And I think I want a nap. Finished painting the hallway, went to Lowe’s, Target (where I got nothing) and KMart. Had lunch. Went to ShopRite and the liquor store. Touched up the paint, where I could now see the spots, since hubby had put up the light fixture I bought at Lowe’s. Cleaned up the kitchen a bit, made salsa.

We’re having all kinds of hors d’ouvres and finger foods for dinner tonight, and we’re going to watch the Twilight Zone marathon on the Sci-Fi channel.

Thinking about some of the things that got me angry this year also made me feel very thankful. I’m a woman in America, rather than in Pakistan, where my relatives can kill me for “honor”, or in Brazil, where it’s also legal for husbands or boyfriends to do so, or India, where I can be burned alive by my husband if my parents don’t give him enough money. I’m glad we don’t live in a Muslim country, where a woman can be mutilated by her husband for dogmatic reasons, or in Uganda, where a psychotic “Christian” leader kidnaps children and forces them to fight and kill – and while the boys are spared sexual slavery because that goes against the Bible, somehow raping little girls falls under the Lord’s auspices. Living where we do, I can get a good laugh at the Scientologist anti-psychiatry museum, where they cast aspersions upon psychiatry as a profit-motivated institution. I can get onto the internet and order one of those bumper stickers that says “Will one of you interns please give him a blow job so we can impeach him?” and put it on my van without fear. (Don’t worry, hubby, I won’t. I’m also thankful for a hubby that allows me to put on bumper stickers that make him embarassed to drive my van.) Intelligent Design has begun being tossed from the unfortunate school districts that decided it belonged in the science curriculum, thanks to sensible judges. Fox News and its “correspondents” have gone so far off the deep end that their credibility is eroding away with more and more facility every day.

As well, I’m thinking of all the things particular to my own life that I’m thankful for – somehow the New Year brings this out for me more than the Thanksgiving holiday. We’re healthy and happy, we’re enjoying our new home and schools and neighborhood, and it seems the more we look forward, the more things look better.

So, Happy New Year to you and yours! Enjoy it, make the most of it, and be thankful for all the good things you have!