Happiness in a Jar

Trust me, I've changed the calendar month...

...or rather, an empty cheese ball container.

At the beginning of the year, I related to you how I was going to be doing a Happiness Jar this year.  As you can see in the picture, it looks quite full already.  In part because in the beginning I was using full sheets of stationary.  I've since changed that practice, mostly to stretch the pretty paper out but also to conserve space in the plastic container.

I did excellent during the month of January, writing something down for every day of the month and faithfully adding it to the 'jar'.  I'm not sure what happened in February, but it started becoming hit and miss, with more misses than hits---which extended to the month of March as well.  I'm not sure whether it is tiredness, or just plain forgetfulness.

Many of the papers in the month of January were fairly simple, just picking one item for the day that had brought happiness.  Some days the things listed was that I had survived work!  We were working 45 hours a week at the time, and some days were longer than others even if it was the same amount of time.  Anyone who's ever worked in a changing environment will understand that.  When machinery doesn't work right, it can cause a nightmare to anyone's routine schedule!

March was probably the hardest month of all. It can be hard to find anything happy when a loved one dies.  I'm not sure what I wrote down for the days in that month, but there were a few moments I'm sure when the hurt of the loss was lessened by a happy moment.

April has been hard too, as another of Mr. Janney's uncles is ill.  He has spent more time in the hospital than out and will shortly be transferred to another hospital for review by a specialist.

Still, we keep on.

I ended up losing the hoody before the afternoon was over!

Recently I've heeded the advice of my hubby and have begun being a bit more detailed.  Like yesterday, I wrote more than 'fun day at the in-laws'.  I wrote down how I had fun riding four wheelers, and driving one and not wrecking!  Last summer, I managed to have an accident the first time I tried driving a four wheeler.  Unlike my husband, I did not grow up with ATV's.  In fact, from my recollection my parents really kind of frowned upon such vehicles as they were accident prone.  So when writing my happy moments down, I made sure to include how proud of myself I was that not only did I not have another accident, but also that I'd managed to follow my father-in-law up the mountain, my husband bringing up the rear, and also managed to come back down it.  Going UP is far less scary than coming back DOWN, especially for someone afraid of heights.

And the old cliche is true, about it being the 'little things' in life that bring happiness and joy:

• Sunshine and warmth after a cold snowy winter
• Free chocolate with no strings attached on a rough day.
• The warm spring breeze on freshly shaven legs
• My hubby surprising my with movies on a lazy Sunday at home together.
• New shoes!  Even if they are work boots!

I could go on.  But I'd rather you pick the list up!  What are some of the things that make YOU happy???

2014 - To be happy, or not to be happy...