AIBU to delight in life's silly little pleasures?

[UnderperformingSeal]

It's been a fraught three months. There's been a lot of venting on here about people's inability to understand what isolation is, or what 2m looks like, or whatever other COVID-19-related stress was bothering us at the time. The light at the end of the tunnel might well turn out to be an oncoming train. If we aren't all at the end of our tethers by now, we can't be far away.

However, despite the pandemic and its restrictions on normal life there are always things from which we can still derive joy; obvious ones like clean bedsheets, a leisurely shower or long soak when the house is empty, or biting the chocolate off a *KitKat finger. And then there are the less obvious ones: today I caught myself drumming the teaspoon on the foil lid of a fresh jar of coffee before piercing it (which too is a joy in itself), and I realised I do this every time I open one. It's silly, and serves no purpose, but it's far more pleasing than it should be to a grown adult and I can't help myself. Further introspection revealed that it isn't my only daft little foible, as I am also prone to coiling those wire ties that hold cables tidy in electronics packaging around my finger to form a spring, and tapping my tweezers on my finger and holding them up to my ear like they're a tuning fork. There are probably others.

I may be a tiny bit mental, or perhaps this sort of idiosyncratic nonsense is perfectly normal. So, Mumsnet, which is it?

• insert the confectionery and dismemberment method of your choice; there was a thread recently on here in which KitKat proved surprisingly divisive.

[Cam2020]

A coffee in the garden on my own in the morning
Reading a good book
Flowers in the garden
The smell of orange fragrance oil in my vaporiser. I'm totally obsessed with buying new oils.

[LadyMonicaBaddingham]

When the bunny is waiting by the door of her palatial hutch in the morning so I'll let her out to roam the garden. She's a bit of an antisocial moo the rest of the time, but I have a nice little moment with her every morning ☺

[Goldenhedgehogs]

Initially in lockdown I planted shedloads if vegetable seeds, this was a moment of madness as I don't like vegetables that much but had sort of figured that if the world went to pot it was my responsibility as a mother to get some vaguely green things into my kids. I still hate vegetables but I now know I can grow cauliflowers like a professional. They look gorgeous and am feeding lots of lovely cabbage white caterpillars who no doubt appreciate it for more than I or the kids ever will. Watching them chomp my organic veg so eagerly makes me feel less guilty for not eating veg and happy I am contributing to butterflies and birds. It gives me lots of pleasure seeing them chomp through all lined up like soldiers. I was so proud I posted them on instagram

[MinnieAnonyMouse]

I'm wfh and my little pleasure is I try to get away from my computer even just for ten minutes at lunchtime and sit on the doorstep and feel the sun on my face. I love the sun and the heat and never get out of the office normally - and even then, there's nowhere nice to sit (busy city centre).

When you have a slurp of your tea and it is the perfect temperature - almost hot enough to burn your mouth but not actually burning it.

The feel of sand under your toes when it's just the right amount of hot and feels like your feet are warming you up from the bottom. I miss the beach.

And cuddling DH. I love seeing him so much more now I'm wfh and don't have a ridiculous commute.

[Purplephonecover]

Driving through puddles. Lifts my (simple) spirits

[dementedma]

What is the title of the Jo Bell poem please?

[CuntyMcBollocks]

The little pleasures in life are what it's all about. Mine are:

Jumping/dancing around the kitchen to 70's music with my 5 year old DD

Having a 5 min soak in the bath all by myself before my DD decides to jump in (along with Barbie, Ken, their dog and the next door neighbour)

Summer evenings sitting in the garden with a couple of beers

Making my DD belly laugh

Enjoying a curry on the rare night that I am all alone, whilst watching a horror film

[chipfork]

I have wanted a swing seat for garden and a fan for bedroom for years (decades in fact) but always had other things to pay for that were more important, got both this week and am so pleased, they didn't disappoint after all the wait!

[Bargebill19]

My hedge consisting of wisteria, honey suckle, several rambling roses, toe flowering butterfly shrubs and sweet peas.
Eating an icepop.

[Immigrantsong]

Indeed. I love the smell of freshly brewed coffee in the morning and biting into crisp toast with butter and jam.

The feeling after you finish a workout and you are drenched in sweat and know you have a lovely shower coming up. Then all clean and knees feeling a bit like jelly from the tiredness.

Cuddling up with the kiddies. Smelling their baby ness and squeezing them. Tickling them to oblivion and hearing them laugh. Melting when they say I love you mummy and cuddle you back and shower you with kisses.

Cleaning and having a lovely clean and tidy house.

[JumpingFrogs]

Clean sheets
Hanging washing on the line and then watching it fluttering in the breeze
A cup of my favourite tea
Watching the birds in our garden
Spiders webs covered in dew or frost
Freshly picked raspberries
Runner beans from the garden
The raucous sound of the jackdaws that nest outside my bedroom
The sound of crows or rooks
Early morning or dusk walks around my beautiful town
Stag beetles
Frogs and newts
Doing a really tough sudoku puzzle in my weekend newspaper
Eating cheese
Blasting out songs from my youth (and singing along)
Curling up to watch a box set with one of my kids
Guinea pigs “popcorning” in the garden
Really dark, stormy skies
Anteaters - their strange shape makes me smile
Being in a library or a bookshop
The smell of the streets after it’s rained
The smell of my babies’ heads (I still like the smell even though they are adults now!)

[TokyoSushi]

I got some handcream from Home Bargains. It was 79p, it smells of strawberries and the most exciting thing is, it's in a little jar, like a lip balm! It smells divine and makes me very happy!

[UnderperformingSeal]

The few moments of glorious coolness after you turn your pillow over.

[PatriciaBateman]

I like to lie in a bath with nothing but my belly button sticking out (tells you something). Then I use my wet finger to kind of make a popping sound by tapping off my belly button. I imagine this as the rhythm to a new song that is an instant hit, making me rich and famous and loved in one fell swoop.

[katmarie]

My DH and I have a wormery, which is making us lots of lovely compost. He and I named the worms this evening, and decided that Wormington is the leader of the worm gang, wears a tiny red bandana, and got the idea for doing so from watching Rocky. Cos worms are into rocky movies. Obvs. I'm pretty sure i'm not ready to adult yet either, but it did amuse me.

[Shatandfattered]

I like playing with a huge big safety pin that would be used for old fashioned Terry towelling nappies. I have had this pin kicking around the house for ages now and I like to just sit and nearly unclip it then let the jagged edge slide perfectly back into the closed end. I do it for hours!

[Shatandfattered]

Peeling wallpaper or labels off in one perfect piece!
When I'm trying to get a litre of water in first thing i pour a pint that I drop my dispersible vitamin in, gulp it down then follow immediately with another pint which I count ten gulps of.... It's got to be ten... I've been known to choke or lose my breath and pour another glass but I've got it down to an art now and it just feels so perfectly right and a great achievement before I've even brushed my teeth.
Taking my daily contact lenses out and letting it dry on the tip of my finger then crushing it to pieces.

[Coffeekisses]

None of these are silly enough though! OP I know exactly what you mean. I do the coffee drumming also love that first “boof” as the spoon pops through the foil top.
Mine is using a staple gun at work for wall displays, second only to ripping down old displays :-) cutting out and laminating are also simple pleasures for me.
At home I LOVE peeling lint off the filter of the tumble dryer. DH loves emptying the water tray (it’s a condenser) and also emptying out old coffee beans, pressed into perfectly formed little circles, from the coffee machine. This is making me think that clearly adults need sensory play too!

[morriseysquif]

Summer rain on parched earth

Cup of tea in bed reading anything, phone, book, kindle

Wind chimes

Cuddles with DC

Time by myself

Red wine

That rare high you get on a run whilst listening to an amazing tune

[UnderperformingSeal]

@Coffeekisses no, you're right, they aren't! I mean, they're all nice to read
and should absolutely be enjoyed, but I would love more of the kind of silliness that @Shatandfattered talks about to reassure myself I'm not bonkers share the fun of our daft habits.

[Shatandfattered]

Glad to hear my habits are regarded as strange enough to meet the expectations desired I have more Im sure! I'll be back!

[SugarMiceInTheRain]

Totally with you on those little things like the coffee jar foil.

[Shatandfattered]

Remembered another few.
Before I got rid of XDP, he was an awful snorer so foam earplugs were an essential part of life. Each evening before putting them in I'd press them between my forefinger and thumb vertically so they'd collapse in on themselves like little discs. I'd repeat this until I felt just the right level of satisfaction then roll them the opposite way and insert them into my ears. If they expanded and I didn't feel the right amount of my ear canal being "filled" I'd remove and start the whole process again. Reading that back I now realise I have just perfectly described some sort of rather graphic ear masturbation and foreplay
A new one for me is finding the glory of the tool that is the leather awl! Bought one for my daughter as we are building minute DIY houses which requires you to have all kinds of crafty thingmybobs.... Anyway, I absent mindedly gently stabbed it directly into the carpet and the feeling and sound of it piercing perfectly through the backing of the carpet was AMAZING!

Perhaps too many of my guilty pleasures are focused on pointy things being inserted and slid into places oh well

[BogRollBOGOF]

Popping bubble wrap
Singing in the car with a warm breeze through your hair
Holding the button on the car key so the windows mgically open
Getting soaked through to your pants in torrential warm rain and you can't get wetter so may as well skip through puddles
Getting an awesome song while running and having a sing and a run-dance (fortunately I tend to run in the countryside)
Scratching DS2's back so he goes all gooey and goosebumpy

DS2's ditzy randomness. Yesterday's was getting the can of squirty cream and trying to squeeze it like toothpaste then DS1 showed him how to do it. Then I squirted DS1 on the nose. Then squirted into his mouth.
My housemate at uni was so thrilled to buy her own squirty cream for spraying in directly

[UnderperformingSeal]

@Shatandfattered you are my new *heroine!

• or hero, delete as applicable