Where's the Love?

For the month of November, I am designating every Thursday as "13 Things I Love Thursday". I stole the "13 Things" idea from Miss Zoot and then scammed the "Love Thursday" idea from Chookooloonks. Original is so YESTERDAY.

I love..........

1. my step-mom! It's her birthday today, so I've been thinking about her. My step-mother is a total sweetheart. Even though it sucks that my parents divorced, if they hadn't, I wouldn't have my step-mom in my life. And that would have been a damned shame because she is truly one of the nicest, most honest persons I know.
2. shopping mall play areas. They are totally FREE for me because I don't really like shopping and can easily resist the siren call of Commerce. Thank the Lord Above that Target doesn't have play areas because THAT would be a different story.
   
3. the library. Again, with the FREE because it doesn't cost me a dime (other than property taxes, I guess) and Arun is easily entertained there.
   
4. PetCo. For the price of a bag of catfood and kitty litter, we can easily get 45 minutes worth of Entertainment Mileage as Arun checks out the ferrets, birds, bunnies and fish. In fact, Arun has loved fish since he was pretty small and judging from the way he got so excited when I showed him the bettas, I suspect I will be killing yet another one in the near future.
   
5. Hen House bakery. Our grocery store's bakery has this nifty concept called "samples". Ever since I started breastfeeding last year, I've developed a sweet tooth. Seriously, I have so much more sympathy for people that suffer from a sweet tooth-it's miserable. Anyway, I have found that if I peruse the bakery section, they give away samples. That is usually enough for me to resist the neverending temptation to purchase unneeded sweets. Thank GOD, because their cinnamon knots are to die for. No kidding, eat enough of 'em and you would probably be in some of imminent danger.
   
6. magazines. Since I haven't been feeling well, I've had trouble concentrating on books (this happened last time when I was pregnant). I haven't really read a book in over a week now. However, I still have that insatiable need to read, and thankfully, magazines will suffice. I've been plowing through Royalty, National Geographic, Knit.1, Wondertime, Babytalk, US Weekly, People, and even a Redbook my grandma passed along. Well-rounded or just plain pathetic? Your pick.
   
7. our new garage door opener. Filed under "You don't know what you've got til it's gone", our garage door opener went on the fritz several weeks back. Since they were original to the house and were always unreliable, we decided to put in new ones. Then, we had to wait for the installer to show up. Sure, having them isn't a necessity, but OH MY, having them is a luxury I'd rather not live without. Color me Spoiled, I don't care.
   
8. Magnadoodles. Apparently, now is the time that Arun can start to practice scribbling. However, who in their right mind wants to let loose a Dawdler with pen and paper? I mean, I know I have my Crazy Moments, but I'm not that insane. Instead, I bought a small $10 travel Doodle and called it a day.
   
9. Olathe city services. Not only do they provide recycling for the crazy price of like 2 bucks a month AND lawn refuse pick-up service EVERY Monday, last year they instituted a "smart cart" system and provided super cool wheeled trash carts for everyone. It's totally worth having that thing hog precious garage space just to be able to wheel one cart down to the curb.
   
10. Mexican food. The beauty of being pregnant is that the fetus is calling all the shots. And the fetus is demanding tacos, yo.
    
11. Border's. For the price of a magazine, we can play in the children's area for a good 45 minutes. Are you detecting a theme here?
    
12. Ziploc sandwich bags. When I first had Arun, I lovingly and carefully placed all the baby accoutrements in the diaper bag in special pouches. The wipes had its own special container. Now? I throw everything in ziploc and haven't looked back.
    
13. anything with wheels. Because anything with wheels makes my kid's DAY and good god, with the cold weather looming, I am desperate for entertainment ideas. Yesterday, as I dragged the garbage cart he bounced up and down while giggling with glee. I am afraid.