So Many Things to Love, Part 1

So, this morning, while walking to work in the 19 (feels like -1) degree weather, I started thinking about last year. Last September, as I'm sure most of you know, I was laid off from my job and spent the winter of 2009-2010 unemployed. And I'm not gonna lie to you, it was great. On days when it felt like -1 degrees outside I would just stay in. Or go do some Forrest Yoga where I would sweat my face off, and then come home, shower, and take a nap. Or I would go babysit and get to cuddle with a little schmunkin like this dude...

COOPER!!!!!!!!!! I miss you so.

I know for most people being unemployed is/was terrible. But for me, it was heaven. But here's the thing, I remembered while getting on the T: I am grateful to have a job. I am grateful to have a place to go where it is warm and where I am not unhappy. I am grateful I don't hate my boss like I did at all my other jobs. I am grateful that I can work and be paid for it. Because we all have to have jobs. Some of us get to have jobs we love, and some of us are administrators, but the thing is we have to work. And wouldn't it be great if I could magically make a full time salary while sitting around in my bed taking naps? 

Well, duh. 

But it isn't going to happen.

So, the point is I feel glad today at the place I am at in my life. Which is a much different feeling then I had a couple months ago. My jobs pays for me (and my therapy), and I have been blessed with being loved by a plethora of people who I respect and cherish. People who I love so much sometimes I feel moved to tears. People with whom I can communicate freely, and people who find my over-abundance of feelings charming (or so I hope), instead of slightly annoying and melo-dramatic as others might.And I suppose I do wish there were some additions to my life, but I don't think I would give up anything I have now to have the new things.

So it's the Holidays or whatever. And one of the things I love is making lists. So what I would like to do right now is make a list of all the things I feel grateful for during this holiday season, even if I think the idea that we should only be grateful for things during the holidays is lamesauce concentrate.

Here goes...

1. My Mom, Dad and Brother

2. My peops (DUH)

3. Dogs (especially Admiral Reginald Wigglesworth, who will be mine next year)

 

4. French Toast (with lots of butter and minimal syrup)

5. The Muppets (especially Gonzo)

6. Summer (specifically nights spent on porches)

7. Hipster music (and Kanye too)

8. My health (and all my present and working limbs)

9. Down Blankets (that you wrap around you like a burrito)

10. The Office (cause that show is just sweet)

11. Dancing on dance floors when nobody else is dancing (usually with Haimisch or PenPen)

12. Dancing to 80s music in Dee and Heather's house at Dee's b-day party with Mologna and Dee and EQ

13. Dancing until my feet hurt at Whits' Wedding

14. Random gifts given just because

15. Fleece-lined hoodies (I don't own one, but someday...)

16. The fingerless glove mitten things

15. My iPhone (because it is the one thing in life that is as awesome as it is advertised to be)

16. Hugs

17. Hugs

18. Hugs

19. My job (see above)

 20. Burdicks Hot Cocoa (liquid chocolate FTW)

21. Lunches with EJB (best part of number 19)

22. Hand Lotion (I have a cracked knuckle on my thumb)

23. Fingertip bandaids (Cause it's hard to get regular band aids to stay on your fingertip)

24. Groupons 

25. Indian Food

That's all I got.

Well... for now anyway.

Brussel Sprouts

Hi friends. It's been a while. I could waste time apologizing but I have too many feelings for that.

Oh man. Even looking at them makes me salivate. You cut those babies in half, olive oil, garlic, sea salt, roast that crap in the oven, DONE. Last night my friend Nicole (Empress of All Things Awesome) made two large dishes of brussel sprouts. I almost pooped my pants I was so happy. And she sent me home with some of those little nuggets of joy.

Since it's been a while, I would also like to share that I love this man:

OK. So he's a douchebag. But I can't stop listening to his new album. I actually think it has improved my self-esteem to listen to it, because sometimes, while listening to it, I imagine I am black and that has always been my dream. I maintain I was born the incorrect race. So, while listening to the album I imagine I am black and that makes me feel better about myself.

 While I'm on the subject of being awesome and African-American I'd like to discuss this woman:

She is the best singer on Glee. Yeah, Rachel is good. But Mercedes is better. And she has gotten the SHAFT this season. She sang that Florence + the Machine song this week (which, BTW, if I had a blog of things I thought were all right but felt slightly indifferent towards Florence + the Machine would be featured) but come on! Give the girl something she can sing that crap out of, for Christ's sake.

Also, what's with her not getting a boyfriend when EVERY OTHER GIRL on the show has one? I think Ryan Murphy is a size-ist. I think Mercedes doesn't have a boyfriend because she is big. But this blog is not called, "Things that Piss me the F*** Off." This blog is not called "Rant about TV shows that I love cause they have singing and dancing and in the first season were awesome but now are slightly mediocre and are terribly written and have plots that make no sense." This blog is about things I love.

So I will end on a happy note.

The Empress of all Things Awesome got a pole in her apartment. Like a pole-dancing pole. And she swings around it like a sexy monkey. And when my shoulder gets better, I am going to learn how to swing around it like a sexy monkey too. And then I am going to invite Mercedes to come swing around the pole with me. And Dee's manatees. And Dee and Heather in their wetsuits. And we are going to have a sexy monkey party. And Nicole aka the Empress of all Things Awesome will make us all Brussel Sprouts.

IT HAS COME FULL CIRCLE.