Apparently I'm not the best Blogger...

Not to over state the obvious on that one. :)
I guess my new year's resolution should have been to be a better blogger. :)
Things have been rather normal arond here... things going well, things going bad and things... well.... just going.  Rest assured that I am finding the joy in everyday.

For example, I had a debut performance of a dance Duet with my friend Stephanie recently.  I was scared out of my mind, but it ended up being not only a great experience, but a joyful weekend overall.  I believe our joy of the dance showed through.

Another example is that just the other day I came home to a broken sump pump, a thunderstorm, and my Hubby was in CA for work.  What did I do?  (Well, after the initial swearing) I got right in there and fixed it.  And I felt really good about that.  A definite example of finding joy in a seemingly joyless situation.

So, I will try to be a better blogger.  I gave up Coca-cola for Lent, so I'm sure I'll have many tales to tell as the days go by. :)

I have nothing to say for myself...

Apparently the year 2011 is the year I completely forget I have a blog.  Now, please do not think that I have no been seeking and finding the joy in my life everyday.  I have.  I just keep forgetting to share it with you.  I can't believe it's mid-February! 
The joys have been sometimes small, like my daughter telling me about problems she's having with kids at school, and having to take joy in the fact that she is sharing this problem with me. (Rather than being mad about the kids' behavior towards her)
Some joys have been big, like going to see Tony & Tina's Wedding with my hubby and great friends.  We had a tremendous amount of fun! 
So, I have been finding it... but not sharing it.  I need to get better at remembering about you.  Finding the joy is one thing...... but sharing it so you can maybe find some joy in your life is really what's important.  It would serve me well to remember that.

Is it February Already?

Winter is zooming by!  So much has been happening, it's hard to keep track of it all.
The joys have been plentiful.  The easy one is that we have had a record breaking blizzard!  The drifts outside my back door were almost as high as me and I couldn't even open my door.  It was crazy!  Here's a pic of outside my back door.

The birds I have at my feeders have been plentiful.... and beautiful!  Even their muted colors are bright with the white backdrop of nature.
My daughter won a state award for one of her drawings and will compete in Nationals.  That too was quite joyful.
Plus, the last few weeks have been a Packer frenzy here at my house.  Making it to the Super Bowl was extremely exciting.  The Championship games really had us riveted.  But, last night's Super Bowl win for the Green Bay Packers was a great joy, made even greater by having lots of friends and family gathered together to experience the fun, food, and laughter.  It was the perfect night!

Ahhhh.... January

So, here it is, mid January.  I look outside and see the beauty of a snow covered landscape.  If I were to set foot outside I would be frozen solid.  It is cold and getting colder.  Today is one of those days in Wisconsin where the low for today is tomorrow's high.  Not a good sign as the temperature drops.  So, today I find myself feeling extremely grateful for my heated home.  The fact that I can sit her comfortably and look out my window and enjoy the beauty outside is definitely a reason for joy as well as gratitude.  I truly believe that gratitude can bring joy.  I think if more folks were grateful, more folks would be joyful.  Crazy but true!
Since I'm not exactly sure whet day I left off before I will leave you with that thought for today - Wednesday - and after this go back to my day by day format I was doing before.  Stay warm folks, drive safe, and be joyful! :)

Holy Baloney!

WHOA!  It has been forever since I last posted!  I am so sorry!  Christmas time is my absolute favorite time of year.  One of the reasons for this is that I am always busy doing wonderful things with my family.  Lots of time with family and friends means no time on the computer = not writing in my blog.  I believe it would be safe to say that the joys have been tremendous since I last wrote.  To write them all would take days. 
So, my tidbit for you today is to simply make sure that you spend time with the people you love.  Love is the key to joy. :)

Christmas week!

Wow... I can't believe it's been almost a week since I wrote last!  Whew!  It's been a great month so far.
Tuesday - I had this day with Monica.  I took her out to lunch.  It was awesome!  I don't get to have one on one time with my girls as much as I would like.  This lunch together was a great way to connect.  I think I need to do this more with all my girls.

Wednesday - At dance class we learned a cheoro to a Christmas song called Deck the Rooftop by the cast of Glee.  I was really fun and quite the workout.  I was a great way to end my day.

Thursday -  The family did our Annual Fast Food frenzy night.  This is a night around Christmas where we drive through whatever fast food restaurant the kids want, grab dinner, then drive around the town looking at all the Christmas light.  We've been doing this for years.  It's really fun and the kids love getting to eat fun foods they don't get very often.

Friday - More game playing happened on Friday.  It was only Monica, Melody and I )although Deron did join later) but we had fun.  We played Spy VS Spy on the xbox... and Melody was kicking our butts! Go figure but the 9 year old is genuinely good at that game and is hard to beat. :)

Saturday - The Jingle Bell Rak'n haflas was that night.  It was a lot of fun.  Plus, I got to perform the dance I missed performing the week before because of the blizzard.   It was a wonderful night full, of dance, fun and the Christmas spirit. Joy was everywhere. :)

Sunday - Well, the major joy of this Sunday was Deron & I got to become Godparents to a darling boy named Rhys.  We were honored to be asked.  The ceremony was lovely and the food afterwards was awesome.  It is impossible to not find joy when holding a beautiful baby. 

Time is flying faster than Santa on Christmas eve!

I had no idea I hadn't written since Friday.  I think it's because I actually think everyday about what my joy is for that day and what I could write about.  This, of course, results in me thinking I actually wrote it sometimes.  I have always said my mind is like a blown glass trap. :)
So, this past weekend was nuts.  As many of you may be aware, the Midwest had a horrible storm pass through.  I woke up Saturday to a winter storm warning that progressed into a blizzard warning.  Normally, this would not phase me in the least on a Saturday morning.  Unfortunately, I was supposed to be traveling 2 hours south to Chicago that night for a Holiday Fundraiser Hafla.  Needless, to say, we did not make it.  But, some of my dance troupe members did go and were fortunate that the storm was not as bad as had been predicted.  So, I was very sad to miss it.  I know.... where am I going with this?  Well, instead, I stayed home, put a fire in the fireplace, listened to Christmas music, and played a fun game of monopoly with my family.  It was so much fun that when the older two girls came home from their retreat on Sunday, we played it again with all six of us.  Those 2 games of monopoly brought me more joy than any amount of dancing ever could. :)
Monday - OK... I know I seem to have a theme going here, but last night we played Life as a family.  Remember that my oldest is home for holiday break, so these little things mean a lot.  Any time all six of us do something together, it's a big deal.  Plus, we had the bonus of Monica's (my oldest) friend Anna came over to hang with us.  All in all, it was a great night.  Three family game nights in a row... that has to be a Kling family record.