It has been a good while since I joined in with Reasons to Be Cheerful over on Michelle’s blog, but after reading her post last week about why it’s the best linky out there I felt inspired to give it a go again today.

I have a lot to be grateful for this week, and a lot of things making me happy.

A valve broke in our heating system last week, so we went from Friday night to Tuesday afternoon without any hot water in the house. Monday night chez Dorky was like a scene from a comedy film, as we spent an hour boiling saucepans of water on the stovetop to fill up the bath with. Our cruddy old hob is so slow that by the time we got through to the bathroom with a new pan full, the water from the last batch of pans was already cold, but eventually we managed a tepid six inches in the tub, which the three of us shared. Thankfully the plumber managed to get things fixed on Tuesday afternoon, and I have taken a moment to feel very grateful for every lovely hot shower I’ve had since.

Yesterday DorkySon and I headed in to London for a catch up with Penny from Being Mrs C and Emily from The Start Up Wife – two friends who have made that transition from being ‘friends in the computer’ to proper friends. It’s always a delight to see our kids playing nicely with each other – DorkySon and Little Miss C always end up making each other howl with laughter, usually at my expense – and this visit had the added bonus of meeting Emily’s beautiful six week old daughter. Lunch somehow turned into a three and a half hour visit – in the middle of which DorkySon said ‘all you mummies ever do is chat chat chat’. He’s right, that’s exactly what we do, and I am so grateful to have friends who I can do that with!

Finally, I am super grateful this week for YOU! The people who read this blog. It still shocks me that people take time out of their busy lives to read my posts, to comment and to share them with their own friends, but it makes me very happy too. I am so thrilled and honoured to have found out recently that I am a finalist in the Outstanding Category of the MAD Blog Awards, and a finalist in the Commentary category of the BritMums Brilliance in Blogging Awards. Thank you very much indeed to everyone who voted for me, I am chuffed to pieces and have a very big smile on my face. There are some hugely inspiring and very lovely bloggers in both those categories, and I have no expectation of winning either of them, but I am super-duper excited at the thought of going to the award ceremonies and catching up with some more of those fellow bloggers who I now count as ‘real’ friends and not just friends in the computer.

BritMums Live is a month from now, and I can’t wait. I’m speaking on a panel about bloggers and charities working together, which is very exciting, and just a little bit nervewracking. I don’t doubt that there will be plenty more ‘chat chat chat’ at that, so it’s perhaps just as well that DorkySon will be staying at home.

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