Happyness is...eating more fish

Have you seen these yummy graham cracker treats?

I am always looking for more ways to include fish in my diet. 

Happyness is..  Eating more fish. 

Happyness is... A sunrise walk with my puppy

I love the early morning light. We got to the park just after 6:00 am.  

Happyness is... A sunrise walk with my puppy. 

Happyness is... Kind graffiti

While visiting family in Oregon this week, I went for walks nearly every day in the woods. I tend to get incensed by graffiti.  

Purposeful destruction. 

Ugly. 

Marking of turf. 

Evidence of gang activity. 

Senseless. 

Graffiti ticks me off.  

That and litter.  

But I saw this graffiti in the woods and it actually made me smile.   

Kind words... In chalk. 

Happyness is... Kind Graffiti. 

Happyness is... A funny thing that makes me chuckle

Seems to me the signs I found in Oregon were particularly graphic and they made me chuckle. 

Happyness is... A good chuckle. 

Happyness is... A walk down memory lane

Visiting my mom and dad in Oregon. The house where I lived from age nine until I moved out during my college years. 

My body is on Colorado time so I get up early each day and go for long walks. Taking a new route each day...

Out the back door...

Down the street.  Oh, how I've always liked the look of the house on the bend of the road...

Past the Mayberry's house where I noticed this birdhouse with moss covered roof...

 

And I noticed these yellow beauties and Japanese maple in the house where Tony used to live...

And into the woods... Used to be called St. Mary's Woods and there was no system of trails. Now it is part if the Tualatin Hills Park District and a great place for walks as you can see. 

I loved how the light constantly changed throughout my walk. 

Me thinks this is fungus. 

Hello Mr. Slug. 

I took this photo forum mom because I know how much she likes slugs... Not!!!

Phew.  Found my way out of the woods. Easy to get a bit lost here. 

Almost home.  

Happyness is... A beautiful walk down memory lane. 

Happyness is... A visit with family

Silly family.  Say "cheeese!!!!

Reminds me of photos from an amusement park photo booth.

Happyness is... A visit with family who live too far away.  

Happyness is... Winning a Prize

Nearly every day, I read a blog called Cookie Madness.  This is Anna's blog and can be found at www.cookiemadness.net 

 

I love Anna's blog and have tried quite a few of her recipes... some savory and some sweet.  As you might imagine, most of the recipes are the sweet sort.  A little while back, Anna had a contest and I added a comment to the blog post to try to win the prize. 

 

 Today I found out that I actually won the prize.  How fun is that!?  I had to go back and look at the original post to see what the prizes are.

 

Happyness is... finding out you won a contest!  WooHoo! 

 

Maybe I should go buy a Lottery or Powerball Ticket?

Happyness is... French Toast

When I was a kid, we had French Toast with peanut butter and maple syrup. I still like it. Some things never change  

Happyness is... French Toast... just like I had it when I was a kid. 

Happyness is... An Early Morning Walk

We get to the park just after 6:00 am.

No leash required. We had the park to ourselves.

I thought she had a rock. Turns out it was old horse poop.

Happyness is... An early morning walk with your new best friend! 

Happyness is... Random Acts of Kindness

http://living.msn.com/life-inspired/25-random-acts-of-kindness

I was happy to stumble across this slide show on the Internet last week.  Click HERE to see it.
I hope you enjoy viewing the slide show as I did. The slides reminded me of lots of things that have happened this past week for for which I can be grateful.

The other day when I was at the grocery store, I found a clipped coupon someone had brought to the store. It was for a a particlar brand of eggs and I found the coupon lying on top of the carton of eggs. Apparently the Good Samaritan Coupon Clipper decided to NOT use the coupon afterall and left it on the shelf for someone like me to stumble upon. I took the coupon and used it for my eggs but next week I want to bring coupons and leave them on items I decide not to purchase. How fun is that?

My son and I drove to Pueblo for tennis tournaments on Thursday and Friday; he's been a licensed driver for just under 6 months. It pleased me him see him moving over into the left hand lane to allow merging traffic to safely merge. While in Pueblo, we went out to pizza and the waitress was not the best. But still I gave her a nice tip... because I remember being a waitress and I remember how great those tips were!

We have a new neighbor... a young single man with a young adopted son.  He just started a new job and he's not been able to landscape his front yard yet (it's in a bad state due to neglect from the previous owner).  The young homeowner doesn't have his own mower yet. Yesterday, my husband mowed the weeds in the neighbor's yard to clean it up a bit. While he was at it, my husband also cleared away some other yard debris.  I was proud of my hubby for doing that.

My neighbors routinely wheel our trash can up to our garage door after the trash has been picked up.  Our neighbors are all quite elderly; it's so sweet of them to do this for us!

Last week, I brought my homemade dog toys to work and gave them away to coworkers who have dogs... Mr. W, Ms. H, Mrs. W, Dr. K, and Dr. M.   Mr. W was so happy with the gift for his rottweiler that he sent me a photo so I could see his dog enjoying the toy!  For Ms. H, I made a dog toy and also a skid-proof mat for her doggies; she sent me a photo to show me how much she appreciated the homemade goodies.

Whether you are on on the "giving" end or the "receiving" end... Happyness is a Random Act of Kindness.

Happyness is... giving a well received gift

Make sure your sound is on for this video.

A little websurfing on the Internet gave me the idea for a homemade dog toy for my new pup, Sandy.  I wound up stitching up several of these toys using sewing machine, thread, fleece fabric, Velcro (hook and loop tape), and a "secret ingredient".  I have lots of friends with dogs so the extras will be gifts.

Initially this toy scared Sandy a bit, but she warmed up to it quickly.  It's a potentially noisy toy.  If one of her humans makes the toy "be noisy", she's not too pleased with that; if Sandy makes the toy "be noisy", it's all good.  As you watch the video, make sure your sound is on and try to guess the "secret ingredient" inside the toy.

As you can see, this dog toy is "Sandy Approved".  Did you guess the "secret ingredient" inside the fabric?

Give up?

It's a empty plastic water bottle with the lid removed.

If you are interested, here's a link for a tutorial on how to make these toys: Crackling Pillow Dog Toy

Happyness is giving a homemade gift which is VERY well received.

Happyness is... a roll in cool, damp grass

After a long, long car ride to bring Sandy home from the breeder, Sandy got to check out the big shady backyard.  The sprinklers were running when we got home.  We are pretty sure Sandy had not yet experienced a grassy lawn like this.

Happyness is a roll in cool, damp grass especially after a long car drive on a hot summer day.

Happyness is... bittersweet

Tiny handknit hat displayed on a brown egg.

About a year ago, I made and mailed this hat to an organization called "Calvin's Hats".

Calvin's Hats is a non-profit organization that distributes the tiniest of hats to families who have had little ones leave much too soon.  Their hats to go to hospitals across the United States

 and to individual families all over the world.

Today, I was so surprised to stumble across the same little hat when I was looking at Facebook. 

This is what I found:

This is a picture of Calvin's Hats that we received last year. The white hat on the left is for our daughter Seraphina Rose, her heart stopped beating at 14 weeks on Feb 23, 2012. The pink one in the middle is for our daughter Levitia Jane, we miscarried at 7 weeks with her on May 5, 2012. The hat on the right was warn by our daughter Edith Loranne when she was born still on Sept. 19, 2012 due to a cord accident at 20 weeks, the hand prints above are Edith's perfect hands we got to hold in ours. Our two older daughters here on earth looks at these hats everyday and pray to their little sisters. Thank you Calvin's Hats for all you do.


Happyness is learning that you provided a small amount of comfort to a family who has struggled so much.  

Happyness is... finding a friend in the fridge

 

On her first morning at her new home, Sandy was alarmed to find another puppy in the house!

She found "the other puppy" in the kitchen when she was exploring the area in front of the shiny black refrigerator.

 

Wouldn't you know, that same puppy is there every single morning?

 

I know I shouldn't encourage this barking, but this is just too cute.

Happyness is a playful puppy.

Happyness is... a Warm Puppy! Meet Sandy.

Meet Sandy.  The newest addition to our family!
Sandy is our new puppy (born April 21, 2013).  She's an Australian Labradoodle.
We brought her home on Monday, June 23, 2013.

Sleeping during the car ride.

 

 

This video was taken when we met with the breeder to pick up Sandy in Granby, Colorado.

Happyness is a Warm Puppy!