52 Weeks of Happy 4/52

Hello all, here are my happy things from this week.

1. Winterwatch. I love the spring/autumn/winter watch programmes, seeing all the wildlife.

2. New wellies. I've been looking for some wellies for ages but they are never big enough around the calves, these are short ones and fit really well. I got them in Blacks and found a 10% discount code so they were £13.50!

3. Simply Crochet Magazine. I finally got a copy in WHSmith after looking in a few places. It was lovely to see Lucy and Andrea in this issue.

4. RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch. This is the 7th year I've taken part in the birdwatch, I don't get huge numbers of birds in the garden despite always having different food and water out. I'd planned to do it from 2-3pm but I was delayed so did it from 3.15-4.15pm. It started raining not long after and became very heavy and windy and turned quite dark! 

My results this year were:

• 4 Bluetits
• 1 Wood Pigeon
• 2 Dunnocks
• 1 Robin
• 1 Blackbird

Thank you for all of your comments on my last post, I enjoy reading all of your views.

Making a pond

I've always wanted to have a pond in the garden but my nan didn't like the idea. So, I've made a pond in a bowl, I got the idea from this website. I did it yesterday with my nephew and finished off when my niece got home from school.

Finding the best location. I was going to dig a hole to put the bowl in but decided to stand it on top instead. The rockery hasn't really been touched for many years (apart from a few bits I planted last year) so it's a bit overgrown and has weeds coming through.

My nephew washing the gravel.

The pond in place, ready to be filled.

The finished pond, filled with rain water. I'm not sure how successful it will be but it's good to experiment! I thought, if this doesn't attract any wildlife I will dig a hole in the rockery and use pond liner to make a new pond.

When I tidied up the rockery a bit today, I saw this caterpillar under a rock. It was curled up in a ball and I don't have clue what it is! I had a look online but couldn't find what it is. If anyone has any ideas, please let me know.

After not seeing many ladybirds last year, I saw a seven spot ladybird on one of the bins yesterday, so hopefully it will be a better year for seeing ladybirds.

52 Weeks of Happy 3/52

I'm pleased to say, the pain from my wisdom tooth has eased, I still have some pain and can't open my mouth as normal but its much better than it was. So, that is my first happy thing from this week.

1. Being almost pain free. No photo though!

2. Family visiting. We had family come to stay this week, it was really nice to see them as it's been about 18 months since we saw them last.

3. Getting out and about. It was so nice last Monday to be able to take my sister's dogs out for walk. Being in so much pain before, I was just trying to get comfortable and hadn't been out. I went up to the local park and into the woods, it was lovely to hear the birds singing and I realised that I'd missed being out. I also went out a couple of times with my visiting family and took the dogs out again on Friday.

4. Seeing a Redwing. I've been waiting since Autumnwatch to see a Redwing and I saw one today at about 4pm, in the garden so I had to include it in this weeks happy things! I didn't get a photo as my camera doesn't have a big zoom so this is from my bird book. I did try scanning it but the quality wasn't very good.

I hope you've managed to find some happy things this week.

52 Weeks of Happy 2/52

It's been really hard this week to find happy things. The pain from my wisdom tooth carried on, sometimes I was in agony and painkillers didn't work. I'm on my third lot of antibiotics from the dentist and I still have some pain. I couldn't have it out on Friday as I have muscle lock (like lockjaw) so couldn't open my mouth wide enough. I felt very annoyed on Friday as I'd phoned the clinic on Thursday and my instinct was that they wouldn't be able to do it, they said it would be fine and I went along to my appointment, sat in the chair and they said they couldn't do it. I was so upset that I hadn't trusted my instinct but also for my dad who used his holiday to take me. Hopefully I can have it out in a couple of weeks.

Despite all of this I have found some happy things.

1. Stacking Santa's! I took my Christmas decorations down yesterday and I bought these stacking Santa's in Asda this year, I think they're really sweet! 

2. Remembering the goods times I had working at Thorpe Park in 2001/2002. I drove these trains and also worked on the boats that went up to the farm. I made lots of lovely friends and I'm still in contact with quite a few, despite moving away.

3. Creme eggs!

4. Booking two holidays from The Sun. The online booking for previous bookers opened today and I have booked holidays in May and October, both in Weymouth but at different parks.

I hope you've managed to find some happy things this week.

52 Weeks of Happy 1/52

This is the first time I have taken part in the 52 Weeks of Happy challenge, started by Jen at little birdie. Quite a few other bloggers take part in this too and it has been really nice to see other people's happy things. 

I'm keen to try and find little happy things each week as a focus for positive thinking. I'm a carer and it can be quite hard work and negative at times so, I think this positive focus will be good for me. I will definitely try to do a post every week but if I miss a week, that's ok! I've really been looking forward to starting this challenge but it has been overshadowed this week, I'm in a lot pain from my wisdom tooth and even painkillers aren't really working. I'm due to have it out on Friday so hopefully it will still go ahead. Fortunately, all these happy things happened before my pain started.

Here are my happy things for the first week of January.

1. Frosty mornings. Seeing everything glisten and hearing the crunchiness.

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2. Rudolph Christmas socks. I bought these in Tesco and I love them!

3. Celebrating News Year Eve. I went to my sisters, in the end and we played the Wii.

4. Essentials magazine subscription. My mum bought this again for me this year, using her Tesco Clubcard vouchers so it only cost £12 for the year.

The happiest people don't have the best of everything, they just make the best of everything.

Hope you've all had a happy week!