Happiness Challenge - Day 7

I get so happy when I discover new music! Lately I've been listening to three really talented young ladies. Two things are remarkable about this. The first is that they're all considerably younger than I am - by a lot! And the second is that I rarely listen to female artists. My favorite has to be Imogen Heap, and she was pretty much alone in the female artist category for me until recently. Below are links to the MySpace pages of the three girls making me happy lately. Oh, as with most artists on MySpace, their music starts playing when you go to the page, so be ready if your speakers are turned up!

1. Adele - I've been listening to her for a while now. I think I first heard her song "Hometown Glory" when it was the free single of the week from iTunes. I got her album, 19, and I love every bit of it. She's from London and has a wonderful bluesy, folksy sound.

2. Duffy - Another one-named youngster, this one from Wales. Her song "Rockferry" is all over top 40 radio lately. I first heard her as iTunes' free single of the week, too!

3. Missy Higgins - I didn't know anything about her until this week when Courtney danced her solo to one of her songs on So You Think You Can Dance. She has two albums, On A Clear Night and The Sound of White. Lovely stuff.

Happiness Challenge - Day 6

Today's been a long day full of traveling a total of three hours, helping my mom set up her classroom, trying to placate a sleepy and fussy baby, so the thing that will make me happiest just a few minutes from now is... sleep! ;)

Happiness Challenge - Day 5

Taking photographs makes me happy. My husband and I are taking a photo of our son every day this year, and it's been so fun to watch how he's grown and changed since January. I love taking pictures of things in my home, trips we take, projects in progress... If there's a photo op, I'm there with my camera! I recently joined a photo challenge and created a photoblog to go along with it. I've made a few posts since starting, and I'm having a blast. It's a nice little mental challenge to come up with that day's subject. So click the link below and see what I've done so far!

Mississippi Mama Shoots!

Happiness Challenge - Day 4

My sweet baby boy who is always a joy in public made me so happy today! We went to Hobby Lobby, just to walk around and get out of the house for a little while, and he babbled and cooed in his stroller the whole time. He never gets cranky or fussy (unless he's hungry!) when we're out together, and he always flirts with every lady he meets. He's just such an easy baby and we're so blessed by him. You make your mama proud and happy, Bear!

Help a sister out!

I'm not sure at all who's reading my blog. It might embarrass me to ask for input here and then get zero replies. That'll tell me nobody's reading!

Anyway, early this morning a sweet dog wearing a collar for an invisible fence wandered through our neighborhood. We're pretty sure he was lost. We had a storm last night and the power flickered a few times, so maybe his fence got zapped and he got away. I hope his "parents" find him, because he was a doll! But... he got a little confused and seemed to think our house was his house - which isn't surprising, because there are several houses in our neighborhood with our same design - and he sat at the front door and whimpered, and then started scratching.

Oh, mercy. I knew that door was just going to be scratched all to heck and need to be re-painted. My husband went out through the garage to shoo him away, because each time we opened the front door a crack to tell him to 'git, he stuck his face in the house and tried to come in! Really sweet dog, but I don't think our cat wants another pet. She's still not fully used to the baby. She hasn't yet let us know if we're allowed to keep him, so I don't want to mess up the balance with a big, snuffly dog.

So the door is indeed scratched and needs to be re-painted. I'm fine with that, because the only thing I didn't like about this house when we bought it was the color of the door. I've gotten used to it, but I'm sort of excited about the possibility of a change. Below are a few pictures of the area to give you an idea. I'd really love some input! Help!

The door. Voila. Our brick is red, roof shingles are black, vinyl siding is a dark taupe and garage door/trim are cream. I know I don't want the door and shutters to be black. I'm thinking a forest green. Thoughts? (Oh, and all the planters and plants are not standing up or hanging because of last night's storm. I didn't put them back up before taking photos! We are classy around here!)

And the shutters. I'd like the door and shutters to be the same color, because they're so close together. And yes, we'll fix the dented window screen. We had a tornado in April and a piece of our porch furniture hit it and knocked it out of place.

So tell me what you think about my forest green idea, please! Or let me know if you have a better idea. I'm looking forward to seeing if anybody's reading! I mean. Seeing what you have to say!

Happiness Challenge - Day 3

What makes me happy today is rain! We had a lovely, booming thunderstorm Friday morning that lasted over two hours. It was hot and sunny Saturday, but today, Sunday, has been another day of rain. It's gray and overcast, and I can almost pretend it's November or December when I look out the windows. I love what the rain is doing for my yard, too. I put my hanging potted plants from the front porch out Friday and let them soak it all up! My periwinkles, seen in the photo below, are just goin' to town. Rain always makes me happy, but especially when we haven't had enough and it's been hot enough to fry an egg on the driveway!

Happiness Challenge - Day 2

What makes me happy today?

Simple.

This does.

YAY! I just started reading Stephenie Meyer's Twilight books in June, but I can see why fans have been impatiently waiting for this fourth book. These books are so much fun and so well-written. I highly recommend them!

I reserved a copy at Borders last month, so I'll be there to pick it up as soon as the store opens this morning! I guess I could've gone to the midnight release party, but I'm a girl who values her sleep. Today, Edward Cullen and Breaking Dawn make me HAPPY!

Happiness Challenge - Day 1

I'm not sure if the Happiness Challenge is an official bloggy carnival or what, but I'm going to try to do it. A friend of mine did it in her blog last year, so I'm totally going to copy her. Oh, yes.

The point of the Happiness Challenge is to post once a day in August, and post about something that makes you happy. Easy as that. So here goes. My first entry!

~~~~~

I'm going state the obvious today and say that on this first day of the month, as on every day of every month, my husband and son make me happy. For blogging purposes, I call them Hubband and Bear. Well, I call them that in real life, too. Convenient, yes? Both of them make me smile and laugh each day, and both of them make me want to be a better Christian, a better woman, a better wife and a better mama. Hubband and I have been married for almost two years. Bear is just over eight months old. I don't know what I did before they were around! I must have been so boring and pitiful! Dull as dishwater! But they're here now, and I pray they're always here. Today, and every day, my fellas make me happy.

Works for Me: Greek Chicken

Today's Works for Me Wednesday is all about recipes using five ingredients or fewer. I'm all about fast, healthy and flavorful meals, so this is one I cook often. I found this originally a long time ago in Southern Living but have seen similar versions posted elsewhere online. Enjoy!

Greek Chicken

Ingredients:

1. boneless, skinless chicken breasts (as many as you need)

2. one 16 oz. can of Italian style tomatoes, undrained

3. one 4 oz. can sliced black or kalamata olives, drained

4. chopped fresh basil, as much as you like (or its dried equivalent)

5. one tsp. balsamic vinegar

Directions:
1. Brown the chicken on both sides, about 2-3 minutes per side
2. Add the tomatoes, olives, basil and vinegar and stir
3. Reduce heat and simmer until the chicken is cooked through
4. Serve chicken with tomato and olive mixture on top

Really, it's that easy! I serve this with a salad. You can add crumbled feta or another cheese to the top of the chickeny goodness, but that would be six ingredients. ;) It's very easy to make extra of this and put it in the fridge for lunch the next day. The flavors meld together and it tastes even better then!

See more Works for Me Wednesday posts at Rocks In My Dryer!

Best. Freebie. Ever.

Okay, I know I'm totally outing myself as a giant nerdy nerd, but I love getting freebies in the mail! I've gotten makeup, toothpaste, all sorts of skincare stuff, deoderant, food, coupons, CDs, seed packets and countless other nifty things, but this one is the best yet!

See those beautiful Ziploc Twist 'N Loc things? I am obsessed with those! About a month ago I tossed all of our random storage cartons in the trash and bought some of these babies. I got two sets of the small ones and one of the large. Well, now I have three sets of the small ones! Humor me, for I am easily amused! These are from the Clean Home Journal. I've requested it so many times and finally got it. I think this is one I requested back in April. There's also a free Glade Plug-In and a booklet full of coupons from Johnson (when did they drop '& Johnson'?).

You can always find lots more nifty freebies at fun places like Money Saving Mom, Freebies 4 Mom and Budget Helps.