Happiness Challenge :o)

*STICKY POST*

Southern Girl is back and reminding me that the month of August is the Happiness Challenge! I will leave this as a sticky post so please scroll down for Amy's Exciting Adventures!

Happiness is....

August 1 ~ Friends! My new friend Tina brought our dinner which was fab.U.lous, but what made my day was she stayed and visited for two hours! The time just flew and we laughed and never stopped talking. I love making new friends! We are going to be co-directors in Awana this year since I don't feel up to doing it all myself. I have a feeling we are going to work together just fine and that makes me happy.

August 2 ~ Company! I had some more friends visit today from my church. I guess I need to have surgery more often, huh? They were a couple of older ladies that I adore and have known since I was eight years old. They brought me an ugly sheep candle which is to remind me that they are praying for me. When I am better I am to pass it on to someone else that needs that reminder too. The sheep has on sunglasses and a Hawaiian shirt and striped knee socks! Scary, but funny.

August 3 ~ Progress! Being able to get stand up all by myself now! Everyday just gets a little bit better.

August 4 ~ Freedom! Going out for the first time in two weeks! The air was hot, humid and muggy and made my hair frizz instantly, but it was GREAT! I was able to go see Bourne Ultimatum with my family and some friends. It was a really good movie too, btw!

August 5 ~ Breakfast in bed! My husband has been entertaining one of our customers all weekend and after he dropped him off at the airport he came home and made bacon and pancakes. And he stopped by the gas station and bought a bottle of NOS just for me plus one of those new Reese's peanut butter banana candy bars. I'll let you know how they are!

August 6 ~ Lots of happiness this morning! My mom brought over my birthday card with $50 in it! Yay! But the card said so many nice things too about being a terrific daughter ;o) How did she get so blessed...lol! I got a good nights sleep for which I am thankful because I didn't get any the night before. Tried the new candy bar last night and it is good, but very sweet. I would try it again, but it wouldn't be a regular favorite. It's a beautiful, sunny day out and something just feels right this morning. Who knows, maybe Donny's going to pay me a visit! haha!

August 7 ~ My momma! She has diabetes and just hasn't been feeling well at all for a couple of weeks. When I called her this morning she sounded like her old self! I love her so much and with nobody there to take care of her I worry a lot. Thankfully she only lives about seven minutes away if she ever needed us for anything. She's always been there for me and I want to do the same for her. And since today is my birthday I want to tell her thank you for having me!

August 8 ~ Therapy! No pain, no gain as my dad always reminded me. And he was right. I've been pushing hard and doing my exercises to gain strength. I can almost get into bed all by myself! Maybe by Friday or Saturday I will be able to. And the exercises that I could only do a few reps at a time~well I'm up to 20!! Yay for me ;o)

August 9 ~ Anticipation! My bestest friend, Karen is coming tonight for a visit!!! She's even making us dinner too and she always makes yummy desserts. I love her so much. We are total opposites but have the best time when we're together!

August 10 ~ Blogging! Today is my one year blogging anniversary. I have found such happiness in meeting all of you! There are so many of you that I think of through out the day, wondering how you're doing and what you're doing at that moment. Do you guys do the same thing?

August 11 ~ Car rides! Or rather a truck ride. We managed to figure out how to get me in my husband's little truck and we took a nice drive and went to see the old neighborhood. My kinda clouds were out and the sky was a brilliant blue!

August 12 ~ Family time! We played Mario Party 7 all afternoon and then after church watched The Pink Panther Strikes Again. Too funny! Plus I had my last box of Milk Duds. I need to get back on a healthy diet!

August 13 ~ The Osmonds!! I woke up just in time to see the Osmond family on the Today show! Donny looks better than ever. Sigh!

August 14 ~ Rainy days! Yep, you read it right. My grass is so crunchy right now and it looks like we are in for a long day of showers. Hopefully it will make everything green again!

August 15 ~ Wensleydale! My English bulldog just makes me laugh ALL the time. I swear she is a human being. She knows everything we say. We can't even spell around her now because she knows that too! Talk about unconditional love...we never have to use a leash because she sticks to us closer than glue. I couldn't ask for a better companion during the day (and night!). Although she snores as much as my husband :o)

August 16 ~ Sleeping In! I actually slept until 9:00 am this morning. Didn't mean to, but it sure felt nice to get eight hours of sleep for a change! Thank you Jesus, I needed that!

August 17 ~ Feeling Like A Teenager! Tonight is the premiere of High School Musical 2 and the whole family (yes, even my hubby!) wants to watch it and have popcorn and sing and just be silly together. Nothing is better than being with your family. Maybe I can talk my mom into coming over too and being with us!

August 18 ~ Fresh Air! It was a beautiful day today and my husband insisted I get out of the house. I had my birthday money to spend so I went to the Dollar Store, Target & Meijer and got boat loads of stuff! I'm pretty good with finding the bargains I must admit! I'd forgotten how beautiful this world is.

August 19 ~ Letters! Nobody writes letters anymore, do they? I forgot to check the mail yesterday and I had received a nice long letter from a very dear friend that came to visit when she was in town. She wrote all kinds of nice things and told me I was able to make her laugh that night! In person I'm pretty funny...not so much on my blog!

August 20 ~ Reality Checks! I may be mostly a bionic woman, but I am still human. I've been trying my best to ween myself off my pain medicine. Instead of going every four hours I started waiting every eight hours. Too Much Time! I'm quite stubborn I'll admit. But after days of extra pain and not being able to move quite as easily I am going to try every six hours and see how it goes. And not that anybody will really care about this, but speaking of bionic, my aunt is first cousins with the six million dollar man, Lee Majors. Does anybody remember that show? I've never met him, but he's been to My Aunt Becky's house many times to go hunting with my uncle. I've seen the pictures!

August 21 ~ Accomplishments! I had a lot to do yesterday and even though I STILL have a plate full, I was able to accomplish what I thought was most important.

August 22 ~ Happiness! I've found myself laughing and smiling a lot today and that makes me happy! I've read some funny blogs today and friends have made me feel special. I love Jesus and I know if I were to die today that I would be in Heaven! Why wouldn't I be happy?

August 23 ~ BBQ Chicken! Yummers deluxe. My momma made it for us this evening and it is to die for. I haven't had BBQ in a really long time. And now for some baked beans!

August 24 ~ Mail! Kailani sent me a gift today that really brightened my day that started off rather rocky. Thank you friend!

August 25 ~ Bath & Body Works! My girls went there yesterday and brought me home some pineapple hand lotion - yummy and some grapefruit hand soap that smells de-lish! Plus at the bottom of the receipt if you spend $30 you get $10 off! What a deal...I think I need to send them back, what do you think?

August 26 ~ Soup! Don't laugh, it makes me happy. My husband made some wonderful cheesy potato soup tonight and it was so good and I ate way too much...I'm not sure if I will even have room for a brownie ;o)

August 27 ~ Smiling faces! One of my young friends (24 years old) came to see me today. I love that the younger generation will hang out with me and not think I'm an old curmudgeon...at least not yet! It probably has to do with the fact that most of the time I can be more immature than they are!

August 28 ~ Permission Granted! Yay for me...I am now allowed to drive, bear full weight on my new bionic hip, bend over more than 90 degrees (which is awesome considering how much stuff I drop) and eat lots of ice cream...okay that last part was my idea, not the doctors! TeeHee :o)

August 29 ~ Tears! Sounds weird, I know. Honestly I am having a very rough day of pain in my shoulder. Instead of fighting off the inevitable I just let it flow this morning. And that's okay. My momma came over because she was worried about me and I laughed and pitifully said with a pouty lip, "I think I deserve a bowl of ice cream, don't you?" Guess what? I got a big bowl of vanilla ice cream with chocolate syrup on top....and she even fed it to me since I couldn't move without crying. Wonder what else I could get out of this? ;o)

August 30 ~ Relief! Didn't go to bed until 4:oo am and when I got up at 7:00 my shoulder pain had vanished!!!!! I am so thankful to have it gone finally. It's such a severe pain that all I can do is sit still and hold my arm close to my body. I also learned yesterday that in a pinch I could walk using one crutch! It took forever to get to the bathroom, but I did it! And without incident ;o) Yay for me!

August 31 ~ Reflection! Taking a look back at August and seeing how many ways I have been blessed by the Lord and through friends make me want to cry. Tears of joy though! Sometimes I take it day by day and other times when life seems overwhelming I take it moment by moment and do my best. God loves me and sees me through my trials. I am truly blessed!