Here are some more things that make me happy:
1. My laminator. I'm laminating everything in sight. It's like a mom's dream! Laminated daily checklists! Laminated school charts! Laminated tags to indicate which basket or drawer contains hats, scarves, gloves. (I'm pretty sure this last one is some sort of wishful thinking on my part, the idea that my sweet children will always dutifully return their cold weather accouterments to the appropriate location. One can dream...)
2. Fall - I love the changing colors, the chilly temperatures, sleeping on freshly applied flannel sheets. I ask you, is there anything better than snuggling up between layers of flannel and down? Apple cider? Caramel apples? The smells of cinnamon and cloves? Leaves crunching under your feet, turning the dog-walking chore into an experience? Ahhhhh...
3. The boys are back in town. My men recently returned from two successive business trips. I love that they're back safe and sound, that the SMH is a fabulous traveling companion to his dad, that they had a good time together, and that they're not going away again for a good long time.
4. Getting rid of stuff. This makes me, I daresay, happier than getting stuff. We've been clearing out the playroom (woo, boy) and there are at least 37 sacks waiting on my front porch for the charity pick up. Good stuff, too. Not junk. The junk went in the trash, and let me tell you, it is so liberating not to have to step over so much S-T-U-F-F. Same goes for the kids' clothes. Only you moms out there will appreciate that I have arranged it, at long last, so that every single one of my precious posse's clothing fits in their drawers (even with all the laundry done! major accomplishment!) AND furthermore, their winter and summer clothes are ALL TOGETHER. No more major seasonal switches - just shuffling sizes in and out. I feel like a new woman. Maybe I need to get out more. Which leads me to the next thing that makes me happy:
5. Going out on a date with my husband the other night on a generous gift certificate from friends last year; not a work-related event (although I love those, too) to a super fun, schmancy steak place and being treated like royalty because we giggled when we told the waitress we were on a date and what with the five kids and all, we don't "get out" much, tee-hee-hee and so she brings us champagne to toast our Big Night Out and two kinds of cheesecake on the house. THAT was fun!
6. Finding, in the bottom of the coat closet, the hat I was wearing when we had our first kiss (1990). And realizing that we are so madly in love, lo these 20 years and 5 kids later.
