Our kiddo skipped some naps at daycare this week. This made her cranky. It made us cranky because we are not ready for her to give up naps just yet. Then, later in the week, she took a nice long nap. That evening was an enjoyable frolic for everyone. 

Here are my other good things from the week.

• Our salmon share arrived - on time - and everything was still frozen!
• I dumped the dry ice from our salmon delivery in the sink. There was still some chunks hanging out when I went wash dinner dishes and it felt like I was working in an evil laboratory.
• One morning, I got to read on the couch with a cup of coffee while everyone else was still asleep.
• I had laundry on my to do list and I came home after work to find that the husband had tackled it already.
• It looks like our University will stay open, so I loaded up my office desk with some choice snacks. Mmmm... Cheez-its.
• Twirling around to toddler songs in the kitchen with my kiddo.
• Saw the red panda at the zoo! Red pandas are my favorite.
• Dropped off two bags of donations for our building's collection.
• New sheets on the bed. Always a delightful treat.
• I painted my toenails purple.

I just remembered that there are stuffed grape leaves in our fridge. I bought them earlier in the week, nibbled a few, and put the rest away for later. As soon as I'm done writing this post, I am going to eat the rest. I love a good stuffed grape leaf.

Here are my other good things from this week:

• Our windows are open again - letting in the cool breeze and low humidity.
• I spent some time organizing part of a closet. I got to toss some things that we haven't touched since we moved into this place.
• Last weekend, we visited a local farmer's market. I have not been to this particular market in a few years. It's huge now! We picked up some bread, local honey, and a variety pack of cider.
• One night this week, I made salmon BLTs for dinner. When I went to slice the tomato, I discovered that it has gone bad. I was able to run out to a local supermarket and back before the bacon was done cooking in the oven. I love being able to get to things so quickly on foot.
• Several nights this week, I was able to read a book on the couch while semi-watching what we had on the TV. It was a relaxing way to end the work day.
• We were able to take an after-dinner family walk. Hopefully, as the kiddo gets older, we'll be able to do this more often.
• Spent some time cleaning our home and it always feels to good to sit down and enjoy that.

What made you happy this week?

We got to open the windows yesterday evening and we haven't closed them yet. It's sunny and in the 70s with low humidity. Just perfect weather.

Here are my other good things from this week:

• We visited the Van Gogh Immersive Experience last weekend. The kiddo had fun, we learned some new things, and everyone loved the immersive room. I particularly enjoyed that our time in the room ended with the animation of Starry Night. It was just lucky timing.
• I got to teach a library instruction class in person again! 
• Just to see what would happen, I paid to run a classified ad in an email newsletter I love promoting my own newsletter. I gained over 70 followers in just a few days. 
• The grocery store flower bouquet in our dining room is entering it's fourth week. It's smaller, as I've weeded droopy flowers out, but what is left still looks good.
• Added a box of Cheez-Its to my desk snacks at work.
• Football is back!

Big or small, what are your good things of the week?

I spent the past week pondering what I wanted to write in a Friday post.

I tossed around the idea of a lengthy essay... and then tabled that because I know my bandwidth limits. I liked the idea of making a weekly recommendation... but then recalled I found that to be a chore most weeks over on my old blog. I thought about pivoting and writing a post deep diving into a single search process... but the thought of writing that bored me.

So, I turned back to the brain dump planning document I created when I wanted to get back into blogging. I reread my ideas which drove me to focus on what I like about blogging. I like sharing. I like being upbeat.  I like the little happy things we encounter.

Thus, the idea for this new weekly post arose. 

On Fridays, I will now share a list of "Just Good Things." These will be posts of all the good things I encountered, saw, used, or experienced. The goal of this post is to share gratitude and the bright side of life.

To kick things off, here is my list from this week:
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• I returned to the office on Monday and got to see students in person. I probably gave far too many overly enthusiastic greetings.
• In order to provide social distancing (and unmasked time), our director rejiggered who's in what space. That resulted in me having my own office. It may be temporary (until we move to remodel), but I am going to relish this experience. I've never had my own office before.
• Dinner this week included a recipe with pickled red onions. I love pickled onions.
  
• I did daycare drop-off three days in a row this week. It's a two mile walk with a slow incline most of the way. I ended up with that good kind of soreness in my calves.
• Before bedtime one night this week, my kid ran at me so fast for a hug that she knocked me over.
• Went to the zoo last weekend and the clouded leopard came right up to the fence. Also got to see the cheetahs tussle with one another. Oh! And it was the baby panda's first birthday and we got to seem him knock is ice sculpture treat over.
• I got to switch back to my "work purse" and it's a gray Kate Spade design that I adore. 

​What are your good things of the week?