Pollyanna Ain't Got Shit On Me!

According to the source texts I am currently studying for an essay, expressing gratitude can boost our moods.

I could do with a bit of a mood boost at the moment, so I thought it might be useful to list the things I am grateful for:

• I have the world's most beautiful, happy, perfect child. I know you think yours is cute, but mine is the best. She is perfect in every way, and I love her like burning bush fires and chewing gum stuck in my hair. Every time I look at her - even when she is delighting in throwing her breakfast all over the floor, or wiping her snotty nose over my last clean pair of trousers - I remember just how incredibly, blindingly lucky I am to have her. 

• I have some amazing friends. Usually, it's the people you really wouldn't expect much from (not because they're crap, but because they have busy lives of their own, or their own traumas to deal with) who turn up at your door with a friendly smile, a shoulder to cry on, a lift to the shops, a cake. Sometimes it's the person you assume to be only a casual acquaintance who helps you through the darkest of nights.

• I have a roof over my head - and it no longer leaks! I may live in what many deem to be the rougher estate around here, but I'm in the centre of town, my neighbours are reasonable and we have a massive park just over the road.

• After 13 months of constantly feeling that my hair is dirty, I finally have a shower over my bath! This is a Big Deal for me; I cannot tell you how much I love being able to have a shower in the mornings.

• Having a small child means that I get a certain amount of lee-way with the housework. I'm no longer a slovenly disaster area; I'm a mum. The constant mess is more or less expected. Peanut butter on every surface is a given. As long as there's no obvious mould, I can basically say goodbye to the houseproud stress I've never been too fond (or capable) of any way.

• On top of being the most awesomest, bestest, perfectest child ever, S is also fairly independent. She can usually be left to her own devices long enough for me to do the washing up or make the bed (or dick about on Facebook). She has probably learned this from necessity, but it's still something I am eternally grateful for, being as I am, alone in this parenting lark. Now all I need is for her to learn not to follow me in to the bathroom...

• Having this blog has afforded me opportunities to try out things I wouldn't normally have thought of or afforded. Like the photobook I reviewed the other day, or the child-friendly paint I have yet to use in my kitchen. I'm quite lucky, really.

• My sister is pregnant, meaning S will have a cousin 16 months younger than her - the perfect age for shenanigans! We're already planning all the fun stuff we're going to do with them as they grow up!
• S also has two older cousins, who are 2 and 4 years older than her - just right for teaching her mischief!

• I might moan about going to work, and being knackered and what have you, but actually my job is not half bad. The people I work with are a friendly bunch, and between working bloody hard, we also laugh a lot.

And yes, I am definitely procrastinating, and writing this post instead of writing an essay on happiness. What of it?