5 Things That Put Me in a Better Mood Instantly

Here are the things that instantly put me in a better mood:

Sunrises

Clear Blue Skies

1)  I love getting up early enough to see the sunrise.  It reminds me that God's mercies are new every morning and he has given us another day.  Also, a sunny day with clear blue skies always helps me mood.  All I need to do is look up and enjoy the view.  It's very calming.

petting my cat, Spunky Doodle

Boxing my Kindle cord

2)  My cat Spunky Doodle always improves my mood when I take time to pet her.  Also, when she does cute things like hide under blankets or rugs, go in new places like the sink, refrigerator, cupboard.  When she is in play mode, I enjoy playing with her with a shoelace on the bed or ping pong ball on the steps, or spinning her in a chair.  We've played lots of different games over the years.  Even when I just see a cat in someone's window or yard while we walk in our neighborhood, it puts me in a better mood!  I love cats!

favorite cookies

Pizza, my favorite food

3)  Good food always improves my mood.  I used to eat pizza 4 days a week, but stopped when I had to watch my salt intake to lower my blood pressure and besides, my husband would get heart burn from it.  Now I only have it on rare occasions.  My husband and I both enjoy the Pinwheels though.  He surprises me sometimes by bringing me one of these now and then.  Chocolate and marshmallow has always been a favorite combination for me since I was little and my grandma introduced me to marshmallow eggs at Easter!

A good Pinochle hand--a run, aces around and double Pinochle (doesn't get much better)

Beating my record high game on Word Wipe

Making a good shot in Pickleball, leading to winning

Making a great shot on the golf course leading to making par

Watching the Browns actually win a game!

4)  Winning always puts me in a better mood instantly!  Doesn't really matter what it is.  I love playing games and when I win, it always improves my mood.  I haven't golfed for a long time because my husband does enjoy it and it takes a lot of time to do (for me) and is pretty expensive.  I hope to go again though sometime.  I used to love bowling too, especially when I was the anchor on my team and finished strong in the tenth frame to pull out a win.

5)  Yes, I must admit, even my dog, Roxy, puts me in a better mood instantly at times.  I love seeing her energy when she gets the zoomies in the house, or starts running after rolling in the grass.  Sometimes I encourage her to run through the house.  I feel bad we can't let her run free outside since we have a small yard that isn't even fenced.  When I used to sleep in while she went on her morning walk with my husband, she would come running in to greet me with jumping on the bed and giving me a big sloppy kiss.  I no longer sleep in but join her for her early morning walks but we do enjoy porch time together!

Click on this link to Writer's Workshop for more topics and more posts.

Share this:

One of Spunky's Favorite Spots

Spunky Doodle's Favorite Spot to Hide From the World

Join in Feline Friday at Comedy Plus.

Share this:

Porch Time With My Dog

I love relaxing on the porch with Roxy after our evening walk waiting to watch the sun set.  Temperature was 52 degrees.  Really look forward to having more porch time when summer arrives!

Share this:

Rapid Recall Tests Your Short-Term Memory

One of the games we both enjoy is Rapid Recall.  It's a game there you have a list of 10 words.  One person has 60 seconds to give clues to their team for each word (or as many as there is time for).  Instead of calling out the answers though, you just toss a triangle into the middle basket and must remember your answer until time is up.  Then the team has 30 seconds to say their answers and retrieve a triangle for each one correct.  You can only have one answer per words though.  When you retrieve the triangles for right answers, they get placed on your half of the board and the first to cover all their spaces wins.  This is a great game for a group.  We've played with as many as 10 people, but it also works well for only 4.  With just the two of us, we had to modify it a bit.  We had Tigger on one team against Pooh on the other team and took turns giving clues and guessing for each.  Pooh won, but only by two.

It's really easy to get distracted.  With lots of people playing, it can be kind of fun and makes it more challenging trying to distract the guessing team, although only the person giving clues is allowed to talk.  Everyone else is supposed to be quiet so the team guessing can concentrate.  What usually distracts me is when I'm guessing and the answer isn't right.  That throws me off and I tend to forget my other answers!  Another problem for me was that when playing so many rounds, I was still remembering words from previous rounds!  It's harder than you think!  Sometimes, my brain can only remember 3 or if I say them back really quick without missing, sometimes I can get 4.  Gerard had the most recalled when we played with 6 in one turn.  That's good even for team play!  It's fun, easy to learn and doesn't take much set up.

Share this:

Social Distancing At Veteran's Memorial Park

Last week we noticed some new signs up at the beginning of the walking paths to assist people in keeping 6 feet apart.  I really liked the park was trying to help people keep a safe distance.  When you meet people going the opposite direction, it is hard to keep 6 foot away when passing, especially if the grass is muddy or full of water to make it hard to leave the path.

We follow the signs but it really bugs me when I see people who don't.  There is a path on either side of the road that cuts through the park, so on one side you would walk west and the other side east.  This morning, three people with a dog were walking the wrong way.  I thought maybe they didn't notice the signs, but then I saw them actually stop to read it and they continued going the wrong way anyhow!

Why can't people take this virus seriously by now?  Why can't everyone be patient and follow the guidelines?  It's really not too much to ask when lives are at risk, is it?  Are you one who follows rules or one who disregards them?



Share this:

My Dog the Exercise Trainer

It used to be my cat who would come around by me when I exercised, but she gave up the job to our dog, Roxy.  Here I am trying to do donkey kicks with my dog under me.  Notice I'm using my one hand to pet her so only leaning on my left hand to do these.

Exercise can be tiring.  This is Roxy's favorite place to stretch out and relax.

Do your pets exercise with you?

Share this:

Communion at Home

Well, today was another first for me--participating in an online communion service.  I used two Cheerios and a bit of joint juice for my "elements."  Normally at our Good Friday service the choir would sing but now with social distancing, only a few were actually there.  I think its really nice of our Pastor to put forth the effort to do this as well as putting Sunday messages and a Wednesday Bible study online during this time.

Share this:

Hollywood Squares Is Fun and Easy!

Hollywood Squares was pretty fun.  Although I won $500 to $200, my husband made it competitive.  This was a TV show on a long time ago and is played the same way.  It's like tic-tac-toe, trying to be the first to get three squares in a row any direction.  In this game though, you answer questions before getting a square.  When it is your turn, your opponent answers a question and you simply must either agree or disagree.  If you are correct, you get the square.  If not, your opponent gets the square.  The only exception is that if the square will give you a win, then you have to actually get a question right and not get it by your opponent missing.  When answering, you can purposely answer wrong if you like or sometimes make up an answer that sounds possible to bluff your opponent into agreeing with you.  Or, you can even act uncertain and knowingly give the right answer to try to trick them into disagreeing.

Winning a game gets you $100 and there are some bonus questions that if answered correctly gives you an extra $100.  These questions are pretty easy because most are multiple choice or true or false.  The games go quickly.

I have used this game in my Sunday School classes from time to time as well, with Bible questions and the kids liked it.

Have you seen the show or played this game?

Share this:

Razzle Went Quick But Got Bored With Triple Yahtzee

Razzle is a quick-thinking word game where you try to unscramble words of at least 4 letters.  If adults and kids play, the kids can make 3-letter words.  When you say and spell a word before your opponent does, you move the tray of letter cubes one space toward your goal.  If you don't see any word, you can challenge your opponent and flip the 30-second timer.  Then if your opponent doesn't come up with a word, you get to move the tray toward your goal.  When you reach your goal (the end of the tray) you score a point.  You can play to 10 or 5.  There are score things on the edge of the board for convenience.  We played to 5 only because I kept winning every time.  We were done in just 10 minutes so then chose another game to play.

We switched to Triple Yahtzee for an hour and still didn't finish so gave up on this one.  It's just rolling five dice and filling in the score sheet with different combinations.  In triple Yahtzee, you actually play 3 games at once.  The score sheet has three columns--the first is straight, the second doubles the score of the items and the third column triples the score of the items.  You add all three column totals together and the high score wins.  The highest item is a Yahtzee (50 pts.)--when all five dice show the same number.  You have to add a lot in this game--total all dice for 3 of a kind, 4 of a kind, chance, and the total of same numbers that are rolled; for example, if you go for 4s and roll 3, you would score 12 points. 

Which game would you like better?  Have you played either one?  I prefer Razzle but my husband didn't like either one.  It's small enough that you could even take it to a restaurant to play while waiting for your food.

Share this:

OUTBURSTJunior Is Easy and Fun

OUTBURST Junior is a fun game for us because my husband is pretty good at it so our games are competitive.  This is one we both win sometimes.  It is similar to Family Feud, except easier.  Instead of answering a question, you are given a topic and must shout out things related to that topic.  There are 10 answers listed below the topic and you score one point for each one you say.  Plus, you choose a card with a number on it and if you said that number answer, you score 3 bonus points!  Game is the first to reach 50 points.  It even has a little scoring device to keep track of the points.  You have 30 seconds to give answers.  You can play with teams or just two.  The blue topics are more for adults and the orange topics for kids, but usually we used the kid topics because they were easier.  Have you ever played this?

Share this:

Rook Is Fun if You Like Card Games

Rook is a card game with four suits:  black, green, red, yellow and numbers 1-14.  You can play just about any game with these cards that you can with a normal deck.  There are a variety of specific games listed in the table of contents of the rule book though from games for just two to games of as many as 6 players.  My husband and I played the regular Rook game for two and Tennessee for Two (fun card game for two).  Both games involved bidding, naming trump and taking tricks.  The only point cards are 14s and 10s which count 10 points and 5s which count 5 points.  High bidder names trump, but unlike other card games, the non-bidder leads first.  I thought it was fun because I like card games; however, Gerard just played along to make me happy.  He never wanted to bid so it wasn't very challenging.  Obviously, I won all these since I was able to name trump for the opening bid every hand.

This was my first introduction to playing cards as a kid.  Have you ever played with these cards?

Share this:

Made My Corona Virus Mask

With the new suggestion to wear a mask when out in public where you can't guarantee you can keep the 6' social distance, I decided to try making one after seeing this easy video on Facebook.  No sewing needed is what got my attention.  When I did mine, I found a pair of socks I never wear and just cut off the top part to use for the mask.  I sure don't want to be part of the problem and spread it to anyone else in case I have it and don't know it.

I saw there were lots of different videos showing easy ways to make masks.  I still think wearing a sign that says "stay away" might be a good idea though!  What about you?  Are you wearing a mask when you go to a store?

Join this Blog Hop:  Inspire Me Monday
Share this:

I Couldn't Stand It Anymore!

My sheepdog look

Hair off my forehead

April is when I usually get my hair cut very short for summer when I can't stand it falling in my eyes anymore.  Yesterday while walking, I had to keep brushing it out of my eyes.  With the hair salons closed though and the stay-at-home order in effect, I cut it myself.  When I even had trouble sleeping because it is so annoying, when I got dressed this morning, I had all the courage I needed thinking that the worst that could happen would be for it to look awful.  So what if it did, with me not being able to visit with friends now anyway it was a good time to try it.  Of course, it will grow long again, unfortunately.  All I know is, I'm glad I did it--feels so much better and now I may be able to keep from touching my face 500 times a day!

Share this:

Did You Know? (peacocks, Walmart and us)

Did you know peacocks live in California?  I just learned that on Happy Tuesday's blog hop when I visited Bailey Unleashed.

When I went to Walmart to pick up our prescriptions, they were only letting people in through one door.  I wondered why and then saw on the news the next day that Walmart is limiting the number of people in the store at one time.  I like this idea! 

Today we put out our porch furniture and hung up our wind chime.  Hopefully we'll actually be able to sit out there comfortably.   

Share this:

Let's Play Family Feud!

Finally, a game I lost!  Family Feud is a game my husband likes and can win.  He won two out of three from me when we played yesterday, although I scored higher than both his games in the one I won.  The singer and celebrity questions threw me for a loop.  The game works quite well but with only two of us playing, one had to play an entire game first and then the other.  Then whoever scored higher won.  It's very simple to play and works just like the TV show, except we allowed ourselves more time to answer since it was just one on the team having to think of all the answers.   

Share this:

Two Fun Games That My Husband Didn't Like--Conflict and Mille Bornes

I thought for sure my husband would like Conflict, a war game by Parker Brothers that I've had a very long time.  It is easy with a combination of luck (rolling the dice) and strategy (choosing which pieces to move when and where).   The object is to either capture all your opponents pieces or to take over their home base as I did with my boat.

The brown squares are land, the blue-green is water.  Planes can go on any square, artillery only on land, boats only on water.  You can go in any direction.  The anti-aircraft gun cannot be taken by a plane.

The pieces in the middle square are your reserve pieces that can be removed and put into action one at a time whenever you roll a 7.  You get to move two pieces each turn, one piece for each die.  Doubles get you another turn, however, if you roll three in a row, you must put a piece in reserve.  I'd say this game only took us about 10-15 minutes so I asked if he wanted to play it again and he said "No, get something else."  I was disappointed he didn't like it because it's one I like very much.  Four can play and you can play partners if you want.

So, next I chose something completely different--a French card game called Mille Bornes.  The object is to be the first to complete a 700-mile (two players) or 1,000-mile (3-4 players) trip.  (This too can be played with partners if you have four players.)  Each player has a "battle pile" that determines if you can play mileage.  To start, you need a green light.  You can then put down mileage cards until your opponent plays any of these hazards on your pile:  flat tire, accident, out of gas, stop or 50 speed limit.  Then you need a remedy card to fix the problem and then a green light before you can play mileage again.  Each player gets 6 cards in their hand.  You get extra points if you can complete the trip without using 200s, for each safety you play (Driving Ace (protects from accidents), Punctureproof (protects from flat tires), extra tank (protects from out of gas) and Right of Way (protects from stop lights, speed limits and no need for green lights).  The game is over when a player reaches 5,000 points.  We only played to 3,000 though because my husband didn't care for this game either.  UGH!

Have you played either of these games?  Which one do you think you would like?

Share this:

Scrabble for Juniors--Gerard Almost Won This one!

Finally, a game that was competitive--Scrabble for Juniors.  This is based on Scrabble, but the words are already on the board so all you do is cover them.  The person to complete the word wins a point.  You get to play two letters each turn, either the first letter of a word or the next in a word that is started.  A bit of strategy comes in because you can see the other player's letters.  Mostly though, this is a game of luck which I only won by two points.

The board though is reverseable with the other side a bunch of blank squares.  You make your own words and connect them as in Scrabble, but the scoring is much simpler.  You score one point for each letter in the word.

Share this: