The Makings of a Happy Week

Sunday, January 11, 2026

I started journaling in a book called “52 Lists for Happiness”. I was planning on writing just once a week in it, but it was fun and quick, so perhaps I can squeeze it in daily. Here was today’s list. It is not in any order of importance, but it is in the order that it came to mind, most likely based on my things that I experience most often.

Things that Make Me Happy Right Now.

• Being home (retired and not going out a lot)
• Having my dogs near me
• Good food
• Good wine
• My spouse’s love and taking care of us and our home
• A good devo
• A good night’s sleep
• Farmville 2 – the revised one
• Watching favorite shows
• Writing
• Blogging
• Vlogging
• Being creative
• Planning/Organizing
• Reading
• Shopping
• Traveling to a new destination
• Being with family
• Seeing friends
• Eating out at a new place
• Working a puzzle
• Being on the ocean or lake
• Being beside an ocean or lake
• Beautiful views
• Pretty flowers
• Decorating
• Perfect weather for the situation
• Cozy vibes/feelings
• Good coffee
• Mornings on the couch with George, Dexter, and Maddie
• Sometimes Cooking
• A freezer full of food

I’m sure I’ll think of a hundred more but that was fun. The book suggested on taking one of these and making it a daily practice of happiness. Well, now, I already did that with the ability to do most of this in a week – give or take the beach and family as that is not every week- but we do pretty good. lol. We are blessed and have numerous reasons to be happy, grateful, and blessed.

Tuesday, January 13, 2026

So I didn’t take the time yesterday to blog any. Monday’s seem to be the day to do the “heaviest lifting”. At the end of each week I usually toss off any office like or administrative desk things to the first of the next week. I supposed it’s just ingrained in my being to be that way. After all school was always Monday through Friday and so was work.

Monday is when I start the new “housecleaning routine” for the weekly stuff. I’m not perfect at it, as right now I’m thinking that I began the new laundry week but I totally forgot to spritz up the bathroom, so usually I will think of it – mainly after I notice and say hey it’s kinda messy in here.

So I also have my Weekly YouTube meeting with myself, spending time in the “back office” analyzing, getting ideas, checking performances and analytics. I was happy to discover and use the AI functions embedded in my back office to help me do that. I’ve seen it there, but never had time to get all involved in it until I made the time. And I’ve discovered it’s quite useful and makes me feel like YouTube is more of a friend than foe. It actually told me what was doing well with my video and channel and what might help or work in the future.

For some time YouTube has been this “beast” to grapple with – being a force that is always against me and never letting me out there and punishing me with each video. It’s easy to feel that way at times. I am sensitive and so to me, to not let me through, means that it’s not being nice to me. That is just the way my brain works. It’s kinda like “if you aren’t for me, you are automatically against me”. So I grapple. And so I have a Grapple Meeting with myself every Monday and I did that yesterday.

I also took a VERY long deep dive into the Chronological Bible introductory section yesterday. I actually started it last week but now I’m doing it every other day. I was amazed when I looked at the timeline that was put together. It compared the Bible timeline to inventions and non-Biblical important dates. I took some time to really study this and think it through. It was exciting to see how some historical events matched up in time to biblical events. I’ve never ever thought of these things in my head as one timeline. It’s hard to explain but the Bible times just seemed so long ago that I thought the timelines were as follows: The Bible Times happened and then Normal Times happened. I think of the Bible times as not having dates at all I guess but it’s not true. Somewhere past the Ark and the Flood, things began to be dated because in 2500 BC (that’s approximately 2500 years before Christ) paper (papyrus) was used to write on.

Here’s some interesting discoveries I made from the timelines yesterday, that I just have to share.

Just skip on and read the next part if you aren’t interesting the timelines, but it’s kinda cool, if you ask me.

• The first dated event in the Bible that I noticed on the timeline was 2166 BC when Abraham was born. So in 2500 BC is when they starting writing on papyrus. That was many years before Abraham was born so my guess is that THEN is when dates and events began to be tracked and kept for further generations. (Notice that BC – before Christ – the years count down instead of up.)
• Gold began being imported by Egyptians from Africa in 2400 BC and that was before Abraham’s birth.
• Spoked wheels were invented in 1900 BC just before Joseph was sold into slavery in 1896 BC. Why did I think that people in Biblical times didn’t have spoked wheels? lol
• Metal working in South America began in 1440 BC about the time the Ten Commandments were given. This blows my mind. Like I didn’t even know that people were IN South America at the time the Ten Commandments were given. What?
• Silk fabrics were manufactured in China in 1250 BC along about the time that Deborah becomes Israel’s judge in Bible times. That’s pretty cool.
• Mayans settle in Yucatan Peninsula in 1,000 BC about the time that David became King of Israel in 1000 BC. (I’ve actually been to the Yucatan Peninsula and read a personal biographical account of someone that was an archaeologist studying and excavating the Mayan ruins. All very interesting to me.)
• Native Americans in California build wood-reed houses just 3 years before David sins with Bathsheba. Again, it seemed like no one would have been in CA back at that time. My mind has had no clue all these years -of the concept of time.
• Gold vessels and gold jewelry became popular in Northern Europe in 950 BC and that was just 10 years after Solomon completed the temple.
• The 1st Olympics was in 776 BC and Jonah’s ministry started before that in 793 BC.
• The 1st musical notations were in Greece in 750 BC right before Isaiah’s ministry in 740 BC. So they were writing/composing music then.
• Pythagoras, the Greek philosopher and mathematician was born in 582 BC right after Babylon destroyed Jerusalem in 586 BC.
• Gautama Buddha founded Buddhism was born in India in 563 BC. Aesop Fables written in 560 BC. Confucious born in China in 551 BC – all this alongside 562 BC King Nebuchadnezzar dies and 553 BC was Daniel’s first VISION.
• Horseback Postal service began in the Persian empire 540 BC along about the time Daniel was thrown to the lion’s den in 539 BC.

See how interesting it is to see things developing in society and matching it up time-wise to what we know of in the Bible. It’s fascinating to me.

So other things I did yesterday was to work on Mom’s property tax vouchers for her discounts. I finally figured it out and today I just need to copy her tax forms for 2024 to mail with them. And she will sign them on Wednesday and I’ll copy the voucher and get it all in the mail by the next day.

I have on the agenda this week to get a PO Box at the post office so I can do what I need to do with YouTube and be able to give out an address. Then I can do business correspondence and be able to be paid by check if a business wants to do it that way and receive business mail and even channel members will be able to send mail if they would like. That would be cheerful to receive letters and cards. I would acknowledge the people on the channel by first name and location by state or country, but wouldn’t expose what they said or who they were. That would be so cool. I’m excited about the PO Box. And then I will be able to hit the button on allowing sponsorships. And I’m kinda scared to death but we’ll see where it all leads, because it is one way I can help us to pay for my hobbies, the costs of YouTube and equipment and software and possibly help with insurance. It seems irresponsible of me not to do this at this point since I’m already doing the videos and have the capability to get reimbursed and help out with expenses. I said I’d give it a year and we’ll see. If the stress is too much I’ll either back off or stop doing sponsorships. I spend way too much time on YouTube to only get the dollars from the Ads they run. Being monetized has helped but it doesn’t cover the time spent and what we need it to cover right now.

Well I need to put up my Winter Decor, just getting in advance of needing to do a deep clean and putting out the normal decor. If I do a little each day it’s manageable. The life group comes over Sunday Jan 25th. So I’ll be working on that little party. I need to figure out the table – like settings, etc. I have some ideas. Trying to use what I have and not buy new things, but I would like for it to be special. So we’ll see. The next holiday is Valentine’s but I don’t have a lot of red.

Ok I’ve typed enough for today. Need to keep the day flowing. Need to do my treadmill and finish a video.

Wednesday, January 14

So yesterday, sometime after I left the blog entry, I got online and checked out PO Box prices for my channel. I didn’t realize you could reserve one online. So I was able to go ahead and get one and pay for it for the quarter. And so all I have to do now is go to the post office and get the key, after I show them my registration, my license and proof of address. So I have everything ready and will do that tomorrow or Friday. I am so pleased! Soon I can start getting mail and will have a “business address” for the channel.

Today we took Mom to get a perm, went to Buff City Soap and got my laundry detergent refill and got a bath soap and a bath steamer. One was for my birthday and the other is because I have a free gift every month because I bought enough in Dec (for gifts) to get that deal. It just happened to work out that way. And I’m excited because I love their laundry detergent. I was excited to share that this year. My sister got me started on it as she gave it to me as a present the year before.

While Mom was getting her perm, we also went to a thrift shop and also to Good Will in Lebanon, where I bought 3 tops, and some white “chargers” for the table. When Mom got through, we went to the Dollar General that was close by. Mom needed some things in there. I found some Christmas Boxes that were 70% off. I bought two sets of boxes and they were just 66 cents. I should have bought more. lol. I usually have to buy a couple of sets each year if not more because boxes are made so thin now they don’t last as long.

Then we went to Angelo’s and had Italian spaghetti made the real way. They are from the New York area I think. But have Italian heritage. We love eating there. You can tell they have the Joysey accent (Jersey). I love it! So she (the owner) told me that her husband’s cousin is Tony (Walnuts) from the Soprano’s and they had the Soprano’s cast on the wall. So interesting. She had a pic of her and Tony Bennett on the wall as well. The spaghetti is wonderful. Mom paid for our meal as it was my birthday meal from her.

Mom and I had a cannoli and I got an Espresso because the cups were so cute – and it was my birthday. So the husband (also owner) made the espresso for me and then told me the little cups were his grandmother’s, who I think he said had them in her own restaurant. I hope I got the details right. But regardless – they were his grandmother’s and they were dainty and cute with gold around them.

I loved it. It was a special lunch that I will treasure always. I think it is our 3rd time there and it’s like eating at a good friend’s house for lunch – in a way. The owners love to meet people and talk. We always have such a good time there. It’s in Lebanon close to the square. George always gets a sandwich there and says it’s the best he’s ever had. They put TONS of meat on there. It’s impressive.

Also today, I did a load of laundry, and had Mom sign off on her tax discount vouchers for her property taxes. I have a copy of her 2024 taxes attached and made a copy of the signed vouchers and envelopes addressed. So when I pick up the key to my PO Box I’ll mail those off for her. Then soon I will actually pay the property taxes.

It’s almost 10 p.m. and I think I’m still wired from the Espresso and it was such a tiny thing, lol. But oh so good.

The cold air has arrived and Little Bit is in the basement.

I have my video subject matter all figured out through the end of February.

We are about to start getting ready for company – our life group is at our house the last Sunday in January. That’s about a week and a half away.

I’m also ready to start working on some of my hobbies in the New Year.

Oops I must be tired as I’m starting to write and think in bullet points instead of paragraphs.

And I’m proud of myself for getting off to a pretty good start to the new year. I’ve been able to work on projects, do video editing, vlog videos, and work on my To Do Lists, keep the kitchen up – or pitch in with it a lot more, get the laundry done and much of the daily house work. I’ve also been able to write more, play Farmville2 and blog more. I wasn’t able to conquer all that last year. So I think I’m more used to retirement, have less scheduled for myself, am in a routine more with YouTube, and also have Excel and Outlook which tremendously speeds up my ability to work on things, as well as the GoodNotes app on my iPad. I have more brainstorming and analytical sessions with myself. lol.

Ok just wanted to leave an entry today so I did not forget how wonderful the day was. I failed to say that after I did some critical things this afternoon (folding laundry, and getting Mom’s tax forms addressed) I played Farmville2 – 2 rounds, maybe 3, and watched several shows. It was really nice! Ok over and out.

Friday, January 16

I didn’t get a blog entry done yesterday. I was home all day, but very busy. Laundry, post office run. Mailed Mom’s tax forms. Yay. Got my PO Box key. Cleaned the kitchen (twice at least). I opened up my stand mixer and got it on the counter. Hoping to have a round of fun with it next week if all goes well. I may actually make biscuits first, lol. I am craving a homemade biscuit with peanut butter and jelly on it.

I also started vlogging two different vlogs yesterday. I’m vlogging about our getting ready for company and also vlogging about my hobbies in retirement. Since the two things are happening over a two week span simultaneously, I figured I needed to just keep them going and filmed simultaneously. That way I can film as it naturally happens with each subject matter and not have to rush both of them in two different weeks. Not sure if that made sense or not. But I know what I mean, lol.

I also cooked dinner last night – chicken breasts, broccoli, and carrots. It turned out pretty good. I think I might be an ok cook now (lol), because I have the flavors down and if I’m not sure I just ask Chet for his advice. Last night I told Chet how I was fixing the carrots and asked if I needed to add anything else and he told me I was doing a fine job and had it all figured out and gave me an option which I did not choose. It was cinnamon I think and I didn’t want that in there.

Also I cannot remember all the things I did besides the normal stuff like walking on treadmill, doing devo, World Bible School, Farmville2, reading The Tenant by Frieda McFadden, taking the dogs out, checking on Mom. It was just busy.

Today was busy too. I had Magi Box packing at 10. I went to Tim Horton’s for breakfast (drive thru) and to BP to get gas beforehand. We have had a lot of us packing. And we got a lot packed. I absolutely love packing these boxes. Just going around in an assembly line packing them full of goodies. It’s the most organized thing. And I get a lot of joy packing them and imagining the child opening them. I try to coordinate the colors as much as possible. If the clothes are blue I try to pick “blue items” for the box if there are options like that. The main things is giving them one of each of what is laid out, and the right kind of toys for their age group, etc.

I had to do my devo, World Bible School, and Farmville2 when I got home. I fixed a huge chicken salad (chicken from a can), a chopped up green apple, walnuts, mayo, apple cider vinegar, lots of black pepper, a little dijon mustard (to cut back on using so much mayo). It was really good and tasty. Hit the spot.

Also I washed my sheets and put them back on the bed. I started going thru emails but didn’t finish. I did some training on YouTube for sponsorships and affiliates and what prices you charge and how it flows, etc. I need to watch a few more things and tweak a few more things before I “hit the button”. But it’s all coming together. I seriously looked at an offer than came along in email but decided against it after doing some research. I’ve been getting a lot of emails for collaborative things but most don’t really look interesting to me to work with.

And then I talked to Mom and dinner was ready. George fixed lamb and we opened a bottle of red wine. I had to throw a bunch of cleaning off until tomorrow – things like bleaching counters, cleaning the microwave, and wiping down the stainless steel appliances, and bleaching the trash can. But it’ll be done eventually. I just ran out of day.

And I wanted to get this posted tonight as my video goes life tomorrow and I promised I would post blogs on Friday’s. But it’s just been busy rolling from one to do item to the next, or reading or Farmville2. That keeps me busy too, lol.

I’m really enjoying myself this year. It’s a fun busy because I’m finally allowing myself to stop and smell the coffee. 😉

Nite Nite