good news

You know what I like?

Good news.

In elementary school we would have the good news moment over the intercom right before the pledge of allegiance.  "Mrs. Egbert is going to have a baby boy! And Karen McDougal from Mr. Reese's third grade class is going to the regional spelling bee championships!"

What a way to start the day.  And I didn't even like Karen McDougal.

Sometimes I wish that as I eat my breakfast an intercom would crackle on and give me the good news moment.

"Thomas scored 95% on his book report! Michael Chabon has a new book out! Frankie Valentine didn't bite anyone yesterday! Now please stand for the pledge of allegiance..."

And I would, because I'm patriotic like that.

But, it seems, good news is a little scarce these days.  This depression we are in, well, it's a little depressing.

But I know a secret. A little good news, if you will. You don't really need someone to tell you what is good about life.  Look around.

I am.

Everyday I'm looking around me at all the goodness that I have to be grateful for. I'm practicing daily gratitude.  If I had an intercom to speak into, I'd broadcast my good news to all my friends every morning.

Alas, no one has seen it fit to hand me an intercom.

But I have social media.  Join me this month in practicing daily gratitude. Everyday find something that is good in your life. Post it to Instagram, facebook or Twitter. Use the hashtag #dailygratitude.

Come on. Join in.  I wanna hear your good news.

back in the saddle

Well after having been bucked off, shut down, turned away and locked out by my HP Pavillion a few months ago, I seem to be back in the saddle. The good (?) people at HP sent out my favorite UPS man to retrieve my computer and whisk it off to Compuland, where the magic fairies crawl inside your PC and chase out all the bugs. I hope they got them all.

No more little laptop screen for me! I'm livin' large with a screen so big and vivid it boggles my eyes.

Here's another thing that's new around our abode. I procured some brown construction paper from Thom's fab school and created a "Thankful Tree". I cut leafs from different fall colored scrapbook paper and everyday we write something that we are thankful for on the back of a leaf and then it goes up on the tree. We will read all the leafs around the dinner table on Thanksgiving.

It is so interesting to me to see what the boy comes up with each day. Today he is thankful for pumpkins. I'm hoping that one of these days he remembers that he has parents and is thankful for them. But I'm not holding my breath. After all, he does have my sentimentalities and one of my leafs reads, "I am thankful for cheddar cheese." because I am.

You can still get your name in the drawing for the big bambino giveaway. I'll choose a winner tomorrow!