Cheap Things That Make You Happy

[Frugal Lizard]

watching a juvenile squirrel haul an immature white pine cone back to his stash.  The cone was bigger than the body of the squirrel but he was bringing it home.

[megaschnauzer]

speaking of squirrels, we get the occasional white squirrel around here. usually they are grey but there are some mutants that are white, not albino. i consider it good luck to see one. last year i saw 3 in one day. i haven't seen one in a while.

[mspym]

Discovering that the Everlane "cropped" length is the correct trouser length for me. I don't have to get 5" of fabric removed to have the right trouser length!

Although, in the other direction, a decent tailor tweaking ready-to-wear clothes is a cheap way to feel like a million bucks in all your clothes.

[lazycow]

A hot bath Epsom Salts with a glass of red wine.

[Freedomin5]

Family bike ride after dinner. Not having to wear a mask during our family bike ride.

[Kris]

Sitting in our sun room on a cool summer morning with the windows open and a cup of coffee. The small breeze is just enough to bring the outside in and make it feel like I’m in a treehouse.

[TheFrenchCat]

A hot bath Epsom Salts with a glass of red wine.

Seconded!  I miss having a bathtub so much!

[goat_music_generator]

Taking a walk with a friend in the park and talking.

(With masks on.)

[ZsaZsa]

Sharing 3 HUGE tomatoes with Mr. Z...fresh from the garden. One bowl, two forks, and a salt shaker.
We will dream about that when the snow flies.

[zolotiyeruki]

A game of ultimate Frisbee with extended family at our reunion. Although the sore muscles I'll have tomorrow might not make me very happy :)

[OtherJen]

Virtual choir rehearsal. I hit a C6 (high C) comfortably during warmup. Good to know that I still can!

[goat_music_generator]

Virtual choir rehearsal. I hit a C6 (high C) comfortably during warmup. Good to know that I still can!

That's nuts! Good for you.

[Just Joe]

Here is an odd one:

anticipation

I'm looking forward to cooler weather b/c I am more active when I'm not melting.
I'm looking forward to a home cooked meal with my family tonight.
I'm looking forward to streaming a movie or TV show with one of our teens this weekend.
I'm looking forward to returning to some of my hobbies now that we have a big project behind us.

The actual activity is nice but the anticipation is nice too.

[OtherJen]

The delicious little orange cherry tomatoes in today’s CSA share. Yum!

[NorthernMonkey]

Building a youtube channel as a hobby. It's got me out the house for the past month chasing things down. Made me ride my bike to get to the right places, and has cost me the price of two 64gb SD cards.

All the rest of the camera, tripod, pc etc I already had.

I guess now that lockdown is over I feel I need to get out and about more, and this gives me something to aim at

[stream26]

Making ice cream with coconut milk and whatever else, super cheap and oh so good on these hot days.
Making a quick thank you card from a chocolate wrapper.
Fresh basil and tomatoes from our garden.
Going for a walk with my dog

[Xethos]

Watching a sunset on the beach.

[Tigerpine]

Spending time with my wife.

[OtherJen]

A break in the hot, humid weather and a bike ride before it started raining again.

[mspym]

Homemade biscuits

[middo]

Watching snow fall outside while warm in front of the fire.  We rarely get snow (maybe once every 5 years) and seeing it come down is so beautiful.  It melted as it hit the ground, but still so magical.

[zolotiyeruki]

We planted peach trees in our back yard 7 or 8 years ago.  This is the first year we've finally gotten a decent crop, and our kitchen smells AMAZING from the peaches ripening on the counter.

[mspym]

Watching snow fall outside while warm in front of the fire.  We rarely get snow (maybe once every 5 years) and seeing it come down is so beautiful.  It melted as it hit the ground, but still so magical.

That sounds magical

[sui generis]

An evening warm enough to sit out on a pullout in the hills with a pizza with a view to the city and the Golden Gate Bridge both partially shrouded (of course) in fog. And all I needed was a light sweater!  Magic!

And it was DH's birthday, so double happy.

[goat_music_generator]

An evening warm enough to sit out on a pullout in the hills with a pizza with a view to the city and the Golden Gate Bridge both partially shrouded (of course) in fog. And all I needed was a light sweater!  Magic!

And it was DH's birthday, so double happy.

Oh hey! Fellow San Franciscan, I see. (Well, for now. We might move soon.)

My favorite thing recently has been biking to the top of all the different hills in the city early in the morning. It's too foggy to see much about 80% of the time, but the other 20% is amazing.

[LWYRUP]

Playing tennis with a friend.  Old racket, used balls, public court.  Priceless.

[lazycow]

Yoga with Adriene on Youtube, 3 times a day. I may be addicted.

[Just Joe]

Yoga with Adriene on Youtube, 3 times a day. I may be addicted.

My DW has so many good things to say about that channel. DW is encouraging me to try it to.

[GuitarStv]

Watching snow fall outside while warm in front of the fire.  We rarely get snow (maybe once every 5 years) and seeing it come down is so beautiful.  It melted as it hit the ground, but still so magical.

The magic kinda dries up around when you're shovelling the second foot of the damned stuff out of your driveway at 5:30 in the morning to get your car out of the driveway and begin the interminable slog through snow traffic to work.

It does look pretty falling down though.  :P

[Freedomin5]

Donating a bag of clothes to someone in need. Having friends over for a potluck.

[lazycow]

Yoga with Adriene on Youtube, 3 times a day. I may be addicted.

My DW has so many good things to say about that channel. DW is encouraging me to try it to.

Do it! My teenage daughter reluctantly started doing a 10 min bedtime one with me 2 months ago and hasn't missed a day, even when she is severely pissed off with me! We started a 10 min wake up session on top of that this week. And I am working my way through all the 30 day challenges. The comments are worth reading too. So uplifting.

[Just Joe]

That's a great idea. Will see if our HS teen will try it.

Always trouble going to sleep and waking up again.
Although teen is trying a 9PM bedtime so that the morning wakeup is easier which we are grateful for.

[okcisok]

+1 on Yoga with Adriene. I've enjoyed every video I've done. Her headache relief actually worked! She has other targeted videos that I have gotten a lot of use out of.

[chaskavitch]

+1 on Yoga with Adriene. I've enjoyed every video I've done. Her headache relief actually worked! She has other targeted videos that I have gotten a lot of use out of.

Just to pile on, she's awesome.  I also use her neck and shoulder pain practices to help with my tension headaches from too much computer work with poor posture, and they've helped SO MUCH.  They also put out a new playlist every month, so if you don't have a specific kind of practice you're looking for, you can just search for one of the 30 day programs and follow along.

[Freedomin5]

Donating a bag of clothes to someone in need. Having friends over for a potluck.

Finding out that the dresses I donated went to a four-year-old little girl for whom these are the first dresses she has ever received. It’s hard to fathom that there are four-year-olds who have never owned a dress before. And it makes me happy that I helped to make her day a joyful one.

[GuitarStv]

It’s hard to fathom that there are four-year-olds who have never owned a dress before.

I've managed to live for 39 years without owning a dress.  And only one blouse.  Although, in my defence I thought it was just a fancy shirt.

:P

[nobody]

When it's not rushed, a nice, long, hot shower.  And playing DnD (Dungeons and Dragons) with friends.

[mspym]

Reading a really good book.
Watching my dog try run up trees.
My morning coffee.

Here's one that is a net asset - getting paid to stretch my brain in interesting ways and hitting that deep flow state where you come out of it an hour or two later with an entire conceptual model nutted out and in a format that other people can understand

[RetiredAt63]

Watching snow fall outside while warm in front of the fire.  We rarely get snow (maybe once every 5 years) and seeing it come down is so beautiful.  It melted as it hit the ground, but still so magical.

The magic kinda dries up around when you're shovelling the second foot of the damned stuff out of your driveway at 5:30 in the morning to get your car out of the driveway and begin the interminable slog through snow traffic to work.

It does look pretty falling down though.  :P

You left out the beautiful view of a snowbank seen from ground level when you've just slipped on the ice and hit your tailbone/hit your head/twisted your knee.  Winter is not for the faint of heart.

[OtherJen]

Watching snow fall outside while warm in front of the fire.  We rarely get snow (maybe once every 5 years) and seeing it come down is so beautiful.  It melted as it hit the ground, but still so magical.

The magic kinda dries up around when you're shovelling the second foot of the damned stuff out of your driveway at 5:30 in the morning to get your car out of the driveway and begin the interminable slog through snow traffic to work.

It does look pretty falling down though.  :P

You left out the beautiful view of a snowbank seen from ground level when you've just slipped on the ice and hit your tailbone/hit your head/twisted your knee.  Winter is not for the faint of heart.

Yep. Or when it's snowing again for the 5th time in a week and you run out of places to put the shoveled snow from the driveway so you just end up pitching it over the fence into the neighbor's yard.

[OtherJen]

But since it is summer here, mine is a fun 6-mile bike ride on a Metropark trail surrounded by fields of wildflowers. It smelled heavenly, and there were so many butterflies.

[Monerexia]

That can of costco chili or pork and beans that I eat in my car for breakfast at about 3pm after fasting all morning and early afternoon. Super-tasty today!

[Mellow Mallow]

My husband figured out how to get the light fitting thing off (basically, bang it hard & continuously with the grip end of the pliers), so now the ceiling light in our bedroom works for the first time in 2-3 years. Winning!!

[chaskavitch]

Being the only one in my house who likes the skin on rotisserie chicken, so I get to eat all of it :)

[RetiredAt63]

Being the only one in my house who likes the skin on rotisserie chicken, so I get to eat all of it :)

Must be crispy. 

Baguettes: when DD was little she didn't like the crispy crust and I loved it, so she got the inside and I got the outside. Win/win.

[sui generis]

Being the only one in my house who likes the skin on rotisserie chicken, so I get to eat all of it :)

Must be crispy. 

Baguettes: when DD was little she didn't like the crispy crust and I loved it, so she got the inside and I got the outside. Win/win.

I have a good deal with my DH like this, too.  I love skin and fat, so I get all of that whenever we eat meat.  He gets the crusty parts of bread, which just tear up the roof of my mouth.

[middo]

Being the only one in my house who likes the skin on rotisserie chicken, so I get to eat all of it :)

Must be crispy. 

Baguettes: when DD was little she didn't like the crispy crust and I loved it, so she got the inside and I got the outside. Win/win.

I have a good deal with my DH like this, too.  I love skin and fat, so I get all of that whenever we eat meat.  He gets the crusty parts of bread, which just tear up the roof of my mouth.

Garlic Bread - I love the ends, my wife doesn't like them at all.  Yes!

[dandypandys]

getting the BBC tv via proxy. Makes me feel more at home here in the US of A.

[Just Joe]

Did that once upon a time but my method broke. What's your's?

[lazycow]

Leftovers for lunch. Specifically home made baked beans on sourdough toast. Mmmmmm.