Day 3713: Reasons to smile

I have many reasons to smile, because I love where I am in my life. Yesterday, I had more reasons to smile because my smiling mechanic easily got rid of the multiple warning lights in my car and my husband Michael installed a new shade in the upstairs bathroom.

Even on dark days, when I lose track of reasons to smile, I try to smile, because studies show that smiling improves one’s mood and leads to more smiling.

Do you see reasons to smile in today’s blog post?

There are reasons to smile on International Rescue Cat Day (we have two rescue cats), National Old Stuff Day (I have lots of old stuff because I’m old), and World Book Day (because I love books).

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When I search for “reasons to smile” on YouTube, I find this …

… and this:

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Thanks to all those who give me reasons to smile, including YOU!

Day 3708: Mythical creatures

For some reason, I’ve been thinking about mythical creatures lately.

When I was growing up, I spent a lot of time with mythical creatures. I loved reading the Andrew Lang fairy books, devoured stories about the Norse gods, and waited all year to watch Peter Pan on my TV.

Unfortunately, today’s mythical creatures seem to include

• people who answer phones at bureaucracies,
• politicians who can work together for the good of their constituents,
• human beings who are satisfied with fair shares, and
• cats who stay off the dining room table.

Do you see mythical creatures in my images for today?

One might argue that people who always eat right and stay quiet are mythical creatures.

Here’s what I find when I search for “mythical creatures” on YouTube:

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What are your thoughts and feelings about mythical creatures?

Thanks to all the wonderful mythical and non-mythical creatures who inhabit my life, including YOU!

Day 3700: Who Shall I Be Day

According to the National Day Calendar, today is Who Shall I Be Day!

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Who shall I be on Who Shall I Be Day? Shall I be

• a blogger,
• a group therapist,
• a mother,
• a wife,
• a friend,
• a person with a rare heart condition,
• someone who has been attempting to remodel a water-damaged bathroom for almost two years,
• a person who has been diagnosed with PTSD,
• a lover of cats,
• a funny person,
• a scared person,
• a brave person,
• an empath,
• a Democrat,
• someone who grew up in an Orthodox Jewish household,
• a songwriter,
• someone with 33K followers on Twitter,
• somebody who aches about injustices,
• a person who likes to ask lots of questions,
• a neighbor,
• an observer,
• a 70-year-old woman in an ageist and sexist culture,
• a playful person,
• a teacher,
• a learner,
• a catastrophizer,
• an optimist,
• a person who wakes up in the middle of the night trying to solve problems big and small,
• someone who recognizes that we all have to put problems aside sometimes,
• a list-maker,
• somebody who struggles to trust herself and others,
• someone who tries not to take herself too seriously in the midst of serious times, and/or
• a person who captures and shares images here every day?

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Here’s what I find when I search for “who shall I be day” on YouTube:

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Who shall you be on Who Shall I Be Day?

Every day, I shall be someone who is grateful for YOU.

Day 3620: Comfortable

I’m comfortable writing these blog posts, after almost 10 years of doing them daily.

Practice may not make perfect (because who or what is perfect?), but practice does make me more comfortable.

I’m comfortable looking for quotes for any blogging topic, like these:

I am not comfortable with home repair decisions because I make so few of them, but a plumber is coming in less than an hour to help make our upstairs shower a comfortable space.

Do you see anything comfortable in my other images for today?

The Daily Bitch is comfortable sharing her opinion about being conformance.

Here’s what I find on YouTube when I search for “comfortable.”

Thanks to all who help me feel comfortable here, including YOU!

Day 3610: I could care less

Yesterday, I realized in therapy that it would be nice to care less and do nothing every once in a while — instead of being constantly driven to get things done right. For example, I could care less about our shower remodel and all the decisions I have to make about it.

I would also like to care less about what is happening to Twitter now that Elon Musk is being so care-less with people’s lives, feelings, and money.

I could care less that I haven’t yet figured out the music for this new song I’m writing:

I Don’t Want to Write a Song

I don’t want to write a song

I don’t want to right a wrong

I don’t want to move along,

But I guess I will.

I don’t want to do a thing

That is hard and exhausting

I don’t want to play and sing,

But I guess I will.

I especially don’t want to write a bridge

The part of a song that makes me itch

And feel like I’m an amateurish bitch,

But I guess I will.

I don’t want to try and fail,

Spend some time to no avail,

Try to run, but move like a snail

But I guess I will.

I don’t want to finish this

Or anything on my to-do list.

But I guess it’s done.

And, actually, it was sort of fun.

©️Ann Koplow, 2022

I could care less about the images I have to share with you today.

I could care less about individually-wrapped candies.

Here’s what I find on YouTube when I search for “I could care less.”

I could care less about speaking and writing properly.

I also care about you reading this I-could-care-less post, so thank YOU for caring!

Day 3576: Better days

As I recover from a bad reaction to the booster shot, yesterday was a better day than Friday. I’m thinking today might be even better, especially because I’ll be ZOOMing with my son Aaron and my ex-husband Leon.

Tomorrow, I’ll be facilitating my first in-person therapy group since the beginning of the pandemic and I hope that makes it a better day for approximately eight people. I’ll have markers there in case anyone wants to make the day better by drawing a facial expression on their mask.

Do you see better days in any of these images?

What could be a better day than National Dictionary Day AND Global Cat Day?

Here’s the song I keep hearing in my head as I’m writing this “Better Days” post.

Thanks to all who make my days better and brighter, including YOU.

Day 3572: The latest news

The latest news is

• work is progressing well on our upstairs bathroom repair,
• Joan the cat wants to go out and play,
• I want to go out and play,
• I’m recovering nicely from recent medical scares,
• the USA mid-term elections hang in the balance,
• it’s the scariest time of the year, for so many reasons,
• I have no plans to retire because I love my work so much,
• I’m traveling down the Rhine River in May with people I love,
• we broke our usual routine and went food shopping on a Tuesday,
• I’ve schedule my booster shot and my license renewal for the same day,
• I’m thoroughly enjoying The Bear, The Last Movie Stars, and Schitt’s Creek on TV,
• I’ve discover the joys of bubble tea, and
• the amazing Angela Lansbury passed away yesterday.

Do you see the latest news in my images for today?

The latest news is that there are soooo many National Days for October 12, 2022, including National Freethought Day (related to the Salem Witch trials, which is news to me).

It’s no news to me that the late Angela Lansbury was the definitive Mrs. Lovett in Sweeney Todd. The latest news is that this is the only version of “A Little Priest” on YouTube that includes that iconic performance.

And here she is performing “A Little Priest” (which is a good example of my sense of humor) in her late 70s:

The latest news is my sincere gratitude for all who helped me create this latest blog post, including YOU.

Day 3563: A fear of forgetting

I just looked up “a fear of forgetting” and found this, which I hope I don’t forget.

I have a fear of forgetting

• to take my medicine, especially my Coumadin,
• people’s names,
• people’s birthdays,
• how to operate my car whenever I bring it in for it’s yearly inspection,
• other important things I need to do at infrequent intervals,
• something I’m going to need whenever I leave the house,
• how to do a therapy group in person (which I’m going to do this month for the first time since the pandemic started), and
• how to reassure myself and calm myself down when I’m having fears.

I also have a fear of being forgotten, so maybe I really do have (hold on, what’s the name again?) ….athazagoraphobia!

I actually don’t have a fear of forgetting that name, because I can always look it up again.

I tell my patients — who often have a fear of forgetting, especially as they age — that anxiety makes us more forgetful and that forgetting things is often normal. For example, as we age, we often have trouble retrieving nouns and names. And althazagoraphobia is a noun and a name.

Oooops! So close …. it’s athazagoraphobia.

Do you see the fear of forgetting in any of my images for today?

I have a fear of forgetting to share the National Days on Twitter, but so far so good.

Here’s what I find when I search YouTube for “a fear of forgetting.”

I have no fear if forgetting to thank all those who help me create these daily posts, including YOU!

Day 3547: What a mess!

“What a mess!” I’m thinking as I …

• start to unpack after returning home from my trip to Florida and Georgia,
• continue to recover from my unexpected hospital trip when I was on vacation,
• try to figure out how to avoid having another another messy mini stroke/TIA in the future,
• try to avoid a mess when taking my blood to check my INR (which was too low at 2.4 last week, which likely caused the TIA),
• readjust to being home with Michael and the cats, who can make a mes,
• think about our long-overdue bathroom remodel, which is quite a mess, and
• let go of any shame I have about messes of any kind.

What a mess as I try to organize my images for today.

What a mess of National Days there are today! I like that I’m publishing this what-a-mess post on National CleanUp Day.

What a mess of videos there are on YouTube!

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Thanks to all who deal with messes, including YOU!

Day 3540: Obsessing

This morning, I’m obsessing about re-packing my stuff and leaving Disney World to meet my old friend Deb at the Jacksonville Airport to start phase 2 of my September vacation adventure on some islands off the coast of Georgia. Usually, I might be obsessing about the content and clarity of that first sentence, but I’ve got to keep moving before the rental car pick-up time of 8:15, so let’s see if today’s Daily Bitch calendar has anything to say about obsessing.

Here is what I’m obsessing about in the moment:

• Whether I’m repacking things in a way that will make them accessible to me when I need them.
• How my phone plan emailed me that I have already used 80% of my data for the month, which makes no sense.
• Whether I’ll remember to make myself available to the people who are covering my groups next week in case they need an access code from me when they try to start a remote group.
• How I keep getting a message on my laptop that my disk is almost full.
• Technology in general.
• Decisions about how to remodel our upstairs bathroom now that we’ve gotten the go-ahead from the insurance company.
• Insurance companies in general.
• Decisions in general.
• How likely it is I’ve caught COVID again hanging around crowds of people at Disney World.
• The health and well-being of everybody I care about.
• Whether I’ll be prepared for a virtual meeting the day I get back from vacation about doing groups to help prevent doctor burnout.
• How clumsy my thumbs are typing out this blog post on my phone.

Whenever I’m obsessing, I write the thoughts down to get them out of my head so that I can move ahead with a clear mind, like now.

Do you see obsessing in any of my other images for today?

Happy National Swap Ideas Day as perhaps we’ll swap ideas about obsessing, below.

Here’s what I find on YouTube when I search for “obsessing.”

Thanks to all who help me stop obsessing every day, including YOU!