To recap the last few months I have a bunch of pictures... Also, work is going well, I still love my new job and am learning something new every day!!!

Craig (pictured on the right) is an AMAZING designer who works for 1-800 CONTACTS… Every year 1-800 does a Halloween Trunk-Or-Treat. At this last one, Craig put up this incredible spook-alley! It was really awesome! And because it was divided into "extra-spooky" and "not-so-spooky" Craig needed two different witches. He found his good witch easily enough but apparently could only think of me when it came to his scary witch… gee what a compliment! (Just kidding, I love dressing up like this for Halloween) So, even though I don't work there anymore, He called and asked if I would participate, I said that would be great!
Me and the "Good Witch" – I loved her tights!

Here are our pumpkins from this year… Jared isn't very into carving pumpkins, but I love it! Guess which one is Jareds?

And lastly for October… I just couldn't help doing this, even though I know it probably wasn't very fun for him….
November… aka Thanksgiving…
Jared and I had a BLAST in Idaho. We went up for Thanksgiving, two of his sisters live up there. Here Jared is dancing with one of our beautiful nieces!

My nephew Branden played piano while we cooked Thanksgiving dinner. I am amazed at how musical all of my nieces and nephews are, Branden is an especially accomplished pianist.

And of course, the Thanksgiving Day Nap!

The Great Spoons Tournament!

And Last but certainly not least… Christmas….
So, this first picture requires an explanation… About six months ago, while I was mopping our kitchen floor, my knee (the one I've already had surgery on) dislocated. No, I was not slipping, no I was not running, I was just standing… and out it went. So, I went to see a doctor at TOSH (The Orthopedic Specialty Hospital) who told me that I shouldn't walk anywhere more than 100 feet without wearing knee braces and that I should actually refrain entirely from running, skiing, tennis, basketball, hiking, soccer and soft/baseball. For those of you who don't know, I've had knee problems for 10+ years and had surgery on one to fix the constant dislocation issues I was having. During that first surgery, my surgeon noticed that I had scarring / osteoarthritis. So, when I saw the doctor at TOSH he said that although surgery is an option to fix the dislocation, nothing short of a complete knee replacement will fix the arthritis. The only thing that can help are pain meds and certain types of exercise to slow the spread / worsening of the arthritis, although nothing will make it improve, maintaining the damage that is already done is the best I can do… So… the doctor said that Swimming was better than an indoor bike, indoor bike was better than the elliptical, the elliptical is better than the treadmill, the treadmill is better than hard ground. SO… Jared got me an elliptical for Christmas… the rest of the pictures are pretty self-explanatory!

Here's my Grandma Ruth and Hades, I love that she was SO scared when we told her we were getting a Doberman, but now she just pats him on the head and calls him a "sweet dog!"

My nephew Ian and Hades, Ian LOVES Hades, he gives him hugs!

And for New Years, Jared and I stayed home and watched some movies, we just wanted to enjoy some time alone. But, my resolution is to lose some weight, use my elliptical at least 3x a week for 30 minutes each. And, a friend of mine (Kateka) had a wonderful blog post about all of her favorites and memories from 2009. One of the things she wrote about was things she was hopeful for in the new year…. I know it is depressing, but I am REALLY hoping that I won't have to go to a funeral this year. I've had at least 2 funerals a year for the last three years! I could really go a year without losing someone I care about… that would be nice. So… that's it… that's my long over-due blog post! Love you all and hope your holidays were great!