Suzicate at The Water Witch's Daughter challenged me, and 19 of her other closest bloggy buddies, to list 10 Things That Make Me Happy.
The question reminded me of the time Clueless Young Husband and I were in adoption counseling and they asked us, "What can other people can do to make you happy?"
And CYH replied, "Give me money."
So, in that spirit, here are my 10 happy things:
1) Being given money. There is, by the way, a direct correlation between the amount of money and the resulting happiness.
2) When the Dems manage to pull their heads out of their asses and get something done. (Okay, that one's hypothetical.)
3) Tiny moments from everyday life. For example, a few months back I saw an aging biker in the grocery store parking lot, securing a 12-pack of Milwaukee's Best to his chopper with bungee cords. To this day, the memory fills me with delight.
4) Getting up by 6 a.m. on Sundays, so that I have 3 and 1/2 hours to blog and generally fart around before I get ready for church.
5) My church, and, specifically, worship, which is the only place I get to sing my heart out, because it's best for everyone when louder voices drown mine out.
6) Logging into Blogger and finding a new Follower!
7) Sharing the tagline for my new novel-in-progress at the Central Ohio Fiction Writers Workshop Saturday and having people laugh loudly and a lot. The tagline: "On her 50th birthday, Ellen Arbogast receives two invitations in the mail: one to join the AARP, the other to attend a gallery-opening featuring nudes of her daughter, painted by the daughter's lesbian roommate."
8) (Most of) the people in my life (even when they're not giving me money).
9) Hiking at Charleston Falls with my friend, Pauline, who knows all about plants and trees and can usually answer my zillon-and-six questions.
10) Boss-cations: when the boss takes time off, giving us mice a chance to catch our breath, which is happening this very week. Yay!
I'm supposed to dub 10 more knights to sally forth on this quest, but I think I'll let future champions nominate themselves. If you do, let me know so I can pop over!
So... do I take it your novel expands on your short story? Looking forwards to hearing more.
ReplyDeleteTiny moments like you described are the absolute best.
ReplyDeleteMoney CAN buy happiness.
ReplyDeleteJeanne, I still can't figure out how to do Fiction Friday. So, here's my thing:
ReplyDeleteI think I'll have to go with Don Rickles, Mr. Warmth himself. I don't go around insulting people, but I do sometimes let people have it. Only people that I know; I'm way too shy to talk to anyone else. Or here in blogland where I'm not as shy. It's already gotten me banned from two blogs. I am going to be more careful about that.
He insults people in such a way that they have to laugh. He keeps a straight face through it all like he's actually serious, but we know think believe hope that he's joking. He'll zing the biggest of them. Frank Sinatra was a favorite target. In this You Tube clip, he insults the biggest names in politics, entertainment, and sports right to their faces of course. I wish I had his quick wit and could get away with it the way he does.
Absolutely love your list of happy things. I knew you'd come up with some good stuff!
ReplyDeleteA lot of things make me happy- but none of them are happening!
ReplyDeleteGregory J,
ReplyDeleteI hated Don Rickles back in my youth, but as I grew up with Monty Python, Saturday Night Live, and all of those sarcastic idiots like we all did...I finally got it. I would love to sit down with his kids. God bless that sarcastic prick! If he's reading this blog, " Hey, stop creepin'n on my wife's Face book page, you frickin' pervert!!!"
Excellent call!
Gotta love happy things.
ReplyDeleteIt really is the tiny moments that keep me going.
And new followers definitely rock.
Dear Jeanne: I got tired of the design, or lack of it, of my old blog. Since you’ve posted in “Savage Reflections” in the past, I wonder if I could prevail upon your good nature to check out my blog’s new face lift and post a comment. I’d love to have your opinion:
ReplyDelete“The new design of your blog is a) good; b) acceptable; or c) a train wreck.” :-)
Thanks for your help. Yours, Berowne.
I love that you said farting around. That's one of my favorite expressions. Also, your tagline did make me laugh out loud. Very intriguing.
ReplyDeleteYour list made me happy (especially the boss-cation).
Yes, money is lovely, isn't it? Mmmm. Money money money money money. Lovely lovely money. Yes.
ReplyDeleteSorry. What were we talking about?
I like the idea of a list such as this as it tells us in part who someone is (in this case you). It also shows us how we are both similar and different at the same time.
ReplyDelete