1. I found a dime on the ground yesterday. That doesn't seem like a big deal, and I get that. But I've been anxious about money lately. I shouldn't be. I'm in the best financial shape I've ever been in. But I've been anxious lately, and money is an easy topic to think about when you're scared. I've had money troubles before. Big money troubles, back when I was in my twenties and didn't know much but thought I knew everything. But when it was at it worst, I found pennies on the ground. Lots of them. Like gifts from heaven, saying you don't need to worry about this. It's covered. Maybe not how or when you want it to be, but it's covered. I needed to be reminded of that. So I picked up that dime. And I'm keeping it close by. I'm not so bad off that I need every dime. But I need the reminder that maybe, just maybe, the universe is on my side.
2. I love weekends. For the past year, my job has been its most stressful. And I'm planning on staying there and waiting for the better days again. But it's not easy, just to wait like this. Its frustrating and tiring and messes with my head more than I admit. But then there are the weekends. Two whole days without the crazy, the stress, the feeling that I'm either invisible or being used. Two days to sleep in, to read, to spend time with my patient boyfriend and our amazing cat. Two days to watch movies and cook good food and eat good food. It's not enough--I am long overdue for a true vacation. But until then, I have my weekends.
3. I am thankful for cookbooks. I am not someone who has studied at a cooking school or who has a natural ability for putting flavors together. So I am thankful that there are others who can and who are willing to share their knowledge and their ideas and their secrets with us. I love to just page through them and look at the pictures, to read the ingredients, to see how the wiser ones put together a dish or a meal. I am so grateful for the wealth of ideas in books, put there by those who want to share their information. It makes my life, and my dinners, so much better.
*what is making me happy this week