Little Happy Moments

This is day #31 in my 100 Happy Days project and as I think back over the day, it was filled with little inconsequential happy moments.

I lounged around the house until about 11, when I gathered up my SwapBot packages and went to the post office.  It's a hot day, expected to be 102 in Sacramento, but it didn't seem all that bad.  Of course it always seems bad when the temps get into the 90s, but I've learned to live with it--and the times between air conditioners are always short.

Amazingly, there were no customers waiting in line, so I did not have to wait, plus the clerk was actually cheerful.  I'm so used to surly postal clerks that her chattiness was a delight.

Next it was off to the mall in Woodland, with a first stop at Michael's.  First happy moment was realizing that I had gotten out of there spending under $50, which may be a first.  I had gone to get a picture frame for some pictures of Brianna's T-ball team.  I was pleased to find a reasonably priced frame and was delighted with how it looked when I added the photos.

(Bri with the ghost of Stephen Colbert)

Then I drove to the other side of the mall for my monthly orgy at Costco.  I don't like to shop.  I've said that time and time again.   But it's different at Costco.  It's just so decadent....all that wonderful stuff!

I pretty much get the same stuff every time--dog treats, butter ($1 or more cheaper per pound than anywhere else!), tomato stuff (sauce, diced tomatoes, and fresh cherry tomatoes), peanut butter (also significantly cheaper than anywhere else), cottage cheese (for the dogs), and other staples like that.  My impulse buy today was some sort of energy mix of cranberries, edemami, pistachios and something else.  But it still added up to well over $200 by the time I finished.   Then I get to come home and put it all away.  It's like the morning after Christmas, and you can eat it all!

When I first parked by Costco, the woman getting out of the car next to me was an older Indian woman in a beautiful pink sari with sparkly stuff decorating it.   We smiled at each other and we each said hello to each other, and then as I walked away, I heard her clearing her throat loudly and lobbing a blob of spittle out into the parking lot (I don't think that was a comment on having greeted me).   It reminded me of one of my aunt Barb's famous writings where she talked about sitting poolside, having a cocktail, and watching a lovely Indian woman enjoying her own cocktail.   And then watching the woman dig a long booger out of her nose, and dangle it in the air admiring it while it sparkled in the sun, before flicking it off her finger and onto the ground.

I was thrilled while shopping to find a hat that fit me.  I have probably mentioned several times that hats do not fit me.  I can go to a whole rack of "one size fits all" hats (I have done this) and try every single one of them on and all of them just perch on top of my head and look ridiculous.  I felt better when I learned that Oprah has this problem...but then she has more money than God so can have hats specially made for her.  I just don't wear hats. This hat fits like a proper hat and will be a good sun shade (since I watched a segment on skin cancer this morning).  Naturally I bought it.

When I got home from Costco, it was time for a nap and then I made this really delicious spaghetti dinner (Walt may disagree with me because it had far too many onion for him (one slice of onion is  far too many for him and this had about 3/4 of an onion in it), but I liked it a lot....you put everything (dry linguine, halved cherry tomatoes, thinly sliced onion and garlic, 2 sprigs of basil, some red chili flakes, and water) into a frying pan and let it all cook for about 10 minutes.  Because you aren't making the sauce separately, or cooking the pasta first, all the flavors in the pan infuse the pasta with flavor and it was just really yummy.

And then we settled in to watch a little TV (still have to check out Sharknado 2, which I recorded since we succumbed to hype yesterday and watched the original).  One of the programs was a PBS special on Sex in the Wild.  The last one I saw described (and showed) in great deal how elephants continue the species.  This week it was marsupials, and the investigative team was in Australia searching out koalas and kangaroos.  Naturally I was interested, and I really became interested when most of the segment on kangaroos was done at Uralla Wildlife Sanctuary, which is a small place owned by a husband and wife with volunteer help, where Peggy worked for a few years, bottlefeeding orphan joeys, until she had a "straw that broke the camel's back" run-in with the husband of the woman who runs the place and she walked away never to return.  (Have you noticed she seems to do that a lot?)  Anyway, it was fun to see where she had worked, some of the grown up babies she probably fed when they were little, and to see Mandy, who runs the place and who was, for a time, Peggy's good friend.

All things considered a happy day all around.

Day 31:  Happiness is finding a shade hat that FITS