Simple Joys

Happy Tuesday! Today is one of my most favorite days of the week as it is once again a day to discuss Simple Joys. From the time I end the Tuesday column to the next time Tuesday comes around again I think in terms of what I get to write about for this piece. It truly is a joy to get to share what I get the most pleasure out of from week to week. Without further ado, here is this week’s Simple Joys.

Curling iron. That’s right, the curling iron. I owned one of these hair appliances for my whole adult life, but the one I owned dated to 1988. It worked, but took endless (precious) minutes to warm up and did a mediocre job at best on my hair. Finally, on a whim, I broke down and purchased a brand new curling iron at the local discount store. I chose a brand name model that has twenty-five settings! Twenty-five! The one I owned previously had one setting, on! This new model heated up in thirty seconds, and had an automatic shut-off. The best part? It cost me only $10! It took me a while before I opened the curling iron, but the first day I did I was so thrilled with the purchase. I looked like I stepped out of the salon after just a few minutes of working on my hair! I realize this is not huge in most people’s lives, but I do love to have good-looking hair. For $10 I scored that and a smile that still hasn’t been wiped off my face!

Spring clothes. This revolves around buying again. I didn’t mean for that to happen in one column, as Simple Joys for me are really not about spending money. But, as it has been such a long winter, I really needed to amp up my mood and wardrobe for spring and the “Southeastern Media Tour” I’m taking in April. I went to my local T.J. Maxx, got out of my normal mode and tried on clothing that was to my liking but different than I had in my wardrobe. I tried to imagine myself in a makeover program and find items that would be modern, hip, comfortable, flattering, and workable in my existing wardrobe. Mission accomplished! I am thrilled with my bounty and anxious to premiere it this spring. Best part is, I got a lot for the money I spent and they are timeless, classic pieces I’ll be wearing for many seasons to come. I don’t recommend ‘retail therapy’ as a cure-all, but I do think it is important to infuse one’s wardrobe on occasion to make oneself a priority in one’s own life.  Once spring arrives I’ll post pictures of these great looks!

Paper airplanes. My four year old enjoys when I make paper airplanes out of magazine pages. We rip them out and he watches me fold them into makeshift ‘airplanes’. What this young, innocent boy does not know is that his mother, however well intentioned, never learned how to make a proper paper airplane. My designs are less than aerodynamic and shoddy at best. They rarely fly straight or at all. But my four-year-old son thinks they are tremendous machines and uses his imagination to supplement what reality is lacking. He even decorates these paper planes with stickers and makes up great tales of what the stickers represent. The moral of this for me is that the child could care less how good I am at something; he simply wants to spend quality time with his mamma and have my undivided attention. It is sometimes difficult to stop doing the dishes or get off the computer to give the child that, but if I can remember how vastly rewarded I am by the simple action of spending time with him, it is worth every precious second.

Anticipation. My brother-in-law, his bride and their baby son are coming to visit us from Dubai this weekend. We haven’t seen them in over two years and have never met our nephew before. We are beyond thrilled and are beside ourselves with anticipation. I have known my brother-in-law since he was twelve. He is simply my little brother. He makes me laugh hard and often. His bride is a lovely woman who I genuinely enjoy and adore. Family is the very core of all that is good, simple, and joyful. I wish you all a wonderful week and one brimming with an abundance of Simple Joys.