What Are Your Favorite Things?

For some reason I've been thinking about "things" lately. I'm not really a "thing" person. I mean, there really aren't many "things" that I am so attached to I can't bear to think about leaving them behind when I'm done with this life, but there are some "things" that make my life here a happier one. Here are some of them.

The fact that I love The West Wing might be disturbing to my Republican friends, but I do. I own seasons 1-5 and I fall to sleep every night listening to a West Wing episode. Listening clears my mind, or maybe fills my mind? Or turns it off? Anyway, with the West wing playing I can sleep instead of thinking about everything I didn't get done today that will need to be added to the agenda tomorrow. Just yesterday Brennan walked into my bedroom, smiled and said, "It's nice to know that after two years some things don't change." "Like what?" I asked. "Like I can still walk into your room and hear The West Wing playing."

This is my piano. I was my Grandma Johnson's piano and she left it to me when she died. It was in TERRIBLE shape when I got it, and we weren't sure it was worth the time and money it was going to take to fix it up, but I was pretty attached to it sentimentally, so we decided to try having it tuned. I'm not sure it had ever been tuned before, in fact, the piano tuner told us it was so badly out of tune he was sure strings were going to break when he tuned it. But I told him to go ahead and try. Low and behold, not a single string broke. He also looked up the date it was made - 1912. I taught piano lessons for two years to earn the money to have it refinished. Dave and I made the stained glass insert in the music desk. My piano tuner is from Missouri, and he reminds me every time he comes that out of 800 upright grand pianos he tunes, mine has the best sound by far. I really love my piano.

This is my CTR ring. Drew made it for me in his high school jewlery class. I love that it is wide and chunky like my fingers. I love that he made it for me with his own hands. I have wanted a CTR ring for years, but could never find the perfect ring. This one is perfect.

And shall we mention my love for books. Especially old books that I read as a child, books that are no longer in print, that I have to look long and hard to find used copies of. This particular book, His Enemy, His Friend, I found on the internet. It came with a library card inside stating that it was from the library of Shawnee Mission Public School, Shawnee Mission, Kansas. When I got the book and opened it up, there was a card from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints - a card I could fill out and send in if I wanted to have a representative of the Church visit me. That made me smile. Somebody is doing creative missionary work. I love old books. They smell good as you flip the pages. So good I am almost compelled to chew on the corners of the pages just like I did as a child.

The shoes need no explaination. Anyone who knows me at all knows that shoes are a passion of mine. They make me happy. They are my treat for being a good girl. I know I have too many. My closet is so full of shoes I couldn't get back far enough to get them all in the picture. And those pretty new red ones? They are going to San Fransisco with me tomorrow!