Sunday Contentments - Creative Endeavors

It's Sunday afternoon. I'm on the couch with a cup of joe and my netbook. I've got four kids screeching and howling like a pack of wild monkeys in my living room. Oy vey!

In spite of the noise and the squabbling, I'm having a good day. Here's my list of what gives me that warm fuzzy feeling at the moment. It's mostly a list of creative endeavors that have paid off recently.

New website - okay, so only the blog is up, and it's nowhere near it's final configuration, but still, it looks nice, and I think if I keep working on it, in another week or so I will have finally set myself up to have all my disparate blogs rolled into one. That will be quite an accomplishment.

Pumpkin carving - we went to a pumpkin party last night. In theory, the kids were supposed to help scrape out the pumpkin guts. You know that didn't happen. While the kids ran amok, a dozen adults got down on the kitchen floor (Oy, my knees!) and scraped out pumpkins. Then we consulted with the kids on what to carve on the pumpkins, and because no sane adult there was keen on handing anyone under the age of 30 a knife, we sent the kids away and carved the designs. I drew the designs on the girls' pumpkins free form, after looking at a couple of stencils, and I have to say they came out pretty good. They're sitting on the porch right now (and Princess' is currently infested with ants. Oy!).

Cooking - I'm going to indulge in some cooking today, making a pumpkin souffle. I only make souffle in October, after I'm done scraping pumpkin guts out. It's going to be a messy job, since I still haven't sorted and washed everything (I just sort of threw the bag of guts in the fridge when we got home last night). But the souffle will taste wonderful, and it will be well worth the effort.

T-shirts - Target had some cool Halloween t-shirts on sale this week, so I picked up a couple to add to my collection (yes, I collect t-shirts). Very spooky, retro themed graphics on bold colors. Very freaky-chic looking. My kinda clothing, you know? I love my t-shirts.

Ugh. The girls in the living room are all arguing, necessitating the need for me to get off the couch and referee. But that's okay. In fifteen minutes, they're all going to someone else's house, and I am content with that.

Sunday Contentment - Halloween fun with my kids

I love the month of October. Being sick the two weeks, I haven't really been able to appreciate it as much as I would have liked, but then I realize I would rather have been ill in October when the weather is cool and pleasant and conducive to relaxing than be ill in July when the weather is so damn humid around here you can practically swim through air. The later would have made me really miserable.

But right now, I'm feeling better, maybe on the mend finally after battling a weird illness that has left me fatigued, nauseous. I'm sitting at the dining room table. Princess and Pixie are giggling over sandwiches and singing nonsense songs to each other. One song in particular sounds like a very warped version of Aerosmith's "Dude Looks Like A Lady," and I can't stop chuckling as they howl that song at the top of their lungs. Obviously, I'm in the contentment zone, so let's get started with what's making me feel all warm and fuzzy this week.

Halloween decorations - my next-door neighbors are BIG into Halloween, to the point that they build this giant display every year. It's a mix of hand made and store bought items, sometimes the store bought stuff having been customized in my neighbor's workshop. Right now, they've got a huge graveyard in their front yard, complete with a fake stone entryway and wrought iron fence running around the entire thing. There's ghosts and skeletons galore inside this thing, and I know there's still more stuff in the garage waiting to be added. I plan to post pictures of what they've done on Friday as a Freaky Friday post.

Halloween decorations, part 2 - I found at Michael's for mummies made from plaster wrap and Styrofoam, so this afternoon the entire family is going to set up on the back deck and put together some mummies for our yard. Our decorations can in no way compete with the neighbors' but I don't care. They've had years to build their display, and we'll take years to build our own. Princess, who is obsessed with Egypt, is particularly looking forward to this afternoon.

Jogging - After my third knee injury, I never thought I'd jog again. It was just too painful. But Wii Fit included a jog-in-place activity that I could do, and somehow, I've eventually worked my way back to jogging around the neighborhood. I'm not very fast, and my endurance could use some building up, but I'm amazed that I can actually do this. October, with it's lovely crisp fall weather, is the perfect time for jogging too.

Princess and Pixie - there's nothing like listening to your kids laugh while they're goofing around. I'm constantly amazed at the things these two girls do. Last night, Pixie (who is three) lectured us on how Columbus discovered the West Indies, and then launched into a spiel about the solar system that had me in stitches. She looked so serious with her hands on her hips, going on and on about planets and suns and moons and Mother Earth. I have to remember to thank her pre-school teacher for that. Meanwhile, Princess has developed an interest in drawing anime style characters, although she doesn't realize they're anime yet. I've got plenty of how to draw books, including manga and anime, and will be cracking those open later this week to do some drawing with her. She's gotten pretty good!

Grilled cheese sandwiches - Hubster just handed me one fresh out of the pan. It's GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD!

Fall clothing - I hate wearing shorts, and all summer long I pine for my jeans. While I love my t-shirts, I miss my long-sleeve tees. Today, I've got on a proper fall outfit and I love it.

Good books - I've read a couple of amazing books recently. I can't recall the authors off the top of my head, and I'm too lazy to look them up at the moment on Amazon, but I highly recommend the following titles - Soulless (by Gail Carriger, who's name I can actually remember), Of Bees and Mist, and Drood (a sort of fictionalized horror story about the last five years of Charles Dickens' life and how he came to write The Mystery of Edwin Drood).

And that's about it for this week. Have a nice day this Sunday, and enjoy your contentment.

Sunday Contentments - The Hubster

Once again, it's Sunday morning, but today I'm far afield, about one hour from home and enjoying a light repast at a Panera's. I'm on my own this morning. Hubster, good Catholic that he is, took the girls to church, and me, good Zen Buddhist that I am, said, "Good luck with that!"

I've not had the funnest of weeks this past week. Some sort of weird bug hit me, and I spent a lot of mornings in bed thinking maybe I was dying. No fever, congestion, or vomiting, but I was completely wiped out and had a headache that wouldn't quit. It's wasn't a really bad headache, just one persistent SOB that would not leave me alone. So I spend quite a lot of time in bed this week, while the Hubster picked up after my sorry ass. I have to say, I love that man of mine. So this morning's contentments are dedicated to him, the man who puts up with moi! And we're starting with...

Hubster's cooking - he made seared tuna steaks last night with Sechuan green beans. The girls both turned their noses up at it while I devoured everything on my plate and then some. The man can cook. In fact, up until the past couple of years, he did all the cooking as well as all the grocery shopping. What a guy!

Hubster's way with kids - I have to admit, I'm a nervous Nellie when it comes to letting the girls run amok in the neighborhood. I can just imagine all sorts of things going wrong. Hubster lets them venture farther afield than I do. They enjoy the freedom, they learn a little responsibility, and I learn not to be so much of a tight-ass when it comes to letting kids do what kids do. Yesterday, Princess happily spent the day outside on her own, riding up and down the street on her bike. Up until some snot-nose little boys decided to start picking on her, she was happy as a lark and doing pretty good on her bike. I'm going to have to let her and Pixie run loose more often (oh, and I explained to Princess that little boys are scum-eating, stinky, smelly, fetid, rotten, puss-drooling little creeps which made her laugh; welcome to the Battle of the Sexes, kiddo!).

Hubster's way with kids, part 2 - when Princess came home crying telling us one of the aforementioned little cretins threw rocks at her, I sent Hubster out to handle the situation, because I just knew I was gonna kill me some little boys. Cool, logical engineer guy that he is, he confronted the boy in question, and when he got a "he-said she-said" story, he let the little boy know that if he ever saw any rocks being thrown at anyone, he was going to handle it by talking to the parents of everyone involved. Me, I would have just rained down blood and hell fire and obliterated the entire neighborhood. But I'm hormonal and not feeling well this week, which is why I sent out the Hubster instead :)

Hubster's manly home improvement skills - the man is a genius in more ways than one. He pinches every penny until it screams, always getting more than his dollar's worth, and one of the ways he does this is by doing the home repairs himself. He researches every project and then confidently goes down to the hardware store, gets what he needs, and sets about fixing whatever needs fixing. I don't think I can recall a single home improvement project he's done that has not gone well. Some have gone on longer than expected, like the rennovation of our downstairs bathroom and the retiling of our kitchen floor, but that's only because the man works mad hours at his J-O-B.

Hubster's mad computer skillz - the man builds computers as a hobby. He builds really good computers, too. Occasionally, we have the odd error or the need to fix a problem caused by the operating system, but he understands computers inside and out. When he doesn't outright build a computer, he researches thoroughly before he buys. As the lucky recipient of his computer skills, I now own 3, count them, 3 computers, including the little netbook I'm using right now to blog. I'm a computer addict, and I could not survive without my genius husband.

Hubster's giant brain - did I mention he's incredibly, stupendously smart? Like he really is a rocket scientist smart? My dad always said it's just as easy to fall in love with a rich man as it is a poor man. I told Dad it was better to fall in love with a smart man than a rich man, because the rich man might get stupid with his money, but the smart man never would. I have not yet been proven wrong on this.

Hubster's never-ending patience - the man very rarely blows up, and he's put up with a lot of shit from me over the last... good lord, has it been 19 years? (That would be 3 years of dating and engagement plus 16 years of marriage.) Why he's still around, I don't know, but he's been here through thick and thin, and has supported me in every half-assed endevour I've gotten involved in. A lesser man would have either killed me or himself long since, I'm telling you.

And I could go on and on. The fact is, you don't stay married to a man for 16 years if he's not special, and Hubster is. He's got the kids this morning, and has pretty much given me the entire week off to recuperate from my mysterious illness. He's making London broil tonight, and I'm pretty certain we'll be enjoying a quiet afternoon watching the game today, cuddled up on the sofa while the kids run amok around us. Is there anything more I could want? Seriously, I don't think so.

Have a good Sunday everyone, and I hope you enjoy the day with the ones you love.

Sunday Contentments - Recovering

Once again, it's Sunday. Hubster and the kids are off at church, while I, heathen and Zen Buddhist that I am, laze about at home. I had a killer week last week, and I feel the need to just become one with the couch. That makes it the perfect time to contemplate the zen that is contentment. Today's list includes:

Missions accomplished - among other tasks last week, I finished recording and producing the longest episode of the Heat Flash Erotica Podcast. The story in question, A Room With A View, was 12000 words long. That meant a lot of recording and editing time. However, in addition to getting that out the door, I also finished up the cover art for the same story, along with three other stories I produced for the show last month, and all four will be coming out as e-books later this month. So I have that contented feeling of satisfaction at a big job well done and out of my hair.

More missions accomplished - yesterday was a busy day. Princess had her karate test at 9AM. Hubster and I tested for our 2nd degree black belts in kobudo (karate weapons). Then at 3, Pixie and I had to hotfoot it to another town an hour away for a birthday party. Needless to say, I was drop dead tired by the end of the day. I'd been dreading yesterday all week, and I am soooooo glad that I finally got through it and can now breathe a sigh of relief.

Surprises for the girls - Princess and Pixie don't know it yet, but we're going to Disney on Ice this afternoon. Hubster found out he could get tickets last night, so we made the quick decision to go see the show. We're not even going to tell them where we're going; we're just going to climb into the car and head out. I can't wait to see the looks on their faces when they see their very first ice skating princess!

Coffee and soft boiled eggs on toast - it's the breakfast of champions, seriously. Combined with the Sunday paper, it's a great way to just kick back and enjoy the morning. Add some hot sauce to really make things good (but add that sauce to the eggs, not the paper, otherwise you've got a mess).

A rainy morning - I love rainy days. I use them as an excuse to curl up with a cup of tea in my papasan chair or on my couch and do some reading. Think I will try to squeeze in another chapter of Drood today ;)

Mood music - it's Fall, my favorite season of the year, and every Fall I pull out the same albums to enjoy: Enya, Loreena McKennit, Great Big Sea, Young Dubliners, Warren Zevon. An odd mix, I know, but those are the CDs that really bring out the nip in the air and make me want to curl up by the fire, again with a hot cup of tea.

I think that's it for today. Hubster and kids are still out, and I've got some laundry to do. Going to clear the clean clothes that need folding out of my papasan chair so I can curl up with Drood for a bit. See ya later, and enjoy your Sunday ;)

Sunday Contentments - Running!

I have had a very long busy week, made even busier by the sudden realization at the last minute that I had a story that needed major proof-reading and correction yesterday, in time for a deadline today. Between that rewrite and producing next week's episode of the Heat Flash Erotica Podcast, I ended up spending most of the day in the office, working. I didn't get to bed until around midnight, then woke up half-dead this morning. I was so foggy headed, I actually put the coffee grounds in the coffee maker before I put the filter in. Yeah, it was that kind of morning.

However, I did manage to get things turned around after that, and I'm now enjoying a nice Sunday afternoon. I've still got work to do, but it's at a level I can handle and still get some time on the couch knitting and reading later today. With that in mind, here's this Sunday's contentments:

Running - I was a cadet in ROTC during college, and had to run at least 3 times a week in formation for four years straight. I hated it. I never ran before college, and I spent a lot of time in college yakking up my guts after going miles with my fellow cadets. It wasn't until after college, when I was out on my own, that I discovered the joys of running. When I could run at my own pace, choose my own route, and not have to listen to someone scream at me to "Pick it up, cadet!!" I used to do a lot of running, prior to having the girls. Then after the third knee injury, I stopped. Running just hurt too much. Recently though, I've been getting back to it. Maybe it's because I've been keeping up with my glucosamine supplements and physical therapy, but my knees no longer ache after going a couple of miles around the neighborhood. This morning, after my disaster with the coffee maker, I threw on my sweats and sneakers and headed out the door. The sky was a perfect Autumn blue, the weather was cool with a light breeze, and a few of the neighbors were out gardening. Perfect running conditions. I love it.

Reading - I've had the opportunity to sit down with my netbook most nights the past few weeks and do some serious reading. I know I'm staying up waaaaay to late, devouring horror stories and such, but I'm enjoying the hell out of myself. Drood by Dan Simmons is excellent, as was The Mystery of Edwin Drood by Charles Dickens. Once I get past this month, I'll put up a list of recommended reads for October.

Time to myself - both girls are in school, and I've got most days to myself now. Yeah, I miss having the munchkins run around the house, screaming and giggling and generally tearing the place apart. But I've got plenty of ways to fill those hours. I've been catching up on e-mail and work, and can actually now look forward to starting work on some new projects, maybe even this week. It's so amazing what I get done in the few hours I have to myself each day!

Swimming - this one goes right up there with running. I never did a lot of swimming until I realized it hurt too much to run. Then I really got into it. I didn't go swimming this summer, not laps at the Y anyway, because I had my hands full with the girls. I went back to the pool for the first time on Friday. Since I didn't have to drag anyone with me, I wasn't restricted to the hours that the Y nursery is open. That meant at noon, when they've got the most swim lanes open for lap swim, I had a lane all to myself. Heck, I almost had the whole pool to myself! It was nice.

Getting published - sometime in the next week or so, I'll have four short stories out from Logical Lust. These are the stories that I've been running this past month on the Heat Flash Erotica Podcast, and they include some of the best pieces I've ever written. I'm hoping more published work will mean more sales. Help a mother out and buy my books!

I think I'm going to leave it at that today. Princess is playing with the Wii right now, and Pixie is out shopping with the Hubster. I've got some artwork to finish - the cover art for my upcoming releases. I'm going to go play with my graphics programs now, and enjoy the rest of the afternoon. You have fun today, too!

Sunday Contentments - Football!

I know, I've been a bad blogger. I haven't posted here all week. All I can say is, I've been busier than usual. But now it's Sunday, and I'm taking the afternoon to relax and chill. Here are this week's contentments.

Football - I swear to God, I can't stand the game. I spent way too much time in high school and college being forced to sit in the bleachers and watch a lot of football, and I loathed every minute of it. So it's pretty ironic that I'd call it a contentment now. But! There's always a but(t)... I married a man who really enjoys the game. Early in our marriage, he used to spend all day Sunday watching the games. He's a Redskins fan and a Virginia Tech fan (we both graduated from Tech). I used to loathe those days, because I'd completely lose him. Then slowly, I discovered that if he was watching the game, I could do other things, like commandeer the dining room table to sew or make jewelry. Game days got to be lazy afternoons for both of us, and for certain games, we'd invite friends over and whip up a lot of comfort food. The men (usually) watched the game while the women (usually) made jewelry, worked on costumes, drew, etc. We got out of the habit of doing game day after Princess was born. Hubster said he just couldn't justify spending hours in front of the TV when there was so much to do, and a baby to explore the world with. But I've been run ragged this summer, what with all the travel and work and getting the kids back to school, and I want a break. So I've re-instated Game Day. This afternoon, the Redskins play... someone. The Giants, maybe? I don't care. It's not the game itself I'm interested in. It's the excuse to sit on the couch with my sketch pad and pens, or at the dining room table with my beads, and do something creative that isn't work-related. Speaking of which, the next contentment is...

Beads - I've had to make a lot of trips to Virginia Beach the past few weeks, and there's a Michael's craft store down in the area I've been visiting. Since traffic coming back on that trip is always the suck, I decided one afternoon to stop in at Michael's and pick up one or two items. Just one or two, mind you. Then I walked in the door and ran smack into the bed section and that was that. I found some really chunky orange nugget style beads that I just had to have. Then I found a pendant with a Tibetan Buddha on it. It was all in oranges and dark greens, and it just so perfectly matched the orange chunky things I had picked up, and oh! Look over there! Dark green glass beads, slightly marbled with orangy red, and several strings of various shades of green beads next to that, and... And I walked out of the store with enough beads to make a new necklace. A nice, chunky, ethnic style piece, very Tibetan in design. Tres cool! I haven't been in a Michael's in years, mainly because I couldn't leisurely stroll through the place with two small children kicking each other all through the store. That day, I was on my own. I don't think I'll go back again for several months, though, because I'm so starved for new craft supplies, I think I'd go waaaaaaaaaay overboard.

School - School has finally started, and this year, Pixie is in preschool and Princess is in first grade. That means yours truly is on her own most of the day. I had one day last week when I wasn't traveling to appointments, a day when I could stay home, and I was so frikkin' amazed at how much stuff I got done! Tomorrow is Monday, I can stay home again, and I expect the day to be peaceful and productive.

Foooooooood - Yummy, yummy fooooooooood. For the game today, I made a big pot of chili, with rice and corn muffins. I'm salivating just thinking about it. I think I'll grab myself something to eat as soon as I'm done here.

Fall weather - It's no secret, and in fact I may have mentioned this last week or the week before, but I can't stand summer weather. It's too damn hot and sticky. The last couple of weeks have been just beautiful. Cool enough for jeans, and I love that.

New patio furniture - We've been in this house 14 years, and have only owned a couple of second hand plastic chairs and a tiny plastic table. Then last spring, one of the chairs collapsed under Hubster (and he is not a large man). It was obviously time for new patio furniture. Hubster waited until this weekend though, to get a nice set on sale. We've got six chairs and a nice long table. We can have guests and eat outside! WIN!

T-shirts - Threadless.com had a sale this week! I love Threadless t-shirts! I bought three. I can't wait until they arrive. SQUEEEEEE!

Yeah, the entire list is pretty materialistic, but you know, sometimes simple things like t-shirts and craft supplies really do make the day brighter. The game is starting soon, so I'm going to get some chili. Have a very content Sunday, folks!

Sunday Afternoon Contentments

I had a lousy day yesterday, filled with temper tantrums and howling and pouting. All on my part, that is, not the kids. I think three weeks of travel and visiting family and having no time for myself finally got to me, and like an over-tired tot, I finally had a melt-down.

But that was yesterday, and this is today. It's Sunday, the Hubster has headed out with the girls, and I have the house to myself. It's my first time alone, truly alone, in over three weeks. Let's think about what's got me feeling all warm and fuzzy today.

Early morning writing - I've been busting ass on a story the last two weeks, churning out 1-2K words at a sitting. This morning, I finally wrote the last words and finished the tale. It's a good story, a funny story, and a good feeling to be done. Now I can get on with that horror story I need to finish by next Saturday.

Squirrel baffles and bird feeders - we finally got a squirrel baffle while my parents were here (they came to visit for two weeks, showed up right as we pulled into our driveway after getting back from Chicago!). This was a necessity, because one of the local squirrels, whom I have dubbed Lardo the Big-Butted Squirrel, has been wiping out the bird feeder every time we fill it. Since I also noticed a couple of humming birds buzzing around the rosemary bush in our backyard, I bought a humming bird feeder too. Since setting up these items in our backyard, we've seen gold finches, purple finches, cardinals, and what may be a Smith's Longspur, although this isn't the right range for it, so I'm probably wrong. We've also seen both a male and female ruby-throated humming bird. The girls get very excited seeing these birds, and I have a feeling we may end up buying a bird watching book before too long.

Spiders, cicadas and other creepy crawlies - yes, I am all about the Nature thing today! Earlier this week, while I was weeding the backyard, the girls found 16 cicada skins, plus bits of broken butterfly wings. I've saved them all, in hopes of photographing them, and maybe preserving them somehow. As for the spider, we've got a gorgeous yellow and black one that's woven a giant web along our covered porch. We call her Shelob, and everyday I go out to see what she's caught in her web. Again, the girls are fascinated (though Pixie is a bit creeped out by the sheer size of Shelob). The more interested the girls get in nature, the happier I am.

Shelob, with dinner

Tomatoes from my garden - I haven't got a lot of tomatoes growing, but I do have a few. Today, I made a sandwich with sliced tomato from my garden. It was GOOD.

Homemade bread - let's hear it for bread machines!! I've got a loaf of honey mustard wheat bread going in the machine downstairs right this minute. It's going to be good!

Home made soup - also cooking downstairs, in the crockpot. It's vegetable, with a few things thrown in from the garden. I love it.

Irish Breakfast tea - my mom picked me up a cannister in Busch Gardens, of all places, in the Irish section of the park. I can't recall the brand, but it's very good, and has been the kick in the pants I've needed the last few days or so.

Knitting - Mich got me started on knitting, saying that if I could teach Princess, she might learn to concentrate better at school. Princess has done some knitting, and enjoys it, but I've since become addicted. How addicted, you ask? On Thursday evening, I started work on a pair of wrist warmers for myself. By Saturday evening they were done. Damn that was fast! What can I make next?

My fancy new wrist warmers!

Tamarind soda - I don't know where Hubster got it from, but it's "Hecho en Mexico!" so you know it's good.

Books - thanks to my mom, I am stocked up on books for the next couple of months. I've got "Age of Wonder," a look at the time of scientific discovery and exploration prior to the Industrial Revolution. I've also got "Of Bees and Mist" and a few other choice goodies. The girls got a number of non-fiction books, including some of the Eye Witness books, which I love. We have plenty to read this fall.

E-books - to add to my joy, Barnes and Noble is selling e-books at prices competitive to Amazon.com, and their e-books don't require you to buy a proprietary device! I have a netbook. I love my netbook. I can type on it, blog with it, write with it, handle e-mail with it, surf the net with it, and now I can read the latest best sellers with it at a price I can afford (Fictionwise.com is also a good place to buy e-books, if you're interested). Between Barnes and Noble and my mom, I've done more reading in the past month than I've done all year! WIN!!

Egyptology - Princess was fascinated with the Egyptian mummies we saw at the Field Museum in Chicago, so we bought her an excavation kit in the museum's gift shop. She started work on it last Monday, and have so far gotten a small plastic sarcophagus, various trinkets, and a Bast figurine. Some of the books my mom bought for her included an Eye Witness book of Egypt, and Princess spent an entire afternoon sitting with her grandfather, listening to him tell stories of when he lived in Egypt as a boy. We've also been recording shows about Egypt on the Discovery Channel, which Princess watched with rapt attention. And now I discover that one of our local museums will be hosting a traveling exhibit on Egyptian mummies and other treasures later this fall. I cannot tell you how happy I am to see my girl take such an interest in something like this, something that has nothing to do with Hannah Montana, makeup, Disney Princess, or other contemporary girl things that drive me nuts.

The archaeologist hard at work with her loyal assistant.

Naps - I've had a long couple of weeks, and a few times, I've just had to lay down and doze. I love that pleasant, sleepy feeling I get when I pull my favorite afghan over me in the middle of the day and drift off. In fact, I think I ought to take a nap right now...

Sunday Contentments - A Body That Works

It's about 9:45AM this Sunday. Hubster has taken off with the kids for Busch Gardens. I can't stand Busch Gardens -- I worked there for two summers and have more bad memories than I can count about that place -- but I feel sort of wrong about not being there with them right now. It's a family thing, and I've elected to stay behind. Not without reason though. We leave for Chicago in a week, and I've got a ton of work to get done between now and then. So rather than indulge my sense of bad-mama-guilt all morning, let's look at the good things in life instead. Here's this Sunday's list of Contentments:

Making the conscious decision to sleep late. I try to get up at 5AM most mornings, and I hate it when I over sleep. But ya know, sometimes I could use a few extra hours of shut eye. I decided last night that I would sleep in this morning, until around 8AM. I even made it part of my schedule for the day, working the rest of my to-do list around it. It felt really good.

Waking up to a two-kid pile on. Both girls got up a few minutes before I did and climbed into bed on top of me to lay down again. We were snug, cozy, and content. This must be what it feels like to be at the center of the puppy pile -- sheer bliss.

Waking up to breakfast already made. Before I hit the hay last night, I set up my slow cooker with a breakfast casserole -- eggs, ham, bread, cheese, potatoes, etc. I also programmed the coffeemaker, something I haven't done in ages. Breakfast was nice and hot and waiting when I came downstairs. That's a huge WIN!

As always, a good cup of joe. I'm on my second cup right now, sipping it while I sit on the back deck and type. Eight O'clock coffee, in my favorite yellow flower mug, given to me by one of my best friends. I love it.

Dinner out. Earlier this week, Hubster suggested we go out to dinner. I seriously turned around and asked him, "OK, who the hell are you and what did you do with my real husband?!" That's how infrequently we go out to dinner. We ate at the Castle, a wonderful little place that serves the best Greek food I've ever had. I had moussaka and spanikopita and some gyro meat. I could have died happy that evening.

Leftovers!! The meal at the Castle was big enough I had to take some of it home. Had enough for lunch and dinner the next day. Then yesterday, a good friend brought over homemade Pad Thai. We've still got some sitting in the fridge. AND there's a ton of the breakfast casserole sitting in the fridge to eat the rest of this week!

My favorite pair of jeans. I pulled on my favorite pair of jeans yesterday. They're snug, hugging me tighter than my own mother, but they're still comfortable and I look damn good in them. I paired them with one of my favorite shirts, a grey and white striped snug fitting polo. I love my favorite outfits, and I love that they fit good. I have a hard time finding clothes that fit right, given that I'm sway-backed.

Body weight, shmody weight. The scale and Wii Fit both agree I'm putting on the pounds, but the mirror and the Hubster (and my favorite pair of jeans) tell me I look good. I think I'm at that age where weight loss is an elusive holy grail. I should be more concerned about making sure I exercise and eat right so that I feel good, and maybe worry not so much about the weight anymore. So long as those jeans fit...

Karate class with my favorite instructor. I go to class twice a week, each class lasting two hours or longer. It's pretty grueling, and I walk out of there completely sweat soaked. But I don't mind the hard work so much when my favorite instructor is there. He connects with karate at a much deeper level than anyone else I've ever seen, and he's not stingy about sharing what he knows. I always come out of his class knowing I've learned something.

Knees that work. Hell, a body that works! I've started doing my physical therapy again, and my knees feel better for it. They're not completely pain-free yet, but I know if I keep up with the therapy, I'll be doing much better. Just like if I keep up with the exercise, I'll feel good in spite of not losing those few extra pounds. What matters is that I can move and play and do the things I want to do.

There's a ton of other contentments I could list for today, like the comfy beach chair I'm sitting in or the knitting I'm doing now, but I think I'll sign off with one last item. Kissing the Hubster. It doesn't even have to be a big lip lock, tongue tangle sort of thing. Just being able to come up behind him, wrap my arms around his waist and bury my face in his neck is enough to make my day a good one.

And with that,. I think I'll go enjoy my morning to myself. Have a content kind of day.

Sunday Contentments - Early Mornings

Thinking more today about things that make me content. It's 1:30 PM right now, and I've had an extremely productive, yet relaxing, Sunday so far. Here's what's made my day full of contentment.

• Getting up at the crack of dawn and having the house to myself


• Working in peace and quiet


• Finishing a project early


• Working out without interuptions


• DDR


• Wii Fit yoga


• Sleeping babies (especially when they're so chubby and cute!)
  
  
  


• A cup of coffee, eggs on toast, and a fresh peach for breakfast


• Clean laundry


• Clean house


• Time to read the Sunday newspaper


• An afternoon free to do a little light work


• An evening of dinner and conversations with good friends


• Time to knit (I'm working on a belt now!)


• Books to read


• A cup of hot Darjeeling tea

It really doesn't take much to make me happy. Just a quiet life at a pace I can handle. I've been up since 5AM this morning, gotten in my workout and housecleaning, and I'll probably sleep like a rock tonight. And it's all good.

What do you want out of life? Where do you find your contentment?