Still Standing and It's March 2026: Favorite Things

I am still here, still standing, treading water, putting one foot in front of another, taking one day at at time. There are so many metephor-like expressions for "I'm here". 

I haven't posted in a while.

As the weeks went by, I composed so many posts in my head. They were oh-so-witty and insightful. I forgot them all. 

There were moments that were meaningful, that I meant to write about, but now are lost.

There were moments that were aggravating (thinking back, it feels like there were a lot more aggravating moments than meaningful moments).

I do want to share a few things that made me happy in Feburary and continue to make me happy in March.

1. NOVA. 

Now that we have PBS Passport, we have access to a lot of shows and documentaries. I tried watching historic Ken Burns documentaries (namely, about Benjamin Franklin) - and while well-researched and well-told, I just wasn't into them.

And then I happenned to watch a NOVA documentary on quantum entanglement. Then I watched a few more NOVA documentaries on chemistry. And on rockets. And about renovating an aiport. And about evolution of birds. I loved them all.

That has been my happy space on Saturday and Sunday mornings. While the kids are still asleep, I fold laundry (or just sit back) and watch NOVA. Then my husband joins me "just for a minute" that typically turns into a full episode. 

2. Listening to music while cooking.

I listen to ABBA, Splin, Stromae, random Russian stuff, random French stuff - as long as music is (mostly) in a minor key, I'm in. I do not like happy music. Give me rage, and despair, and sadness. Je suis malade - yes, please. 

I tried listening to podacsts while cooking - that didn't work. I can not multitask. My brain does not process 2 things (cooking and interpreting language) at the same time. 

3. Puzzles.

My youngest daughter and I have been working on a very hard puzzle for - oh I don't know - a month? It is about 90% complete now. Why is it so satisfying to put the correct piece into the correct spot, seeing how a piece with random color spots now fits in (perfectly) into the bigger picture? I don't know, but oh man, endorphin release, right there.

4. Crosswords

We have one of those daily rip-off page calendar thingies that has a small crossword puzzle on each page. Same as with jigsaw puzzles, making the words fit together on the grid = happiness.

Dear Reader - what is making you happy this year?