Daily: Have a good laugh at least 1x (Happiness Manifesto Declaration #8)

Really, in Tripps tonight, after we finished our meals. Not sure why we did it. Can’t think that we have ever done it before. But there we were, in a fight to the finish! He won, of course, and I am fairly certain he was humoring me in letting it go on so long but I don’t care! And when the waiter approached, we did not stop until we were both laughing so hard at his bemused reaction that we couldn’t continue!

At the party last night, G told a story about when he was a little boy. His family lived in a place where scorpions were a problem and the children had been taught to avoid them at all costs, that they were poisonous and dangerous. Well, one night, as G got out of bed, a scorpion, which had been under the bed, stung him. He started screaming and ran into his parents’ room, crying. His younger sister woke up and when she figured out what was happening, she started crying, too. Since this was before the day of universal 911, the family called their doctor who told them to get him quickly to the hospital. On the way there, G continued to cry and scream in terror. Finally, his little sister said, “Oh, Daddy, I can’t stand it anymore. Get your gun and shoot him. Put him out of his misery! He’s going to die anyway.” Well, it turns out that it was a not-so-poisonous brown scorpion and G made a full and quick recovery. But the story lives on of the time his little sister told her father to shoot him!

I had many good laughs today, not the least of which came when I told the story of the dinner with M and K, where my dear husband balked at my plan to present them with a heartrock as a hostess gift. S. laughed until she cried, assuring me that she would have been right there with him in objecting to this notion. Of course, she almost shed a tear when I told her of M’s remark, “the heart, it is most holy place!”

This is Jazz, enjoying the warmth of the sun after several very cold days. I was putting together my grocery list and I glanced out the door and this is what I saw!

And the other night, my husband told another Santa Story in his sleep. I love the voices he uses when he talks in his sleep. Unfortunately, the story ended when I laughed out loud at the “6 inches of hair that magically appeared behind his ears!”

I called my SIL yesterday afternoon to coordinate some thoughts on Christmas gifts. She had just gotten into the house from a hectic morning and asked if she could call me back after she finished making some tuna salad for lunch for her family. Well, the phone rang about twenty minutes ago (and about 30 hours since the last time we talked) and she said, “So, I just finished making tuna salad…” We laughed and laughed and I told her to remind me never to ask for her recipe for tuna salad!

I woke up this morning at 5 minutes to 6 because my husband, sound asleep next to me in the bed was going [imagine serious Santa voice here], “Ho! Ho! Ho! Meeeerrrrryyy Christmas!” He did that twice, followed by the urgent voice of someone (not Santa) saying, “But Santa, the evil elf took all of the toys and you’re not going to be able to get them to all of the children.” Yup, my husband talks in his sleep and sometimes, it is the funniest thing I hear all day!

but it made my husband and me laugh very hard, mostly because of the way it unfolded. We were unloading groceries from his car last night (a Santa Fe) and he said, in frustration, I really wish that the light came on when the back liftgate is open. GRRRRR!” and I reached in and flipped that little switch that they have on interior lights in cars now and said, “You mean like that?” And he said, “Yes, exactly like that!” I know you had to be there, but since I was and I laughed, here it is!

I found several things to laugh about today, including a letter that I almost had to write about the possible impeachment of the President and Vice-President. That is a very long story and it would not make sense to anyone reading this but, when I pointed out to the person who wanted me to write the letter that, in fact, impeachment would be the topic, we laughed for a very long time!

I have chosen not to put the picture here because it is potentially of questionable taste. Let me just say it involves 2 monkeys strategically placed around a belly button. I laughed out loud and then thought of sweet aHappyHeart and her recent travails on the tattoo subject!

I was cold at the office today. Shivering, put-on-a-sweater cold! This is not like me. Especially not since the internal thermostat went kaflooey and started producing hot flashes. So, today, when one of my coworkers (a man) heard me say I thought it was cold in the office, he said, with easy humor, “Ummmm…I hate to be rude but I think your flasher is broken.”