When I was in high school a friend gave me a book called 14,000 Things to be Happy About.  I started a list of my happy things in 1993.  When I stopped I had 223.  I doubt I will ever get to 14,000, but I thought I might try to hit 1000 in my lifetime.  I added to the list last year, and then again last night.  Here are my latest additions that make me happy:

1. my son
2. my baby’s smile
3. walks on a perfect summer day
4. bagpipes in the distance
5. crisp fall days
6. my students doing well
7. back pain-free days
8. homemade apple pie
9. fresh macaroni and cheese
10. new books
11. computers that work consistently
12. having a president of color
13. the freedom to speak out against your government without fear (even if you are stupid)
14. watching my husband take care of our son
15. sleeping late while my husband takes care of our son
16. car trips
17. leaves changing color in the fall
18. maple cotton candy
19. comfortable shoes
20. going barefoot
21. fresh lemonade
22. apple fritters with ice cream
23. apple cider donuts
24. that first glimpse of Star Island
25. shiny blue bow ties

as in sucks to find snow on the ground on April 4.

as in shoes which I sorely need to buy.

as in shopping which is what I needed to do, but instead I watched TV.

as in stupid which is what I am for forgetting to take the calibration, book the stage, and bring the books home for Sunday.

as in Sunday School which I should be preparing for.

as in sex which is what my husband and I should be having, but we aren’t.

as in sorry for not having sex with my husband.

as in sleepy.

1. The Eiffel Tower
2. Ayars Rock
3. The Great Pyramids
4. The Rockies
5. Grand Canyon
6. A female president
7. My own baby

1889 – The Eiffel Tower is inaugurated.

1. Dry erase boards I hate how my hands feel after using the chalkboard. White boards are so much fun to use in class. They come in handy for quick lessons or a list of things they have to do in independent work. We can write in all sorts of colors and they come clean without much mess.
2. Clipboards What a handy thing for moving around the room.  We use these for paper activities on the floor.  Clipboards also let us take our work to other places in the building.
3. Crayons Not just for coloring.  I let the kids practice their spelling words in rainbow writing with crayons.  We also use crayons to mark nouns and verbs on papers.  Lately I have been using crayons to mark papers so I can see how many times they needed to make corrections.
4. Digital projectors I used to teach computer lessons by showing them on my computer.  Now I can project it on the wall and they can see it big and from their seats.
5. Recess Need I say more?

1858 – Hymen Lipman patents a pencil with an attached eraser.

1. weigh in
2. get breakfast at Dunkin Donuts
3. read blogs
4. write blogs
5. read blogs
6. play games online
7. watch TV shows you watched last week, because your husband didn’t see them
8. fall asleep
9. wake up
10. move to other couch
11. fall asleep
12. shower
13. watch your husband rock the world in a play he joined 4 days ago

1976 Nicole Marie born in Bennington, Vermont.

1. Recess monitor at arts summer camp.
2. Cashier at town pool.
3. Waitress at family conference center.
4. Educational Technology Specialist

Four movies I can watch over and over

1. Legally Blonde
2. Princess Bride
3. Finding Nemo
4. Sweet Home Alabama

Four places I’ve lived

1. Meta Glass 212
2. Dew 202
3. Manson 112
4. Manson 205

Four TV shows I love

1. Monk
2. Grey’s
3. LOST
4. How I Met Your Mother

Four places I’ve vacationed

1. Cancun
2. Star Island
3. Florida
4. Scotland

Four of my favorite dishes

1. Macaroni and Cheese
2. Prime rib
3. Thanksgiving dinner
4. Potatoes, polenta, pesto, asParagus, ham from a Pig

Four sites I visit daily

1. TVGuide.com
2. For Better or For Worse
3. Facebook
4. Bloglines

Four songs I will stop and sing along with

1. In Your Eyes
2. Bohemian Rhapsody
3. Constantinople/Istanbul
4. We Didn’t Start the Fire

Four places I would rather be right now

1. Home in bed
2. Cancun
3. Scotland
4. a massage table

1930 – Constantinople and Angora change their names to Istanbul and Ankara.

1998 – The Food and Drug Administration approves Viagra for use as a treatment for male impotence, the first pill to be approved for this condition in the United States.

Today’s list is:

Days left in March

• Wednesday, March 26 I have decided to slack off today, so my kids are doing Type to Learn and Professor Fizzwizzle. After work I have to go to the grocery store. The Lord has rehearsal (did I mention he stepped into a part 4 days before opening night?) and I am going to watch TV and go to bed early.
• Thursday, March 27 Today we have massages for Staff Appreciation Week. Mine is first thing in the morning. I hope the guy isn’t late. In the evening we have rehearsal. I am going to have to step in for T since he will be at the dress rehearsal for his other show. I hope bedtime comes early again.
• Friday, March 28 Opening night. I won’t be going. I will be going both Saturdays, so I am making other plans tonight. I thought I might get my Sunday Schoolers to go to Hill’s play, but it is getting kind of late for that. Whatever I do, I am not over eating. I have to weigh in on Saturday.
• Saturday, March 29 Today is m high school best friend’s birthday. She lives a couple hours a way and we don’t talk much any more. She and her husband split up this past year and she is totally starting over with 2 kids. I sent her flowers. I hope she likes them.
• Sunday, March 30 I am planning to take my Sunday Schoolers to visit a different church today. We’ll see how it goes. I am trying to find ways to get them engaged and involved. Then I have rehearsal. Fortunately it is an afternoon rehearsal. Unfortunately, it is to accomidate my husband’s matinée.
• Monday, March 31 Today I start Girls on the Run. I haven’t heard from my assistant coach; I don’t have that many registrations; I am totally not prepared. But since it is my 5th year, I should be okay. Then I will be late for an evening rehearsal. But I may get to go to bed early!

1484 – William Caxton printed his translation of Aesop’s Fables.

March 25, Lady Day, was New Years’ Day in many European implementations of the Julian calendar, preceding by exactly nine months Christmas Day.

1. The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes I had never read any Sherlock Holmes, so when I finished everything on my nightstand I grabbed this one off the bookcase. Except for a few words I had to learn, from my husband, it was a pretty good read.
2. Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt I put off reading this for over a year. My mom got it for me at Christmas a year ago. Now that I am teaching Sunday School, I am more into religious stuff. It was a very interesting read. I know it is her fictionalized version of events, but I am sure she did her research on the times, so it was interesting to find out what it was like then.
3. Angels Fall Just a quick romantic mystery. Pretty well written, good twists.
4. Prodigal Summer I LOVE Barbara Kingsolver. So far I have enjoyed every one of the books I have read by her. This one took me a lot longer than I expected. It was a little hard to get into, but once I did I really liked it. It was a wonderful combination of 3 tales.
5. Back Roads Heart-wrenching tale about a young man taking care of his younger sisters.
6. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (Chronicles of Narnia)Having never read the Chronicles of Narnia, I snitched the whole set from my church library and am reading them one after the other. This one was very interesting. I saw the movie on DVD last year, but the book was totally better.
7. Prince Caspian (Narnia) I liked this one a lot. I love that the kids got to go back. I missed the beavers though, they were some of my favorite characters.
8. A Mango-Shaped Space For 2 days I took a little break from Narnia, and headed to the world of synesthesia. This well written Young Adult novel told the story of Mia, a 13 year-old middle child with synesthesia. For the first time, she admits to others that she experiences this phenomenon. It has it ups and downs, and I definitely cried. It is a great book for preteens, teens, and parents.
9. The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (Narnia) Back on to Narnia. I liked this one best so far. It was a great adventure, with some interesting moments. Although sometimes I feel like he was half-asleep while he was writing and missed some parts.
10. The Silver Chair (Narnia) Just started this one. Not liking it so much so far, but I have to finish it.

March 24 was the 365th and last day of the year in many European implementations of the Julian calendar.