Stuff I Love

A small random list of small random things which I adore, in no particular order:

1. When a Slurpee explodes out of the top of it's lid, leaving a little mushroom shaped cone of sugary sweet coloured artificial goodness which you can then slurp off without looking ridiculous. You're just trying to keep it from spilling over and making a mess, right? Not trying to suck extra out of the top so you can top it up (you would never do that...).
2. Using a whole lot of adjectives in one string, like 'sugary sweet coloured artificial goodness.'
3. Cookies. Especially the broken ones, because all the calories fall out of those.
4. All the European junk food sold at Aldi which I don't allow myself to buy but I just love that they have it in stock in the first place - Haribo gummy bears, Toffifee chocolates, and cookies with vowel-heavy names like Spekulaas and Pfefferneuse. Just saying the word "Pfefferneuse" is a joy.
5. Food in small packages - sushi, dumplings (!!), cake pops, steamed buns, almost anything encased in pastry, party pies, sliders, shot glasses of chocolate mousse, finger sandwiches, goujons, baby muffins and tiny lemon tartlets. If it's small and edible, I love it and I want to look at it admiringly before I pop it into my mouth. As a chef I can also appreciate the amount of effort which goes into tiny food. Some poor chef has been VERY industrious.
6. The satisfying tightness of new underwear.
7. The awesome sound of silence in those few minutes when the kids and husband have gone to work/school, the dog is out for the day, and the only noise is my breathing and whatever noise I make getting ready to go to work.
8. The swisha-swoom swisha-swoom swisha-swoom sound of my bedside fan, indicating it must be (nearly) summer in Australia. I adore summer in Australia. Flies, mosquitoes and all.
9. The cuddly softness of the really good quality thick white socks DH selfishly only buys for himself, and so I teach him a lesson in sharing by stealing them all from him.
10. The smell of my kids' hair right after they have showered.
11. Bringing home a pile of books from the library and taking a few minutes to re-read all the flap blurbs and then ordering them, so the one I want to read the most is either last or somewhere in the middle. The anticipation of knowing I'm nearly at THAT book is just awesome.
12. The clink-clink-clink of seashells in my pocket, seashells I've collected during an entirely indulgent, totally solitary beach walk in the middle of the day (which I've told nobody about.)
13. The way our crappy mattress sags and therefore wakes me up *just* enough to let me know that DH has gotten into bed beside me. It's almost worth never replacing it because I love that nightly 'announcement.'
14. Making lists and feeling zero guilt about putting an item or two on there which I've already completed, thus earning me the right to cross stuff off said list and feel infinitely superior before I've even begun my day.
15. People watching and developing milli-second crushes on people as they walk past.
16. The way your breath catches just for a second when you get into a pool for the first time, even if the water is warm.
17. The way a long, hot shower can solve almost all of life's problems.
18. Rubbing the top of my son's head with shameless glee after he's gotten a buzz cut. I don't care that he is embarrassed, I'm pretty sure I had kids especially for moments like those.
19. The way your hair feels weightless after you've had it professionally done.
20. The way two eggs cracked into a frypan kinda look like eyeballs, so for a few minutes there, your frying pan is staring back at you.