Three Good Things [09.12.14]

Is fall really here? This New England girl really, really hopes so, though I can’t get truly excited until the sub-season of Sweater Weather sets in. Then, watch out. My house gets taken over by cinnamon apple candles and long sleeved t-shirts and pumpkin muffins (and in a good year, playoff baseball, but this ain’t that year). Anyway, I’ll take this more fall-like day and the later-rising sun and the explosion of pumpkin everything in my Pinterest feed as a good thing. Here are a few more from this week.

Three things I loved this week:

• 90210’s back, baby! I sighed when SoapNet and its four shows went dark last December 31, mostly because one of those shows was (the original) 90210. I’ve seen every one of those 300 episodes many times over, and yet, I wasn’t ready to let them go. Yeah, I could watch them on Amazon Prime, but it’s not the same as happening upon the Spring Dance episode, or Brandon and Kelly’s wedding, or even better — a marathon. But now? It’s back. TVGN, Tuesdays and Fridays, ALL DAY. In case you wondered what I’d be doing during maternity leave, you’re looking at it.

• This Funny or Die post about Saved by the Bell. In case it’s not yet clear, I’m a trash TV girl. Yeah, I love critically acclaimed shows like The Americans and The Wire, but they just balance out my 90210-Saved by the Bell-Bravo watching habits. Anyway, this post takes on a Very Important Question about SBTB, one that any true fan has had for a long time. Read it and tell me you don’t agree.

• Candy corn. See my hail to fall, above. Combine that with my stupid low-fat gallbladder diet and you get a girl who was way too excited to see Brach’s candy corn on sale 2 for $3 this week.

Three things I learned this week:

• The 100 books that showed up most often on those Facebook book lists. Although I find it difficult to believe that The Going to Bed Book didn’t crack the most-listed books, one of mine (The Handmaid’s Tale) did. Also, how did I forget Catcher in the Rye? Ah, Holden Caulfield.

• Why kids like Elmo so much. This is a question I have really, really been looking for the answer to since Teddy got hooked after watching exactly TWO episodes of Sesame Street. And now I know that his annoyingly high voice is actually a real reason. Gah.

• The Cincinnati Bengals not only moved Devon Still from their practice squad — where they’d assigned him to give him health insurance coverage for his daughter, who is battling Stage IV cancer — to the active roster, but they’re also dedicating the proceeds of sales from his jersey to pediatric cancer research. That’s a stand-up team right there, in a week where the NFL seriously lacked stand-up people, teams, and a commissioner.

Three things I felt grateful for this week:

• Seven years of marriage. We’ve put those “for better, for worse, in sickness and in health” lines to the test, and I’m pretty happy with the result so far. Also, my husband comes up with the most creative anniversary gifts. For this copper anniversary, all the new copper pipes in our basement weren’t enough, so he bought me a plant in a copper pot.

• Final inspector sign-off on the basement! We traded a final check to the contractor for our keys back, and now it’s just ours to fill up. Basement round-up post to come soon, really.

• Six weeks to go until D-day. Which also means six weeks left at work. Hooray! Senioritis is setting in in a big way…though I’m apparently deluding myself into thinking that caring for a newborn (and a toddler) will somehow be less work than sitting at a desk and editing other people’s words.

What did you love, learn, or feel grateful for this week?

This post is part of the Ten Things of Thankful series.