Huh?

The … what??
What the …
Of all the …
You’ve gotta be …
But I thought …
Oh for …
Well I never …

And it seemed like such a promising day today and everything …

OK, Holly.
Take a deep breath.
In. Out.
In. Out.

This is not the end of the world here. Lots of people are happy and do happy things and … happy project things and … A BOOK? Called The Happiness Project??

** short break to get a grip **

OK. I’m back.

I made a whole bowl of popcorn, dripping in butter … and ate the whole thing. THAT made me happy. Emotional eating, you say? Oh, well, maybe just a little …

Suffice it to say I had not heard of Gretchen Rubin before now. And it appears that there is a book named The Happiness Project. A very popular book. Well, that isn’t the Happy Holly Project, right? … I mean, its more like a general happiness project, right?

A short while ago I got an email from my friend Jeanne. She had seen my Happy Facebook Postings about my Happy Holly Project and all the Happy Happy Things that I have done in the last month. Today actually is the start of the fifth week of this for me.

And she took the liberty of sending me a message with the subject line “Book”. And inside a picture of the Book. No words. Just “Book”.

Book? There is a Book?

I immediately picked up the phone and called my friend Ann … you know … Ann … of the “I have a great idea for you” Ann?

A few minutes and one “Well, I HAVE heard of the book, but I never really read it …” comment from her and I turned to Google for more information.

(Note to Self: Cancel plans for Statue / Plaque in honor of Ann for her totally original idea.)

With more than a little fear and trepidation, I went out and Googled “The Happiness Project”. Yep. A Book.

Well, as it turns out there is not only a BOOK, there is a site, a huge following, a page-a-day calendar, a blog, a Facebook Page, several knockoffs, a newsletter, directions and a TOOLBOX, for goodness sake.

A Toolbox??

As I saw the Google tag line about “365 days … my blog … book” my heart sank. She has done this same thing, right? I might as well stop then, right? Just quit, right? After all …

And my mind flashed back to the early 1980’s when I was taking a year off work after the birth of my second daughter. I felt it would be good for her, would enable quality time with my oldest daughter, and give me lots of time to indulge in my hobby of the time … needlework … embroidery. All kinds. Pulled thread, cross stitch, knotwork, needlepoint, bargello, crewel, and on and on and on.

At the time it occurred to me to combine my two passions … needlework and antique board games … since I have had a love of all things board game, and the artistic look of the boards, since being in the Chess Club in High School.

Yes. me.

So, I went to not a little effort and put together ideas for kits … which would include all the materials to stitch an antique board game … suitable for framing … or playing … and the kit would include not only the materials and directions to make the board, but also a frameable History of the game (hand calligraphy by yours truly) and Instructions on how to play each game, and Game Pieces which were contained in a Tin, designed to look antique-y.

It was named Teetotem Tapestry and had several “sections” of games by type or style … like “Huff and Mill Emporium” (game terms for the games in that group) and “The Brandywine Collection” (colors of the day) … and I made samples, and … well, spent a lot of time and effort, shall we say.

At one point I needed a skein of something or another and went to a small shop in town that had agreed to carry my product once I had it all put together. And on the rack was a cheesy kit … of cross stitch … of a Chess / Checker Board with quilt block designs.

My heart sank. Someone else was doing Chess Boards.

Forget the fact that they were of a totally different style and had none of the quirky “go along” things I had designed. Someone else was doing something similar to my idea.

So I went home, brokenhearted at being a day late and a dollar short, so to speak … put it all away… and never pursued it again.

That was a long time ago … I had just turned thirty … and I had not yet discovered the truth of “there is no such thing as an original idea” or “there is room in the world for two people doing the same thing” … I was just stunned.

And I let it stop me from doing something that was giving me a great deal of joy.

Hmmm. Was there a lesson to be learned there that could be applied today?

Why yes.

So, fear not, dear reader … I will indeed continue to do my daily blog entries after having scoured the day for yet another activity in the year-long quest for daily happiness and humor.

Close as I can tell, everyone is entitled to be happy … with or without a blog.