Happy

After last night's wallowing session I promised to do a happier post tonight, so here it is.  Today was actually a really good day.  A dear friend/angel called me this morning to ask about the storage unit and see if she could help.  I'm dreadfully tired of asking people for help, but she was so sweet and somewhat insistent.  We went to the storage unit place and found out that they screwed up with their advertising and aren't having an auction in June, so we actually had another month.  Notice they didn't let us know that particular bit of information.  But the good news remains that the storage unit is safe.  We are going to get our stuff out of there and close out our contract.  They have raised the rates 4 times in the last 2 years and our monthly fee has doubled, so we need to just to find room at home for everything.

Anyhoo, I was going to write tonight about my awesome friends anyway, this awesome friend just gave me one more reason.  I've been thinking that for all of it's crazy stressfullness, 2017 had been lovely in terms of catching up with friends.  I wrote a couple of weeks ago about the Camp/Author Friend being here for a visit and how wonderful it was to see her. I hadn't seen her in a couple of years.  In fact, we tend to hang out in June:  The last time she visited was in June, and the only time I have been to her house was in June.

A few weeks before that a friend from seminary was here for an overnight visit.  (Oh dear, she needs a nickname, and I've already used Seminary Friend...)  This particular friend is possibly one of the coolest people I know.  She's hilarious, smart, engaged, passionate, and since I've known her has lived in:  California, Washington, Ohio, New Mexico, England, Boston, Washington DC (twice), Niger, and is soon to move to Belgium.  Oh!  I will call her the World Traveler!  On a side note, I am from Montana and married a man from Ohio.  The World Traveler is from Ohio and married a man from Montana!  Really, it's just another reason to love her. I actually wrote a post about her visit, which I just now remembered.

In March (I think?  Hooray for Swiss Cheese Brain!) The Texas Friend was in the Bay Area with her significant other who was on a business trip.  I hadn't seen her in almost 7 years, since I went to Dallas for a visit in 2010.  She was the happiest I had ever seen her, which was really really great, and was a balm to my own heart.

Last week, I had a lovely Skype chat with The Coffee Friend who very sweetly agreed to be on my Bible Study Podcast.  I haven't seen her in person since 2006 when I was driving home from internship and spent the night with her and her husband in Wisconsin.  I'm so glad I got to chat with her and catch up.  It was the Sunday after that her beloved Labradoodle died, and I'm glad I got to talk to her before that.

I've said before that I have amazing friends, and 2017 has simply been more proof of that.  I am grateful to all of you who have loved and supported me even when I'm grumpy, depressed, freaking out, wallowing, whatever. 

Now, on to shoes!  I went to my handy-dandy ideas folder tonight and just chose a bunch that made me happy:

Today was Bring Your Dog to Work Day, so I had to include these.  They're Mary Janes!  Also, it's much easier to bring my dogs to work when I'm working from the home office...

I want a skirt in this fabric.  How could you not smile wearing this?

Dragonflies!!!

Those are mermaids, how funny and cute are these?

Overall these shoes are kind of scary, but I love the colors and the stripes.

I will also take a skirt out of this material, please.

Look!  A garden for your feet!

Thank you, my friends, for helping contribute to my happiness.  I hope I can do the same for you.

Brownies

What have I done?  I hadn't gotten my return plane ticket yet for a variety of reasons.  The hubby and I were talking today and I was looking at prices.  For the next week they are a decent price, and then they get really high over Christmas.  January 5th had the lowest price, and the hubby said, "why don't you just stay?  Take advantage of being able to hang out with your family for an extended period."  So, I now have a return ticket for January 5th.  On the one hand, yay!  Family time!  Niece snuggles!  On the other hand, massive guilt for leaving my husband alone for Thanksgiving, Christmas, AND New Year's.  I know it was his idea, and believe me, he wouldn't have said it if he didn't mean it, but I've been having really mixed emotions all day.  And I miss my puppies.  Oh, and I have no Christmas socks or earrings because I didn't pack any.  And Pedro only has his tux and his Thanksgiving shirt, so I can't dress him appropriately for the season.  (Also, yes, I know those last 2 things are completely inane, but this is how my brain works when I get weirded out and feel guilty about something)  I'm feeling very selfish at the moment.

OK, moving on.  Did you know that today was National Brownie Day?  Me either, until a few minutes ago, but I made brownies today!  It was cold in the house today and we had a box of brownie mix in the cupboard, so I figured I'd use the oven, warm up the house, and get chocolate all in one go.  Tonight's shoes are inspired by this happy coincidence:

I like them all.  Brownies are yummy.  I still have guilt.  Good night.

Introverting

I saw this shirt on Facebook recently, and I think I need it:

I definitely haven't been getting enough introvert time lately, so I thought I'd do a post about it and pretend.

Introverting definitely needs some snuggly wuggly slippers, in my opinion.  And yes, I just made introvert into a verb.

Bunny slippers are a classic for a reason.  I could wear these for more whimsical introvert times.

A good introvert activity is to hang out and watch movies, so themed slippers seem appropriate.  The Chewie slippers crack me up. I'm not sure I want to put my foot in Darth Vader's mouth, though.

Reading Harry Potter sounds like the perfect introvert activity.  I would need these slippers.

 Oooh, I definitely need these slippers!  And to listen to some Beatles while introverting and reading Harry Potter.

You know I love dragonflies, and I love the colors of these, but I want them to be more snuggly wuggly.  Maybe they are and they just don't look like it from the picture?  Not sure.  What I am sure of is that I need some slippers and a book and some Beatles and some puppy snuggles and a whole day of not talking to another person one day soon.  I should figure out how to accomplish that.

Babies Babies Babies

As I was contemplating last night's post and the funk therein, I realized another part of the general feeling of blah I've been having is babies. Not babies themselves, because it's not their fault I feel blah, just the idea of babies in general.  Of my friends on Facebook, that I can think of off the top of my head, I have:

• 1 friend who had a baby 2 months ago
• 2 friends who had babies 1 month ago
• 1 friend who had a baby 2 weeks
• 2 friends who are due in October
• 1 friend who is due in November
• 1 friend who is due in December 
• 1 friend who is due in January
• 1 friend who is due in February
• 1 friend who is due in May

Don't get me wrong, I am so very thrilled for all of these women and their babies and families.  Babies are awesome and I love them. Which is part of the problem.  That are a LOT of pictures of newborns and baby bumps and general baby cuteness/happiness that I am not a part of.  It adds to the funk is all I'm saying.

So in honor of that funk, and in order to both soothe and torture myself, today's post is baby shoes.

I love these.  So simple and sweet.

Look at the teeny tiny eyes on the strap!  At least I think they're eyes.  I've decided they're eyes regardless.

Sigh...I love dragonflies.

Nerdy baby shoes!  (sorry, Double A and Bean, I know you aren't a fan of DC...I'll find some Marvel shoes next time)

Back to simple and sweet.

Now.  Who has a baby they will let me snuggle for the next week-5 years?

Toes and Dragonflies

We had some friends call this morning saying they were going to be in our area and did we have time to get together?  We haven't seen them in several months, so it was nice to hang out.  They have a 2 1/2 year old foster son who is adorable and full of energy.  He liked playing with the dogs and watching the dragons.  So, counting today that's 3 weekends in a month that I've actually been social.  Pretty sure that's some kind of a record for me of late.  At any rate, it was nice to see them and hang out for a few hours.  Plus, they're the first people to come visit our new house since we moved in.

In other news, today is Wiggle Your Toes Day.  Since sandals tend to show off toes I decided to do that, and then ended up looking for dragonfly sandals.  

Blue, dragonfly, diamonds are my birthstone, damn thing between the toes.  3 out of 4 isn't bad, I guess?

 

This is really cute.  You know my beef with it.

How cute are these?  I should have had these for the wedding!

I see variations on this type of jewelry all the time when I'm searching, and there were a whole bunch of dragonfly examples tonight.  Would this be more or less annoying than the flip flop strap between the toes?  Also, are they adjustable, because it would be really uncomfortable if the top part wasn't long enough and kept pulling up on the toe.

 

Also cute.

I love the colors on these.

Regardless of what you're wearing on your feet go wiggle your toes in celebration of the day!

Tick Tock

The holidays website tells me that today is Biological Clock Day.  Huh.  Like a I need a specific day in April to remind me that my biological clock is ticking?  Nope.  The darn thing has been ticking VERY loudly for a VERY long time.  Motherhood is the one thing I have felt the most consistently called to do and the one thing I may never achieve.  I just turned 41, which in the baby world is old.  It's not impossible, but the risk factors are high and the chances of getting pregnant get lower all the time.  I would be open to adoption, but I'm not sure that will happen, either.  I try to be maternal in other ways like being a good auntie.  Unfortunately I think I'm more of an office mother sometimes than an office manager, which is probably weird for all of our employees.  I have classmates who are grandparents.  There are children I used to babysit who now have children of their own.  So I'm feeling a little sad tonight and will now pour salt in the wound by showing you baby shoes.  LOTS of baby shoes.  Some I've had in my ideas folder for awhile (I collect things I find as I'm looking for other things/themes) and some I found today when I went looking.  Believe me, I could have done way more.

So cute.  Sad that the Potential Baby may only ever be that, but it is what it is.

PS--before you (very kindly) tell me that I'm not old and you are older, I will remind you that most of you are already parents and/or grandparents, and telling me I'm not old isn't really the point in this case.  It's also not true in medical terms.  But thank you anyway.  I also understand that it has been my own choices that have led me to where I am today, and while I don't regret most of them, I do regret a few, and I do think I might change some things if I had the chance, but since I can't, I can admit that it's my own fault that I'm childless and not following that call.

Memory Lane: 2013. 2014.