Gestation and birth, in any animal.

Mutual, equal, deep love between any two people.

Flowers, and how one day they're buds and then suddenly, they're big beautiful blossoms.

That, even with all the things humans do that are unnatural, we still have pristine, breathtaking natural beauty all over the world.

How a great friendship can sometimes spring out of nowhere and feel like it's always been there.

How other great friendships start unceremoniously and then, somehow, it's been years and years that two people have known and cared about each other.

The strength a person can find without looking, and can sustain longer than imaginable.

My life, every single day.

Learning a new fiddle tune quickly enough to make small improvisations

Making great soup

A book I just can't stop reading

A peaceful bedtime for my kids

A surprise-while-I'm-cooking kiss on the back of the neck from True

A totally lazy period of mindless television watching on the couch, with a blanket

Lying down on a neatly made bed in a pool of sunshine, chatting quietly

Driving in the car and singing along with the radio, with the windows open

A beautifully set dining room table, just waiting for company

Really good hot chocolate

Email from someone I haven't heard from in a long time

The knowledge that little things can make me happy!

Small Good Thing #4: Start recycling more stuff

True and I have been mediocre recyclers at best. This is something I admit with the same red-faced, no-eye-contact mumble as I would in admitting that I sometimes eat a bowl of peanuts and chocolate chips for breakfast, or that allegedly, sometimes, I don't change Shmoo's diaper right away when it's dirty because I don't want to go through the corporate-merger-level negotiations necessary to get her to stand still for it. All of these are things I should change, probably, but my energy level for figuring out the solutions has been too low.

But this year we are going to get better about recycling! Period! We've always been good about plastic, glass, and metal recycling, and we freecycle whatever we can, but we've *gasp!* never really tried to recycle paper.

We finally looked at the City of Evanston web site to find out how they recycle the various waste items that we create in our house. It turns out paper just needs to be in a paper bag, which isn't too bad. All these years, I had been picturing twine and appropriately sized bundles and a scale and some sort of elaborate system. It turns out to be easier than I expected. So, now we are on a low-level but constant hunt for paper bags -- remembering to ask for them at the grocery store is still hard.

So, it's not a formal New Year's resolution, but it IS another step we're taking in trying to make less of a mark. I have a friend who has turned an oversized closet in her house into a recycling room, where everything is appropriately sorted. She also composts, even in winter, which impresses me to no end, and I can see us getting there someday. For now, adding the paper is a good first step, and I'm proud of us. Even the kids are remembering to throw their paper in the recycling bag instead of the garbage!

Along these lines, I heard a great story on, well, The Story, a radio show from American Public Media. A woman decided to stop buying things in plastic. She found out that it is WAY harder than she ever imagined, but she's committed. You can listen to her story here.

Small, Good Thing #5: Really cook dinner

This may sound very housewife-y, very June Cleaver-y, but I am making a commitment to care about what we eat more often. I enjoy cooking but don't always enjoy PLANNING, and so unless the ingredients for that Fabulous New Recipe are on hand, I'm not as likely to go out and procure them as I am to, say, just give up and eat bagels for dinner.

Now, there's nothing wrong with this, but I think it's important to sit down and enjoy a meal made with the intention of not just ending the whines of "I'm HUNGRY," but actually addressing some nutritional needs. I know I myself am less likely to scrounge through the fridge for leftover frosting from November if I've had a more complex meal -- and it's good modeling for Shmoo and Doodlebug, too.

So, how am I going to make food with love more often? Well, I am actually reading some cookbooks, if you can believe that, and trying to notice what kinds of things are staples to keep on hand. We tend to always have noodles, and some canned beans, and nutritional yeast, and soy cheez of some kind, but I need to work on remembering things like tomato sauce, and broccoli, and shelf-stable tofu.

Tonight, I was determined not to make the kids another in a series of good but repetitive grilled soy cheez sandwiches, and made my recently invented Ugly-But-Yummy Burritos. Here is the loose recipe -- no photo, since the combination of black beans and egg turns everything an unappetizing grey color. Just close your eyes, wrap it in the tortilla, and trust me when I say it's really good!

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Ugly-But-Yummy Burritos

1 can black beans
1/2 cup frozen corn
Several hearty shakes of garlic salt, to taste
4 eggs
3/4 cup of your favorite shredded soy cheez
Salsa
Tortillas

Empty the beans and the corn into a little pot and cook until the corn is defrosted and the beans are soft and sizzling. Add garlic salt to taste and turn off the flame.

Beat the eggs and add to a greased frying pan until they are just starting to firm up. Add the bean/corn mixture from the pot and stir. Add the soy cheez. Cook cook cook cook cook! Keep cooking, stirring from time to time, until you're pretty darn sure the egg has cooked through. Everything will be grey. It will not look like something you'd want to eat. This is where your faith in this random blog on the internet will be tested: spoon the mixture into a warm tortilla, top with salsa, and take a bold, trusting bite.

*grin*

You're welcome!