10 Things I Can't Live Without

Well I had a fabulous opener for the first day of the 10 things I Can't Live Without world series BUT I was shamed by my fellow bloggers into writing my own list first. Fair enough. 

  10 Things I Can't Live Without:

1.  GG of course and the Lab.  From our first dinner date at home when GG flung a dish towel over her shoulder and served the soup and then insisted on washing the dishes, I have been spoiled, encouraged in all my endeavors, pushed when I couldn't go one more step in the right direction, argued with, laughed with and occasionally at, praised, scolded and loved for just being me.  The real me, the goofy me, grumpy me, bitchy me, funny me. And the Lab?  I didn't know from unconditional love till I met her.

2.  The printed word: novels, magazines, blogs, newspapers, cookbooks,mysteries, bios.  I always have a section of the newspaper folded up in my purse in case I am caught somewhere without anything to read.  I didn't grow up in a TV household, we read.  It was nothing for me to stagger home from the library with a stack of 10 or 12 books, it still isn't.  I would hide a book anywhere.  I even tried to keep one behind my sheet music while I was "practicing" the piano or on the windowsill when doing the dishes.  I still have a book open when I grind the coffee beans.

3. Baths, long, hot, scented baths where I read of course.  But only books, it's too messy to take a magazine or the newspaper into the bath with you.  Trust me on this one. I go into the bath a tired, cranky overworked florist and come out flushed, smiling and ready to enjoy life again.  Hot H2O, it's a miracle.

4. Ice.  Except for a hot cup of tea on a cold winter evening I am addicted to tall glasses full of ice.  My lattes? Iced.  Lemonade, sparkling water both served on the rocks.  Abroad?  I'm just one crazy American in search of ice.  The one complete sentence I learned to speak in Germany?  Haben sie Eiswürfel ? Do you have any ice cubes? Usually met with a resounding no.  They wanted to lock me up in Italy for ruining their delicious coffees with ice .  I don't even think they'll let me into England. 

5. Gardens.  My garden, your garden, any beautiful public garden.  I love the hope of the spring garden, the hot hell that is the garden in July and August and the overgrown beauty that comes in the fall.  I'm at peace when weeding and watering and just wandering from plant to plant admiring a blossom here, a berry there.
My ego is at rest when I am digging in the dirt.

 6..  Friends and Family.  You have loved me when I didn't love myself.  You make me laugh, cry, think, learn when to speak up and when to keep a secret. I've known some of you since high school and some of you I just met these last few years on line.  But my life is richer and fuller because of you all.

7. Food.  Cooking for others has always been a big expression of love for me.  When I'm been in relationships that are ending I lose my appetite for both cooking and eating.
But when all is going well, baby look out and better join a gym, 5 pounds are coming your way.

8. My abs and my triceps. It's amazing what an hour in the gym or at zumba or yoga will give me.  A high never found from drugs or alcohol, I just smile for hours after.  My mind is at rest, I sleep like an angel, I have an abundance of energy the next day.  Exercise, what have you got to lose from it except a couple of pounds?

9. Garden tomatoes.  And the smell of a tomato plant.  That is summer to me.

10. My little house on the prairie.  Though I just glanced up and saw a few new cracks in the kitchen ceiling and it seems I work solely to support my home owning habit I love having my own nest to feather.  I have been called a homebody and I wear that title proudly.  Don't we all need a sanctuary at the end of the day?