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I got to thinking about what some of the things that make the happy. Not of course the ‘usual’ things like family, friends, the fact I’ve made it another month without winding up living in a box…not those kind of things. The things that are seemingly little but give me a rush that is proportionately much greater than it should be. Things that other people might not give a second thought to, but to me it might make my day. (okay, scratch that in some cases it has made my week, or even a month) So here are some of the weird little things that give me a secret rush:

1) Someone giving me cutsies. If I’m in the store and I only have a few things but the person ahead of me has a boatload, and they let me cut in front of them. I think this is one of the nicest things ever and I try to return the favor to others when the roles are reversed.



2) Randomly coming across the episode of a show I love. There aren’t many shows that I follow along for the premieres of, I usually catch up OnDemand or just muddle along in reruns. I have seen every Seinfeld episode too many times to count but they never get old, and the same goes for a few other shows. But we all have our favorites, right? I get much too excited when one of my favorite episodes randomly pops up…I feel it’s like a little gift just for me from the TV gods.

3) Waking up in the middle of the night with a really good idea. It’s crazy where good ideas hit you, for me it never fails that it’s around 3am, my eyes pop open, and I’ve got this mental picture to draw, perfect little tagline, or some other kind of inspiration. The bummer of this though, is I’m super lazy and hate actually moving to write it down or make a note so I don’t just forget it.

4) Biting into something REALLY doughy. Really fat, doughy pizza crust, bagels, those country style biscuits, cornbread, muffins…you get my drift. I’ve got my love affair with chocolate chip pancakes and they make the cut, but the things that give me an extra lift are things that you can pick up and hold. It’s weird, but I like to kind of squeeze the ‘fluff’ (forget not playing with your food) and then take a big honking bite.

5) Saving a TON at the grocery store. I kind of eluded to the fact earlier that I’m a bit of a tight-wad and a sucker for a bargain, but I’m also one of those dorks who look through the circulars to see if some of my usual staple are on sale at places or if there are coupons for said items. I’ve also kept a mental PR for just how much I’ve whittled a total cost down too…now, I’m not in the ranks of those crazy coupon women you see on TV, hardly, but there are a few times that stick out in my mind. My most thrilling escapade came a few years back when I was eating a ton of Balance bars, I mean I went through I think three or four a day. Those suckers are expensive, well I found a couple books of coupons that gave you $1 off every two Balance bars you buy. Later that week Fred Meyer put their bars on sale: 2/$1. What did that mean? Well, I picked up literally HUNDREDS of these bars, but with my dollar off coupon they ended up being free. I felt kind of bad watching a couple hundred dollar totals wind up being zero for me owing them, so I’d pick up an apple or something and then pay them $1 or so in the end. Don’t worry, I’m not stingy and I also shared this plethora of bars with my friends. 🙂

6) When my new US mag comes in the mail. I am actually a bit ashamed to post this, but I’ve got a weakness for the trash mag’s and my mom got me a subscription…thank you, mamma! 🙂

7) Standing in a hot shower until my skin is red all over. This is usually after I’ve been outside and it’s really cold or something like that. I love me my hot showers.

8) Said it a million times, but what the heck, finishing a really good run/workout.



9) Coming across a picture of my little bro and sis when they were young. Sappy, yes, I’m sorry, but had to add it to the list.

Okay, sorry for an epic post here, but I have to round it out with a few of my least favorite things:

1) Touching doorhandles on public places. I admit I’m OCD, but I’m not nearly as bad as What About Bob, and I don’t carry around a papertowel. Most places I’ll just grab the handle, but in the back of my mind it gives me a niggle, and if I’m wearing a jacket or something I’ll pull my sleeve over my hand. Don’t worry, it’s not in people’s homes, I mean high-traffic areas. But when it comes to public restrooms, not gonna lie there I always snag a papertowel and use that.

2) Admitting I forgot someone’s name. I’m HORRIBLE at remembering names, I remember faces forever, but placing the name to the face is my bane. I don’t know what my deal is, but even the second the person introduces themselves to me it’s like their name is just in that Peanuts teacher voice. I feel horrible about this because there are plenty of instances where I’ve been good friends or at least good acquaintances with people and it was a few years before I ever remembered their name. I’ve gotten pretty good at getting around using a name, but every now and again I get caught and feel like a royal douchette.

3) The smell of peanut butter. This is probably going to offend some people, but I can’t stand that smell. I actually used to love PB as a kid, but somewhere I stopped and now it makes me feel kind of sick if the smell is too overpowering.

4) Close-talkers. It gives me the skeeves if I feel someone’s breath on my face, I’m also paranoid that their spit will fly on my face too. Again, here I’m just stealing from Seinfeld but this one really makes my list.

5) Being one quarter short for the laundry machine. I never have quarters, and I hate laundry in general, so this one drives me up the wall.

6) Being overly hot or overly cold. I’m a weather wimp, thank heavens I’m a West Coast dweller because I’d never make it in some of the states with real weather swings.

7) It also bugs me when people misuse your/you’re and there/they’re/their. And misplacing apostrophes.

That is it for today…I hope I haven’t bored you to tears and scared away my one or two readers. But now I throw it back to said one or two readers, what are some of the things that give you that little rush and what are some of your least favorite things?

Sooo, it was a L’eggo Monday morning. Chocolate chip actually. I’m really super lame in cooking skills, trust me I take the whole ‘I can’t cook’ thing to a whole new level. Seeing people who just whip up stuff off the top of their heads or are complete whizzes in the kitchen have my complete and utter respect. I can’t fathom that kind of talent. I think I’ve made pancakes from those just add water mixes maybe once or twice, but I absolutely LOVE pancakes. Waffles will do, but I’m a pancake gal.

This has to go back to my childhood because growing up we had pancake Sunday. It wasn’t a question, it was expected. Trust me, there would be hell to pay if my brother and I woke up and there weren’t a huge stack of jacks already in the works. Sunday, because my dad works at the post office and got a pretty much slave shift. He worked Mon-Sat, from 1am to probably about 2pm. Sunday was the only day he had off and we’d take full advantage. I’m not really sure when or how this whole thing started but from the ages of at least seven until I think junior high it was a weekly staple. (as a side-not, my mom, who just barely ranks above me in the level of suckiness in the kitchen, would do her part in contributing to weekend suger-fest and for awhile we had donut Saturday. Master Donuts, if you’re ever in Fair Oaks, CA you HAVE to hit this place up!)

Not just pancakes for Sunday would do either. No, my dad is a creative man and he’d play around with things. Food coloring, sprinkles, he tried to sneak in some bananas but was met with backlash…sorry, nothing healthy allowed. But what reined supreme was of course chocolate chips. He’d toss in some white chocolate too every now and again. And of course the powdered sugar. Drown those suckers in syrup and it was utter bliss.

It was also a full fledged gorge-fest. No joke, the Chocks, thank God we all exercise because it can get ugly out there. My brother and I would of course try to one-up each other and see who could eat the most. We also put off finishing for as long as we could not just because of gluttony but also because while Sunday pancakes rocked, we knew what followed. Chores. I was in charge of vacuuming, he the dusting…oh, and what, you ask was our reward? A whopping $2 a week! I also like to bring this up every time I visit home because I swear my two youngest siblings are raised by two completely different people. Chores? What? But allowance they know. I didn’t get a cell phone until I think a senior in college…everyone in that house has an iEverything…but I digress.

So after mass pancake consumption would be chore hell. We dragged it out to be an all day venture too, I don’t understand why we would stall so long that it would take us the entire day. You’d think we’d want to just get it all over. Maybe it was just our body trying to absorb all the sugar and fat without going into a diabetic coma that made us so slow.

Anyways, sadly pancake Sunday bit the dust somewhere along the way. It was I think around the time more and more commitments fell on the weekends, sports games, track meets, practices, sleepovers, the usual. It was a trooper and put up a good fight, there might be the token one tossed in there one week out the month or every few months. But it died.

And so I have a special place in my heart for chocolate chip pancakes…even if they aren’t colored green, purple, or whatever food dye my dad had in the cabinet. I crave them anytime I’m happy, sad, or just sometimes randomly, like today. Now, sorry Eggo, you don’t quite live up to ALL the hype, but you’ll have to do because like I said I suck. But please, let us all have a collective moment of silence for the all-mighty pancake.