Ten Things That Make Me Smile

• Living in the modern age
• New sweatshirts, sweatpants (the fuzz inside is much softer than old clothes!)
• Chocolate muffins
• When my husband cleans the kitchen
• Samples at the grocery store, in the mail, anywhere
  
• Mini subcompact cars
• Playing a DVD, CD, or MP3 for the first time after opening it (downloading it)
• Beating my husband at any game. He's better than I am at most of them. We played tanegrams for the first time the other day and he's much better than I am at that one!
• The way the rain glistens off of the stone in Santiago de Compostela, Spain
• That some of the trees here in Nashville already are forming buds
  

Ten Things That Make Me Smile

• Looking forward to the superbowl
  
• That my leaking refrigerator is going to be fixed soon
• The self weigh meter/station at the post office that is available 24/7
• Canada geese
• Ipods
• The Grinch
• Letters from my niece
• Mr. Potato Head
• Looking forward to Easter
• Knee high socks
  

Ten Things That Make Me Smile

• Green tea
• That the head cold I have hasn't migrated to my chest yet :)
• My husband's orange shirt that makes me call him Pumpkin
• That baseball season isn't very far off
• Salt trucks
• That I don't have any of the recalled peanut butter products in my kitchen
• Bumble bees
• Biscuits
• Dinosaurs
• Pictures of other people's kitties

Ten Things That Make Me Smile

• A dusting of snow
• Finally, Finally hearing positive news out of the interstate unemployment office
• Having enough ideas for a story that I can't sleep at night until I write them down
• Raspberry tea
• When I have a head cold, taking a hot, steamy bath to open my sinuses
• Approaching St. Valentine's Day
• Tax refunds
• Chex Mix
• Freshly baked bread
• Commercials for denture paste
  

Ten Things That Make Me Smile

• Herbal tea, most recently peach
• The sound of raindrops hitting the roof
• Free magazines/newspapers
• The classifieds
• Having a ring stuck on my finger (I've gained weight), and finally getting it off after lots of prying, twisting, lotion, soap, etc. without ripping the finger off too!
• Resetting a digital clock after the storm. 12:00 flashing gets old quickly!
• Heart pattern socks
• Hot fudge brownie sundaes
• When someone else does the dishes
• Old pictures, laughing at the clothes, glasses, and shoes in them
  

Ten Things That Make Me Smile

• The downtown area in small towns, especially thriving down towns
• Buttery potatoes
• Sharing common interests with friends
• Looking at antiques
• Velvet
• Diet Coke, the feeling of carbonation when it slides down my throat
• Sending in my third writing contract :)
• Being offered a temp job
• Finding out my friend's daughter is okay. She was really sick earlier.
• Buildings with character
  

Ten Things That Make Me Smile

• Getting to sing in other languages in choir, most notably Latin
• Knowing the etymology of a word in English
• Novels written for adults that still have pictures in them from time to time
• Baby powder
• Cupcakes with sprinkles in the frosting
• Not having seen any mice in the house I live in (I've been here for 6 months)
• Banana bread
• Songbirds
• Train whistles
• Snoopy
  

Ten Things That Make Me Smile

• After cutting my finger (cutting veggies with a knife), wearing a Band-Aid for while, and then being able to take the Band-Aid off. There's never a comfy way to have one on a finger, is there?
• January days in the sixties Fahrenheit
• Jelly shoes from the 80s
• Elves
• Strawberries
• Decent tasting mouthwash
• Nursery Rhymes
• The microwave. Every once in awhile I cook something on the stove/oven that can more easily be done in the microwave just to appreciate its invention
• Indoor plumbing
• Chocolate dipped waffle cones
  

Ten Things That Make Me Smile

• Weight Watchers ice cream
• ebooks
• Wineries
• Poppy seed muffins
• The democratic process. I voted yesterday on a local issue
• That I don't have to lick stamps much anymore. The already sticky backing is nice.
• Fresh strawberries
• Hot air balloons
• Musicals
• Raisin bread
  

Haiku

driving north, I see
the black speckled sky
swarming south bound
the birds

Ten Things That Make Me Smile

• Watching the inauguration activities on TV yesterday (and weep a little too. I was choked up all morning!)
• Buying groceries and having the bill come out to less than 100.00
• The silver shops in Mexico City
• Weight Watcher's frozen, three cheese lasagna
• Looking forward to watching the Superbowl
• The movie Grease
• Men in Uniform
• The Easter Bunny
• Jelly beans
• Avoiding the cookie aisle at the grocery story successfully
  

Graveyard

leafless trees
the stone fence
nearly hides the
tombstones
adjacent to my
bedroom window

Ten Things That Make Me Smile

• Seeing the cover to an anthology in which my work will appear
• Chex Mix bars
• Turtle cheesecake
• Stephen King books/movies
• Rainbows
• Leprechauns
• Auctions
• Opryland
• Christmas villages
• Elvis impersonators
  

Ten Things That Make Me Smile

• Inspiring the creation of a new blog by someone else. Check out The Way I C It in my "links I frequent" section.
• Looking forward to the weekend and going out to eat
• My microwave. Life would be so much more difficult without having microwaves, wouldn't it?
• Wireless technology
• Finding Nemo
• Showers after working out at the gym
• Slug bugs
• String cheese
• Overalls
• When someone on my car breaks, having it happen BEFORE the warranty has expired
  

Ten Things That Make Me Smile

• Eating lunch with my husband on a work day
• Hour long work day lunches at all! In Iowa, I always had a 25 minute or 30 minute lunch
• Interviews
• Knee high nylons over full leg ones
• French braids
• Old fashioned oatmeal. I didn't realize how good it was over instant until my mother in law served it to me. Wow! What a difference!
• Forever stamps
• Recumbent exercise bikes.
  
• Velvet
• Fresh coffee
  

Ten Things That Make Me Smile

• Being able to communicate with friends and family through email, snail mail, and my cell phone
• Having health insurance (at least for now)
• Indoor plumbing
• The Biggest Loser show on TV
• Kites
• Werewolves
• Antiques
• Blue lipstick
• Cowboy hats
• Cartoons (I'm thinking of Garfield at the moment)
• Ripley's Believe It Or Not
  

Ten Things That Make Me Smile

• Remembering that no matter how bad things get with jobs, the economy etc., that I have people who love me.
• Having my health
• Realizing that the people working in the unemployment offices really do want to help me, even though I'm ready to rip every inch of hair from my head in frustration with my interstate claim
• That unemployment insurance even exists... I'm not completely thrown to the dogs yet
• Burning off stress at the gym, imagining that my exercise pants aren't uncomfortably snug
• That I don't have to scrape ice from my car windows
• My garbage can now has a lid after 6 months of being lidless (the city finally replaced it)
  
• Wizards
• pandora.com
• That the first four stories I've submitted for publication have all been accepted :)
  

Ten Things That Make Me Smile

• Having a roof over my head
• Remembering the beanie baby crazy
• Thumb drives
• Finding a set of markers I bought years ago that I had forgotten and never used and that hadn't dried up yet
• Potlucks
• Anniversaries
• Bambi
• Fairy tales
• Warm afghans on a January day
• Cinnamon oatmeal
  

Ten Things That Make Me Smile

• Midday naps when I don't have anything in particular done on a Saturday
• Pandas
• The scent of baby powder
• Marble Slab Creamery and Cold Stone Creamery
• Waffles for breakfast
• Dates with my husband :)
• Remembering that the dishes in the dishwasher are clean
• Fondue
• Looking forward to Valentine's day
• The color of the Ocean
  

Ten Things That Make Me Smile

• A fully charged cell phone or laptop battery
• People interested in hiring me
• A sunny, winter day
• Dragons
• Not getting any junk mail or spam
• Violets
• Constellations
• Tortilla española
• Flower girls
• Lemonade stands at yard sales
  

New Blog

I have begun a new blog written under the name of an alter ego, Jen RedKissed called RedKissed Reviews. http://redkissedreviews.blogspot.com/ is the address. Check it out of you're interested. The first book I have reviewed is The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett.

Ten Things That Make Me Smile

• A productive interview
• The opportunity to translate between Spanish and English
• The magic credit that appeared on a gift card that I thought I had exhausted the last time I went out to eat
• Another interview tomorrow
• A fresh pot of decaf at the restaurant
• The movie room at the gym
• Finishing a really good book last night
• Apple slices with peanut butter
• Going to bed early tonight
• Homemade cooking
  

Ten Things That Make Me Smile

• When I remember my password to a site I haven't used in ages
• Having another story accepted for an anthology
• The sound of raindrops on the roof
• Lipstick that doesn't taste bad
• Frozen grapes
• The energy that little kids have
• Finishing the 6 loads of laundry that awaited me after vacation
• Bubbles
• My Ethernet cord
• The feeling in the back of my throat when I gargle
  

Ten Things That Make Me Smile

• New underwear
• A quiet house
• My reading chair
• Juicy juice
• Bananas
  
• Clearance priced books
• Mondays when I don't have to work
• Iowa's unemployment max amount is more than Tennessee's max unemployment amount
• Gummy bears
• Bathrooms with fans
  

Ten Things That Make Me Smile

• Lazy afternoons
• Knowing all the words to any song I hear on the radio
• Watching me with power tools
• A tidy room
• Vanilla bean ice cream, then adding chocolate sauce and peanuts
• Apples cut up in salad
• Cars with a comfy passenger side seat
• My reading chair
• Weddings
• Cutting my nails because they're too long, not be cause I broke/chipped one.
  

Ten Things That Make Me Smile

• Well written prose
• Finally being home after three weeks of traveling
• Being in my own bed
• That my husband no longer has the flu
• Being thankful that I don't snore (at least I don't think that I snore)
• Free dessert
• Gift cards
• The fantasy known as the Powerball
• Safe holidays
• Cream puffs
  

Ten Things That Make Me Smile

• Gatorade
  
• Bathtubs in motels that don't lose water when I have the plug in drain
• Remember to write the correct year on my checks when it is around the first of the new year
• Washing and drying my jeans. Putting them on straight out of the dryer and not having them feel tight
• Foot rubs
• Slippers, especially fun ones that have animals or characters on them
• Being back in the south where there is no snow on the ground. (it was -10 in Minneapolis before wind chill when we flew through there and it was 51 in Atlanta when we got here!)
• When mosquito bites finally stop itching in the summer
• Peanut butter sandwiches in our carry on bags when we took the 5:30 am flight and didn't have a chance to stop in the airport for lunch between connections
• Being back home after three weeks of traveling!