Happy Things

• Fingers speckled with paint
• A floor freshly rewaxed
• A group hug with Clyde and Kayla
• Lunch at Papagallo's with Kay
• Lunch at Panera with Gretchen
• Remembering how to cook
• Being busy, with purpose
• Mom being home again!
• Clyde helping me download my ITunes songs (with my birthday gift card from Craig)
• A box from Alison G.--with a random gift that has caused much mirth in my house already (I can tell the rest of you after I've sprung it on my friends at work)
• Uncle Earl's birthday party (I usually miss it, but not this year!)
• Dad's siblings reminiscing about their younger days
• Grandpa S. telling jokes
• The conversation flow at S. family gatherings, it being as natural for the youngest to join in as for the oldest
• The idea of needing TV-G to watch Jose's film rendition of Grandpa S. (um, Grandpa is about as clean-mouthed as they come)
• Ryan S. cleaning his room because he knew that company would be coming for his dad's party
• Our hot house--which is pleasantly warm when the weather drops to the 20s
• Orion in the winter sky
• Mint chocolate chip ice cream
• Friends from forever ago who comment on my blog (thanks, Kat!)
• Kayla rigging Clyde's laundry pile with someone else's unmentionable (a tag with his initials affixed)
• Clyde jokingly reminding Kayla, "I hope you remembered your _____!" as we drove away from our house on the way to Maine for New Year's. (She hadn't, but she did then. And she posted the full story on her own blog, so can say it now because you may have heard it from "another source")
• Aunt Lorraine being careful to not repeat town news she hears through Uncle Alden's sources until she hears it from "another source"