Multitudes on Mondays...#231-240

Thankful (for):

231.  An early birthday present from my hubby:  Enough money to buy "a handful" of new books on Barnes.com, to get started on my reading list for 2012.*  Shopping and choosing -- probably the most blissful hour of my life in recent weeks.  Can't wait to see my UPS man and my big brown box!
232.  The way Lucy runs down the hallway toward where I usually sit at my laptop, with a huge grin on her face of absolute delight to see me.  I know I won't always inspire such enthusiasm in my daughter, so I cherish it.  :)
233.  The way January feels so right after all the holiday hustle and bustle:  we finally had some snow flurries (with a major temperature drop afterwards), we had chicken pot pie for dinner, the babies have spent the day in blanket sleepers.  It's just a time for cozying up and settling in for a long winter's nap.
234.  Plans to rearrange a couple of rooms for (aforementioned) cozier living.  I have a special idea for a "Becky sanity nook" in the master bedroom and I'm extremely stoked to see it come to fruition.  I think every woman, and especially every mom, needs a place -- even just a corner -- to call completely her own.  Where she can stack her books, write her lists, drink her Earl Grey, do her praying and thinking and dreaming.  Where no sippy cups, Matchbox cars, tubes of Desitin, piles of mail, or what-have-you are allowed to trespass.
235.  Enjoying the latest movie version of Jane Eyre on pay-per-view, snuggled up with my hubby.  We saw it in the theatre and I was vastly disappointed with it, but I've since realized most of the disappointment lies in the fact that it just isn't the version I see in my head, and that's not the movie's fault!  So the subsequent viewing was far more enjoyable; indeed, this latest version is particularly good cinematography-wise.  Oh the moors of England...
236.  Excellent, helpful, and *prompt* repairmen for several spontaneous breaks in various things around the house.  And the money to afford them!
237.  Watching Will pour imaginary cups of tea (using Lucy's new playset) for both his mommy and daddy, and the pleasure he clearly takes in being loving and giving.  He has the sweetest heart.
238.  Having found a true kindred spirit in Agatha Christie (duh, but still...):

"I did not tell my mother about these terrible fits of anxiety, and I don't think she ever guessed at them...I was, I suppose, always over-burdened with imagination.  That has served me well in my profession -- it must, indeed, be the basis of the novelist's craft -- but it can give you some bad sessions in other respects."

239.  A 4-day weekend with Marty at home. 
240.  A brand-new year, filled with all kinds of possibility!

*I shall be sharing my 2012 Reading List here very soon.