Happy Stuff: Oranges

Do you have websites you check every single day? I have three. They are all crafty ones that post DIY projects. I haven’t done many of the projects but I LOVE these three sites. The ladies who create these sites feel like my friends, even though I’ve never met them. But they are creative, funny, honest, quirky, and they love sharing stories about their lives online, including mishaps. Boy, that sounds familiar. Anyway, checking out their sites is one of the parts of my day I really love. So much of my day is spent juggling things for my trio of little ones, but a little time checking out creative websites is something just for me. And I need that, sister!

 

One of the sites I love, A Beautiful Mess, recently had a post on something called 100HappyDays.com. It’s a challenge to notice something awesome each day for 100 days, take a photo of it and post it online. The point is to become more tuned in to the great parts of our lives and feel happier. Since I don’t do all the social networking that some people do, I don’t have the accounts in place to do this. But I figured I could do my own version on my blog. (My blog could be described as a collection of essays I write on the things I enjoy or the wacky moments I survive, so maybe I’m already doing my own version of this challenge.)

I think I’ll try my own twist on this idea. I won’t commit to doing it for 100 days in a row because I’d rather start off with the intention of doing it because it’s fun, not because it’s another thing on my already substantial To Do list. So I’ll do it when I can. There are times when I’m really busy racing around and don’t make a point to notice small, cheerful gifts right in front of my nose. So this Happy Stuff collection could be just the thing to help me pause, if just for a minute, to enjoy happy surprises…

Here’s my first one: Oranges

This morning I grabbed three oranges from one of our backyard trees. It’s a juice orange tree, and I’m sorry to say that we don’t often pick and use what it offers. We have a manual juicer, which works fine for squeezing oranges, but I rarely do it. And I wasn’t expecting a few oranges to give my day a boost. But they did! I found three ripe oranges on the tree, washed them, and cut one open. It was really sweet, sweeter than I remembered them tasting before. (Possibly I’d picked them too early in the past. Oops.) The citrus smell, their cheery deep orangey color and their WOW flavor was a really happy surprise. And it did give me a lift on a morning when I felt tired and grouchy. This was easy and free, just like many of the best things in life. So thank you, orange tree. Your blossoms smell great and you gave my Thursday a boost!