The fully cranked woodstove, with slightly damp, lightly hissing logs, keeping our house toasty and the cats mellow.

Freshly washed flannel sheets for the bedroom – which doesn’t get the heat benefit of that woodstove.

Meeting my friend Judy at yesterday’s Artisans Fair at my church.  Judy, wonderful friend that she is, gave me an envelope with money in it to spend at the fair, in honor of her mother, who loved to shop.  (Needless to say, I’ll be making some jewelry for Judy for Christmas…see the next good thing.)

Learning how to make wire wrap earrings – and bracelets and necklaces- on Thursday night.  I love community ed classes!! 

Sitting with my dad at church this morning.

Finding a Stanley Mini Plier six-piece set at KMart today for only $13.00 – when the pliers I’d been looking at in jewelry making catalogs cost at least $9.00 each.  Woo-hoo!

And, the best good thing of all:  running into one of my favorite moms and her seven-year-old daughter at KMart right after finding the mini plier set.  Not wanting to be overly pushy, I just smiled, made eye contact, and said “hi” to the pair, they said “hi” back (confusedly), and I walked on down the aisle to the mint section (shortage of Altoids in our house).  As I was searching the mints, I heard the little girl saying, “I think it’s Abby!!”  And, sure enough, they came up to me, and the little girl said, “Hi Abby!!!”  And I said, “Ah, you figured me out!”  To which she replied, ” I didn’t recognize you at first because you didn’t have your glasses on!”  So I said, yes, I usually wear glasses at work and contacts on the weekends.  And then this totally awesome little girl – only seven, mind you, but one of the smartest kids I know – looked over at the display of Christmas trees, and she said, “Why are they showing Christmas things?  We haven’t even had Veteran’s Day or Thanksgiving yet!!”  And I agreed, with a laugh, that I was thinking the exact same thing.

And now for the next good thing:  a nice big glass of Guiness by the woodstove while reading the book for Tuesday’s teen book group:  Treasure at the Heart of the Tanglewood by Meredith Ann Pierce.