It takes a lot of work from the face to let out a smile, but just think what good smiling can bring to the most important muscle of the body... the heart. - Author Unknown

I had an amazing day.  I was asked to do a talk about my trip to Bulembu, Swaziland to a ladies church group.  I don't particularly like doing public talks, but figured that it's worth it to spread word for Bulembu and the amazing work that they do.  Little did I know, I would be told that they would donate $100 to the charity of my choice.  My heart smiled to hear that $100 would be going to Bulembu to help out.  It's truly amazing how generous people can be!

Too many people miss the silver lining because they're expecting gold. - Maurice Setter

It's been too long!

My day wasn't a very exciting day.  In fact, it was fairly uneventful.  It began around 9am when I woke up, and my heart smiled almost immediately.  You see, I was able to lay in bed till 10:30am reading and cuddling with my cat, and if that's not a reason for my heart to smile, I really don't know what is!  After finally rolling out of bed and making my way downstairs, I asked my sister if she would like to go out for lunch.  I highly suspected she would say yes, so we went for a nice quiet lunch around the corner in the afternoon.  My heart smiled to be able to have a nice lunch with my sister.  She's going away for a week, so it was nice to be able to have a chat with her before she leaves for sunny Cuba!

A smile appeared upon her face as if she'd taken it directly from her handbag and pinned it there. - Loma Chandler

Every year at Christmas time my family and I go to see Canadian Brass in concert.  For me, it's really the signal that the holidays are about to start, and a time when I can find real peace within myself.  Listening to the music as it fills up the hall, following the different instruments as their sounds move around.  I consider it to be an almost spiritual thing for me.  I just feel so calm, relaxed, and content during it.  So of course, my heart was smiling during another amazing concert today.

Also, I wish everybody a very Happy Hanukkah!

The best way to cheer yourself up is to try to cheer somebody else up. - Mark Twain

I crochet for two reasons.  The first is because I find it super relaxing, and I like being able to do it while watching television so that I don't feel like I'm wasting my time.  I can actually hold something tangible that I've done while sitting in front of the tube for longer than I should.  The second reason is because I like to know that what I'm making can bring a smile to someone's face.  While I'm crocheting, I like to imagine what the person's face will look like when they see what I've made, even if I won't be there when they see it.  That's why I like donating what I make because I know that the person will truly appreciate it.

Back on Thanksgiving I made a bunch of Halloween decorations for my family members.  Each person at the dinner table was given something.  At the end of dinner, some people ended up leaving their decorations behind, but one of my Aunts picked them all up and took them home with her.  Fast forward to this morning, I got a phone call from her telling me that she handed them out to all the babies out with their older siblings for trick-or-treating.  It made my heart smile to hear her tell me about this.  It's nice to know that they were able to bring a smile to others and to know that she "gets" why I crochet for others.  It's all about passing on a smile.

Thanks!

It takes seventeen muscles to smile and forty-three to frown. - Author Unknown

Today is Halloween!

My heart smiled seeing all of the kids dressed up in their costumes, and then my heart really smiled when all of the trick-or-treaters were super polite!  I love it!  Now I can't wait to go out and buy Halloween chocolate on sale tomorrow.

Happiness often sneaks in through a door you didn't know you left open. - John Barrymore

I don't have a lot of patience.  If something looks like it's going to take a really long time, I have to do it in stages.  So while it might take a month to finish, it ends up taking me years to finish.  Case in point, the blanket I've been crocheting for about two years now.  It's been a bit of a pain.  I made some mistakes that are rather obvious, the reason why I started it no longer existed, it's hot to make (the blanket has to lie on top of you while you're crocheting it, making it really uncomfortable to do in warm weather), and it just takes a lot of time and patience.

But, my heart smiled when I finished it twenty minutes ago!  And it's just in time for the cold weather.  Also, Forest loves it, which is probably the most important thing.

This is the blanket all nicely finished!  It's the perfect length for cuddling up into.

This is me pushing Gump off of my blanket because he started to try and dig it up (it's how he makes himself comfortable, but I don't want him to rip up the blanket the first day I finished it).

A laugh is a smile that bursts. - Mary H. Waldrip

I felt absolutely horrible last night.  I couldn't look at the television, couldn't look at my computer, and any light just made it unbearable.  My sinus' started feeling a bit clogged.  I set my alarm, crawled into bed, and had an awful sleep.

Alarm went off in the morning, I looked at the time, and realized I meant to set the clock an hour earlier.  Which meant I had a total of 15 minutes to get out of the house and catch my bus.  I rushed around like crazy, ran to the bus, and thought that I had made it in time because there was a bunch of people standing around.  Five minutes later the bus shows up, and it's a high school special.  I missed my bus.  So I quickly called my mom at work to see if she had any money in the house that I could borrow for a taxi.  Found out all she has is some spare change.  Called and woke up my sister, who told me she had none.  Started walking home from the bus stop thinking that I was screwed, when my sister called me back up and told me to stay at the stop, take the bus to the GoTrain station, take money out of the ATM there and taxi to work from there because it'll cost less.  I followed her advice, the bus came about ten minutes later, and, to my surprise, made it to the GoTrain station early so that I was still able to make my connection bus to work!

So, while my day started off with everything going wrong, it made my heart smile when I realized that it was all going to work out in the end anyway.