I’ve spent a good bit of this week trying to go deeply into denial over the van, which we have learned is quite messed up and in need of expensive repairs.* So far I’ve been rearranging our bedroom furniture and making giant sandwiches for Rockford and reorganizing what was once the Closet of Doom and is now the Closet of Slight Chaos That Will/Might Be Lovely Once I Have It Completely Unloaded and Reloaded Again For The Third Time.

And now, while “Sesame Street” is still occupying the children, I will try to cobble together my list of Favorite Things, because some of you seem interested. And everything I do, I do it for you.**

OK then.

• Last year, my favorite show was “Chuck.” I think the new season of “Chuck” starts soon, but I’m not sure it’s going to be as great as it was last season, what with the super-spy-Chuck turn of events. So I’m going with the never-yet-disappointing “Friday Night Lights.” (Except for you, Tim Riggins. You just keep breaking my heart. That last decision you made? Very bad.) Runner-up: “Castle.”
• I didn’t list a favorite food last year. I wasn’t going to pick one this year, either, but then I looked up the web site for Favorite Restaurant and: Crab wontons.
• My favorite drink last year was Diet Cherry Dr. Pepper. It’s still up there, but I think water might be my very favorite of them all.
• My favorite song last year was “Be OK,” I think because I was hoping it would be. (And it has been.) This year I’ll choose “Wilco (the song)” because it’s got a good beat and you can dance to it. Also because it makes me smile, and the kids love to sing along to it, and that makes me smile even more. Oh, but I love “People Got a Lot of Nerve,” too. This is almost as hard as the food question.
• My favorite book last year was “Peace Like a River.” It’s still a great book, and I’ll probably read it again this year. I can’t think of a stand-out book from 2009, so here’s a list of some that I enjoyed and what I wrote down about them in my reading journal:
  

  “The Invention of Everything Else,” by Samantha Hunt.
  I started out wondering whether I’d finish this, and I ended up not being able to put it down.

  “Infinite Jest,” by David Foster Wallace.
  I don’t know how to begin to process this book.

  “I Capture the Castle,” by Dodie Smith.

  “The Education of Little Tree,” by Forrest Carter.

  “Out of Sight,” by Elmore Leonard.
  Great dialogue.

  “Run,” by Ann Patchett.
  Started after Rockford and the kids had left for my brother’s wedding. House is silent. Book is lovely.

  “The Book Thief,” by Markus Zusak.
  I saw this on the library shelf and remembered that it had really touched me the first time I read it (12/2007), but I couldn’t remember specifics. So I checked it out again, and once again it walloped me. This book is just heart-breaking.

• Last year, my favorite game was “Rock Band.” I think it still is.
• For favorite restaurant, I’m going with PF Chang’s. I know that it’s a chain and down-with-the-man and up-with-local-businesses and all that, but I love their crab wontons so very much. I even have a warrior card in my wallet. Even though we rarely ever eat there.

I made an Amazon page with a good bit of this stuff and the rest of the family’s, too, if you’d like to learn more about any of it.

*But not so expensive that it would make sense to buy a new car, so please don’t tempt me with that any further than I have already tempted myself. And that’s all I want to say about the van. Ever again. Thank you.

**Look into my eyes. You will see. What. You mean. To me. Also: I think stress makes me a little rambley.