HAPPY 101 or 10 THINGS THAT MAKE ME HAPPY ..........

My dear friends, Simone @ The Bottom of the Ironing Basket and Lori @ Wildflowers have both bestowed on me ...............

..........The Happy 101 Award. Many thanks you two, for my first award of 2010. I now have to tell you 10 things that make me happy, so here goes ...............

The first thing that makes me happy are my children. They have been the best. They have never given me any trouble and have been a delight. They have given me so much pleasure over the years and I have loved looking after them. At this point, I think that I should also mention my husband and all of the other members of my family, too !!!!

The next thing that makes me happy is my home. I love being in it, decorating it and, looking after it. We are, after all, just caretakers of our homes. Someone has been looking after my home since 1895. One day, someone else will bring up a family in it but, for now, I look after it. It has been known that, after decorating a room, I turn all of the lights on, go outside, run over the road and see what it looks like !!!!

I love music and music makes me really happy. I was brought up in a house that was full of music. My Dad was a musician and played saxophone and clarinet and my Mum was a singer. Just before a gig, my Dad would limber up on his saxophone, under the stairs. This had something to do with the acoustics !! We would all sit and watch films like 'The Glenn Miller Story' and 'The Jazz Singer' and Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. My son has followed in his grandparents footsteps. He was musical in the womb !! and studied music at University. He now works in the music business. Our house was always full of music, from classical to hard rock and from Kylie to Nirvana, depending on their musical tastes of the time. My music taste is just as diverse. It has to be loud. There's nothing better for lightening your mood than playing music in your car and singing at the top of your voice !!

My friends make me really happy. There's nothing nicer than lunch or dinner with good friends and changing the world or discussing the trials and tribulations of life.

I am lucky that I have the disposition of liking good and bad weather. I don't think that I could live in a country that had hot weather, all of the time. I love the rain. How nice is it to be snuggled up in your warm bed and hearing the rain beat against the window pane ?. I like being out in it too and getting wet. By the way, I absolutely LOVE hot weather, too !!

As much as I like company, being alone makes me happy too. It's a good time for contemplation and reflection. I really like my own company and am comfortable with it.

Something that doesn't make me happy is housework but it's something that has to be done and I do it reluctantly. ...... but when it's all done , there's nothing nicer than ..........

.......... going out and buying a big bunch of flowers and taking them home for that final, finishing touch. Flowers make me happy.

This is a bit slushy, but I do love giving presents. I like thinking what people would like, I like wrapping them beautifully and I like seeing their faces when they open them. Don't get me wrong. I also LOVE receiving them too, but, giving makes me happy.

While I am writing this post, it is snowing and, we are supposed to have the coldest winter for 100 years. Snow does make me happy. There's something so special, when you wake up to that strange silence and, when you look out of the window you're normal surroundings have been turned into a wonderful, white wonderland, and it all looks so pretty.

Laughing obviously makes me happy. The two go hand in hand. My friends and I laugh all of the time. It is the best medicine in the world and I suggest that you all laugh at least once a day. Dr. Jackie's orders !!

............... and the final thing that makes me REALLY happy is Sgroppino. It is a 'digestivo' drunk mainly in the Venetian area of Italy. It is bright, fresh and clean and is made by whipping together Italian Prosecco, lemon sorbet and vodka and,I can tell you that, after a few of them, I am the happiest girl in the world !!!!!!

Oooops.... I got so carried away I've given you eleven things that make me happy !!!! I am obviously feeling extra happy today. I hope that I haven't broken any rules. Let's hope that the blogging police don't come and take me away !!

Right, now I have to pass the award on so here goes :

Luiza @ Feelings
Maggie @ The White Farmhouse
Susie @ The Mill House

Gigi @ The Magpie's Fancy

Ange @ Signed By Ange

Julie @ Being Ruby

Mise @ Pretty Far West

Jane @ My Pear Tree House

If you girls feel so inclined, we would all like to hear about the 10 things that make you happy

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FORGET YOUR TROUBLES, COME ON, GET HAPPY.

Jackie