Here's my son, watching the fire on the TV. 2016 is nearing its end, and what a time to be alive. I turned on a fire for my kid to watch.
There are so many good things about being alive right now. (I'm all into thinking about time travel again now that Doctor Who Season 9 is free on Amazon Prime.) Don't get me wrong; I'm not naive. I know there are horrible things happening everywhere, near and far. But I'm focusing on cool things today. Things like a fire on my TV.
Cheese puffs. According to the all-knowing Wikipedia, these have been around since the 1930s. But I'm telling you... these are gold. Delicious gold. My faves: Jax (orange) and Pirate Booty (white).
Pre-lit Christmas tree that looks nice. And accompanying smelly things. We had spiders in our Christmas tree one year. Also, I got violently ill three years in a row at Christmas tree farms, each time with disastrously embarrassing results. We now have a lovely artificial (pre-lit) tree, and more time to decorate since we aren't arguing about why the lights are tangled. Also, I can still smell the Christmas spirit thanks to pine-things-in-a-tube.
Closely related: Christmas lights that stay lit when one is out. Glorious magical miracle of science!
Easy-to-repair screen systems. This may seem weird if you aren't married to my husband, but our screen porch seemed doomed to be in a state of constant disarray due to our kids and dog and other people's kids and dogs. This drove him bonkers. But we installed a great system from Home Depot where the screen can pull out (MOM!!!) and get tucked right back in (PHEW!!) without him flipping out. Beautiful.
Amazon Prime. Previously mentioned, but that two-day shipping? Yes. Yes. Yes. Also, scheduled deliveries of things I use and need.
Smart phones. I'm never lost. I'm never bored. I try not to be the too-attached crazy person who never looks up from the screen (although sometimes I am). But there, in my purse, is a device capable of accessing the sum total of mankind's knowledge. And that's important because sometimes you really need to know if that guy on the episode of Blue Bloods was also in an episode of Scrubs.
DVD players in minivans. I'm a mom, sorry. "Time to go, and if you come without crying, we'll watch a movie on the way home." This is pure magic.
