The Love List 106 ~ 109 Edition I'm Catching Up From Christmas

106.  My Christmas Tree.  Each year, I think I want to update my tree a little.  Add another color to the mix.  Something.  Then I get it all decorated, and I still love the simplicity of the gold, clear glass and white.

107.  Hearing The Teen read Twas The Night Before Christmas to her siblings on Christmas Eve.  A tradition she started on her own.

108.  Being surprised at the Christmas Eve church service when The Boy and his cousin are asked to portray Mary and Joseph.  Aren't they cute?

109.  Being asked to pretend to be a professional photographer for a day.

Note to self:  Next time, no one wears white!

The Love List 101 ~ 105

If you're new here, or if you have just forgotten. click here to read about what inspired me to start this list!

101.  The smell of crayons.

102.  Finding cute stuff on clearance at Target.

103.  Words With Friends on Facebook.

104.  Pinterest.

105.  The Help.  Both the book and the movie.

 

The Love List 96 ~ 100

No, I have not given up on my quest to list 240 things I love.  I just haven't been in a very love listy sort of place recently, for obvious reasons.

But, even through the bad times, I have still been able to pinpoint a few positives, and looking for the good things can make the bad things seem at least bearable, so I'm going to try to pick up where I left off.

96.  Small, southern town hospitality which deserves a post of it's own.

97.  Catching up with old friends.

98.  Laughing until you cry, then crying until you laugh again.

99.  Looking through old pictures.

100.  Knowing I have people in my life I can depend on no matter what.

The Love List 86 ~ 95 (Edition: This Was My Weekend)

86.  Pedro's House of Ribs.

87.  Aunt Marie's Grown Up Punch.

88.  Watermelon.

89.  Fireworks.

90.  The 4th of July.

91.  Large fans that blow gnats away.

92.  Broccoli Salad.

93.  Twelve layer chocolate cake.

94.  Fresh corn on the cob, dripping with butter and super salty.

95.  Having connections in small town police departments.

The Love List 81 ~ 85

81.  My Kitchenaid stand mixer.
82.  McDonald's Mocha Frappe.
83.  Hot baths.
84.  Ross Dress For Less.
85.  Organization.

The Love List 76 ~ 80

To read about what inspired me to list 230 things I love, read here!

76.  Salami.

77.  Fried Green Tomatoes

78.  Fried green tomatoes.

79.  The Marshalls shopping bags I bought for $0.99 each thinking they would be perfect for the beach...they really were!

80.  Looking out my window and not seeing smoke and falling ashes.  (It's not happening today, but a girl can dream.)

 

The Love List 75

75.   Afternoon stoms and their aftermath.

The Love List 74

74.  Sandy Bottoms.

The Love List 73

73.  Waves.

The Love List 72

72.  The...

The Love List 71

I have some stuff going on this week and won't be able to write a post each day.  Has anyone noticed that I have posted something every weekday since some time in April? 

So, I'll just be adding to my Love List each day (with pictures)!

71.  Sunsets.

The Love List 61 ~ 70

61.  Marzetti Avocado Ranch salad dressing, which is only available at Wendy's, and the only thing that would make me love it more is if it were available to purchase by the bottle.  Or by the vat.  It's that good!
62.  The last day of school...TODAY!  Woohoo!
63.  Jimmy Buffet
64.  Hearing The Boy "reading" himself to sleep.
65.  Crepe Myrtles. Or Crape Myrtles.  I've seen both spellings, but I prefer the first.  We have three HUGE ones in our new yard, and I can't wait to see what color their blooms are....if they bloom.  They look like they have never been properly cared for.
66.  Kraft Mac & Cheese.  Without that blue box, my son might starve to death.
67.  The smell of the air after it rains.
68.  The fact that my daughters' schools play the Hallelujah Chorus at the end of the last day of school!
69.  Planning parties.
70.  Real Vidalia Onions.

On a side note, this picture was in a recent Publix ad. 

I'm sorry, but as a Georgia girl, I have to say, it's redundant. 

Thank you, that's all.

The Love List 51 ~ 60

Did you ever have one of those days where every single stinking thing seems to go wrong, or at least is not as easy as it should be?

Yesterday was one of those days for me.

The Boy had to go potty THREE times in his half hour speech therapy session. 

He made a puddle on the floor at home...TWICE. 

He wet his own clothes...THRICE. 

He insisted he needed to go potty THREE times during talent show tryouts at The Tween's school.

He yelled and made a lot of noise in the car.  When I asked him to be quiet or face time out when we got home, he threw the baby's toy at The Teen.

When he went to time out, he stood at the door and screamed, "NO, not today" over and over and over.

I found out a friend feels betrayed by me, when I really never meant to hurt her feelings and would never, ever betray her.

Days like yesterday make the idea of making a list of things I love seem as difficult as, well, as difficult as keeping The Boy in clean underwear. 

Days like yesterday also make this list making journey well worth the time and effort.  Not only to prove a point to my nephew, who may or may not still be following the links I'm sending him, but because it makes me dig deep and look past the aggravations and irritations and frustrations and look for the good things in my day. 

 Yes, a lot of the things on my list are little things and some are pretty silly and superficial, but I have found myself turning negatives (I hate when people don't follow the rules when picking kids up from school) to positives (I love seeing parents and kids being conscientious of the rules).

I encourage you all to start a list of your own. 

51.  The Hunger Games (We can't wait for the movie).

52.  The Real Housewives.

53.  Chocolate martinis at Copeland's.

54.  Watching as a child does something for the very first time.

55.  Al's Pizza (with fresh tomatoes, basil and garlic).

56.  Andy Cohen

57.  Chocolate Peanut Butter Bugles.

58.  Walks with my family.

59.  Lime Cake Mix Cookies (recipe to follow soon).

60.  Taking pictures

The Love List 41 ~ 50

41.  Bacon.

42.  ZZ Top's "La Grange" (mostly due to memories of being a Kappa Sigma Little Sister Rush Hostess).

43.  Sweet Tea.

44.  Lifetime Movies (and a few quiet hours to watch them).

45.  Freebies.

46.  Wisteria.

47.  Cell Phones (because I'm old enough to remember life without them).

48.  My bed.

49.  The smell of crayons.

50.  Being able to explain how to use the greatest common factor to factor polynomials to my daughter when her teacher and several friends couldn't.

The Love List 31 ~ 40

For more on my awesome nephew and how he inspired my quest to list 230 things I love, go here!

31.  Nutella.

32.  The Boy's speech therapist.

33.  The smell of fresh ginger.

34.  60 degree mornings in mid May in Florida!

35.  My blog design.  Sorry, but it's bright and cheerful and summery, and it makes me happy.

36.  Hot showers with good water pressure.

37.  Crushed ice.

38.  Finding something I lost. (Memory Card Reader!!!)  (Or my son at the zoo!)

39.  Coupons.

40.  Free cookies for my kids at Publix.

The Love List 21~30

 To read more about what inspired my quest to list 230 things I love, click here!

21.  Air conditioning.

22.  My pink plaid rain boots.

23.  Ice cream.

24.  Old men in slow moving pick up trucks on country roads who wave at every car they meet.

25.  Flip flops.

26.  Target.

27.  Bethenny.

28.  My old, raggedy, fuzzy, brown blanket.

29.  Breakfast in bed.

30.  Buttered popcorn flavored Jelly Belly jelly beans.

The Love List 11~20

To read about why I'm composing a list of at least 230 things I love, go here.

11.  Bon Jovi (Jon is my boyfriend).
12. The zoo.
13.  Movie nights.
14.  Steak cooked on the grill by my husband or my daddy.  (I'm picky...most restaurants don't get it right.)
15.  Knowing My Nephew has been here and liked what he saw! :)
16.  Magnolias.
17.  Cooking for my family.
18.  Flip flops.
19.  Hearing my nine year old telling her little brother to leave her alone because she's stressed. Really?  And really cracking up when she asks me what stressed means!
20.  Sonic Vanilla Coke.  Especially during Happy Hour.

The Love List 1~10

As I promised yesterday, I'm starting The Love List today.  I'm not using "What I Love Wednesday" as my title for these posts because there's already a "What I'm Loving Wednesday" out there.  Oh well, I like this better anyway.

I was so tempted to list my family as the number one thing I love, but My Nephew told me he didn't list anyone he knows personally in his hate list, so I'm not going to list people I know.  Too bad, my family is huge and would take up a lot of numbers!

1.    A good cup of coffee.

2.    The sound of kids laughing.

3.    Rain.

4.    Fresh basil.

5.    Finding money I forgot I had.

6.    My Burt's Bees lip shimmer.

7.    Quiet.

8.    80's music.

9.    A good book.

10.  Sleeping babies.

Inspired by My Nephew

I have this nephew.  Actually I have six nephews.  I also have six nieces.  I like things to be even.

But I digress.

My oldest nephew recently told me that for a school assignment, he came up with 230 something (I think) things he hates.

At first I was appalled.  That seems like a lot of hate in one 15 year old boy.  He told me he didn't list any people other than celebrites like Justin Bieber.  Knowing what I do about my nephew, most of his "hates" were probably about music.  He's very into music these days.  Especially '90's Grunge.  Kurt Cobain is his hero.

I worry about him.

A lot.

After I thought about it for a while, I realized that it's actually pretty easy to think of things we hate.  Just today, I have had thoughts like, "I hate when I think there's one last piece of chocolate in the bag, and really I already ate the last one."  And, "I hate that I have no will power to just stop eating the chocolate already."  I hate that my little people both have colds today.  I hate that my house is a mess.  I hate that a three year old boy moved my memory card reader, and I can't find the USB cord that goes with my camera, so I can't upload Easter pictures. 

I really hate Easter basket grass!

I could go on and on, and I bet it wouldn't take long at all to reach 230 something.

BUT.

I have decided that in honor of My Nephew I am going to come up with 230 something things I love.  Or at least that I like a lot.  Or that just make me happy for no other reason than that I'm a little weird.

I won't be listing all 230 something in one post because that would be long and potentially boring.

So, my intent is to post a few things each week. 

I think I shall call it "What I Love Wednesday". 

Maybe.

I'll get started tomorrow!

Feel free to join me if you wish.  Just let me know in the comments so I can read what you love too!