365 Days of Postivity - Day 51

The best thing that I can say about today? At least I looked fabulous. Funny, right? Well, today did pretty much blow chunks, but let's see if I can pull something bright out of it...

One of my 10-YO's friends was baptized this morning, which is always a very moving, happy occasion.

The baseboards are cut and installed, just awaiting caulk and paint.

There! I found something worth mentioning...and just for the record I really did look fabulous ;)

365 Days of Postivity - Day 50

Today was FULL of positives.

First off, I finished my floor!

Secondly, Rice & Fig Fritatta, with mixed field greens & cheese-topped garlic bread!!

365 Days of Postivity - Day 49

Today I went back to volunteering at the library for the first time since December 1st. It felt WONDERFUL!

365 Days of Postivity - Day 48

Today's positives were:

Homemade whole wheat ciabatta. YUM!

I got 6 out of 10 boxes of laminate flooring laid in my bedroom. Goodbye gnarly carpet of my nightmares!

A really, really delicious vegetarian dinner to go with my homemade ciabatta. If it looks good to you, you can get the recipe on my friend Pren's blog, Convivial Crafter!

And, last but not least, Chocolate Mudslide coffee...because I was such a good girl!

365 Days of Postivity - Day 47

Today was DEMO DAY!!!! I know...the excitement leaps off the page, doesn't it? Heck YEAH I'm excited....do you know how cool demo is?

Of course I'm a little different than most people. My hubby ripped up all of the carpet, we tag-teamed the carpet tacks, I was the Master Staple Remover, we both swept up....THEN came the part I've been waiting for. I love, and I mean LOVE, cleaning under my carpets. To have the chance to get all the grime that is usually out of reach to me? Yeah, it really lights me up. Weird, huh?

365 Days of Postivity - Day 46

This evening one of my lifelong friends and her husband welcomed their first child into the world. 7 pounds, 7 ounces of beautiful soul and limitless potential. What could possibly be more positive then a brand new life?

To Shelly and Walt, congratulations and may your family be blessed with years of happiness. To one Mr. Dutch, give 'em heck kiddo!

365 Days of Positivity - Day 45

It's going to be 52 degrees today...and sunny until this afternoon. In other words...I get to go play in my flower beds and start cleaning them up for fresh mulch and spring sprouts!!!!!!!!!!!

Also, Happy Valentine's Day!!

365 Days of Positivity - Day 44

Today marked the end of my first week as an honest-to-goodness vegetarian, and to commemorate this occasion my body decided to thin itself down to the point that my "skinny" jeans...you know, the old-school skinny jeans that you can only wear one week out of the month...are now officially my comfortable, every day jeans.

Weight loss AND another necessary shopping spree? WIN, WIN, BABY!!

365 Days of Positivity - Day 43

Today my soon-to-be 11 year old son asked me to take him shopping for some new clothes. When we got to the store he, for the first time ever, chose his own clothing. It seems that his fashion icon is Billy Idol...so as you can imagine we chose a lot of black and red.

Today's positive? That I am lucky enough to have the Coolest. Kids. EVER! Oh, and also? I managed to make a huge progress leap on my newest design!!

Oh, hi! Remember me?

Yeah. My "Days of Positivity" kind of dropped off there. I still had them...pinky swear...I was just too consumed to post them!

Days of Positivity 22-41 all center around the hubby and my youngest son. You probably don't remember, but my hubby had foot surgery on January 7th. Well, my son had a reconstructive surgery done on this throat on January 25th. Almost 5 hours away from home. My time has been consumed with caring for them, catering to their needs (and a ton of their wants), and just focusing on getting them better. As you'd imagine, that's where ALL of my missing positives come from. Every step in the healing process, every tiny change, was a reconfirmation that I was doing my job, and doing it well. The hubby is now back to work, kiddo starts school back full-time on Monday (he went 1/2 days this week to ease himself back in), and life can start to resemble something normal like...for us, anyway.

Now to move on to Day of Positivity 42. That would be today. I woke up this morning with plans. I was going to get ready, do a little mandatory grocery shopping, take kiddo to Kohl's to buy him some new spring clothes while I had a good coupon, take him to lunch, and exchange a box of damaged laminate flooring that we just bought to put in our bedroom. Then I walked out of my bedroom and discovered the following:

1. I am, apparently, the ONLY person in this house that can put a dish in the freaking dishwasher.
2. My cats, angry that we were gone for another entire day, after just recently being gone for almost a week, decided to use the entire main portion of my house as their personal litter box. All the while ignoring their ACTUAL litter boxes.
3. No one, myself included, had bothered to pick up after themselves when we stumbled in at 11PM last night...leaving me with a State of Emergency in the living room, bedrooms, bathrooms, etc.
4. My hubby had decided to take MY vehicle to work, without discussing it with me first, effectively stranding me at home. I would've gladly allowed him to take it and changed my plans, but to take it without even discussing it with me? That sucks.

As you can imagine, I needed a M-A-J-O-R happy intervention...and I said as much on Twitter. Two of my tweeps came to my rescue, and completely salvaged my mood and day. Wanna see how?

So, to wrap things up here...as the house is STILL refusing to clean itself...UBER thanks to Kim & Sarah, for giving me today's positive...and rescuing my family from EVILJenn this evening!

Hugs & chocolate~

Jenn

365 Days of Positivity - Day 21

Today my hubby got his stitches taken out, and the go ahead to start weaning himself off of his crutches...A WEEK EARLIER THAN WE THOUGHT!!!

365 Days of Positivity - Day 20

Let's see...Thursday, again. Pizza night. The Big Bang Theory. Both positives, but I also got a GREAT deal on an oil change, and took my guys (sans for my college student who I won't see for a while) to see Tron! It was a GREAT day!!

365 Days of Positivity - Day 19

Day 19's positive? It's church night! I love my church family, and spending that hour on Wednesday with them really perks up the rest of my week!!

365 Days of Positivity - Day 18

Day 18 was one of those days where a positive is hard to come by. I felt pretty run down and crappy, thanks to an abundance of sinus congestion. I was so overtired that I couldn't rest. It was just a grumpy day.

In fact, it's taken me going over each step of my day to find a positive and, once I found it, it didn't seem to be a positive at first. You see, it rained all day. That was my positive. You probably think I'm nuts, stating that I was grumpy and then saying that the rainy day was my positive; but, there was a good reason for it! It's been a harsh winter for us, so far. We haven't, thank God, had FEET of snow to deal with, but we have had almost constant snowstorms...all with at least 4 inches of accumulation. West Virginia is very mountainous, so it's a lot harder to travel in snow here than it is somewhere relatively flat. The rain yesterday was beneficial. We have another snowstorm rolling in sometime between now and Friday, with an estimated 2-5 inches expected, and yesterday's rain managed to wash away the remnants of the last snow storm (mostly THICK ice) before it hit. As we're leaving Sunday for a trip to Cincinnati, and I'm doing all of the driving due to the hubby's driving foot being in a surgical boot, the less ice-under-snow I have to deal with, the better! I guess what I'm really saying is thank you, God, for having my back...even when I'm too grumpy to realize it at first!

365 Days of Positivity - Day 17

Day 17 brought with it something special. A complete stranger went out of her way to make something happen for me. Had this person not had compassion in her heart it would have set of a potentially disasterous chain of events. I'll meet her face-to-face on Thursday, and can't wait to thank her in person.

Another lesson has been learned: random acts of kindness take only a moment to give...but you NEVER know how much you're helping the person on the receiving end. So get over yourself, remember that there are much more important people than YOU in the world, and start helping others!

365 Days of Positivity - Day 16

What can I say about today that tops a trip to the mall, white chocolate macadamia cookies, and a trip to the parental's for Chinese take out? NOTHING, that's what!

365 Days of Positivity - Days 13,14&15

Day 13's positive was finding within myself the strength to push past my tiredness and accomplish something that I thought I couldn't. It was just something small, but the feeling was incredible! We've had a lot of snow and ice this year, so I spent over an hour and a half clearing two tracks down our gravel driveway down to the gravel. If you've ever shoveled snow you'll be thinking that this was easy...but I challenge to to deal with 4 inches of snow and 2 inches of ice under said snow, all with gravel underneath that has to stay on the driveway! It was one of the single most labor-intensive things I've ever had to do; but I persevered and it feels GREAT!

Day 14's positive was a reaffirmation that honesty really IS the best policy. We're leaving in a week to go to Cincinnati. My youngest child is having a pretty major surgery performed. Friday brought with it an invitation for a sleep-over at his best friend's house. My hubby and I both agreed that we had to say no - if our son would happen to fall ill or be injured this close to the surgery it would be cancelled - but had NO clue how to do it without hurting his mom's feelings. I forced myself to be forthright. I simply told her that we couldn't take a chance on him getting sick or hurt, and that he was pretty much under lock & key until he was recovered from his surgery. To my surprise she not only didn't get angry, she said that she's do the same thing! Lesson learned. Always go with the truth. ALWAYS.

Day 15's positive was a fun-filled evening of chili, baked potatoes, doughnuts, and Wii spent with my parents. My poor hubby has been so confined since his surgery, and was in desperate need of seeing faces other than people that lived with him. He asked me to invite my parents out for dinner, who were all too happy to oblige. We had an epic 100-Pin Bowling tournament - which my father won - ate, laughed and loved. It was a wonderful evening!

365 Days of Positivity - Day 12

Today's positive was a no-brainer for me. My hubby wrote me a little something to show his appreciation for me taking care of him after his surgery. It was so sweet, so touching, and just totally made my day.

Here it is:

Wife. What's It Mean To Me?

W is for all the wisdom that you share with the kids and I everyday to help us all in this everchanging world.

I is for all the inspiration you share with us daily.and also encourage us to have some ourselves.

F is for the many aspects, issues, and occasions in this life that you need faith.

E is for you are my everything.

Put them together you are my beatiful and inspiring, mean-the-world to me wife. Love you much.

365 Days of Positivity - Day 11

I had every intention of posting this last night, but my internet connection has been quite wonky due to the weather, and I had no interwebz...

My positive of the day is the fun I've been having with The Unofficial Harry Potter Cookbook. My parents got it for me for Christmas, and I've cooked 4-5 of the recipes already...all of which have been delicious! Last night I made the "Beef & 'Guiness' Stew for Kids" that is found on page 98. SO good on a snowy, cold night!!

I rarely recommend books to people, especially cookbooks, but if you're a Harry Potter fan that cooks even the tiniest bit you need to own this book!

365 Days of Positivity - Day 10

Today I discovered, after 3 long months of recovery, that my lungs are finally healed from their bout with pneumonia! To celebrate I made three trips up and down the hill in front of my house...in the cold air....on FOOT!!!