100 Things to be Thankful About (part 3)

68.  The Periodic Table of the Elements.  Quite useful in its own right, but it also inspired Daniel Radcliffe to do THIS:

69.  The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.  Yeah, it’s cheesy and commercial, but for some reason I just love it.  How can a person have something against giant puffy balloons?

70.  Hoberman Spheres.  The very cool, very fun 21st-century version of a Slinky.

71.  When my kids take our Hoberman Spheres and wear them on their heads like giant rainbow Afros

72.  Ukulele/accordion duets

73.  How Jeffrey sometimes refers to a ukulele as a “rainbow banjo”

74.  “A room without books is a body without soul” — Cicero

75.  Playing a really powerful fugue on the organ, or jazz standards on the piano

76.  A really hot shower, especially if it’s been a few/couple days.  (Although, according to Lynne Rae Perkins, you should never make decisions right after a shower like that.  Your outlook on life is just too optimistic and you’re bound to do something a little too spontaneous and freewheeling.)

77.  $5 pizza at the end of an exhausting day

78.  Watching little kids run around haybale mazes, scolding each other for cheating

79.  Pumpkin pie with real whipped cream

80.  Vintage Fisher Price Little People.  I love collecting them from thrift stores, my kids love playing with them.  My favorite has to be the Merry-Go-Round.  William loves putting a boy Little Person inside it, then saying “that’s me!” every time it comes around.

81.  Apple pie, apple cake, applesauce, a big dutch pancake with an apple-cinnamon compote on top

82. My mother’s “secret” recipe for potato rolls.  They are excellent for dunking in hot cocoa or making sandwiches with leftover turkey.  I made three dozen of them today, and the first dozen disappeared within 15 minutes of coming out of the oven.

83.  The Big Bear — this is a giant beanbag chair we have with a cover made of brown furry plush.  Today the kids decided to “pretend it was bedtime,” which involved putting on pajamas, stripping all sheets and blankets off Jeffrey’s bed, and then roll the Big Bear back and forth on the mattress while shrieking.  (And then what happened?  See #77)

84.  What’s Up, Doc?

85.  Baby boy bellybuttons.  I have a vintage 2007 model.  They are so choice.  If you have the means, I highly recommend picking one up.  And then blowing bubbles all over it.

86.  Singing showtunes while doing the dishes

87.  Sock-skating across hardwood floors

88.  Today all the girls in Eleanor’s dance class got to wear “Ginny dresses,” these long billowy dance outfits that look like frilly old-fashioned nightgowns and were designed by the founder of the dance school.  The skirts are generous and swirl out when the girls twirl and skip.  Eleanor’s was lavender-colored and puffed out like a marshmallow while she danced.  It was so sweet!

89.  Sleeping in, being woken by little kids running around the room, climbing on the bed and smothering you with kisses

90.  Watching Anne of Green Gables or The Gilmore Girls while folding laundry

91.  The best road trip playlist ever

92.  The “blue flame” — when what you love to do intersects with what you’re really good at

93.  A big potluck dinner with all your best friends

94.  Pom poms on baby hats (submitted by Brian, who just finished knitting a baby hat)

95.  David Bowie’s “Golden Years,” probably the coolest song ever recorded

96.  People who are good at forgetting all the stupid embarassing things I’ve said over the years

97.  The way the bark of Ponderosa pine trees smell like vanilla

98.  The Ted Danson Game — in which celebrities’ names are inserted into popluar song lyrics (“You make me feel like Ted Danson!”)

99.  The Too Stupid to Sleep Club — invented in college whenever my friends and I stayed up past 1:00 a.m. talking (the record is staying up until 5:30 a.m.)

100.  Peace, Prosperity, Pancakes