Oh yeah, I have a love/hate relationship with recruiters. Honestly, it's just as difficult on the hiring side as they start throwing everyone they can find at you as the perfect candidate.
My first ever "real" job was obtained via the help of a recruiter, and for that I will be thankful because it kicked off an entire career, with the ups and downs any career has. Yet, now in my career, I find I get more than a little irked when a recruiter contacts me with "a hot job offer" when it's obvious all they did was look at keywords.
My advice to you? Be happy. Something will come along that will knock your socks off, and it'll be worth the wait.
Yeah I have a few mailing lists I'm on and set up alerts but sometimes when it seems there's a match "job spec" wise, the values of the company don't match with your own. I often check sights like glassdoor which are great to see how employees find working there. Usually the truth lies somewhere in between all the reviews.
That's great you had success with a recruiter that put you on a good path!
Thanks for the advice too, that's definitely the ultimate goal and happiness is a mindset that we can choose to have - something will definitely come along this year!