Favorite Things

1) Bird's Nests

2) Forgetting something you like, only to discover it all over again

3) The sound of wind chimes

4) Attaining a goal

5) When all of your nails look the way you want them to look all the time

6) Children's laughter and their imaginations

7) Believers singing worship music acappella

8) Getting a genuine letter or card in the mail

9) The smell of old books

10) Finally remembering that thing you just couldn't think of

11) Hearing a good song that you haven't heard in a really long time

12) Remembering a Bible verse right when you need to be reminded of it

13) Krispy Creme

14) Autumn leaves

15) A child reaching out their arms to come to you

16) Your childhood stuffed animal

There are a lot of things in this world to make us gloomy, but God gives us plenty to be thankful for.

"...Girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes, 

Snowflakes that stay on my nose and eyelashes, 

Silver white winters that melt into springs, 

These are a few of my favorite things..."

Shhhh!

I was filling out one of those online surveys a few days ago (thanks to my faithful e-mail buddy Janci) and one of the questions was, "When you were a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?"  I wanted to be a librarian so I could read to kids and use the Dewey Decimal System to assist those crazy, non-library users.  I loved that date stamp they used to use and I would pretend to stamp my own books or, if I was lucky, my borrowed books with that clear covering that always smelled like the library and made that great crinkling sound.  

I went to the library tonight.  It's one of those places that I forget about and love rediscovering again every once in awhile.  What a great idea!  It may be the one good thing government does do right, lol.  It's like shopping without spending money!  You can't do that with cars or clothes (at least you shouldn't!) or shoes.  And it's not just books either; it's cds and movies too.  I went in search of one book and didn't realize until I left that I didn't even look for it.  I got engulfed in all types of genres.  

I preface my next sentence by saying that even though I have red hair and sometimes wear my glasses, I don't consider myself to be a nerd.  I could have been mistaken for one tonight, though.  I ended up spending most of my time at the library reading a long encyclopedia entry about Spain (the place I most want to visit).  I brought home a book on speed reading, something I've always been intrigued by (and jealous of), as well as a book on how to read Spanish more easily (please know that I can't speak much at all - I've forgotten what little I knew and am trying to regain the knowledge).  

I'm currently not taking any classes and I haven't been for the longest period of time since I entered Kindergarten.  I must say that it's weird going home from work with no homework to do at night.  I'm not complaining one bit, mind you, but for the first time I realized that I like learning.  It's a lot easier to say that when you're not being tested on you knowledge, lol.  Now that I'm not taking classes I've been watching way too much television and wasting the brain cells that God gave me.

Therefore, like LeVar from Reading Rainbow, I encourage you to put your remote down and take advantage of the local public library near you :)

P.S.  If anyone has read The Shack, (if anyone reads this blog, lol) please let me know what you think.  I've heard differing views and want to read it myself.  Thanks!