Spreading Joy

Friday morning in January….the alarm goes off, ugghh…I groan. 4:30 already? Mercy.  I hit the clock, drag myself out of bed and start the day.  It’s Friday, I should be excited.  Few more hours and the weekend will be upon me, right? Wrong!  Normally the super silliness you see here is just me.  While I am and can be completely serious, I love laughing, smiling, cutting up and just loving each and every moment that I can. 

I’m not sure what is going on, but I feel anything but happy.  I start getting ready and as I normally do, spend time in prayer while getting ready.  Someone is on my heart that day, so I pray, specifically for them. Normally this would lift my spirits, but it doesn’t.  I head out the door to work. No music, no nothing, just feeling cranky.  I realize this and decide to keep my ickiness to myself.  

Just Keeping It Real!

 I got in my car and headed over to a near by Wal-Mart.  Trying to figure out what to get and for whom.  I knew that I needed to do something for someone – to get rid of the crankiness.  I check ubertwitter to send out a few tweets while I’m walking through Wal-Mart.  What I saw made me laugh so hard, out loud and in front of everyone.  Gene sent a reply that simply said:  

Completely made me Laugh Out Loud!

With that belly laugh, I feel the crankiness slowly start lifting. Laughter truly is good medicine!  I see the perfect thing; Little Debbie Cakes.  I LOVE unwrapping smiles and so will the people I give these delicious treats to. I purchase them and see a few more replies about my crankiness.  I respond thank you to Jarrell who said “Keep raising those arms & waving hands & praising God.” Then to Catie who said “Don’t be cranky!! Here’s a hug! *HUG* hope it makes you feel better :]” and trust me…it Did make me feel better.  More crankiness, slowly oozing away.  Then I respond to Angie and Katie who both sent more HUGS, knowing I ADORE hugs.  Lastly I reply to Barbara who said “Feel better lady joy!” and head over to Subway to get a sandwich and Peanutbutter cookies for lunch.  I smile and give every Subway worker a Little Debbie Valentine Brownie and wish them a wonderful day. I send out a tweet about what I had just done.  I smile.  I noticed more crankiness oozing away, “nice feeling” I think to myself.  I’m walking through the parking lot, pull 2 cakes out for my team and then proceed to give the others away.  ”I love spreading joy”, I happily think to myself. “Does a heart good!”

I get into my car and check ubertwitter to send out a few more thank you’s and WHO do I see?Why, it’s Little Debbie herself - Saying:

I LOVE unwrapping Smiles

At this point, I’m like a kid on Christmas morning!  “OH my gosh!  Is this real or is this a bot?” I’m giggling out loud to myself.  So I ask and they reply that sure enough, they are the real deal!  Wow! As real as rain!  Some how, knowing this and the fact that the person I had been praying for much of that morning had said that the day had started out difficult, but was getting better, simply just made my day.  Those few simple, yet extremely important things helped to get rid of the crankiness.  

Next to giving out Reese Cups, giving out Little Debbie Cakes is one of my favorite things to do.   They are delicious and very affordable, as well as always bring a smile!  I do love unwrapping a smile!  

The moral? Am I always spreading joy? No, just ask my kids or husband or for that matter my little sister, Angie.  Can there be an easy fix to it? It’s not always easy, but I’m telling you – from experience, I know that if you’ll FORCE yourself to focus on someone else for awhile, the crankiness will leave you.  It has no choice but to run for the hills!  There will be no room in your heart for the crankies.  The joy you get from giving, even something small, will NOT leave room for the crankiness in your heart.

Don’t believe me?  Next time you are cranky, spend approximately $3.00 on a couple boxes of Little Debbie Cakes and just give them out to random people with one of your amazing smiles.  Then, after you have given them all away, come over here and describe the joy that has just flooded your heart and pushed out the crankiness.

 I dare you!

I can’t wait to hear from you on what you do to get rid of the CRANKIES!

Sending {{HUGS}} of gret JOY!

Taken from - "Things That Make Megan's Day"

The little peaceful things!

I love little thing.  I truly do.  Stick around long enough and you’ll probably tire of hearing me say such, but it’s the truth.  I have no idea who said it, but I saw this quote and instantly fell in love with it.

 It’s the little things that make life BIG!

I’ve not been feeling well for a few days, so I’ve been forced to enjoy some of the more peaceful little things in life.  I’m feeling better and but wanted to reflect on some of these little things that I’ve enjoyed these past few days.

Pandora – Love this internet radio.  Anything I want. My favorite is the “Oldies but Goodies” but so many amazing songs, right at my fingertips.  I love music! Praise and Worship, Sappy Love Songs, the Pop Singers from 80, 90 ‘s – such a wide variety of music makes me smile. Ohh… How about the One Hit wonders? We all have our favorite one of those, right?

Sleep – I normally do not take naps because they leave me feeling worse than when I went to sleep. Not true these past few days.  Here is how it looked for me. Do a few things, sleep a few hours. Get up, repeat. Been there? Oh, I’m sure you have been.   I know many people who are power nappers and swear by them.  Please, share how you fall asleep quickly enough to sleep and awaken feeling rested after only 20 minutes! 

Iced Tea – Refreshing, simple – Unsweetened, nothing added to it, iced tea.  Normally coffee is my beverage of choice, but these past few days tea has been my constant companion. The colder, the better.  When the heat is on, you should try it. 

Audio Books – Are these not the best? Other than the fact that I would love to be the voice of an audio book one day when I grow up, I love listening to them.  I love that I can find free ones as well as cheap ones.  I down load a free audio book each month at Christian Audio.  You check out like normal and put in the code and its free!  Where do you find free audio books? What is your favorite?  Have you downloaded older books?

Hand held games – It’s true. I have my very own Game Boy SP, royal blue. I received it for an anniversary present several years ago! I normally carry it in my purse, but will have to charge it before returning it.  I currently hold the 1^st and 3^rd place highest score in Kirby’s Pinball.  The kids lost many of my games over the years, so I’m always on the look out for some of the older game boy games. Love them. 

Sleeping on the Couch – I don’t know if it’s the fact that there is a “back” to the couch or what it is, but I love sleeping on the couch. Maybe I could take naps on the couch and enjoy this simple pleasure a little more often?

Extra Warm Blankets – I Had an issue with getting and staying warm, so piled on the blankets. I love snuggly, warm, extra soft blankets. I’d pull them up close to my chin and just drift off.

Soup – The winter time is wonderful for soup and sandwich meals, at least around my house! Once I could finally keep something down, extra hot egg drop soup was the meal of the day.  The warmth from the inside out is amazing.  Soup, simple, easy and delicious! 

Boy, looking back at this list, I need to make sure I add some peaceful little things to my day more often.  Not only are they peaceful, but fun, comforting and they bring great joy to me! It truly is the little things that make life big! These are just a few of the peaceful little things I enjoy. 

What are the little things that are big in your life? 

What peaceful little things DO you add to your day?

What peaceful little things do you NEED to add to your day?