Secret to Happiness, Look Within

 

A step away from food and home keeping to a little rambling on more personal things.

First off, I will say I in no way know the real secret to happiness for the population at large, but I do know the secret for myself. That is what I am sharing but if it in any way it helps someone then I will be happy I shared.

As one gets older we hope that we can say we are happy. In my late forties, I know exactly what makes me happy these days. This was not always the case. When I was younger I often would ask myself, "When will I be happy?"

The problem I had with how I looked at happiness when I was younger, was that I thought it was something I had to go out and GET! Something I had to go do or buy or see. What I have realized is the key to happiness is to look within.

1. Look at family, happiness is within your family. I could not find happiness if I was running around and not taking care of things at home. When my family is taken care of and the house is in order and the chaos corralled then I am at my happiest. This does not mean the kids or even my hubby are responsible for my mood, though they can affect if for sure, but that for me, knowing my own home is in order, means a peace of mind.

2. Look within your house. Yep, happiness is right in my four walls. If I was looking at what others had or what they were doing to their houses that I could never do to mine, I could easily get a sense of envy or dissatisfaction. The more I just stopped looking at others and instead kept my eyes on my own home, the happier I became. I spent more time fixing what I could around here and accepting the things I could not change and letting go. At some point we have to say this is good, good enough for me. I am thankful for what I have and do not need more.

This is not to say I don't want to fix things up but we can all see homes on TV, in magazines and online and think our homes are not good enough. Let that all go. I never ever heard my mother say she wished she had something. I am sadly not able to say that. But I can strive to be content with what I have. I will never have a home with bedrooms for everyone or the latest gadgets but I don't care about those things any longer.

Want to know my most favorite things in life? Being able to go to the grocery store and fill my cart and coming home and stocking the fridge and pantry. My husband laughs at me but this truly is one of the highlights of my week. A basic need to feed my family and know we have plenty. I do love that feeling. If you can imagine the stress of not being able to meet that basic need for your family, then the ability to do it is something that gives me joy. Crazy I know. But there it is.

3. Look within yourself. Boy, that is a loaded statement I know, but it is so true for myself. We are all different and we cannot look to others to make us happy. I know that is easy to say because of course the folks we live with can very much affect our happiness but it boils down to this...doing things that make me healthy mentally and physically and giving myself some time on the schedule, goes a long way to help me with my level of contentment.

Also, looking to my own self to make changes I need to make. Stop my negative thoughts, controlling my outspoken tongue, have all helped me to find more peace as I age. I have rambled on but it is true that as you age, you learn what really makes you happy and what you need to let go. Actually keeping focus on fewer, more important areas of life have helped me to feel a higher level of contentment.

I am a simple woman, with a simple life and I love it that way. I am happy. The when is now. 

Simple Christmas Pleasures

We have several trees in our house but the real tree is our REAL Christmas tree. It is a simple country tree set in an galvanized tub.

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Another simple tradition that I love is to visit the live Nativity our church sponsors. This year it was made all the more special as our daughter played the roll of Mary. To just gather and stand around the manger, everyone drawn to celebrate the birth of Christ. No flashy show, no live music, just a beautiful celebration of Christmas. 

I want to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and one full of simple pleasures.

What You Will and Won't Get from Sunny Simple Life

I have been blogging for four years now and boy has it changed. I still love this hobby and have no plans to stop but I thought I might take a minute to share what my blog is and is not.

I see so many beautiful blogs out there full of great info and gorgeous photos. I enjoy looking daily for new blogs and at my favorite old ones.

But alas, I am a simple gal and this blog is about simple living. You will not see professional looking photos or gourmet food. I take my photos mostly with my phone and sometimes with my Canon.
You won't see printables or graphics created by me cause I am computer challenged.
I probably won't be giving away a $100 gift card anywhere cause if I had a $100 gift card I would probably go shopping.

What you will get from Sunny Simple Life is a glimpse into my home.
Simple posts on cooking, keeping house, gardening and of course my chickens.
I love you no less for my simplistic posts and maybe I will eventually end up in the old fashioned blog category gone the way of the dinosaurs, but as long as I have something to share, I will prepare simple posts about simple living.

BECAUSE... I have found that the simpler I keep things in my life, the happier, calmer and more content I am and that has to go for blogging too. So what do you think? Is there still a place for simple basic blogs?

Cookbook Journaling

I started writing to my kids in my cookbooks way back in the 90s. You can see my note on the left. I call this cookbook journaling. I started really writing notes to myself so I could remember tweaks to recipe or whether we liked or hated something I had made. Then I started gearing the notes to the girls knowing someday they would inherit my cookbooks when I am gone.

My books are full of pictures they drew me that day when the book is open or little flowers maybe they brought me while I was cooking. If you go through my most used books you will see little notes to them and treasures my little loves gave me while cooking.

I love to use my mother's recipe cards in her beautiful cursive handwriting. Making a meal she fed me as a child and how that keeps me feeling her touch. I think this is my way to pass on all the meals and kitchen love I have shared over the years.

I hear some women say how they never cook. I just don't understand that. If you are like that, don't be mad at me but it is just foreign to me. There is nothing like being a kid and walking into the house and your mom is making something delicious and nurturing in the kitchen. It is one of life's most wonderful feelings. A gift you give your family everyday. 

GROW Vegetables in Your Front Yard!

I know all my posts are outdoors these days but that is where my energy is spent most days this time of year.

Yesterday Q and I headed to the garden to harvest some veggies for dinner. You can see her there pulling carrots.

We pulled lovely beets.

And multi colored carrots.

Oh they are so beautiful. All washed up.

Their lovely greens are edible and so good for you. I cut those and gave some to the chickens along with the carrot tops and saved the rest for tonight's dinner. Sauted in olive oil, they are so delicious.

Beets, potatoes, and carrots tossed in olive oil ready for roasting. A family fave. Roast until tender at about 375 degrees.

Okay,  here is the mom in me. I am telling you to, "grow vegetables!!". There really is nothing like the therapy of working in your yard. You are working the soil in the outdoors, getting exercise. Watching it grow brings happy thoughts, pleasant things to look at and then the harvesting is a gift you give yourself and family. I will forever have short nails, battered hands and beautiful things growing around me. It is something I have to have for myself, for my own mental happiness. It literally keeps me grounded.

Distracted

When you are distracted you go out after your shower and run errands all the while forgetting you never put make up on. That has never happened to me before. What is happening? I don't wear much make up but ladies I wear some. You know why I am so distracted? Because I needed to make a dozen calls, set appointments, straighten out a few things and file some paper work and submit claims for 2012.

I needed to just really cross things off my list. So I did. The sun never came out today so no garden to pull me out there like it had the three days prior. I stayed inside and turned my V-Day tree on and have left it on all day. I know you have seen it before but I love it.  Little shoes beneath and a book waiting to be picked up. Tomorrow.

Today I needed to get on it. AND I did. Made those calls, filed the claims, made appointments. Just a couple more things tomorrow and I will be done. I cannot tell you how much better I feel now than I did this morning. When I have much to take care of that I am putting off, I feel such a weight on me.

The ability to mark a line through my to do list makes me feel like a new person. Seriously. I am tackling it all this week come hell or high water. I even dropped our taxes off on Monday.

My girls had friends coming after school. I made brownies. Big glasses of milk and a couple of brownies is what coming home should be.

My hard working man will not be home for dinner for the third night in a row. I hate this. We always eat together but when the power goes out or some squirrel chews through a cable, he has to fix it and pronto. I want to have him by me sharing the bench in the kitchen. Aw heck, why cook a big meal? So I made tuna mac for dinner.

Last Night

Last night my husband had to go back into work. It was the coldest night so far this season. I always pray extra hard that drivers will watch for the guys out working at night. I know he will need his cold weather gear. So while I made a thermos of coffee and a lunch for him, life hummed that beautiful normal hum of life.

The piano music just played preparing for an upcoming competition.

As I finished the dishes from a delicious dinner of calzones and lay the gloves to dry, I could hear my daughter splashing in the tub. Her class had red noses when I came to pick them up. The teacher painted them all and they became a room of Rudolph's. She wore it all day and hated to wash it off.

The sparkly wreaths on the window I know are hung for my pleasure. I just love to have the glow shining in the glass at night. I have purposely continued to keep all news off in our house, shutting out the world. Kids and their parents get enough of the real world when we are out but at home, I want our house to be refuge. They keep reminding me only nine days, only eight days. What a wonderful time of year. I am savoring all the little things.

A plate of cookies and milk brought to my daughter studying for finals. "Mom you don't have to." I know I don't but I want to. Rather sad looking cookies. Not sure why my one cookie sheet makes funny cookies.

My husband asks am I done shopping yet. Almost, I tell him and he assures me it is over soon and I say, "Shoosh!!!!" Even though I may be a bit spread thin, I want to enjoy and savor it. You never know what the future holds so hold on tight to the now.

Sharing with:
Raising Homemakers

A Most Wonderful Day

Yesterday was one of those wonderful days where you put your mind to something and with little distraction you get loads of stuff done. I LOVE those days. I do NOT get many of them but that is okay. I love the hum of my busy family and would rather be mom than anything else.

My hubby is out of town for six days. Too long. I miss him so. I decided I would really get the house cleaned and hit the decorating. Usually we do it together but I don't want his one day off this week to be spent working. I want it done and nice for him when he comes home. I just feel so content after a productive day.
Walking in my kitchen, all decorated for Christmas, the glowing lights just fills my heart.

I love Christmas. It is magic time. I think my grandma started it all for me. She would come and visit and sleep in my room and just spoil me with attention. She was a grand lady.

My littlest is at the magical Christmas age. She is so excited and wondering every day if it is Christmas yet. Wanting to know how on earth Santa is going to fit down our chimney. The lies I am spinning to answer her questions but the joy I feel at the magic she sees with all the lights. Each house we drive by sends up the words, "Oh mommy look at this and that." Just magic. Turn off all your lights except the Christmas ones and you will see the magic too.

Sharing with:
Down Home Blog Hop

Change is in the Air

As the weather heats up again this week, and I long for cooler days, I feel change in the air. I have often fought change in my life but these are good changes and in life new stages bring new things that are important in our lives.

I look around the house and though I love all my collections, I feel them tugging at my limited time these days. "Dust me, put me away for the season." Things take energy to store, clean, keep neat and maintain. I have been feeling the urge for over a year now to cut down on the decorating. Can you believe when I went into the Country General Store fall open house that all I came away with was a new calendar and kitchen table cloth. No Halloween or fall decor. Just useful items. It was fun to go and see it all but I felt no urge to bring it home. I think my friends, I have hit the full up limit in my home.

Too much stuff saps our energy and I need all I can get to be the mother I need to be and take care of this house. I even want to get rid of a few pieces of furniture. I want to see more space, less stuff. Places the eye can rest. We purged some fall decor last year and I will do more this year. Times change, seasons in our lives change and going with it feels right. Here is to simplifying the "junk" in my house. Maybe the Amish and Shakers were onto something when they kept there belongings so sparse. I of course could never go that far but I am making some changes.

Another big change is that we are getting ready to sell our trailer. It was my suggestion to my husband but he quickly agreed. You see camping and having the trailer have always been more for me and he lovingly indulged me for many years but I have been feeling that simpler vacations of less work are in our future. Trailer or not, camping is WORK. I loved it and getting it all ready but by the time we were ready to go we were tired and it was work there so we were tired when we got home. Now, I don't want to deprive Q of some camping experiences so we will take her and any of the other kids that can or want to go for an occasional night of camping locally to our mountains. I told my hubby we can handle anything for a night and can drag out our tent and rough it for a night here and there. She gets the campfire and tent thing and we can just bring up some easy dinner, have some smores, sleep in the tent and be home by lunch the next day. We never even used the trailer this year. I will be sad to see it go but glad that we made this decision. My husband is a lineman and like he says, "Honey I work outdoors, I camp everyday." He is right. He much prefers a hotel or rental house and it is time I indulged him.

Our Simple Summer Days

We have had a typical summer for us. No trips to the beach, not much running around and lots of time at home. I am a homebody and I just cannot change that. I did not even take the kids to the beach this summer.
I just think, oh a whole day gone and traffic to and from and I just don't feel like going. I prefer days at home with small trips here and there. We have gone to the movies twice and for trips for ice cream and the library and trips to the popular feed store to pet all the babies, but really we stayed home. My older girls run around with their friends and head to the beach on their own. We spend three days camping at the beach each fall when the weather is the best and I consider that three solid days of beach going.

Instead we swing while dragging our feet in the pool. We swim at grandma's house and hang out in the yard.

I just don't feel like it is my job to entertain the kids everyday. My mom did not do that for me. Go entertain yourself. And they really do. Kids left to their own devices with time on their hands will fill it with something they like to do. My girls are all readers, love games, cards and play video games and spend lots of time outside especially when they are young.

I may not be the most exciting mom but I think my girls have all had good summers mostly at home. I strongly believe in down time. I have to have it so they have been forced to have it too. They seem to be thriving and all like their quiet time so perhaps it's not so bad after all. I think at 45 I am not going to change. My summers will always remain simple.

Why are chickens in this post? I don't know. I guess cause I like them.

Mentally Fatigued

Do you ever just feel like your brain can't hold one more thing? One more demand on your thoughts. One more problem to deal with. Friends I am just mentally spent. Life just has so many demands on us and then it just keeps handing you more. Now, I am probably just whining and thankfully nothing major to worry about. Just always these constant pulls on our thoughts.

Aging inlaws, so much paperwork in life, letters telling you your financial identity may have been compromised due to one transaction I made like seven years ago. Really? So many forces and things just constantly demand so much thought and follow up. My mother never had to deal with day to day demands of paperwork and things constantly needed sorting out that we must face today and she ran my dad's business and books.

I truly think it causes mental fatigue. Physically I feel great. Have been eating healthy since vacation ended and getting some much needed deep cleaning done around here. Doing the daily tasks like caring for the chickens is a release to me. A time when I don't have to think about the other things. Sadly, we cannot just sweep them under the rug and calls must be made and copies must be sent and care taken with concerns that have to be dealt with.

When I was a kid I loved to run and get the mail. Many days we had none. Now you never have that. It is constant, the bombardment on our homes and lives. The number of sales calls has lead me to unplug my phone even. I cannot stand one more. What happen to the do not call list? Did they sell it too and now it is the call every ten minutes list?  So as I sip some coffee this morning planning my day, I just really wish a magic broom would come and take all these extra cares away. Of course that won't happen but I sure wish it would. Thankfully we have a place to ask these questions and share these concerns. You are all a source of encouragement and inspiration that I am so thankful for.

Linking to:
Potpourri Friday
The Charm of Home

Simple Beauty

Sometimes without knowing it, we create beauty simply by living. Today, I was inspired by the basket of avocados and lemons from my in laws. The color was just beautiful. Yellow and green. Simple beauty tossed together in a basket. I was inspired.

Woe is me though. These are the last of their avocados. No more free guacamole.

Beauty in my breakfast. A yolk that will go to the dog. Lucky girl.

My breakfast of eggs, spinach and feta cheese. Did you know you can freeze feta. I do and just break off a chunk when I need it. It will thaw while cooking or take out a little earlier for salads.

Reseeded flowers. They come up here and there. Wherever they like.

My Closet - Don't Be Shocked

Simple Closet Organization

I am sure you have gathered that my motto is simplify. If you've noticed it seems half my posts are simple this or simple that but it is what this blog is about. I am a simple gal.  Now, I love to see other people's closets and pantries and stockpiles just like any other gal, so I thought I would share my closet, such as it is. In an effort to de-clutter and again simplify my life, last year I decided to get rid of 70% of my clothing. I, like a lot of people, had things that were years old and I never wore, but just seemed to hang onto. I also stopped working so I no longer needed a wardrobe for the office.

Our 50s ranch has very little closet space so we had a wall of built ins put in our room several years ago. My hubby uses two of the closet spaces and I use the other. I am a jeans and t-shirt gal with a few cute tops thrown in for necessary occasions. 

I know, not very neat nor organized but I can see what I've got. I am just not that into clothes and would rather spend $100 at the nursery than the mall. Just me! Scary huh? Also, I am very careful about what I buy now. I am striving to be very purposeful in my spending and only replace what I need to, and make sure I try on and love everything that comes home with me. No more buying because I thought it was a good deal or looked cute on the hanger, only to go to Goodwill. I would rather have the money now than the old clothes I gave away, hardly worn or never used.

I do have this high boy for storing my foldables but that is pretty much it. Our coat closet holds a few jackets and sweaters, but you don't need many of those in Southern California. Are you shocked?