Stories with Sophie

It's been a week.  I let things (that really shouldn't have) control my mood and attitude for several days. I don't like myself very well when that happens. Besides crying and wallowing in a mood, keeping track of JOYful moments help me remember that the whole week didn't suck. First, is Joe , our neighbor, who we hire to blow out the main part of our driveway when the snow is just too much to handle. Sunday was one of those days. And not only did he do our main part, he also did all the little widening things that my husband does. After two days of being snowed in, it was wonderful to just be able to leave the house instead of finishing up the driveway. We went for brunch, by the way. And is there anything better than Sunday brunch ? And Mike's scotcheroos , which are a blog post all by themselves.  You'll have to trust me on that. And then there's Kerigan. Her freshman year in high school she went by my room and told m

Paula Borque shared an article on the #100daysofnotebooking Facebook page the other day. It just resonated with me. It was called "What Kurt Vonnegut Taught Us About the Science of Happiness. The article tells us that our brains are like velcro with bad experiences and Teflon for the good. We simply don't acknowledge the little things that make us happy and think about them long enough for them to stick in our brains. We need to pay attention to the things that make us happy. And that is why I've been celebrating moments in my life for a few years now. It's the little things that really make me happy, and it's the little things I want to remember. And I almost forgot to write this blog post today. But here I am. Writing about the moments where I said, "If this isn't nice, I don't know what is." 1. I subbed in an English classroom this week. Always nice to feel at home in someone else's classroom. I even book talked a couple of

Now that I've started Friday Favorites again, I sure am paying attention to the little things that make me happy. Thanks to Michelle and #100daysofnotebooking for getting me started again! 1. I truly love subbing. I get to meet so many great kids and work in such a variety of environments. It's the perfect job for the "in-between" of working full time and not working at all. Some of my favorite "jobs" have been for special ed teachers. I love that usually they have small groups of kids and I can spend time getting to know them.  I feel like I am really doing more than babysitting. 2. But some days, it's nice NOT to get a call. And this lets me get lots of things done. Monday I spent the day cleaning--really cleaning--our house. It brings me a little bit of JOY when I sit back at the end of the day and everything looks nice and smells good. 3. Thursday I didn't get a call, so I decided it was a good day to paint my closet. It's the

A long, long time ago ( 2013 to be exact ) in a blogging world far, far away ( not so far, really, just not visited lately ), I would celebrate my week with Friday Favorites They were little things that made me smile during the week or things I really liked. I decided to bring it back. I ranted in my notebook this morning and decided I needed to acknowledge some little things that brought some MAGIC to my life. 1. First of all. My OLW. I love it this year.  MAGIC   It reminds me of A L O H A--  something fun and whimsical that brings back great memories and reminds me to keep enjoy life like I enjoyed vacation. 2. I shared yesterday's notebook pages on Twitter and tagged our district in it. They appreciated my humor. But this tweet from Roomie made my day. It's nice to know I can still contribute. 3.  We had a great Christmas with family. One was quiet and peaceful, the other loud and chaotic. We loved them both. 4. Greg and I spent a quiet New Year&#