Happiness is...

...being a Puppy

...if you're a little boy. :) Which reminds me of a story I've (possibly) told before.
Summertime, big family gathering. Sister 1 and Sister 2 each have little boys about the same age. Sister 1's little boy is potty trained; Sister 2's little boy is not potty trained. The 2 little boys are playing together and both run up to Little Boy 1's mom (Sister 1). Little Boy 1 says 'Mom, I have to tinkle' (use your imagination- shouldn't be too hard). Sister 1 thinks- Aha! I'll take Little Boy 2 along and we can show him how it's done! Off they go to a shrub (or tree...or something). Little Boy 1 takes care of his business. Little Boy 2 is watching with BIG eyes. Auntie- Is he a puppy? teehee Those 'little boys' must be about 17 or 18 now. 

...having a cat who loves (?) appreciates (?) acknowledges/accepts you; soaks up your affection.... or at least deigns to sleep on your sofa. ;)

I'm not kidding. I love this cat. She lives in the town of Ostroh, near the apartment I frequented in February. We'd come home after having been gone an hour or all day or 3 days...and she'd be waiting for us; jump up, meow in the most questioning way and run to the door, meowing...and run into the apartment ahead of us, heading for her favorite spot on the sofa, in the sun. And because we're such softies, we let her spend the night. Who knows what kind of life she led when we weren't around... must be tiring because she'd be in the exact same spot and position the next morning.... and also ready to leave and take care of business the cat way. ;)
 

... a for real toilet. (I'm not kidding.) See this one? The seat is attached. Affixed. Won't slide. Won't come off. Oh Hurray.

 Also there's a lid. I'm telling you, we are uptown, we are! (I'll bet you wish I had a pic of what we had before this one, don't you? Well, subtract the lid and imagine an unattached 'floating' seat. You really don't need a pic. Trust me. And trust me that this is a thing of beauty. 

(And did I ever tell you my other throne story? As in the throne that occupies the smallest room in the house? *throat clearing noises* Well, Once upon a time, Little T and I moved into an apt that had no furniture and just barely had a toilet. As in No seat, never mind lid. Just the ceramic base...and wherewith to flush. We move in. The landlords are there, all pleased and happy. Oh- You don't have a TV, they say. We'll bring you one. We have one we don't need. We'll bring it right over.
T and I look at each other. You know what we'd like more than a TV, we say? A toilet seat.
WHAT?! They say. Listen, if you want a toilet seat, go to the bazaar, get a cheap one and when you leave take it with you. They're not expensive.
I am NOT hauling my own toilet seat around Ukraine, I say. We'd like you to get one (it can be cheap, no worries) and we'll leave it when we move out.
And they did.
And we were TV-less and happy.

.... darling little nieces who grow up WAYYY too fast but are adorable along the way. Oh My Little B... you do thumpy things to me heart.

 .... this mouse catcher is pretty warm-fuzzy feelings inspiring, too.

This one is quite possibly my favorite of all... as far as cats, go, anyway.

...this duvet cover. I got to be with it again for the month of February. It just.... makes me happy. 

 ...this chocolate. A touch of salt in/on it.
Break it into pieces and put into a teflon-coated small pot with milk. Heat until the chocolate's melted and it's all mixed together nicely. Add hot red pepper to taste. Drink it.
It Is So Delicious. It warms your tummy-tum-tum in the most cozy way.
The real stuff is made with hot pepper syrup but...that I've never seen in a store. 

....and of course- Happiness is when your friend who had cancer and zoomed home 2 years ago for chemo and radiation and the works comes back, healthy and happy and raring to go!! Welcome back, Little T!

Yum

One little tiny reason to love this time of year a great big lot!

Smile!

This is Fenya. We see him nearly every Friday and he is a real sweetheart. 

25cents if you can tell me what's coming next...

And then I had to stop taking pix and go chase him off... ;)

Slow Cooker Granola (and a few other things)- so many reasons to grin!

About a month ago, someone gave us a crock-pot. Really and truly. We were grinning so big we couldn't see to walk. No kidding.

It works great for baked beans.

It works great for soup.

And today, I'm finding out if it also works great for granola (click here for the recipe I modified) (I'm thinking it will). 

I can't stop grinning! :)

The heat's on. Yes. We have heat. As of last Wednesday...so- about 10 days already. 

The little hut in the courtyard of our cluster of apartment buildings has a wizard occupying it. I mean a shoe repair guy. But he is a wizard. Yes He Is. Thank you Mr Shoe Repair Man- my boots are fantastic!

After 1 month of visiting the torture chamber gym next door (Pilates and aggressively ferocious stretching yoga) I can actually do some of the things. Wheeee. 

We had pancakes for lunch. With cottage cheese. Oh Yum.

And we still have leftover baked beans in the fridge. Oh Yum Again. 

(And- we're supposed to have snow beginning tomorrow through Tues.)

And I hope you're smiling, too!! 

 

Nephie Talents Auntie Smiles

Mom turned some of the nephies' art into t-shirts! 

OJ's fish painting on a T for me. I love it!

I'm not so sure about the words but the heart is something F made (in 1st? grade) several years ago; it's a favorite of mine.

One of the nephies (F) also did this pic. Beethoven (I think). Done from a well known painting.

:)

I'm with Hammie on this one. So, while they played Scrabble...

I worked on this. :)

smile!

I love peonies. I've posted pix about them before. I've been loving them down here this past month. Some people remember lots and lots of details from their childhood. They remember specifics. Lots of them. I remember some, too. I remember that Saturday night supper was usually (to me it seems like it was always but there must have been some variation) cornbread and pork-n-beans. I love cornbread and I love pork-n-beans to this day. Tonight I made cornbread and pork-n-beans. Added some spicy salsa to the beans to give them some zip. But it was just like home. Just like Saturday night supper. Yum. 

Anyway- back to the peonies. 

It's been great to watch the peonies pop open. The air along the path to the back fence is heavy with their scent. And here is a link to a pic on my rss feed tonight.. posted because I like the little factoid blurb under the pic. Enjoy! ;)

The botanical gardens post in which I documented seeing this flower that turned out to be a tree peony. 

I want to get pix of the dogs here. There are too many... but I've always loved dogs and these are such little sweethearts. Especially since they wiggle with joy when I go see them. How can you help but love something like that?! 

And there was this flower post the other day. What I meant to say there and forgot: One day, the acacia tree (top pic) bloomed while I was hanging out laundry. The lines are directly underneath the tree- not the greatest arrangement... think BIRDS. But this day- it was a treat- it literally burst into bloom from morning till evening and I watched and smelled it all day long- was great! And then the next day, the peonies on the other side of the path (right beside the laundry lines) did the same thing- I watched them pop open as I hung up the laundry. Now that's a smiler!!! 

Smile!

Did you see this? ;)

Just another dog

I like dogs. Just about all dogs. And this place is full of them. Lots of stray dogs, mostly pretty well mannered... unless they're barking in the middle of the night. Then they forget about their manners. I mean- they have an important job to do and manners just don't enter into it. At.All.

At the bus station recently, I ran across this guy. He was totally and completely out. Unaware of the world. I mean, he was asleep. Unconscious. Zonked. Just how zonked became clear when someone walked out of the bus station and stepped right on the top of his head and the dog never moved. Never whined. Nothing. He just kept snoozing. Later, he got up and shifted positions... just to show us he wasn't dead. I wish I could sleep like that. :)

Smile!

I found out that the Blogger problem is related to Chrome. Blogger works just fine in Internet Explorer (which drives me nuts) right now...

March 8th is International Women's Day- a holiday that dwarfs both Valentine's Day and Mother's Day here in the former USSR (and in most of Europe, I think). We got this sweet little bunch of Snow Drops on Tues (March 8). Look closely- see the bulbs at the bottom of the stems?

We planted them! Of course, snow drops don't last long... but the bulbs do. :)

smile!

Sweet, eh? Guess what? There's a Tiny Tot in the capital who will likely be wearing these before too long. She's gorgeous. She's got cheeks that won't quit and a lot of black hair. She looks like her Grandma Tanya. And her mommy and daddy are completely thrilled with her. 

smile!

Remember playing this as a kid? Why is it so fun? And you know what? It's universal. Kids here love it just like kids in America. And just like there, kids here get raucous and slap happy and giggle and squeal and slap faster and faster and faster until everyone collapses in a fit of giggles. 

smile!

Zing. Found this in my folder- don't remember why I kept it. But wow- Zing. Hisssssssss

What's not to love about Baby Blues?!

The other day- that day- lunch was done. There was a winter boots mess by the door, so I got out the vacuum and hoovered around a bit then took a wet rag and swiped a bit. Took the vacuum into the room S and I were sharing. The rug just needed some attention. Mostly the part in the middle of the room but I quickly zoomed back into the corners, too. The one by the balcony door. I hear the door to the apartment from the outside hallway being unlocked by S. The vacuum hits something. I turn to look out into the hallway. Think- Wait, what'd I hit with the vacuum? turn to look. People coming in through the door. I see a puddle of water spreading out from the corner towards me. Towards the vacuum. Towards S' computer case!!!! (heart failure... before I remember her comp is somewhere else... whew...) I shriek. People saying Hi in friendly voices. I jam the tipped over lidless water bottle upright. Swivel around and race past them for some rags while shouting Hi! Mow them over again to get back to the small lake in the living room. Random really funny comments from the people in the hallway (haha). Frantically sop up water. Knock the water bottle over again. (There are a lot of papers in the general vicinity and a couch.) Really classy way to greet guests. 

Only one of my all time favorite Calvin and Hobbes. Love it! Mom is completely hilarious here...

What I have to do to change light bulbs, get cups and glasses off the rack they're stored on, get to the rags and cleaning supplies in the cupboard. The cookies, though, are kept in a far less dangerous place! ;)

Winter quit knocking awhile ago and just roared on in! ;)

it's been snowing here for about 3 days straight now. Heavy and then not so heavy. Fun stuff.

And there's a LOT of shiny polished ice underneath that snow. So far, we have avoided all mishaps. But we are very very careful. I never cease to marvel at the people who walk out into traffic trying to cross against the light or in the middle of the block with cars whooshing by when the road is icy, too. There's an expression here- Bored with life. That must be the way it is... not for me, though. No sirree. 

sigh. Unfortunately- the pic on the left is me with a normally functioning thyroid. The one on the right was how I was when it was hyperactive. Went in this fall for my thyroid check, convinced it had gone the other way... only to be mightily disappointed to see it was smack dab in the middle of normal. I liked having energy and zip and losing weight without trying. heh.  

This is exactly how I felt trying to navigate the cliff wall of Wuthering Heights. And Jane Eyre. I know a lot of you liked them. I tried. I really did. I just couldn't do it.  

never knew all of this! ;)

I had a friend once who walked down the sidewalk purposely stepping on the cracks... made me sad. Still does. I was more like the kid here. Eventually had to make myself not look at the sidewalk because I knew it didn't make a difference but just knowing the rhyme made it hard to walk along the sidewalk and not try to avoid the cracks.... Love you Mom!

smile!

The footstool! I love this thing! I honestly don't know when I've had one in my life... since about 1996/97 in 'my room' at Bob and Jean's. I wonder if it will fit in my suitcase?

Just another one of the chair that goes with the f/s. I so <3 both of these! 

smile!

Thursday after returning from the hosp I went to bed. Dr said sleep- and I did. My bed is across from the window. I woke up and looked straight outside to this sight. The colors were brilliant. The whole thing was beautiful. It made me more than smile. :)

smile!

in a new (to me) city in a new (to me) apartment and room. Getting settled in. This is the chair- which is nothing at all to look at until you fix it up a bit. I love it! I love to sit in it and read. It's just my size! ;)

smile!

The tea light underneath, the water up top, the lavendar and rosemary essential oils in the water. Love it! (and I'll confess- I don't know the first thing about essential oils- I just love the smell!)

smile!

walking home through town the other day, just a few blocks off the main drag- met a lady taking her goats home for the day. I love the rural feel of city life (in most cities) here! 

freshly made grape jelly... a perfect do- a first for me. Made from grapes intended to be made into wine, it's much milder and lighter than what I was used to but very good.