Saturday, February 10, 2007

Ten Good Things Weekly Revisited

As is my way, I’ve spent an hour so this evening going through the Coming to Terms archives. And I stumbled across the little "series" I was running before my world turned upside down with the purchase of the café. You all remember the "Ten Good Things Weekly" lists…?

A couple of things struck me about these lists. First of all…they were just nice to read. Yeah…maybe I had to do a little reaching for some of the good things, but all in all, they were uppers.

Secondly, people responded to them. I think everyone wants to be reminded that good things do still happen. And everyone might also need to be reminded that good things happen to them. There were several people who "borrowed" the idea for their own blogs. And they were welcome to it.

So, I got to thinking… Maybe I should re-instate the "Good Things" entries. As much for my own sanity as for the benefit of my readers. Because if I’m tired of writing about the sucky things, it’s for damn sure you’re tired of reading about them.

It’s almost midnight on Friday night, and I have to be at work at 8:00 Saturday morning. But, by god, I’m going to sit here and write until I come up with Ten Good Things from the past week.

  1. The crappy, icy, frosty weather broke, and we had some nice days. Nice enough for folks to sit out on the front sidewalk of the café eating ice cream. (You have to realize, though, that Oregonians break out the shorts and flip-flops whenever the sun comes out, actual air temperature notwithstanding. It got up to maybe 50 degrees—ice cream weather for any card-carrying Oregonian…)
  2. Lovely weather precipitated lovely walk with dog out on the dike on Sunday. During which we had our first "Sam" sighting of 2007. ("Sam" is our resident eagle who calls our little stretch of Multnomah Channel "home.")
  3. I ordered and received, within the space of less than a week, a new desk/hutch unit for my bedroom. The better to contain some of the nightmarish paper clutter that has taken over my life since we bought the café (which seems to manifest itself most outlandishly in the bedroom—the room in which I now spend at least 80% of the time I am at home.) It’s a neat unit, and I am pleased with it. All I have to do now is transfer the paper anarchy from the floor of the bedroom to some organized spaces in this desk-thingy…
  4. Wi-fi was successfully re-installed at the café this afternoon. At least, I think it was. My recalcitrant beast of a laptop refuses to properly recognize the connection, but customers don’t seem to be similarly inhibited. So, that’s a good thing…isn’t it?
  5. Ascertained that the sucky business at the café this week was traceable to the opening of a new (much anticipated) restaurant about 8 miles up the road. This happens every time a new eating establishment opens anywhere in the county. New place enjoys rip-roaring business while everybody and their pup goes out to see what it’s all about. And the rest of us feel the squeeze… Then, in a couple of weeks, things settle back into their  normal routine and the faithful come trooping back to their old haunts. Of which we (I hope) are one. At any rate, it was a relief to figure out that this was the reason for our recent lax sales. I had been trying to figure out if we had poisoned someone or something…:P
  6. Crappy business at the café also afforded the opportunity to get a lot of extra cleaning done. The place is finally starting to look like something I can be proud to call mine…
  7. I found my kitchen countertop! (at home…) It had been covered by five or six months’ worth of mail and "Papers That Need Attention." Now, it’s just…clean. I could actually cook in my kitchen., if I had the time or the inclination. Which I don’t. I have an entire restaurant in which to cook. And I make it a policy not to bring my work home with me…J
  8. Found a couple of dynamite sandwich recipes on the internet that I’m dying to try as specials at the café. And then there is the lemon sour cream cake…
  9. Got caught up on ALL the bills today. Both the business and the personal. Of course, our bank balances are going to be a bit anemic in the next few weeks. But, hey…there will be a few nickels left rattling around in the bottom f the change jar…
  10. MADE IT THROUGH ANOTHER WEEK! A real ball-buster. (If I had balls. Or even estrogen…)

And you thought I couldn’t do it.

Funny story—I just woke up. Apparently, I felt the need to catch a few z’s between things eight and nineof my "Ten Good Things."

Hope my readers aren’t similarly effected…

11 comments:

  1. I loved reading this.  I've always loved your 10 good things lists.  I can't tell you how many times I've fallen asleep while writing blog entries.  I would have never guessed from reading this.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I'm happy to see Ten Good Things come back.  The real charm is recognizing that we all have good things going on in our lives if we look for them.  When life is insane...the challenges are SO big and we fixate on them.  Thanks for starting my weekend with a real upper!

    {{{{{{{{{{{{HUGS}}}}}}}}}}}}}

    ReplyDelete
  3. I'm glad to see this reinstated! How is it that you guys enjoy such balmy temps in the middle of winter. Why do I have this idea that it is cold that far north?

    ReplyDelete
  4. And I love the new picture and they have screwed your counter again! I remember when they screwed mine up I was so angry that I cloaked it and told myself how unimportant it really was!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Well it sounds like you had a pretty good week all in all.  Spring was definetly in the air this week in Oregon.  I actually took a couple of walks!

    ReplyDelete
  6. I used to love reading your 10 good things ~ and yes I loved your 10 good things ~ and hope you can find 10 every week ~ Ally x

    ReplyDelete
  7. The desk sounds wonderful.  Glad you got some cleaning done at the cafe.  Cleaning always makes me feel better unless it's for days on end.  Finding the kitchen counter is another wonderful feeling.  Hope you have a great weekend!  Hugs,
    Lisa

    ReplyDelete
  8. Hmmm...could resurrecting the Ten Good Things, which brought better spirits, possibly have been the answer to your prayer to the universe the night before???  Just throwing that out there!  I always enjoy the list, too.  Have a good week ahead.  That new restaurant will surely start encountering all the same problems with local employees that you struggle with (lol) and your customers will come back to you.
    *debbi*

    ReplyDelete
  9. Lemon sour cream cake. That sounds wonderful. Let us know how the sandwiches turn out. Glad Sam made it through the winter into the early spring.

    Jackie

    ReplyDelete
  10. I love the "Ten Good Things" entries, too!  It cheers me up to read them, and how refreshing these were after all the dreadful television stories that pass for news these days.  I'll take a Sam sighting as newsworthy any day of the week!

    Thanks Lisa!  Oh, and I have a killer sandwich recipe if you're interested...but I have to warn you, it requires prosciutto.

    ;p

    Judi

    ReplyDelete
  11. I like your 10 good things.  Sometimes we have to force ourselves to focus on the positive things in our lives. I may need to steal this.

    ReplyDelete