Thankful Day 6 and 7

Today I am doubling up on my thankful list since I will be leaving shortly to go out of town for Thanksgiving.

I am thankful for my freedom and those who serve and those who have given their lives to preserve this freedom.

Last, I am thankful for my faith which carries me through each day. I know that ultimately God is in charge and he will be with me every step of the way. Having faith that God is in control helps me through all of the ups and downs in life. For that I am extremely thankful. Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours and may you remember not only today but all year long what you are truly thankful for.

Thankful Day 5

Many years ago my husband gave me one of the best Christmas presents ever. My first pair of Dansko clogs. Since that first pair of black clogs, I have added a brown pair, a red pair and a blue pair. I live in these from September to April and only retire them for flip flops during the summer. So today I am thankful for my good old comfy Dansko's.

Thankful Day 4

Target is perhaps one of my favorite places so it is befitting that today I choose it to list as what I am thankful for. Where else can you go to get just paper towels and spend $50.00 (okay maybe I shouldn't be so thankful for that)? I love walking by the end caps where they keep all of the clearance deals. And the dollar section at the front of the store has some great stuff! Not to mention that they have some great home decor items for a fraction of what you'd pay at a department store. Yes, I love Target and am very thankful that I have one less than 10 minutes from my house. What did I ever do without it?

Thankful Day 3

Especially this time of year, I am thankful for Starbucks. So on cold, windy mornings, when I am out on errands, I treat myself to a Skinny Caramel Latte. Mmmm, I wish I had one now.

Thankful Day 2

My day two picture takes me to one of the many bookshelves in my house. There I find many, many books. I am thankful for them. Books take me to places I might never go. They challenge me to see things I might have never seen. I open them and find joy, comfort and hope in their words.

Day One Thankful

Besides the obvious things like friends and family, I am thankful for my dog. He is always glad to see me when I come home, even if I have only been gone for 10 minutes. He never complains that I am in a bad mood and wants to be around me anyway. He "talks" to me and I feel sure he is telling me how much he loves me in his own doggy talk.

High Seas Sullivan Woods

Boykin Spaniel Extraordinaire

Thankful

With only one week until Thanksgiving, I think that it is appropriate to reflect on things that I am thankful for. Over the next week I am going to take one picture a day of something that I am thankful for. I will post those pictures at the end of each day.

In the meantime, I got this email sometime ago and saved it because it is a reminder that although things might not always be wonderful, we always have something to be thankful for.

Be thankful for the clothes that fit a little too snug, because it means you have enough to eat.
Be thankful for the mess you clean up after a party, because it means you have been surrounded by friends.
Be thankful for the taxes you pay, because it means you're employed.
Be thankful that your lawn needs mowing and your windows need fixing, because it means you have a home.
Be thankful for your heating bill, because it means you are warm.
Be thankful for the laundry, because it means you have clothes to wear.
Be thankful for the space you find at the far end of the parking lot, because it means you can walk.
Be thankful for the lady who sings off-key behind you in church, because it means you can hear.
Be thankful when people complain about the government, because it means we have freedom of speech.
Be thankful for the alarm that goes off in the early morning hours, because it means you're alive.

Claringitis

Harrison does not like to do homework and will make up every excuse under the sun in order to avoid doing it. Thankfully he doesn't have much. Today he was to read a book aloud to me. When I asked him if he was ready to do his reading, he said, "I can't I have claringitis." When I started laughing he must have thought he needed to clarify himself because he cleared his throat and said "See it's all scratchy and that's why I have claringitis."

Thought for the day

I came across this quote on Kerri Bradford's blog and found it quite thought provoking, so I am sharing.

"Dreams are how we figure out where we want to go.
Life is how we get there."

If you get a chance, visit her blog. She is an incredible photographer and scrapbook artist.

Permanent Ink

Harrison told David today that he was going to get a bike and some dart guns for Christmas. David asked him how he knew that. Harrison said, "Because I wrote my list in permanent ink".

That reminds me of this story I use to read when I was a child about this little girl who had a magic pencil. Whatever she drew actually came to life. I can remember wishing that I had one of those magic pencils. Oh, the things I would have made for myself.

Now wouldn't it be great if there really were magic pencils and markers. If I wanted a new pair of shoes, I would whip out my handy pencil, sketch away and tadah, new shoes for me. No more scouring the stores in search of the perfect shoe, with just the right height heel and color. Or if I had that marker, I could make a list of chores for the kids to do and guess what, it would be done.

If only it were that easy.

a knock-off

I have been down for a week now with the shingles. Anyone who has never had this should pray that they don't get it. It is truly the second most painful thing ever next to childbirth.

I haven't been out much these past few days so tonight after I dropped Haley off at swim team, Harrison and I ran over to the store. When we were getting ready to leave he picked up one of those plug-in video games that was by the checkout and asked me how much it was. I told him it was to much money. He said "How much is that?" I explained that it was $16.99. He replied "Oh my gosh, what a knock-off!" I took me a second to realize he meant "rip-off".

Murphy's Law

Do you ever just have one of those weeks? Like the kind where you wish you had just stayed in bed because it doesn't seem that much is going right? Well, it's been one of those weeks. Oh sure I have tons to be thankful for (like the fact that my husband has a job and I am in good health and there is food on my table) but sometimes it's hard to look past the pile of crap sitting in front of you. Know what I mean?

Like for instance the fact that I got a brand new computer this past weekend and the screen started getting lines all over it when it came out of sleep mode. So I contact Dell who manufactured the computer and was told I had to contact Best Buy where I bought the computer. So I contact Best Buy and they told me to bring it in. So I hauled the whole shebang (hard drive and 24" flat screen monitor) back to Best Buy to find out the video card was bad (or so they said).

After standing there for almost 2 hours with 3 children running amok in the store, they finally found me a replacement which was being held for some other guy who ironically was having the same EXACT problem with his. I reluctantly took it thinking surely this one had to be different. When I got home, the stinkin' door to the DVD drive was broke. So I packed up the whole thing and drove halfway across town to the other Best Buy to pick up a new one.

When I was standing in line this guy walks up behind me and asks why I am returning the computer and I explained the situation to him. Turns out he was the one who was having the same problem with his computer and I had taken the one they were holding for replacement. I told him it was a good thing he hadn't gotten that one as the DVD door was broken. I got the new one set up and guess what? The screen started staying blank when coming out of sleep mode. I am banging my head on the wall here.

To top all that off, we got a letter yesterday from these jerks we bought our house from and they want us to pay back $400 because the closing attorney miscalculated the taxes (in 2007) and gave us more credit than we should have gotten (can you say greedy?).

And then last night my back started hurting and hasn't gotten better today. Might be a kidney stone or maybe a strained muscle from hauling the computer across town twice. Who knows but it hurts and Ibuprofen isn't helping.

Just way too much for me this week. I could use a Xanax but somehow the things got lost when we were moving. See Murphys' Law.

Second post for today

Happy Birthday to my hubby.

He is celebrating his 40 something birthday today. Hope it's a great one.

The winner is...

Monday's are always hard for Harrison. After being at home for two days he just doesn't like getting up and going to school. Today was no exception. It started with him whining about his stomach hurting when he was upstairs getting dressed. After going through this weekly, I know his tricks so rather than comfort him, I told him he would probably feel better after getting something to eat.

Downstairs while eating breakfast, he started whining about not wanting to go to school. When he realized that we weren't buying it, he turned it up a notch and started full fledged crying. After a couple of minutes of crying, he choked a little. Seeing that I acknowledged this (I got up to get him a drink) he started trying to make himself gag and cough.

It was truly a performance worthy of an Oscar. It's just too bad I didn't have the video camera nearby.

His performance didn't get him out of school although it did make us late for the bus. Thankfully they caught it at the next stop and by then the tears were gone.

Happy Halloween

Halloween is never dull around here. We live across the street from a man who would put Chevy Chase on the movie Christmas Vacation to shame. It takes him weeks to put out all the Halloween decorations. People drive here to see all of his decorations. He dresses up each year and hands out buckets of candy and toys to the kids who come. This year, he was Uncle Sam. Here he is with Holden (sumo wrestler), Harrison (werewolf) and our neighbors.

Haley spent the night at her best friend's house but we went over after trick or treating and got her picture.

And here is the whole Halloween house.........