Favorite Things

Filed in: blog

AUG

2010

1:33 pm

Things here have been busy. After getting my son off to college, I’ve been helping my daughter work on her college applications. My husband’s been traveling, and I’ve been working very hard. I’ve got another round of pesky revisions for The Caregiver, and the complete manuscript of The Protector is due on September first.

When things get really busy, I like to try to make sure I put some things in my life that make me happy. Maybe some of y’all do that, too?

Now, of course my family and my sweet dachshund Suzy make me happy…but I’m talking about little things. Little, inconsequential things that don’t really matter…but can so make a tough day better. So with that in mind, here-in no particular order- are five little favorite things that always make my days better….

1) A new book. As I’ve said before, I love to read. My all time favorite author is Anne Perry. She writes Victorian mysteries. The plots are complicated and the descriptions are beautiful. A happy day is when I have a new Anne Perry book.

2) That new Starbucks Instant Ice Coffee. Have any of y’all tried it? It’s great! It’s my new afternoon treat.

3) Reality Cooking Shows. Yep, I’m a wanna-be chef. <g> I really don’t cook all that much or all that well, but I have fun watching people who do. My favorites are Top Chef and Next Food Network Star.

4) Going for walks with my husband. That seems to be the only time we really talk. Okay. I talk, he listens. <g> Since I sit home alone all day with made-up people and he talks on the phone or travels for his sales job~ this works for us.

5) Bubble baths. For as long as I can remember, I’ve taken a bath every night. As soon as I start running water, I know my day is done…

Anyone want to play along? Do you have 5 little, favorite things that can make any day better? Even one thing?

Thanks for stopping by….

Shelley

9 Comments

Comments

Will Carpenter says:

August 17, 2010 at 2:42 pm

I hope you get this. Reading at bedtime. This is also when my wife and I can talk. “Chick flicks” as my boys would call them. “The Notebook”; “Notting Hill”; You’ve Got Mail”; Sweet Home Alabama. To mention a few. Music while I write. Bocelli is on You Tube at the present. Country Music is my favorite. Writing. Chocolate Ice Cream a good hot cup of coffee with french vanilla creamer.

Shelley says:

August 18, 2010 at 7:25 am

Will, thanks for commenting! I’m smiling at your favorites. I also like all those movies. : ) And though I used to need complete silence when I wrote, I’m finding that music has been helping me.

And chocolate ice cream is always perfect, as is a very hot, freshly brewed cup of coffee.

Jeanette says:

August 19, 2010 at 7:03 pm

Hi Shelley

You have finally found something that we do not have in common. I dislike bubble baths. I can’t remember the last time I took a bath. But I really like standing under a hot shower and having the water beat on my back and shoulders.

Of course I love to read . Reading and watching tv are my favorite ways to relax. I like the Hallmark Channel, TV Land, and the History Channel the best. Also the old Lawrence Welk shows and Antique Roadshow on PBS.

I like a lot of different authors and you are one of my favorites.
Doesn’t it make you frustrated to have editors or critics tell you you need to make revisions to your books?

We do not have a Starbucks in Marietta so I don’t have an opportunity to try their coffee although i have seen some in cans at WalMart. But I love Tim Hortons iced caps. I don’t get it very often though because the caffeine messes with my heart.

When I was in my teens and early twentys I used to like to go for walks. Not any more. Now it is like work.

And I like geneology. It is so exciting to find out a new bit of information on one of my ancestors or to find a distant relative that I have lost contact with or one I have never met before. Along the same line, I love old pictures and family pictures. I have never been able to understand why some people distroy pictures of people they no longer like.

And Saturday isn’t the same if I don’t get to go to the farmers market.

And I love to eat out.

One more thing to make my day better is to read a new entry in your blog and reply to it and then get an answer back from you.

Sorry, I guess I gave more than five.

P.S. I had one of those nasty dentist appointments today. The needle was so unpleasant it brought tears.

Jeanete

Jeanette says:

August 19, 2010 at 7:10 pm

I guess I should have proofread my
previous message a little better since i didn’t even spell my own name correctly.

Jeanette

Jeanette says:

August 20, 2010 at 4:46 am

One more thing that I really like- and have to have every day- is popsicles- the sugar free kind of course. They are so refreshing.

Tammy says:

August 25, 2010 at 9:08 am

Hey Shelley, Will, and Jeanette! All of your favorite things sound so great. Here are some of mine.

1. Singing, wherever I am, whatever I’m doing-whether it be A Capella, listening to my iPod, playing songs on YouTube or Pandora.

2. As weird as this sounds, I love writing comments on facebook to my friends and family. Keeping in touch, writing out a sweet message or laughing out loud at a new hilarious photo that they’ve shared. It’s pretty nice, but addicting at some times, and I’ve gotta watch out for that… Haha

3. I love to sit and watch movies with Daddy. Lifetime and Hallmark are our favorite channels. We love the movies with beautiful, inspirational, heartwarming messages; and it’s priceless when I see Daddy sitting in his chair with a tear in his eye…

4. Reading… I never used to like to read, but I LOVE it now. Sitting in the quiet, reading, drinking in the words on the page of one of your books, Shelley, or Nicholas Sparks (God, I love him!!!), or essays from Anne Lamott. I love all kinds of books, but ones with a good message, something that’ll tug at your heartstrings are my favorite.

5. Lastly, as weird as this sounds, I love doing laundry at school. I hate doing it at home, but at school, doing laundry is pretty much down time-from classes, from homework, extra-curricular activities. Time for me to turn on the TV or Pandora for some background sounds, and just getting lost in the task at hand. My favorite thing is hanging up my clothes to dry on our water pipe near the ceiling. Humming, singing at the top of my lungs, or talking to whoever happens to come by while I’m doing so it great.

Love,
Tammy

Jeanette says:

August 27, 2010 at 6:31 am

Hello
Tammy,I just have to post a reply to your comment about laundry. I live in an apartment where we are not allowed to have our own washers or dryers but there is a laundry room on the complex. There are only 8 washers and dryers and two tables with only one rack for hangers so I like to get there early in the morning when no one else is there. I take a book with me and read. There is another lady who comes in early on Mondays that I enjoy talking to also. I always feel so good when I have all my laundry finished and know that I won’t have to do it again for a few days. When I owned my home and had my own washer and dryer it seemed like all I did was laundry (probably bcause I was doing a load or two every day). I enjoyed your comment about hanging clothes on the pipes. I hang my wet clothes on hangers and take them home to hang on the shower curtain rod to dry.

Jeanette

shelley says:

August 28, 2010 at 4:44 pm

Jeannette,

I wanted to tell you that I love Tim Hortons! The closest one of those we have is in Columbus, but one summer we visited friends in Canada and became hooked!

As far as the revisions, I don’t mind them too much~except when I can’t seem to get a book ‘right’. Seriously, I write fast, so I really appreciate so many editors helping me make a book better.

shelley says:

August 28, 2010 at 4:47 pm

Tammy, I’m envious of your ability to sing. I have a terrible singing voice! I sing when I’m by myself in the car and at church…if it’s a loud song.

I used to watch movies with my Dad, too. We would watch old black and white westerns together.

And as for laundry~I’m sorry. I don’t think I’ve ever liked doing it…though I don’t mind ironing.

Thanks for telling me about your favorites!

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