1/26/09

1. Getting paid to stay home with an upset stomach.
2. Curling up and watching a movie at my computer.
3. Attending an important meeting in my pajamas over the phone.
4. Pasta with butter and Parmesan cheese.
5. Being able to customize my website all on my own.
6. Falling asleep while reading a book.

1/27/09

1. Getting back to work and not being overwhelmed with projects after being out the day before.
2. Justin updating my website so all my old posts (from the last backup) and the new interface are all set up for me to play with. And play with them I can! I can do so much to this new site! It’s amazing!
3. Hearing that my glasses are ready for me to come get fitted. Now I just have to wait until Friday afternoon when I have time to go in to the office.
4. Really delicious orzo pasta with garlic chicken and sun-dried tomato pesto topped with Parmesan cheese. Such a surprising, unplanned, delicious dinner!
5. Justin coming to bed shortly after me so we can snuggle as I fall asleep.

1/28/09

1. Wonderful, delicious music to drown out the rumblings of the ventilation downstairs and mumblings of my coworkers. Not that they’re bad people. I’m just too tired and too irritable to be patient with them today.
2. Beautiful sunshine and breezes outside on lunch reminded me a spring days when I was younger, running across barely-thawed ground, trying to get a kite into the wind.
3. Finally getting the comments to work on my website.
4. Black socks with white polka dots and white heals and toes. A little pinchy at the tops, but so dang cute!!
5. There’s not much that can help soothe bad news in a short time frame but cuddles, calming words, a hot shower, and lots of sparkle-filled lavender lotion.

1/29/09

1. My desktop on my computer at work is so fantastic now that I got an IT guy to remove all the icons that he could. He had to leave two, plus the recycle bin which I wanted to keep, because of corporate policy. One of those icons, though, I can make into a tool bar that auto-hides along the side. Leaving me only 2 icons on my desktop, plus the icon for my current project. So clean! So fantastic!
2. I got a Chick-fil-a chicken biscuit from a coworker. So very not healthy or diet food, but mmmmmmm, delicious.
3. Really, really good cross-site meeting to discuss the audit form I’ve been laboring over for the last month and then some. Seriously, it’s impressive to get a dozen people to agree on questions to organize office spaces across four different sites 20 times over. We have 5 more questions to go and then we’re done.
4. Beautiful clouds as I left work. I took pictures in the parking lot at work and also stopped along the side of the road through the marsh. I live in such a beautiful area!
5. Discovering that I made an accounting error of $500 while planning out the bills that means that we’re actually TOTALLY FINE and can even possibly pay off the Target card this month, even though we spent an enormous amount of money on computer parts for Justin. And here I’ve been freaking out! We’re good! What a relief!

1/30/09

1. The electrician came and replaced the thermostat on our hot water heater. With all luck, this will mean that we won’t be alternating between scalding our skin off and not having any hot water at all. Only time will tell.
2. I got my new glasses! They are the awesomest of all awesome glasses. I love them!
3. I was able to schedule Justin for an eye appointment early tomorrow morning instead of having to try to figure out when he could get out of work to go and having to deal with his eye hurting for over the weekend and not knowing why.
4. There’s a new shop open next to our ophthalmologist’s office. They sell fudge and turtles and ice cream and all sorts of handmade sweet goodness. Ohmygoshgood!
5. I ordered a Zen Stone Plus with speaker with Christmas money! A gift card we accidentally cut to pieces so we can only use it online for toys. I’m getting a music box for when I’m running! I wish it was already here!

1/21/09

1. I’m wearing a pink shirt under my sweater and charcoal ribbed socks.  Everything else I’m wearing might be terrible, but I *love* the shirt and socks.
2. The visit with our landlady was both earlier than anticipated, meaning it was over before the evening really even started, and much less critical than expected.  She looked around the house, pointing out features to her boyfriend, asked how things were going, and collected the rent check.  She’s going to call someone to come look at the water heater.  It went much better than I’d feared!
3. Justin and I curled up on the couch and watched a really unethical movie with Nathan Fillian that was still really sweet to watch and made me want to know how to make pies better than I do.  We hadn’t intended to spend the evening watching a movie on TV, but didn’t regret it one bit.  I needed the relaxing and the cuddles.
4. Justin fixed my website!!!!  YEA!!!!

1/22/09

1. Operation “Clean up this dump” has been going well!  Computer Services collected several of their items from the trash cubical.  Facility Services has collected a few broken chairs and an extra desk and is going to return tomorrow to collect any other items we put there for them.  I had a trash bin that took up half my cubical when I got into the office this morning and I’ve already filled it halfway.  I’m going to have this place looking neat by the end of this week for sure!
2. I’m wearing my engagement ring today.  I haven’t been able to wear it because it pinched my finger too much.  (Stupid fat fingers.)  My wedding band is still a little too small (just slightly different in size, oddly), but I’m able today to wear the most beautiful ring I own.  I’ll be able to wear the most important ring before too long.
3. I managed to accomplish the major projects I needed to get through, even though it was absolutely insane at work.
4. We had a very sweet and touching lunch for a coworker who passed away. There was good food and good company and lots of crazy stories.
5. Getting home and deciding not to move for the rest of the evening.  I curled up in a nest of pillows and blankets and read X-Men comic books while Justin sat beside me and played a computer game, fetched me water and munchies and dinner and now and then looked at me with the look I was sometimes giving him, that look that says, “How did I get so lucky?”

1/23/09

1. All the surplus and broken furniture and the bin full of trash and nearly everything else is out of the cubical that was filled up with random trash.  Our lonely little corner of the building is looking much more inhabited and not nearly so much like we’ve been shunted off into a dirty corner.  (I mean, yes, we were shunted, but we don’t have to look it!)
2. I had a great deal of success wrapping up neglected projects.  I still have more to catch up on and take care of and there’s so much work to be done.  But I feel like I made good progress on getting my feet back under me this morning.
3. Justin’s computer parts arrived!  And he spent two hours putting them together and he’s right now getting all the parts to talk friendly with each other.  And he’s tidied up his mess he made while putting parts together and he’s picked up everything he had sitting in my office and it’s all so lovely!
4. Warm sunshine on leather chairs making for perfect napping spots in the middle of a lazy afternoon.
5. Watching late night television until I can’t keep my eyes open any longer.

1/24/09

1. Hashbrowns, eggs, and orange juice served to me in bed by my handsome, loving husband.  What a way to start the weekend!
2. Rescuing a dog that was tied up in the woods and dying from starvation and dehydration.  He’s with good people now.
3. Homemade cookies for my husband and my pastor’s family.  Ginger cookies of goodness!
4. Pink champagne.  Bubbles and sweetness!
5. Watching Miss America 2009 on the couch.

1/25/09

1. Waking up to nice light and cuddles.  Not a whole lot of time before church, but enough time to enjoy waking up slowly curled up next to each other.
2. Pastor was happy to get the cookies.  And very surprised.  It’s fun sometimes surprising people so much, in a good way.
3. We told the pastor we want to join the church and found out we can do it next week.  It was very exciting.
4. Curling up and watching TV on my computer with Justin.  It was very cozy.
5. Ice cream to treat heartburn.  Hey, even if it didn’t help, it was delicious.

1/16/07

1. I stopped back at the Verizon store and got a new phone number for my new phone to match our new home location.  Having a number that’s local to my house is very exciting to me for some reason.  I feel like I’m finally settling into the area.
2. Because I had to call and let people know of my new number, I was able to have several lovely conversations with family members.
3. While I was out, I also picked up a new pair of yoga pants (pajama pants on sale!) that are so scrumptiously comfortable and lovely.  I can’t wait to see how they work at class on Tuesday.
4. My first Real Simple magazine arrived in the mail!
5. After returning home and doing my yoga practice in my new pants, I tidied the house and vacuumed the floors and it felt wonderful to have the house so clean and tidy.

1/17/09

1. I woke up from a nightmare and woke Justin to keep me safe.  Apparently I was so scared, I was shaking.  But he didn’t mind at all that I woke him up and he held me tight and kept all the ghosts away.
2. After that, it was fantastic to be able to sleep in until rather late in the morning.
3. Our flex spending account, surprisingly, will cover 100% of acupuncture appointments.  So Justin tried it out and I went to watch.  It was fascinating!  And the woman doing it was lovely.  We chatted a lot about different things we could try (diet and otherwise) that might help with problems we’ve been having.
4. Heading out of there, we randomly, spontaneously, decided to go out for lunch/dinner at Atlanta Bread Company.  It was delicious.

1/18/09

1. Sex!
2. I really do love the church we’ve been attending.  The service was great. And we’re getting to know people.  I love being able to go into a service and say hello to people whose names I remember!
3. Because I didn’t have room for it on Saturday, we went back to the Atlanta Bread Company so I could have a coffee and muffin.  So delicious!
4. The file cabinet in my office at home has been hulking ominously for a while.  I finally pulled everything out, organized it, purged it, archived it, and labeled it.  Now it’s a thing of beauty.  It’s refreshing and easy and I’m so excited about it, it’s a little bit scary.
5. I had a great conversation with my little brother about writing and exercising and random stuff.  He’s a fascinating man and I enjoy our talks.

1/19/09

1. It was a foggy drive to work this morning, but I was able to stop and take a few really striking pictures of a boat anchored in the river.
2. Justin called me to tell me that his commute was beautiful and to wish me a good morning.  I love it when something is so wonderful that he can’t help but call me.  That I’m the one getting these calls to hear about how great his life is and how beautiful things are.
3. Delicious meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and broccoli for dinner.  Fantastic comfort food after a long, frustrating day.
4. Perfectly matched paint to cover the marks on the walls and a handsome handyman husband with a paintbrush.

1/20/09

1. My husband called me “an amazing woman, you know that?”  It makes me smile. All I was doing was telling him about our bank balance and reminding him to make a phone call.  I don’t know how that makes me amazing, but I’ll take it!
2. Changing over national leadership is always exciting.  I might not always agree with what happens in the end, but the speeches and the excitement of the whole thing, the hope for the future, it’s refreshing and encouraging. I don’t go for politics.  I’m interested in people.  And people at this time are very interesting.
3. Listening to a recording of an orchestra I was part of in college.  Where, because they didn’t really have music for trombonists, I played percussion. I didn’t really know how to play a lot of what I was asked to play, but I had a heck of a lot of fun learning how to use a snare drum and timpani and triangle and everything.  Best, because I already knew how to play it, was the xylophone.  I had a solo.  It was awesome.
4. My yoga instructor gushed that I had excellent form, that I was very conscious about the position of elbows she was emphasizing, and I made adjustments to correct my alignment even before she could tell me.  She was so excited!  It made me really happy and proud of my progress.
5. Warm, soft, snuggley blankets and sleep coming easily.

1/11/09

1. Good times at church.
2. Grocery shopping for fun new recipes.
3. An organized attic.
4. Dinner brought home to me, along with an iced coffee and fresh flowers.
5. Updating the Creative Zen Touch so it’s finally really mine.

1/12/09

1. Delicious tea.
2. A really productive meeting where people liked my ideas and we were able to discuss ways to make things better.
3. Running a full 2.5 miles without stopping.
4. Pictures of a weight-group drop-out and her beautiful baby boy.
5. Fun conversations with Mom, Dad, and Nathan.

1/13/09

1. Justin updated the firmware on the Creative Zen Touch and I spend *hours* putting music on my computer so I could synch it to this thing.  I have over 1500 tracks of music, podcasts, and sermons on this thing now.  It’s fabulous!
2. I don’t live in Wisconsin or Minnesota, where there are wind-chills of -35 degrees F today.  Instead, I live in South Carolina, where it’s in the 40s and raining.  In January!  I really don’t miss that bitter, bone-aching cold.
3. Getting lots of smallish projects done at work that have been needing attention for a while.  Things that make me feel smart and productive and imaginative.  Hopefully not too pushy or presumptions, but innovative and inventive!
4. Yoga was wonderfully difficult, with poses that were too much of a stretch or that I don’t have the muscles to hold or that I don’t have the proper alignment to hold correctly.  It was great to have something to aspire to and to have corrections given to me so I have something to work on.
5. Deliciously cozy blankets to snuggle into at bedtime, covers up to my ears, pillows enveloping my head.  Softness and warmth and loveliness.

1/14/09

1. A desk where everything is *exactly* where I want it to be, where there’s no dust, and things are fantastically functional.
2. Getting complimented because of ideas that I’ve had and the efficiency with which I’ve been getting those things done.
3. Refreshing lunchtime walks in the sunshine.  Both invigorating and stress-relieving.
4. Going to a membership class with my husband and having a really great time.  Learning that the church is a church-plant from the church we’d been attending before the move and that they really do believe a lot of the same things as we do.  Having a great talk with the pastor and feeling very comfortable to follow up with other conversations.  Getting into the car to go home and knowing that I’m comfortable becoming a member of this church, and having Justin tell me that he would be willing to be a member of this church if I would like him to.  Even if he has to get re-baptized.  Even if we have to stand up in front of the church.
5. Actually, let’s make that its very own point because it’s that exciting tome.  My husband, who just 3 years ago was not altogether comfortable coming to church with me, is willing to become a member of a church with me.  To be baptized by immersion (he was baptized by sprinkling and the church is strong about immersion).  And to stand up in front of the church.  This.  Is.  Awesome.

1/15/09

1. Going out for lunch since I misunderstood the date of the memorial lunch and didn’t have anything to eat.  Sonic.  Yumminess!  And sitting in the car, eating my unhealthy food and playing a video game.
2. Getting rid of three boxes of obsolete paperwork that have been sitting on a desk since we moved several months ago (September/October-ish).
3. Being told that my plan to clean up the area is a good plan and being appreciated for my hard work to clean up our area.  By my manager-boss.  I was worried that he wouldn’t be fond of what I’ve been doing and how I’ve been spending my time.  But apparently not!  Apparently I’ve been doing good stuff!  That’s very encouraging.