Thursday Thirteen #50: Or Why It's a Wonderful Life, After All (inspired by Maria's comment)

To keep this blog from being re-named "But I Whine Too Much" (or even "But I Re-gress?" Sorry, couldn't resist!), today's list will be a happy one. As I generally do after a day or two of feeling mad, I spent today counting good things. Let's see if I came up with thirteen of them...

1. I didn't hear my alarm go off, BUT still woke up within ten minutes of the actual wake-up time instinctively. (Not normal for me by a long stretch) So even though I technically overslept, we were not late and we were not panicked this morning. That was nice.
2. While I am still quite heart-broken that there will now never be a time that all four of my kids are in school together, Elisa was re-admitted to her pre-school and into their Pre-K program. She started today. What a relief! (Also, Aunt M is paying for it. Like the lady in Steel Magnolias, she has more money than God, so it doesn't bother me as much as it would if it were Mom. Am I properly ashamed that I can't pay for my own child care. Yes. But I'll still take the money. As she said 'Either I spend it now or the government gets it when I die. And it's not theirs yet!)
3. I was the first one at work today! (That hasn't happened since school let out last May.)
4. My co-workers brought me a Jamocha shake at lunch! They are a rare indulgence for me. I had half this afternoon and will enjoy the other half tomorrow morning when I arrive. I think I just might even be on time again!
5. I had a calm, enjoyable day at work. I found the original accession record for five of my "stray" artifacts, the IMLS Book Collection that I applied for last Spring and was told we had been awarded two weeks ago arrived via UPS and we got to start looking at them today. AND I got the 160 pictures that I took the day before yesterday all edited and re-sized so I can upload them to their written accession records in the File Maker Pro database. (Boring to most of you, I know-but very exciting to me because it's tedious work and I'm always much happier when it's DONE.) And I mentioned the Jamocha shake, right?
6. I emailed my buddy John and heard right back from him! (Chris will appreciate that one.) Granted it was one-sentence correspondence on both sides, but still-immediate response from John. (Good thing it's recorded on my blog for posterity.)
7. I finally got to watch Into the Wild (I know my sidebar says Waitress has been here forever, but it was actually Into the Wild). Very, very good-even if it did make me cry. (What doesn't make me cry?) It was worth the wait. Now I'm going to read the book (even though I usually do that in the opposite order.)
8. I also finished up the end of the last season of Degrassi that I have any interest in watching. (It will go forward from here, but with new cast members who don't interest me.) Emma, Manny, Toby, Liberty, Spinner, and Jimmy all graduated and it was all good.
9. I got to Twitter with some of my favorite FREDDIES this afternoon.
10. On the way home from work, my friend Wendy called me with a Stephenie Meyer emergency (she had just finished Eclipse) and I was able to drive right over to her house with Breaking Dawn. Why? Because SHE LIVES FIVE MINUTES FROM MY HOUSE! You know how when you are teenagers you plan on getting married and living close so your kids can play? We actually get to do that now!!
11. I got to drive the carpool for the first time today. For all my whining, I really do love all of those kids. We sat in the C's driveway for at least five minutes longer than necessary because they all had to tell me about their summers and their new classes and teachers. I forgot how much I missed them over the summer and it was good to have them all back in my car again. (Yes, I'm certifiable.)
12. I got to play at making real Italian food at dinner tonight. Admittedly, I didn't like the end result (too spicy), but Dave did. The kids ate mac and cheese. I also remembered that I have a bread maker and pulled it out and used it today. Yum! The kids had no memory of me ever using it before which means it had been WAY TOO LONG. Maybe I'll make the homemade Swiss bread this weekend. I don't think I've made that since Natalie was a baby. (Nothing is open on Sundays in Italy, if you want bread-you make bread. I'm so sad I've gotten out of the habit of doing it.)
13. I have 6 round-trip tickets to Seattle! I'm finally taking the kids to visit favorite Uncle Bob and to see as many of the places that their mom loved as a kid as I can cram into the long weekend we have there. We'll try not to stand out as Okies. ;>)

*BONUS* Tomorrow is Friday!

Did you notice how much I had to cram into each item to limit the list to 13? Life is good. It really is. For more Thursday Thirteens, click here.