Saturday, June 3, 2023
Since 1854 — News from Montcalm County and Ionia County, Michigan
Based on the title, you may think this article is going to be about a wonderful tropical vacation I took. Unfortunately, it is not.
It is going to be the story of how I picked a paint color in the heat of the moment at Menards and painted my entire bathroom an awful bright teal and repainted the whole thing 24 hours later.
Over the last couple of years, my grandfather has exhibited worsening signs of dementia. He lives in Colorado so I only see him once a year when I go out to visit my dad. I always make sure I can spend at least a couple of hours of quality time with him.
I normally do not like to be cold and wet, but there is just something about running through pouring rain that brings me joy.
Let me explain.
A while back, my mom told me that she had been asked to raise money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) and compete for the title of Woman Of the Year.
She explained that she was going to put together a team of people to help her and I said I would do whatever I could to help her win the title. Our goal is to work toward a world without as much cancer, as well as to find more effective treatments.
This past week, Andrew and I road tripped with our fur babies to the Outer Banks, North Carolina.
I am not really sure where the idea came from in my head, but after doing some research and looking at pictures of the Outer Banks, I knew we had to go. OBX, as it’s known to locals, is a very thin piece of land off the coast of North Carolina. There are miles and miles of beaches and tons of wildlife refuges and parks to explore, not to mention a handful of cute towns to walk around with plenty of shopping and restaurants. Neither of us love places that feel overly touristy, so it seemed like a good fit for what we were looking for.
Do you ever feel like you are always just kind of treading water? Not in a literal sense, but more in life in general? Like you are staying on top of things, but not really getting very far ahead on anything?
Have you heard about Wordle?
It is my latest addiction and I don’t feel guilty playing it because it makes me use my brain so I consider it “educational.” If you aren’t addicted yet, just wait.
No, I am not talking about Disney.
I came across an article on CNN about the world’s happiest country, which happens to be Finland … for the fifth year in a row. The factors that play into this title are healthy life expectancy, GDP per capita, social support in times of trouble, low corruption, high social trust, generosity, and freedom to make key life decisions. Ranked second is Denmark, followed by Iceland in third, and then Sweden and Norway taking seventh and eighth place. They must be doing a few things right in these countries. The United States came in 16th place, with Canada taking the 15th spot. I was surprised to find out that the U.K. was ranked below the U.S. at number 17.
This past week I watched my mom’s dog, Lucy. If you have ever been into the Daily News office, there is a good chance you have met her — she is the really cute and very fluffy mascot.
When my mom is out of town and my grandma is unable to watch her, someone usually comes to her house to watch Lucy. She is almost 15 and she definitely prefers to be in her usual environment and stick to her normal routine. She recently had surgery to remove a couple masses and due to the nature of her wounds, she needed to be with people that would be comfortable performing daily dressing changes.
Within the last month I started reading a new book. In all honesty, over the last year I don’t think I have finished more than one or two books. Every time I think about picking up a book, I think about how nice it would be to turn on the TV or go outside and play with Otis.
My mom had the idea for all of us to get a book she’d heard about and do a book club kind of thing. It’s “Atomic Habits,” by James Clear. It sounded like a self-help type book that actually might inspire me to make some changes in my habits. I figured, what’s the harm in giving it a try?
