Farewell 2025!

 December 31st

Happy New Year!

It has been quite the year.  Keziah and I stepped down from being Baron and Baroness of Stonemarche, I cut my hair (Wow), I made an attempt at hiking the Appalachian Trail, and we are in the process of moving.  I'm sure I'm forgetting somethings.  Many things happened and we are all another year older.  Congratulations for making it through the year 2025.  

For today, my happy things are:

• Work went well.  I stayed late in order to be certain that the Hazardous Materials area was cleaned up.  They fed us pizza.  I am always happy that they occasionally get food for us.  Today I was especially happy when I got home, planned to have some canned veggies (so I wouldn't have to pack them), and didn't have a can opener because it was already packed and at the new house.  😂  I'm thankful that I had already had a meal.  There were still snacks I could eat.  
• After a nap, I went to the New Year's Jamboree that Keziah hosts.  It was wonderful to see so many people and friends.  I got to play some Cribbage too.  I lost both games.  The first game I was skunked (lost by a lot of points).  The second game was really close.

Okay, it was three players and really close between me and one other player.  Had they not scored first, I would have won instead.  I enjoyed playing, even when I got skunked!

• I was given presents from three friends!  I wasn't expecting that.

The arrows at the bottom are pens and I like how they write.
So, a Pelican puzzle, a capybara toy that grows in water, a bow and arrow charm and arrow pens.  😊
The list in the middle contains some of my intentions (or goals?) for 2026.
Maybe I will write about that more in the 2026 Blog.

--🎉🎈🎊🎆🎉🎈🎊🎆🎉🎈🎊🎆🎉🎈🎊🎆🎉🎈🎊🎆🎉🎈🎊🎆🎉🎈🎊🎆--

This is the last Blog for 2025.  The 2026 Blog will be:  https://2026af.blogspot.com/

I should add that I apparently missed one day in 2025.  If I actually wrote one but didn't post (it might have happened in March), I will post it when I find it.  It wasn't until yesterday when I saw I only posted 363 times that I realized one was missing.  

☮

Continued listening to: The Painted Penny Stamp, by Fran Smith.  

Thank you for being here and being part of my daily happy things. Stay safe!

Penultimate Day of 2025

 December 30th

Parts of the driveway are almost ready to ice skate on.  I am still thankful for the ExoSpikes.  

Here are some happy things from today:

• Things went well for me at work last night.  I was able to not fall behind until the very end of the first part of the shift.  That part also ended with no warning because someone thought we had more packages to process, but we didn't.  Everything ended about 20 minutes earlier than usual. The second half of the night went alright, too.  And then I was able to stay about an hour and a half late.  
• At home (the old one) I was exhausted.  I'm pretty sure I got a cat nap before I had the energy to prepare myself some food.  I was able to find the energy to throw some ice melt on the lower part of the driveway.  I also started my edit/rewrite of the Muffin story I worked on in the month of November.  I kind of want to take a few hours and just go over the entire thing in one shot.  There are other things that take priority though, like packing.  😉
• Sunset

☮

Continued listening to: The Painted Penny Stamp, by Fran Smith.  

Thank you for being here and being part of my daily happy things. Stay safe!

The Year is Almost Over

December 29th

Here are the happy things from today:

• The weather outside was freezing rain for most of the day so I didn't go anywhere. Had the weather been different it would have been nice to go for a walk with Amy and visit with Keziah. That was not to be. Instead I made a list of things to do and got most of them done.  I actually did at least some part of everything on my list in one way or another.

• The ice storm has made me very happy with past me. When I was packing some things up weeks ago, I specifically didn't pack a pair of ExoSpikes. Being able to wear those to go to the main house and clear some ice off the driveway, safely, made going outside much nicer than slip-sliding and falling.

• There was an online thing that I came across today that was called 10 Morning Habits That Will Make You Happier (Backed by Science). That link just brought me to the end of the YouTube video. I hope that was only because I watched it already and it brings you, the reader, to the beginning-if you choose to watch it. Anyhow, I'm considering slowly adding some of the suggestions to my “morning”. One of the suggestions is sunlight. That isn't naturally possible on my work days. With the New Year a few days away my mind is thinking about whether there are things I want to change about my Blog. I'm considering adding some things the YouTube video suggests and try to see how it goes.  
• With a little help from the internet, I completed the New York Times online crossword today.  I don't usually try.  That felt good.

☮

Continued listening to: The Painted Penny Stamp, by Fran Smith.  

Thank you for being here and being part of my daily happy things. Stay safe!

Moving Still

December 28th

Happy Sunday things:

• It was a morning of problems. It made me happy when all the things were fixed.
• There was a big push to get as much out of the old house as possible. Friends came by and boxes were filled and the UHaul truck was packed. I spent some time packing things up and taking apart the bed in Gideon's room. It used to be my room and I had painted all the walls to look like stone walls. One of them is shaped a bit like New Hampshire.  

I'm pretty sure we used a level when the shelf was installed.   Houses settle a lot in over 250 years!

New Hampshire!

• At the new house the truck was unpacked and we celebrated with pizza and got to visit with our friends.
• For now, I'm still at the old house in the apartment. I'm going to do my best to pack what I can over the next few days. Today we all focused on getting what we could out of the main house. We still have a long way to go.

☮

Continued listening to: The Painted Penny Stamp, by Fran Smith.  

Thank you for being here and being part of my daily happy things. Stay safe!

Restful Day

December 27th

Here are some happy things from my lazy day off:

• Days off are for staying in bed until noon, right?  Perhaps that was a little long, and I could come up with excuses, but all I have is that it was warm and cozy and I didn't want to get up.   🙂  It was restful, and apparently I need that once in a while.
• Eventually I got motivated enough to do some things.  One of those things was to finish some beard rings for the friend I play Cribbage with sometimes.  They came out okay, but I'm worried the laminate that is holding the cards together will break.  I told them I would make more if that happened.  

This is representative of a perfect Cribbage hand which would score 29.

• Some shoveling got done.  Bel did some (so thankful) and I did some.  It isn't finished, but a lot better.   The fresh air felt good.
• Sunset!

• In the early evening my friend came over and we played Cribbage.  They like the beard rings, but they didn't bring them the luck I was hoping for.  I won both games we played.  I love the Cribbage board they got for Christmas.

☮

Continued listening to: The Painted Penny Stamp, by Fran Smith.  

Thank you for being here and being part of my daily happy things. Stay safe!

Productivity

 December 26th

Here are some happy things from Boxing Day:

• This morning was productive.  I packed up things in my new bedroom (leaving it mostly empty) and I got more cleaning done in the kitchen before heading out.  I'm happy that I learned how to use at least some of the ‘edit’ functions in photos on my phone.  

Cleaned are green.

• Zed and I went to pick up Keziah's van from the repair people.  I will be driving that for a while since my car is not working well.  When I find the title to my car (it should be packed in the storage container), I'll most likely sell it to a scrap yard.  Until I am able to replace my current car,  I'll be borrowing from family members.
• At the old house I found that the heaters are not working well in the apartment.  I went out and bought some others.  I'm happy that I happen to have enough money to have been able to purchase new ones.

☮

Started listening to: The Painted Penny Stamp, by Fran Smith.  

Thank you for being here and being part of my daily happy things. Stay safe!

Merry Christmas

 December 25th

Merry Christmas!  Here are some happy things from today:

• Before most people were awake, I did some more cleaning.  After most people went to bed, I also did some more cleaning.   It has been so busy for everyone that only the immediately needed places have been taken care of.  Hopefully with some down time this new place will start seeming more like a home.  That said, I don't know when I'll actually be moving in officially.
• There were stockings and gifts.  It was a good day.  Corvidae made cinnamon rolls and French toast.  In the evening there were some movies.
• Here are some photo highlights from the day--

A cat wanted to join us.

This guy, Kayden, has taken to liking me. This is after I was able to get out from under him. 

Random stocking stuff.

☮

Started listening to: The Painted Penny Stamp, by Fran Smith.  

Thank you for being here and being part of my daily happy things. Stay safe!