As usual I’m joining with Emily of Nerd in the Brain (and others) for Three Things Thursday’. As she says…

*three things that make me smile: an exercise in gratitude – feel free to steal this idea with wild abandon and fill your blog with the happy*

First, I’m always pleased when a worn-out object can be repaired or have a damaged part replaced. Who would have thought, though, that it would be possible to get a replacement blade for our 15-year-old potato peeler? In fact we were so pleased that we bought a second peeler… those boxes of apples can now be peeled in half the time.

The joy of peelers

Second, money. Now I know that happiness often comes from the little things in life, but let’s face it, being financially secure means we can enjoy the little things rather than constantly worrying about where our next meal is going to come from, how we are going to cover the rent/mortgage and whether we can afford to switch the heating on. Over the past year or so my much-repaired old computer has progressively been failing – broken mouse key, deteriorating keyboard, problem with overheating because of faulty power supply, software so old it is no longer supported, inability to open new format files for work… the list goes on. Anyway, when the power supply connecter came off in my hand yesterday I decided to finally admit defeat and, because we have money, we were able to just go out and buy me a brand new laptop. Hopefully it will last as many years as the old one and I won’t need to spend any more money on technology for a good long time. I still feel a bit guilty that I can’t keep the old one going, but it’s essential for my livelihood, so there really wasn’t an alternative

Third, I made this little chap and I think he’s rather fun. He’s made from yarn oddments and stuffed with organic kapok. He’s going off to Ludlow Library along with the Fair Isle mice from last week… and then possibly on a library tour (lucky bear)

snug bear

So, those are three things making me smile this week – what about you?