Appreciate the luxuries you enjoy.

I read and post comments on Frugal Millionairess. Her last post inspired this line of thinking, but it's one I indulge in often.

This morning it was raining heavily. The rain was keeping me lulled into inaction in my bed, but I had to use the toilet and I have been in the habit of waking early to get a head start on the kids and check my email etc. So I got up. I checked my email and read a few blogs. What a luxury, here on a tropical island to have internet service and virtual conversations with people half a world away from me, people I would probably never meet in "real" life. I read FM's blog. I walked up stairs to check on my little ones. I admired the way the five year old even sleeps with the expression of royalty on her face, large eyes heavily lidded, raising her eye brows slightly in a bored curiosity (still sleeping) when I turned the light on. [Wee! Electricity, the power of light at my finger tips] I smiled at the way the three year old rolled in direction of her sucking thumb when I called her name (don't bother me, Mom, I am still sleeping, this gesture says). And I feel a deep appreciation that my children are safe indoors on this rainy day. That I have the luxury of sleeping in should I choose to, or better yet, puttering around with my craft stuff until the kids wake on this wet wet morning. No heading out to the field to work, no driving through insane traffic, no waiting in lines or worrying about leaks in a roof or child care. Today I am free of obligations. Because the teenager cannot work in the rain, I also have a built in babysitter And a thousand luxurious choices to make. Even if one of those is to buy groceries and drive to the gas station sans children. I even count singing at the top of my lungs in my minivan as an especially delicious luxury. It's better than crying for getting all the evil out.

I can enjoy a day of luxuries, continuing with a Japanese coffee. They are expensive from the machines (110¥ @ 87¥ to the dollar -at the local grocery 90¥), but I bought a case of them at 1/3 the cost [from the commissary, which carries popular local items], and still have some from that sale two months ago. Having the case here at home also keeps me from buying them from the machines I pass throughout the day [to say these machines are "ubiquitous" would be putting it lightly], I am able to say, "You have those at home, and you already paid for them."

This is one of the games I play with myself (more on this in a future post) to give myself perspective, and make an effort to be satisfied even if I don't feel it.

Now, your turn: what, dear reader, dear Sisters and Friends, are your everyday luxuries? (And sisters, if I know you, you are thinking "indoor plumbing". Am I right?)