5 things that made me happy today

1. This morning, while finishing my breakfast, I was treated to this scene: Genghis clad only in his Thomas the Train underwear and Xena's giant brown and turquoise hair bow, jumping spasmodically around the living room (he calls this "dancing") to We Wish You a Merry Christmas being played on an oversized floor piano.

2. I dusted our house from top to bottom for the first time ever (meaning, since moving in over 2 months ago). With hardwood floors, dusting necessitates a lot of sweeping and moving furniture and sneezing. Especially if you have 10 weeks of accumulated dirt. But the house feels so clean and fresh, except by the two diaper pails we have next to the bathroom. Remind me again that we won't have children in diapers for the rest of my existence.

3. I signed a contract to continue some evaluation work for a museum group that I have really enjoyed working with in the past. It's one of those few times when you make recommendations for how a museum should move forward with evaluation, and then they have the means and enthusiasm to actually do it.

4. Homemade chocolate chip cookies. Enough said.

5. The replacement cord to my digital piano arrived in the mail. I lost the cord in the move, and after looking in box after box wondering where I mislaid it, I finally ordered a new one. It felt silly to have the piano looking pretentiously like a normal upright piano but total useless with no power. Sadly, I don't have plans to play the piano even now that we have power. But the kids have loved it. Someday I will play again ... Also, I finally found the original cord later this afternoon while I was dusting. Go figure.