So, what made you smile today?

A similar thread has gotten a lot of traction on another board I use, so I thought that–with all the social and political turmoil going on in the world today–a little counting of our blessings might not go amiss here. Reading the new replies always makes me feel better, anyway.

(There are already similar threads to this one, but they’re all very old, so I opted for a new one.)

Today I smiled because my girlfriend surprised me with a quart of lactose-free chocolate milk. That stuff is like crack to me, so I have to portion my portions. I’m drinking some right now. And smiling.

I’m in Hawai’i with my girlfriend, on the second day of a 2-week vacation. It’s the longest trip we’ve taken together since we met a year ago. I love snorkeling but she has never done it before. For weeks we’ve been talking about it, and I’ve urged her to be honest and let me know if she doesn’t like it, although I’ve been secretly hoping that she takes to it as much as I have.

We did our first snorkel today, a short swim, staying in shallow water. It was very mundane for me, maybe a 2 on a 10-scale of my best snorkeling experiences: just a few fish and not much scenery. But when we got out of the water, she gushed “I loved that!”. That made me smile.

That’s great! There’s really nothing like sharing a passion with someone we’re close to and finding that they enjoy it, too.

It rained for the first time all summer, clearing the wildfire smoke from the air and driving fire abatement efforts. We’ve been grinning every time we look out the window.

-I took the kids I babysit out to a sort of animal park. Part of it was an animal show where they had stuff like macaws doing puzzles and a goat walking a balance beam. And there was lots of the sort of thing where they ask the audience for a response- “how many of you think Beans will win this race? Now how many think Frank will? Cheer them on!” sort of thing. And the kids? LOVED it. They were so excited to yell out their responses and cheer on their choices and put their hands up to be picked. Like as an adult, all that “Cheer louder, I can’t hear you!” stuff seems pretty tiresome, but they were 100% into it and it was so fun to watch them.

-Also, I have a friend who, I guess, used to paint when he was a kid, but hadn’t done it in years and decided to pick it up again a few months ago and post the results online. He had a lot of talent to begin with, but it’s been amazing watching his style develop and improve. I love seeing him excel at something he enjoys so much.

I just spent 2 and a half hours mowing the front yard (I’m old, on meds that wear me out, the mower is a small electric job and I constantly trip over the cord, it’s hot, the humidity is 3315%; that’s why.) and when I came indoors after finishing, our foster dog – Teddy – launched into The Teddy Dance. She shifts from one front paw to the other, like she can’t make up her mind which way she wants to turn to back up from the door. I got high fives and Sass; it’s a big production number and it makes my jaw hurt from smiling. She’s 13 and a half years old and has several enormous fatty tumors so this might turn into a “foster fail,” – keeping my fingers crossed – because no one wants to adopt such an old dog. I love her to death, silly old (Teddy) bear.

I’ll see if I can figure out how to send a pic; she’s far from camera shy.

I turned on CNN to find out about today’s insurrection. Not a peep about it. It seems to have fizzled out badly. Such happy news, for a change.

Make an account at imgbb.com or some other image hosting site, upload your photos there, then post links here. If you’ll put each link on separate lines, the photos themselves should show up (may not work with Google services).

Hope to see Teddy soon!

Seriously. I’ve been hanging around here and other sites all day to get some news, but so far it’s a nothingburger. Definitely smile-worthy!

Shopping in a warehouse store, just standing by the cart waiting for my husband to catch up, a lady walked past and complimented my (pretty, but nothing special) shirt.

Maybe it’s because I’ve spent a lot of time lately lamenting how utterly shitty many people treat their fellow humans, but this stranger’s words made me smile way longer than the 15-second encounter with her.

Grandson played soccer today and he scored, Yay!

I did a crock pot pork roast and made pulled pork sandwiches for everyone and received thanks and yummies. Can’t ask for more than that.

And when you do (Imgur is a good way, but preferably navigate to the actual JPG image and post that link, not the “album” link) then post it to the ongoing Pet Pictures thread.

One thing I’ll say in that connection is I sometimes surprise myself when I browse through the pictures in that thread, and suddenly realize that – completely unconsciously – I’m smiling! :slight_smile: It’s mostly dogs that do it for me, but then, I’m practically an honorary dog mysef!

I got refunds on two items that I had ordered online and needed to return. Stories too long to tell here, but neither refund was a slam dunk, by any means. Each one took some persuading on my part. One was a $552 refund, and the other one was $92. Woo-hoo! Free money! (Yeah, I had already spent it, but it feels like free money.)

Also, both things had been hanging over my head, and I was dreading the long involved process of working my way through the various levels of CSRs until I got high enough where someone could make a decision. But happily the first person I communicated with in each instance was able to take care of the refund.

Should I go browse through my amazon wish list? Or just have a nice bath, a cup of tea, and not spend any money – even free money – for the rest of the day…

The one and only

:melt:

That is one happy dog!

I love his eye-patch.

I also love the asymmetrical eye makeup. What a bee-you-tee-full doggie!

Teddy is adorable. I want him.

After a long day at the hospital chock full of covid patients I go home and plunk down in my chair and my kitten jumps up into my lap and nuzzles my face.
That definitely did it.

I have evidently mis-gendered Teddy. I hope she’ll let it slide, just this once.

What’s her breed? She looks a little like my Aussie.

This guy walking his horse (along with his dog) definitely made me smile today:

Google Photos