list three things every day that made me happy

1. Busy day! I didn’t get much stocking done (Amanda didn’t show up or call Thursday night) but I did get the clearance books rearranged the way Tonya wanted them, got the signs up, and got the pat on the back. Yay!

2. Doctor Who! (well, what I got to watch..I was on the phone a lot) Thank the stars for tivo!

3. Reading time. Almost Moon is my car book and it’s riveting!

1. He’s still not smoking, I hope he can withstand the temptation.

2. Extreme weather, which is always nice to watch when you’re safely inside and do not have to be anywhere. (Though the thunder that actually shook the house was pretty scary.)

3. Finishing more schoolwork, just in time for the next batch to arrive. Oh well.

4. Some good replies from my kids, whom I made watch “hair”. Some of them really got the message, and it surprised me who had those insights.

5. Food from the freezer, so convenient. Homemade and fast.

1. Good bruchetta with brie cheese.
2. Nice weather.
3. Earning 0.10£, and knowing it would cost me 3£ to converse them in Canadian dollars. Nothing to lose, eh? Not sure…

1. Not 105 today. 98 or something. But what a difference that makes.

2. Giving myself a pedicure and watching TV. Only a short break from busy busy times, but a nice one. Chipped polish is so much worse than no polish.

3. Hearing the baby Red Tailed Hawks cheeping in the nest.

4. Getting a whole bunch of things boxed up and away! And then posting some things on Freecycle and having them picked up on the same day.

5. The chum and Uli frolicking in the pool together. They’re little boys now. So cute together.

Friday, May 16

1) Actually enjoying working with my boss in preparation for our Tuesday meeting and getting the bulk of the preparation done (yay!)...

2) A pleasant phone call from my sister…

3) Eating chocolate pudding and drinking chocolate soy milk for dessert… I haven’t indulged in stuff like this recently…

Thursday, May 15

1) Despite suddenly having a mountain of work thrown on my lap in preparation for a big Tuesday meeting, I was confident I could get through it…

2) In a telephone conversation with a manager from another office he told me how much he appreciated the tremendous help I provided him. This put a smile on my face although I’m not quite sure exactly what it was I had done that he appreciated so much… I’ve been going through this phase lately where I’ve been so disconnected from everyone, and it’s like there’s this barrier that keeps me from being able to relate to anyone and I can’t get through it even if I want to. This conversation and the e-mail from yesterday were the highlights of my “social life” this week. So, I relived this conversation a few times in my mind trying to keep the feeling I had when I first heard the words…

3) The new episode of “Lost”, which just keeps getting better and better… I don’t know how I’m going to be able to wait two weeks for the season finale!

Wednesday, May 14

1) Red bull… I know caffeine isn’t that good for you, especially in massive doses, but it really helped me survive this particular morning…

2) Leaving work on time…

3) There’s this guy I used to know about 8 years ago who I’m not really in touch with anymore other than for the fact that he occasionally sends me impersonal chain letter e-mails he sends to lots of people at once. I got one from him today which was basically an advertisement to donate money to the Hillary Clinton campaign in a desperate last attempt to stop Barack Obama. I usually ignore these e-mails but this time I sent him a one sentence reply saying “you can’t be serious”... Much to my surprise, he actually replied back with his thoughts on the election and asking what I was up to. I replied back and will probably not get a direct response as I never get very personal responses from him in return ever but just having this exchange out of nowhere was kind of interesting…

1. M’s doing great. It’s nearly impossible to “make” her rest, though.

2. OK, I’m trying to find some good in mom’s bad inspection report; maybe that she didn’t move in before finding out that the foundation is screwed up? maybe that it’s one of those things that the seller has to fix before selling (no one will loan you money on a house with that kind of defect)

3. C’s soccer game. Although they lost by 2 points, it was to a team that had previously crushed them, and it was a really fun game to watch!

4. Custard out after the soccer game.

1. JCC with Ramona. Great workout on the stairclimber. And Ramona had a lot of fun too. I can’t express how happy and relieved I am that she’s enjoying the JCC.

2. Playground with Ramona and friends from gym class, which is over now. Ramona had a blast. Gorgeous weather, too.

3. Ramona was funny at the orthodontist’s office while M was having her braces adjusted. There’s a very nice fish tank there, and for about 25 minutes Ramona was yelling, ‘Fish! I love fish! Look at the fish! Look, Mommy, it’s a big fish! and a little fish! What’s this fish doing, Mommy?” etc.

4. Took M and Ramona out for lunch after the orthodontist. Ramona ate more ketchup on her three fries from my plate than I ate on the remaining fries.

5. Painted for awhile, and made decent progress. I’m working on A’s eye now.

6. Went out to Bravo with P and Ramona. Yummy food, and Ramona got a balloon after asking for it ever so politely. Then she ate a ton of ravioli and ended up with about 3/4 cup marinara sauce on her pants.

Reading a book about Counting Kisses to the little guys, and giving, receiving and witnessing many multiples of kisses. Toes, eyes, noses, belly buttons… just flurries of kisses. Many giggles, too.

The kiddie pool. We went all the way and filled it up and let them play. It’s a lot of work to get it ready and clean it up. Next time we’ll start it in the morning and let the play continue all day, instead of it being an afternoon thing. And maybe it will be a little warmer out to avoid the blue lips and shivers and cries of “nooo!” when we try to get the frigid little boy out.

Writing when I said I was going to. And kind of liking what I was writing. Five pages. My story is not dead, it is living on. I will finish this sucker yet.

Setting up my little corner on the enclosed porch where I can shut the doors and keep my laptop and write in peace.

Making the commitment to writing again. I know what needs to be done, I just have to do it.

1. A second bright and sunny day in a row!

2. Finding some shortcuts, figuring out my bearings a bit better in our little town

3. Joking around with Nadine. Some men were checking the playground equipment at the park and when they did find something broken they didn’t fix it but took a picture of it. Silly. Then we saw a snake and imagined trying to tell the playground checkers about it and cracked ourselves up

4. Dinner out for a giant yummy salad…and dessert, too

FRIDAY, MAY 16TH

1 Doing the French quiz and getting a 4/4 on my four sentences. (“Turn around… the other way. Open your arms. Insert teacher.”: hug. Awww… ha ha.)

2 Working on my logo during Digital Illustration. Mine actually might be picked! Maybe… I wonder if she’ll pay me if she uses it… (:< Bwa ha ha…

3 Sarah’s “good teacher” compliment when I explained one of the math problems to her. I don’t know if I should be happy about this or not because she’s sarcastic ALL the time… sometimes not. I never know when. (y^1/2 = 5)

• Not being ignored by HJ. It’s kind of nice to be on his good side again.
• Totally going first in English! ... Definitely.
• Almost done with theater homework. (Huh, theater homework? lol.)
• Getting home early.
• Having the same group of people minus Samta (not feeling well) work on the Crafts Club. We almost completed a blanket… We just need a few more knots and then we’re done!
• Getting random sticky K-designed square things from Madame deBree for some random reason.
• Waking up to a flat stomach.

Picture: _LATER.