More stuff I love/stuff that makes me happy. (This is a continuation of the earlier list.

21. This news story. It's so silly and yet it makes me feel cheerful to think about it. All those little rubber ducks bobbing around, and scientists using them as a way to map ocean currents.

22. The fact that the internet is almost like those house-dreams I have - where I find a room I never knew of before, and it's full of all kinds of neat stuff - I've noticed that looking up embroidery stuff, there's ALL KINDS of neat stuff out there, you just have to search around a little.

23. The various different comics I read, especially collected in book form - Little Dee, and Nemu-Nemu, and Owly, and some of the older ones like Calvin and Hobbes and The Far Side and the really early Peanuts strips...

24. Dollhouses. I used to have one when I was a kid, and I still like the idea of a miniature house with tiny stuff. (I made a lot of the stuff in my dollhouse). I also love the more "artistic" or "fancy" renditions, especially Colleen Moore's Fairy Castle. (Unfortunately, I've never seen it "in person" - only photographs in books. It's amazing and I'm sure it's even better in person.)

25. Mystery novels, especially series mysteries, where you can revisit the familiar characters from time to time. There is something I find satisfying about mysteries; I am not sure what it is - I usually don't "try" to solve it before the detective does, and in some cases I'm reading it more for the characters or setting than the plot.

26. That I will never, ever have to be 13 again.

27. Having unusual butterflies visit the plants in my garden. I have an abelia bush in my front yard, and most summers I get a bunch of sphinx moths or hummingbird moths visiting it, and it's really fun to watch them.

28. The fact that if I realize I like a particular television show, and it's already near the end of its run, I can "catch up" with the earlier years I didn't see by either buying or renting the dvd. I think having season's worth of shows available on dvd is a nice idea.

29. Farmer's markets - real ones, where the people who actually grew/raised/produced the stuff are there selling it and you can talk to them and get tips on preparing the vegetables and stuff.

30. Being able to go somewhere (like McKinney) and park my car and spend most of the day walking between different boutiques and craft shops and antique stores. Much more fun than the mall.

31. Slow cookers. They're a brilliant invention - put the food in it first thing in the morning, turn it on, leave it, and by the time you come home from work, dinner's ready.

32. Walking down an empty (or nearly-empty) beach and being able to pick up smooth stones and bits of beach glass.

33. The music of J.S. Bach. I know some people have referred to it as "mathematical" (and therefore, I suppose, "Cold") but I find that actually most of my favorite pieces of his (a lot of the cello works, a lot of the "little pieces" for solo piano) seem to combine the best of "logic" and "feeling" - or you might say, the best of the left and right brains. Or perhaps, the best of the intellect and of the soul. It seems to me that Bach so fervently believed in an underlying order to the universe - that there were universal rules and laws - that he seemed to put that in his music, that he's reflecting his ideas about God and perfection and completeness in his pieces.

34. But I also love some of the late 19th-early 20th century British "popular classical" music - Ralph Vaughn Williams, Edward Elgar, the "wind band" stuff.

35. Imagination. Being able to read a book and picture the places and characters in it.

36. Peonies. I don't have any growing in my yard (I don't have quite the right spot and I'm not sure they'd do well in my climate) but I love them - they're so big and cheerful and blowsy.

37. Rain, especially when it's been a while since we had rain. I like the way the air smells when it's raining. I like the change that rain brings.

38. Garden gnomes. Again, it's something that's a little silly, a little needless - but they make me happy. (I have a tiny gnome in my garden).

39. Going into a big craft store. All that possibility. All those things to look at and consider.

40. The hardwood floors in my house. It cost a lot to get them refinished but it was completely worth it.