Tina The Storyteller

I think 11 was exactly the year that we needed. Very little drama, not much pain. We did a fair bit of travel, opened some new chapters and life was good. I'm expecting that 12 will be pretty awesome, too! This year, she FINALLY started reading on her own. And just like everyone said, one day they wake up and they decide to read a novel, at or above grade level. It was awesome. And then another day, she woke up and decided that she was ready to write and she sat down at the computer and wrote a 4000 word story in one day. It needs some editing, but still she went from nothing to 4000 words! And she's been writing ever since. Little bits here and there. Creative stories for the most part. People are amazing, especially that one of mine. Over all, eleven was good. Twelve is definitely going to hold even more adventures.

We got a new computer!!! We set it up in my office. It was not convenient, because it's actually my daughter's computer and she uses it to interact with her friends, play games and goof off. It's never a good thing to have to deal with that kind of stuff when you want to sit down and get some work done. So yesterday, we moved her computer downstairs and I took my office space back. I undownloaded all her games. Removed them from the system and I took my computer back! It went from on the brink of death to exactly what I needed in the first place!! Yeah!! I'm so stinking happy!! Who knows exactly what this will mean, but it might possibly mean more blogs! Or more productive time in my office!! Or no more waiting for the computer or dealing with huffs when I ask to use it!! One thing it definitely means is a tax deduction because my office space is now all me!!!!! Speaking of work...I have something exciting to share with you!! This week is a birthday week at our house...

This Thursday, I am thankful for so much! I'm thankful for an amazing husband that makes me laugh and keeps me on the straight and narrow. I'm thankful for a daughter that is growing up and becoming a phenomenal woman. I'm thankful for a house full of pets that check in on me and keep me company. I'm thankful for my new job! Seriously, I get to take my deep seated desire for the world to have clean water and do something about it! How thankful I am that I get to tell people about the conditions women live in around the world and to encourage them and provide a way for them to do something about it!! That's just mind blowing. A little peak at my desk this morning! What about you, what are you thankful for?

Our computer really broke, wouldn't charge, battery was busted, no access at the beginning of the year. My dad came to the rescue and fixed it! Yeah! And then it got something that made it super slow and painful to use. It was time to do something about it. Actually, it was clear it was time to do something about it last fall. I started squirreling away some funds here and there. It was slow and painful, but not nearly as slow and painful as getting on the computer and doing anything on it. It would take me an hour to write and post something, with only about ten of those minutes being utilized for the actual creation of something to write. Meaning 50 minutes of computer wrestling. UGH! I felt like my life was being sucked away every single time I had to get on the computer to do something. Well, this summer, it got worse, taking forever to turn on, going through several reboots every time. You've all heard this story before, I'm sure. Well, finally, we got enough money pul...

The Happiness Dare is look at happiness that I'm pretty sure few of us have taken before. There are five different happiness styles that are discussed in the book as well as an assessment to be able to determine your primary style. (You can take the assessment online http://jenniferdukeslee.com/happiness-style/ ) The parts that I found most helpful were not just the styles and how they make us happy, but the downfalls within each style that we need to be aware of. Kind of like what too much of a good thing looks like for each style. My family and I took the test. Turns out that we have two Thinkers and one Relator. That definitely explains a lot about our family dynamics :) The dare manifesto itself is a little vague in regards the nitty gritty, but the third part of the book gives very specific action steps for each of the happiness styles. So the real question is. "Are you happier?" And the answer is "I don't know." I love knowing how to pursue my...