Small pleasures

I've written a couple blog posts on those little irritations. Life can nickel and dime us and the little irritations can seem huge. We all have been stuck at every red light possible when late for an appointment, gotten stuck behind a price check in the long lines at Wal-Mart, tripped over cracks in the sidewalk, gotten a flat tire, had 6 appliances all break at the same time and misplaced keys or a cell phone. I decided today, I'm going to be positive :) in a week that has been irritating as I still am without a working oven and I lost two days at work due to a broken laptop and am now weeding through 1000 emails and finishing all my work because apparently the back up that was supposed to be assigned, wasn't. But I'm still smiling...see me smiling! (OK it's a little forced)

1) Coffee - My morning cup is my FAVORITE time of the day. It doesn't jive with the anti-cancer diet I am following but I don't care. I get psychological pleasure from coffee and that is good for the whole organism.

2) A HOT HOT shower - There is nothing better after a long day. As I am redoing my bathroom this year, I want a massager shower head for my back.

3) One or two days with a positive balance in my checking account. - Those days are getting fewer and fewer. I will be sure to enjoy not paying an overdraft fee on any given week.

4) My cats - I love the little annoying critters. I have 3 cats, Tasha, Molly and Cami. All have different personalities and I can't imagine the house without them. Tasha has been one of my best friends since I found her as a 6 week old kitten.

5) Air conditioning - I've been living in this house for almost 6 years. 5 of those years, I dealt with an Air conditioner that had a huge freon leak that no repair person could find. At the beginning of every season, I would spend the first hot days in a house that was 98 degrees until the repair person could re-freon the darn thing. I got a new AC last year after the old one finally died for good and am looking forward to the first year here without a call into Tradewinds HVAC.

6) Cheese - Not the Kraft stuff but the genuinely fresh cheese I buy straight from the dairy every year at our Summer home. It is the best! I buy enough to last at least 4 or 5 months. Google Lynn Dairy. They deliver and their cheese is just wonderful. American Cheese slices are NOT cheese.

7) Beer - Again, not Bud or Miller but good microbrew beer. I am a big fan of Ambers and brown ales. New Glarus, Bells, Capital Brewery and Rougue are a few of my favorite little breweries. Sand Creek/Pioneer in Black River Falls, WIs has a wonderful Bock.

8) A fire pit - NOthing like sitting around the fire pit during the summers with an adult beverage and a few friends.

9) My bowling league - I've been bowling on this league since 2000. I started showing some improvement (I am a terrible bowler) and then went through surgery and lost one of my quads. Now that I have to bowl from the foul line, I've regressed backwards and was wondering if I should even put the darn thing on this list especially since there are days I bowl a whopping 88 but it's social. I've been bowling with the same ladies for 9 years and it's a night out. It used to be my sin night. Now, I have a beer and behave but it's still fun and my teammies are my friends. I wouldn't trade the experience at all, even after being elected League secretary and dealing with all the fun frustration of using a program designed for Windows 95 and XP on my Vista machine. Yay Me!

10) My glass hobby - I collect elegant glass and Depression glass from the 20'3-30's and 40's. I love the shows. I love blowing 200 bux on something I don't need. I can probably pay off my second mortgage if I sold what is in my china cabinet but to me it's priceless and has resulted in fun and new friends and some gorgeous examples of American industry.

11) Our Summer home - No phones, no computers, no TV, not a single luxury but that's exactly what is needed. Too much media causes stress. It's fun living in blissful ignorance while dealing with sand and bugs in the middle of the deep woods of Wisconsin. God's country, truly.

12) Sweatpants - Nothing needs to be said here.

13) BBQ'in

14) Petunia's - They are the only flower I can't kill.

15) 70 degrees, sunny and no humidity!

16) NO TRAFFIC ON THE HIGHWAY - Yes, it's about 2am when that happens but hey, we take what we can get.

17) Music - Keep in mind nothing is ranked in order. Music is good for the soul and healing. I'll go so far as to say it brings me closer to God. I am considering joining the church choir.

18) Theater - I'm a big fan of musicals. Evita remains my absolute favorite of all time. Jesus Christ Superstar, Ragtime, Les Miz and Miss Saigon also rank up there. Skip Rent and Phantom of the Opera.

19) Fresh watermelon, cantaloupe and ripe mango. YUM!

20) Christmas - What is not to like? (Barring the fact that it takes me months to pay it off)

I can go on. Yes, I could put the kids on the list but they are not SMALL and SIMPLE pleasures. They are COMPLICATED pleasures. I am trying to figure out Cassie's teenage moods, Kris's lack of motivation and what the heck Emily is thinking! Em's is off at her dads for a couple days and I'm relishing the peace and quiet. The P&Q will ultimately get on my nerves and I'll be waiting for her to come home tomorrow night. She has taken to her overnight visits very well. I'm glad. I will be dropping off her Kindegarten registration officially later today. My little baby will be going to school!! I can't believe it. As she has ADHD, I have already spoken with her school Psychologist and she will be evaluated in the first 2 weeks or so. Emily may need a smaller classroom with more individual attention. She has sensory issues and when there is too much stimuli, things get sticky for her and she melts down. We shall see. THere is nothing wrong with the childs brain and there are a few words she can read. I never taught her so I have no idea how she figured it out. That child will go far if I can just curb her energy into good.

Enjoy your weekends! I will be working at big box mart the entire weekend but am looking forward to my upcoming Saturday off.