just plain happy

This week was full of happiness for me, both small pleasures and bigger things as well.

I was finally able to publish a Blurb book (the songs and poems of his step-dad) that Marc and I have been working on for over a year! That was huge.

We took advantage of the rebate program our utility companies are providing -- they refund the entire cost of adding to the attic insulation -- it is supposed to lower our energy costs, and it doesn't cost us a dime! The whole thing was so fast and easy, too. When they were finished, they vacuumed up after themselves and even cleaned up the stray insulation pieces outside! Most impressive.

I've been having fun with fabric again. Textiles are just so pleasing to me.

After seeing the bibs that Amanda was making, I decided to check out the Bend the Rules Sewing book. Now I'm working on a couple of projects and it is fun to return to sewing!

I don't love ironing, but when I'm quilting or doing little sewing projects, it does have a certain satisfaction. And when I do iron, I sure do appreciate my Rowenta Advancer!

Am I the only one who loves selvages?

selvage (noun) 1. the edge of woven fabric finished so as to prevent raveling, often in a narrow tape effect, different from the body of the fabric.

Something about those little circles of color with numbers inside really does it for me...

I finally scheduled a long-overdue piano tuning. Our friend Brigham came over to tackle the job (old, old piano). He spent 3 hours working on it! He fixed a broken key, adjusted several keys that were clicking, and just gave it a good tuning. It sounds so much better now, and I don't have to keep apologizing to my students about the broken key...

Brigham has these big cases of containers with all of his parts neatly organized. I found them very pleasing to look at, and I think Brigham was delighted that I shared his satisfaction.

My sister-in-law Michelle came down from Salt Lake today to take me out for my birthday.
She is so good to me!

There's not much I love more than California Pizza Kitchen's pear gorgonzola pizza paired with adult conversation!

We even got pedicures together. It was so warm and relaxing, we both were ready for a nap afterwards. Our kids had fun hanging out together while we were gone, so it was good for everyone! And when we came home...

we had some of this cheesecake that Max made!

Tonight, I sang in a quintet for the adult session of our stake conference. It's been far too long since I did any singing, and that is my favorite kind -- multiple parts, pretty harmonies -- it was really fun.

There were so many happy things this week that even having a 3-hour nosebleed on Friday night with a 40-minute reprise this morning couldn't dampen my spirits! Well, maybe a little... it was incredibly frustrating to not be able to staunch the bleeding, to have to stay up way later than I wanted, and to get blood all over my clothes, sinks, floor, face, and hands. (I opted not to do any photo-documentation of this episode, it was too disturbing.)

I paged my ENT and when he called me back, he was not concerned at all. I was a little nervous about going out today in case it should happen again, but the day passed without incident. Whew!