Yep, I am stealing this post’s title from Martha Stewart. I have had sort of an odd couple of weeks. We’ve moved into the new house but, I have been so nasty sick that it’s unreal. I even had to go to the doctor and get pumped full of antibiotics and such to kill all of the nasty germs that wouldn’t seem to go away without the “real” drugs. So, in between coughing up my lungs and feeling like my head is going to explode, I haven’t gotten as much done as I would have liked to have. It’s all OK though. I am happy. That’s right… happy. So, here is my current list of “good things” (aka the things that are making me happy lately).
1. Tony being able to move into his new room. He loves it. He has all of his furniture and all of his things back in their proper places. His Spider Man walls “protect him” (according to him) and even as much as I claim to hate blatant and rampant commercialism aimed at children, I am happy that he loves Spidey so much. We finished Tony’s room completely before anything else was done and that was a smart move. He is so much more at ease with his “world” than I have ever seen it. In fact, so much so that I have even began to call him the “N” word- NORMAL. Of course, I know that he will always be autistic, but damn, I never thought life could be this good for him.
2. Having my washer and dryer back… along with 100% functioning other necessities. I know I am spoiled. I get that. But, it’s hard to keep a family going when you are used to certain conveniences and then have them taken away. We spent three months without most of our belongings. Now, we have everything back. Yeah, some of it’s still in boxes. But, it’s at our disposal and I am ashamed to say (in some ways) that makes me happy.
3. Sara Lee, the cats, and the chickens all having their respective spaces back. Sara Lee now has a HUGE backyard to explore when she’s outside. The chickens have the best, and likely safest, coop ever (thanks to my Dad for fabricating parts of it and setting it up the first time and Rick for moving it and setting it up the final time). The cats also have a safe outdoor enclosure that keeps them out of harm’s way but still able to explore and enjoy. I enjoy seeing my pets happy.
4. Big bath tubs. Once again, this is one of those things that maybe I shouldn’t be proud of or even excited about. Rick has been calling me a hypocrite and comparing me to Al Gore (you know… the whole conserve as I say do and not as I do thing). But, I am OK with admitting my weaknesses. I love, love, love my massive new tub. And I love my huge new hot water heater. Of course, it’s wasteful. I know this. At least we researched and got the most energy efficient model available. And I love it.
5. Morgan. My kids are the greatest. Really, they are. Morgan has been doing some not so great things lately… slacking off in school, not studying as much for the spelling bee as she should have, etc. But, she is amazing. I think we’ve worked through her issues (there are so very few of them) and she’s back on track. She was the runner-up for the regional spelling bee this year and she should have won. But, honestly, she didn’t study much at all so she didn’t deserve to win. She learned her lesson though and I’ll bet that next year will find us back at the National’s in DC. She did win grand champion at her school’s science fair last night with a kick butt project on organic and inorganic fertilizers. She worked really hard on her project this year for MONTHS and she deserved this win. We were so proud.
6. Having Rick home rocks. We’re not sure how long he’ll be home for this time but we do know that after he goes to sea again for 5 weeks that we’ll be on more of a set 5 week at sea and 5 week home schedule. In the meantime, I am just hoping to keep him here a few more weeks and finish getting the house squared away before he leaves again. It’s really nice to have someone around that knows me better than almost anyone on Earth. It’s so… ummm… I hesitate to say the word again because we are so damned atypical…. but it’s normal.
7. Kisses and cuddling. Seriously… Nothing else… Don’t worry about getting TMI from my blog. After years in situations with too little affection, kisses and cuddling are really nice. Of course, I guess this kind of goes along with #6!
8. Acceptance. I still learn each and every day about accepting myself and those around me for everything we are as well as everything we aren’t. I am finally starting to appreciate people in my life for their good AND bad attributes. I know that this sounds so idealistic and possibly not very realistic. But, since learning (or at least starting to learn) to merely follow the old adage about changing the things I can and accepting the things I can’t, I am becoming a lot happier person in general. One of my oldest and dearest friends told me back in January that he wonders why I “keep fighting”. Yes, part of me is the fighter and that part will not change. But, I am learning to pick my battles.
