These are a few of my favorite things!

Favorite useful movie quotes.....Gone in Sixty Seconds " I'm a little tired, I'm a little wired and I think I deserve a little appreciation". Lost in Space " Danger, Will Robinson, Danger!"

In the movie "The Wedding Planner" someone used the phase "Is there's a problem in the room", and since then my best friend and I will use that whenever there is a situation, such as a boss who is being unreasonable, only we understand, and start giggling.

Oh yes, Jacquie Lawson's video cards, they are really nice. My boss uses that website for all the holidays and birthday greetings :)

SendMe, thanks for the compliments, but if you read between the lines, you can see that's what I'm trying to do now. If you saw me last after I left the hospital, you wouldn't think me to be a very lovely person. I'm sure the discharge planner who was trying to manipulate me didn't think so, although in the long run her opinion of me doesn't matter at all.

I've just posted something on one of Jude's threads that you may enjoy. Have you ever seen Jacquie Lawson's artful video cards? They're extraordinary. Her site is .....jacquielawson with the standard prefixes and suffixes (eliminated her here to avoid having the link deleted).

Amazing, Garden Artist! Your answers are not off topic at all. You must be one of those lovely people who abound in wonderful thoughts and activities. Truly, a real artist. Thank you for sharing a beautiful part of yourself. You have lightened my day.

Great topic!

Unfortunately, chocolate tops the list for immediate gratification and redirection of thoughts, but it generally results in a headache later.

Best of all therapy though is getting out in the yard and gardening, or even just puttering around. Years ago a little rabbit became so friendly it accepted whole wheat bread from my hand. Then one day it moseyed up to my foot and just took a nap! The contact and connection with this furry little creature was just so soothing.

Once a butterfly landed on my hand. It was an amazing experience.

Music is of course high on the list. Reading, whether garden magazines or favorite author's novels is right up there.

Garden crafting, needlework (embroidery and quilting) are also favorite activities, as are cooking and kitchen puttering. Especially enjoyable is just impromptu activity - making something special - hearty soups in the winter, fresh veggie salad combinations in the summer.

Sometimes just a glass or cup of heated cider is enough to rechannel thoughts.

Sending cards to family and friends is a nice way to start the day. Just looking through beautiful cards is relaxing, writing the message helps the "reach out and touch" need, and the envelopes after decoration with lovely address labels, coordinating theme stamps to the extent possible, and other colorful stamps are nice just to view and indulge in some real enjoyment of the blend of colors and objects.

I usually choose a theme especially for the person. A relative who also loves military planes get a card with a Purple Heart or similar postage stamp, VFW or other military charity address label, with plenty of either stamps or glued on cut-outs of our favorite planes. It's not quite as exhilarating as going to an air show, but it creates that same sense of excitement.

Rubber stamps used to be a favorite for decorating envelopes. I had two of a charming Victorian cottage, in the summer and in the winter. For summer correspondence, I used rubber stamps and various colored ink pads of flowers; for winter I used reindeer, snowflakes and sleighs. Sometimes the envelopes were so pretty I didn't want to send them!

This is a little off the chosen topic, but I'm speaking also to those things that give me pleasure and induce relaxation.

I'm anxious to see where this post goes, thinking it will around and around as we each share and stray a little bit from the original questions.

Movie: Mumford. Topic: a fake therapist is teaching his patient to be positive, or she won't get better, so he says: "Are you POSITIVE your Mom's a b--ch?