Recently my friend Elisabeth, a fellow blogger, challenged her readers to list ten things every night that they’re grateful for. And whereas I’m not officially accepting the challenge, here’s my list for today:

One. Muscle relaxers. After three days of manual labor (cleaning), my body felt like crap last night. But thanks to some drugs, a little time on the foam roller, and a good night’s rest, I felt much better when I woke up this morning.

Two. Books. In one of my first blog posts, I wrote about gifting myself with two books after I found a Barnes and Noble gift card while cleaning out my belongings. This morning I “finally” finished one of them, What the Bee Knows by PL Travers. Over the last year-and-a-half, I’ve mentioned this book here a number of times (and also spilled coffee on this book a number of times). Anyway, it’s been a long journey, but it’s done. I know I often bewail not finishing books that I start, but in light of the fact that so many people in the world, both historically and currently, CAN’T READ, I’d like to be clear–I’m grateful that I can.

Three. Wasp spray. This afternoon my dad and I tried to jump my antique car, Garfield. My birthday is coming up, and I’d like to celebrate by cleaning him up and getting him out of the driveway. Since he didn’t respond to the jump, getting a new battery may be tomorrow’s project. Anyway, in the process today, we disturbed some wasps who had made their home in Garfield’s bumper. Thankfully, we had some spray. (Bye, suckas.)

Four. Service with a smile. Again in preparation for my birthday, I messaged my friend and hairdresser, Bekah, this afternoon to see if I could get my hair trimmed tomorrow. “What about now?” she replied. It was that easy.

Ask and it is given.

Five. Friends in deed. In order to get my friends’ house ready to sell, we have to get new carpet installed in one of the rooms. However, the room still has some furniture in it, since they didn’t take EVERYTHING with them when they moved. (I’m trying to sell the furniture on Craigslist.) Anyway, the carpet installers are coming next week, so today I called my friend Justin and asked if he could help me move the furniture to another room. “What about now?” he replied. It was that easy.

Ask and it is given.

Six. My voice. This afternoon I ran to Walmart for a few supplies and asked a lady in the Garden Department if I could “donate” a few propane tanks from my friends’ house that they were unable to take on their move. “Sure,” she said. Well, when I went back this evening the lady was gone, and no one was in the department. Not wanting to “bother” anyone, I almost left. But then I thought, I don’t want to drive around with these propane tanks in my car for the next week, so I ended up approaching two different employees until I found one who could help–who was actually GLAD to help.

The lesson: It’s okay to ask for what you want.

Seven. Rainbow vacuum cleaners. Tonight I finally finished the inside of the house I’m cleaning (except for that room that needs new carpet), a task made MUCH easier by my parents’ Rainbow vacuum, which is designed to suck all the crap on the floor into a bowl of water. (When you empty the bowl after vacuuming, it looks like it’s full of drowned rats.) Anyway, someone had to invent this miracle contraption, and some door-to-door salesman had to sell it to my mom all those years ago–so thank you both.

Eight. My health challenges. (I can’t believe I’m saying this.) For quite a while, I blogged about an issue I was having with body odor. The problem, I’m assuming, was the result of a lot of antibiotics I’d taken while trying to get myself out of sinus infection hell. This situation has come and gone for almost two years now, but I feel confident saying that it’s FINALLY under control. (In order to get to this point I had to try more deodorants, soaps, and creams than you could shake a stick at.) WELL, a friend of mine that I haven’t seen in nearly ten years was having a similar problem, EXCEPT the bacteria causing their odor was apparently EATING THEIR SKIN. (Ick.) But get this shit–a while back I told them about all the products I tried and recently found out that one of them ended up SOLVING their problem. So today I thought, Would I go through ALL THAT AGAIN if I knew it meant that I could help keep a long-lost friend’s armpits from rotting out?

Yes, yes I would.

9. Running water. When I got home tonight from working, I took a hot shower. It was glorious. I feel so much better now. So often I get caught up worrying about almost everything, and yet I never worry about whether or not I can take a hot shower. To me, it’s a little thing. And yet a hot shower is considered a luxury by plenty of people in the world. So the little things are the big things.

10. The seasons. Y’all, the march toward winter has begun. I hate the winter. I’m already concerned about how cold my feet will be for months and months. BUT–I’m trying to have a good attitude as the days get shorter and the nights get cooler. Because I do love THIS TIME of year. It’s when I was born, after all. As I drove home tonight, the weather was simply stunning, the perfect mixture of brisk and refreshing.

Yes, each season, each day, has its beauties.