I made the list. In fact, I got a list all my own!!! Warm fuzzies and happy grins.

See, my friend Marie has this blog. It’s a really neat idea. She tries to come up with 5 positive thoughts or happy occurences every day. Now, when you visit her site, you’ll notice that she doesn’t post every day. It’s more like 5 every 3 or 4 days, but you get the picture. I’m sure she still thinks of 5 a day, even if she doesn’t post them.

I work with Marie, and I’ve seen her on days when it was really hard to come up with 5 good things. I am trying really hard to make her list one day. (But I try not to be annoying. Trying too hard is not conducive to making someone happy). She is really very good about telling me I’ve done a good job, but I haven’t made the list, yet.

I try to make the other happy lists (noted or otherwise) of people I work with too, by the way. I like working there and I would like to stay.

All this is to say, she has a great theory. Not only to realize and note when something positive happens in your life, but also to let the people who make you happy know they do so.

I’m kind of tired. I wonder if this actually makes sense. Anyone able to put this is better words for me?

Me? Never!

At work, everyone was asked to decorate a little xeroxed copy of a stocking, cut it out, and hang it behind the circ desk. I dutifully brought mine home, cut it out and spent a good 20 minutes decorating it with black and red construction paper, cotton balls, and pictures of dancers. When I got to work and Caitlyn hung up my stocking, I realized mine is backwards.

Today my boss stayed late to wait for me so she could tell me she likes my subversive stocking. Just because it’s black, and backwards, and she’s known me since I was 13 (so she remembers my really subversive days). I told her I didn’t mean for it to be subversive, but she said, “But you can’t help it dear. It’s so you.”

sigh

I finally got a car. It’s a 2001 Mazda Protege with a slew of bells and whistles. It needs a little work, but it’s not too bad.

Here’s the embarrassing part. Now that it’s time to officially stop driving my car, I’m getting all sad and sentimental. It looks so sad sitting there with no personal stuff in it. It’s been such a great car for 4 years (aside from the payments) and I’m abandoning it. I feel terrible. I know, I know. Cars have no feelings. I’m just projecting. It doesn’t make it any easier.

But I wouldn’t want to be their neighbors.

The music is by Trans-Siberian Orchestra, by the way. Too cool.

I’m not sure that I’ve ever been officially tagged before. How exciting!

“Ground Rules: The first player of this game starts with the topic of “Five Weird Habits About Yourself” and the people who get tagged need to then write an entry about their five quirky little habits as well as state the rules of the game clearly. In the end, you need to list the next five people who you want to tag then go on to leave a tag comment on their blog. ”

Oh. Now I have to figure out 5 quirky things about me. Most of these will be things people already know about me, but hey, whatever works.

1. I sniff books. I love the smell of books. Most books. Not those textbooks where the combination of color ink and slick paper makes it smell like body odor. I don’t like those. I especially like the smell of cheap paperbacks. Mmmmm.

2. Occasionally, I bust out the rumpshaker, the cabbage patch, or some other out-of-date dance move to indicate happiness. If I’m really happy, I’ll add words. Like, “Oh yeah. You know it. It’s my birthday.”

3. Many people have commented that I remind them of Lisa Kudrow in her role as Phoebe in Friends. Not that we look a like, per se. I guess it’s just mannerisms and whatnot. Of course, now that Friends is off the air, that quirk is sort of dated.

4. I really hate Precious Moments. You know. Those little figurines and pictures they have for just about every occasion. I think what bothers me, (aside from their obvious attempt to make me go “Awwww” which never works, but I resent the attempt just the same) is that these little children are in adult situations. This kids are getting married, and having babies, etc, and they’re only like 5. It’s sick and wrong.

My dear, darling husband insists that my passion (he calls it an obsession) for Motley Crue is a quirk. I disagree. I believe there are many people out there with an even bigger jones for the Crue, so I will attempt to come up with another quirk. I’m sure there are many.

5. Ok. Here’s one. I use really big words in every day speech. Lots of times, people have to ask me what that means. I don’t mean to sound pompous and over-educated. I just like to find the perfect word to fit the sentence, and sometimes it’s… abstruse.

Ok. Now I have to come up with 5 people to tag. JMfausti, Denise, Holly (if she’ll answer in the comments of this one since she doesn’t have a blog, that I know of), Marie, and Readermouse.

My 3 year old daughter got to walk in a parade, this morning. Which means I got to walk in a parade, too. She had a blast. She waved at all her friends who were standing on the side yelling to her. She actually nearly walked the entire mile and a half. I only carried her for a block or so. Perfect weather for it. But I think next year, we’ll just watch. I looked like a pretty good parade from where we were.

Have any of you lady readers ever been car shopping without a man? I have done this this week and I am peeved. The nice dealers said things like, “This is a real cute little car. It’s real good lookin’.” The mediocre ones barely looked at me while they tried to decide what was the minimum amount of time they could spend with me. The worst one, when I told him what my price range was, began listing off cars they had that might fit. I told him I wanted to look at one of them. He said, “Psshht.” His idea of showing me the car was to put me on a golf cart and drive me past them. I shit you not. “There’s the Malibu. There’s the blazer. There’s the neon.” No keys. No peeking under the hood. Not even a tire kick. Oooo-kaaay.

One guy treated me exactly the same when I was alone as when I was with my dad (who I enlisted so people would take me seriously). He was very helpful and courteous, and made no assumptions about my intelligence or knowledge. The only problem is, the car he has is only mediocre in the reliability department. It doesn’t seem right to buy a car from someone that might be a drain, just because you like the dealer.

So here’s my question for those of you who drive cars (which I realize not everyone does. In this part of the country, though, it’s almost impossible not to.) What do you drive? Do you like it? What was the best car you ever had? Why?

Ok. Questions. I had several questions.

I’m trying to balance reliability, with safety, with gas economy, with big enough for a family of four, with ridiculously cheap. Wish me luck. This has been going on for over a week, and it’s seriously beginning to take a toll on my health and sanity. And the laundry’s not getting done either.