spent the better part of the day dragging my "box of papers" out from under the bed (bad Feng Shui...finances and such) and organizing them into a filing cabinet. wooo boy. a lot more work than i thought it would be. or is it just my obsessive compulsive need to sort and label each file, checking and rechecking to make sure what's IN each file actually belongs there? at any rate i feel GOOD about it.

almost as good as buying new lingerie today...including 3 matching sets of bras and panties. for years i never knew the lovely little secret feeling a girl gets when she "matches"....a friend told me that, and i tried it and yes, i'd have to agree with her.

bring on the football pool!!! (i have friends who have a Superbowl party every year) i don't particularly like football, but it's fun to watch the same guys get drunk every year. heh.

have had a horrendous week of car issues and snow, enough to bury ALL the bodies until spring...


but all i can think of just now are things i love:

peanut butter
chocolate
coffee
venus razors
my new DVD player
my back scratcher
my glittery pens i bought at the dollar store
CD's...i bring them to work, listen in the bedroom...i love them! music to suit any mood!
cookbooks
my quilt i keep on the couch that my sister made me
hot soup on a cold day
icy lemonade and iced tea on a hot day
a good stretch
hugs
my mosquito net that hangs over my bed...*with* white lights
letters in my mailbox
perfume...but it has to be Calvin Klein
hearing my Honey's voice

woooo....that's all i can think of for now. i wanted to do it "stream of consciousness" and not drag it out or write and re-write it.

part of my pledge to live in the spirit of gratitude.

~smiling and thanking the universe~

ooohhh creepy.

just re-read my previous entry regarding "starter" for the bread, and realized one thing i had replaced on the car today was the starter...


*hearing the theme from The Twilight Zone in her head*

i HATE when something goes wrong with my car. the pit of my stomach drops out. today it was to the tune of about $500. eeeesh. and i thought when i got rid of the string of beater cars, these days would be behind me. alas, not.

*sighs* more sacrifices to the gods of plastic. there goes paying off those credit cards any time soon. but also good i have them.

and while i'm venting, it can go ahead and stop snowing any time now!!!

i just made a batch of "Amish Friendship Bread" that employs a starter i've had to baby for the past 9 days. a friend gave me the starter in a plastic bag. (thus, the name of the bread) it's very tasty, the bread, sweet and good with coffee. i'm going to take it to work and share the joy, along with some starter created from my own batch.

the question is...how does one create the starter?

or is all this still being passed on by the original starter?

a baking chain letter, i like it.

i hate it when the granules of ice melt or salt or whatever the heck it is get stuck in my shoe or boot treads. i track the junk inside, and before i get to the boot tray, it gets around on the carpet.

unfortunately, i have a penchant for going barefoot in the house, even in winter.

bad combination.

ouch!

will someone please explain why one of the best tv shows ever...Northern Exposure is NOT available on DVD?

but all that other trash is?

as far as i'm concerned, any day i look out and see i *don't* have to dig my car out of the snow, is a good day.

but also, today being Sunday, i don't have to go anywhere. so i've decided to challenge myself to make something out of things i have around the kitchen. i adore cooking and trying new recipes, which i've just spent time finding on the food network site. but now i'm going to challenge me to make something good and healthy and all that junk from stuff i have here.

so far it looks like turkey chili is in the lead. yay for a well stocked pantry and spice cupboard.

argh.

the hibernation time of year gets me every time. i feel sluggish and slow and would love nothing better than to sit for long hours in front of the tv and/or new dvd player and not move.

more than that though, i get a bit sad this time of year. is it the SAD thing? the lack of light? could be. or a holiday letdown. could be that as well.

in any event, today i am choosing to count all the good things i've got going in my life, all the strides i've made, growth and change. and even though i still *feel* not quite myself i know that it shall pass. and that i'll be left with the results of all my hard work. and surrounded by excellent friends, family and loved ones. it's like one of those inflatable rafts, it keep me afloat.

and soon i'll be smiling again, which is amazing, because there was a time in my life when i smiled very little.

*sigh*

i found the Paul Newman organic chocolate peanut butter cups...yum. especially the dark chocolate...had 'em once and was convinced i'd never see them again....mmmmm...

it's only 8 pm and i'm so sleepy...could have something to do with the fact that my Honey was here last week, and i took vacation time to be snowbound and housefrau. i loved every minute of it.

so now it's cold and quiet here. but i have a cool mosquito net thing over my bed now with little white twinkle lights in it and a wonderful new relaxation cd with ocean and steel drum sounds. think i'll pretend i'm on a beach someplace for a while.

but...it's such an accomplishment to do something finally that one has never done, something one has wanted to do, read and talked and thought about, wondering if one could do it....and now to know not only that one can do it, but do it remarkably well. such a great feeling. like a full belly, or my Honey's full belly....he does love those chocolate chip cookies, and the pork tenderloin....*smiles that wicked little knowing smile, and knowing he's smiling too....still thinking about it*