A Very Positive Hodgepodge

What a difference a week makes!
Last week at this time it was just beginning to snow... and man, did it snow!
It didn't stop all day Wednesday and by 7 pm we had nearly 10 inches.

I spent most of the day taking photos of the hungry birds...of all types.
But these guys always steal the show, especially when it's snowing.

So the snow is nothing more than a beautiful memory,

 unless you count those traces of ugly piles still hanging out in the shade.

It has been in the mid to high 60s the past several days and feels like spring...

...even had a thunder storm the other night! Crazy!

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So we're here for the Hodgepodge...

 ...where Joyce asks the question and we answer them on our blogs.
Here we go.
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1. January 24th is National Compliment Day. Is it easy or not so easy for you to accept a compliment? Share a recent compliment you've given or received.

There's no doubt that I can give a compliment easier than I accept one. I am one of those who usually has a come-back with maybe "This old thing?" or "I'm having a really bad hair day." I wrote about this in one of my early posts, Gracie's Nativity. My MIL was one of the sweetest women you would ever want to meet and she handed out compliments like it was breathing...but she wasn't ever really able to accept one. I try to remember the words I wrote in that post when someone compliments me and I hesitate to accept it...in fact, I just went back and read it again. The last compliment I think I gave was to a new lady at church on Sunday...telling her what a blessing her outward enthusiasm for the the Lord was to me.


So encourage each other and build each other up, just as you are already doing.

1 Thessalonians 5:11

2. Ten little things you are loving right now.

Even though it's all gone now, I am still loving the fact that we got 10" of snow last week and the beautiful birds that all came out of the trees to play in it, especially the cardinals. I can still love it even though it's gone, right?

We always have lots of cardinals but when the are placed on a backdrop of white, they almost take my breath away. The day after it snowed, I got out to make a trip to the grocery and it was the first time I had driven my Honda CR-V in very deep snow...all-wheel drive is a wonderful thing! And now that the snow is all gone, I was loving that rain that we had yesterday morning as it washed off all of that road salt. Let's see...flowers from the hubby that looks as though spring has exploded on my dining room table...

...the new prime lens for my camera, comfort food, a vintage quilt top that I got on eBay and the perfect fabric for the backing (it's really a great Ralph Lauren sheet) that I found at Goodwill.

 

 

And as of this evening after opening the mail, I am more than loving the fact that a letter from my healthcare insurance stating that the appeal that I filed for overcharging me due to using out-of-network doctors in the ER without informing me...and this is the same hospital that I have worked for the past 25 years...has approved it! They charged me over $2300.00 for two five minute visits. I won, I won! Yeah, I am loving that...thank you, Jesus!!

3. Would people describe you as a positive person? Do you see yourself that way? I read here  a list/description of eight things positive people do differently-

Positive people find something to look forward to every day, they celebrate the small stuff, they're kind, they stay busy, accept responsibility for their actions, forgive themselves, know when to move on, and resist comparisons.

Which action on the list would you say you do regularly? Which action could you add to your life to give you a more positive outlook?

I'd like to think that others see me as a positive person and for the most part, I see myself that way too. I will say, however, that although I would like to be able to say yes to all of the above, the fact remains that I am a flawed human being and don't always succeed. I am pretty much an up-beat person from the time I get up...and I don't even need my coffee first. I'm sure Jim sometimes wishes I wasn't because it takes him a while to get his social groove on when he first gets up. Mondays are just another day to me because I really like my job and I usually have something that I look forward to everyday. It doesn't take a whole lot to make me happy...it's the little things, you know. Kindness is very important to me and I try very hard to practice it daily...it's very important to what I do for a living since I deal with patients that are already in pain. Making them feel welcome and comfortable makes their physical therapy experience easier and sometimes even fun. Am I always kind? I'd like to say yes and I try very hard...but I can get riled up with the best of them. Depending on what the situation is, you may not want to cross me.😇Where I'm lacking the most would be comparing myself to others and self-forgiveness...I'm pretty good at beating myself up...sometimes with a smile on my face.

If you're a positive person, what's something you do regularly that's not on the list?

Smile...I smile a lot, whether I feel like it not. I can be carrying an almost unbearable burden and still smile. Many times folks around me have no clue what's going on inside. I guess that can be a good thing.

4. Homemade chicken soup, beef stew, or a bowl of chili...what's your pleasure on a cold winter's day?

It's probably homemade chicken noodle...with chili coming in as a close second. I made some last week during our snowfall (this is not it) and as I was getting ready to put the noodles in, I realized that I only had a handful of the spiral kind. I had some lasagna noodles though (the no boil kind) and broke them up into small pieces and threw them it. It worked great.
 

5. The best part of my day is....

6.  Insert your own random thought here.