Thankful Veteran's Day

I am grateful for many things today :

1. Time with my family

2. A day to wear sweats and rest and fight off a cold

3. The general safety of my country

4. The sacrifices of our military service personnel

5. And the sacrifices of their families

6. Living in a free country

7. Cough drops

8. Signs that my son is getting better, not worse

9. 10 hours of sleep last night

10. Home fried potatoes for breakfast

Thankful

Coming down with you cold, so I'm going to dive right in. I am thankful for:

1. My students' enthusiasm for card making today (and their general good-naturedness)

2. The many men and women of the armed services who do jobs I would never want to do

3. My MIL for picking up my sick boy from day care

4. My son's good spirits despite a seemingly constant cough

5. The promise of sleep

6. Mac-n-cheese

7. Starbucks gift cards

8. My husband for putting dinner on the table almost every single night

9. Three-day weekends

10. Sweat pants

Thankful Crafting

Today, my students are creating cards to say thank you to our veterans and our service men and women. As I gathered supplies for this project, I got to thinking about all the craftiness that makes me happy and for which I am grateful:

• Glitter
• Patterened paper
• Acrylic paint
• Glitter
• Cute stamps - especially of bicycles or owls or trees
• Glue - because nothing is more fun that cutting and gluing (or so thinks my son)
• Glitter
• Adhesive-backed rhinestones
• Ribbon
• Glitter
• Embossing powder
• My new Cuttlebug
• Glitter
• My Cricut
• Paper flowers - I used to use them on every project

Did I mention glitter? All these things bring energy and fun into my life. Yes, they are just things, but they are FUN things, are they not?

What makes your day glitter?

A Thankful Reminder to Self: You Got It Good

Lately I have been thinking about responsible shopping, which got me thinking about from where my things originate, which got me thinking about disparities inside  the world, which got me thinking about all that I have that mothers in many countries don't. Most of it pertains to the relative certainty of my life. Nothing in life is completely certain, but it is true that my life breeds fewer questions than it might had I been born elsewhere.

For these reasons, I am dedicating today's thank-full post to the questions I don't have to ask:

~ Will we have clean water tomorrow?

~ Will we have food on the table?

~ Will my daughter get to attend school?

~ Will my children have the freedom to choose their faith?

~ Will my daughter never have to engage in prostitution for survival?

~ Will my children work as slaves?

~ Will my husband have to go to war?

~ Will we have access to medical care?

~ Will my children be allowed to participate in their political system?

~ Will they have the freedom to speak their minds?

What questions do you not have to ask?

Grateful Monday

Today I am grateful for the following:

*  My big news: I am going to China!

*  Hot mint tea

*  Antibiotics for my doggy's ear infection

*  A daughter who is feeling better

*  My new tote bag for work

*  My parents for watching my sick kid

*  The promise of sleep tonight without a dog who is up with a sore ear every hour

*  Dharma Zephyr

*  Central heating

*  Roasted pine nuts from my mom

*  My school's new vice principal for his tact and diplomacy

Are you thankful?

Thankful Snowy Sunday

1) A warm bed

2) Finished plans for my boy's birthday party

3) Happy children

4) Breakfast out with the family (a rare occurrence)

5) My iPod and podcasts

6) An extra hour to tackle my to-do list

7) Albuterol for my sick girl's lungs

8) My parents

9) Yummy Cracker Box omelets

10) My husband for splitting an omelet with me

Thankful Birthday

Another post for Thankful November.

1) A great 41st birthday

2) A productive day

3) A lovely dinner courtesy of my mom: barbecued lamb chops with cranberry sauce and pine nuts; vegetable rice; salad with pears, apples, and blue cheese crumbled on top; my brother's homemade sourdough bread with peach chutney; wine; and spring cake

4) Fun presents: a briefcase, a Cuttlebug with dry embossing cartridges, a journaling book, and a case of various colors of glitter

5) Afternoon naps

6) Afternoon double-tall lattes with an Equal

7) Reading Matilda with Roz

8) The health of my family

9) Playing matchbox cars and stamping with Sawyer

10) Layers of blankets on my bed

Do any of these strike a chord with you?

Thankful Friday

So many things to be thankful for today:

1. Hope for the possibility that a later school start time might actually happen

2. A great meeting to end my work week

3. A dog that seems fine without the pain meds I forgot to give him this morning

4. A full weekend ahead of me to spend with my family

5. My husband for taking my daughter to the doctor so I could attend my meeting

6. Stimulating conversation with colleagues

7. The cute, glittery and buttony picture of a fish my son made

8. My mother-in-law for watching a sick kid for us today

9. A shopping trip at the scrapbooking store with my girl

10. The Sierra Nevada beer that awaits

Blog Your Heart Challenge and Thankful November

One of my favorite blogs is Just Me, My Soldier and our 4 Little Chicks written by the sweet, funny and crafty Stephanie Howell. She has put forth a challenge to other bloggers to "blog your heart," a challenge to blog what's honest, what's real, what's in your heart. And me, I am never one to turn away from a blogging challenge, so here goes:

• I am tired. A lot. It's not my iron level or my thyroid or my blood sugars. At least I don't think so. It's life and not enough quiet time and lack of sleep and too little play. When I first started attending Dharma Zephyr, I had trouble understanding how people could fall asleep while meditating with the group. Now I fight the nods every single week. It's miserable.
• I am buried in paper. At work. On my desk at home. In my craft room. And I hate it. It gives me the shivers. I should put in effort to fix this problem, but I'm tired. (See #1.)
• Recently, my uncle passed away, furthering my desire to connect more with my extended family, to reach out to them, but I haven't. (See #1.)
• I have slowly started losing touch with the outside world. Two years ago, I read the paper cover to cover daily and Newsweek and Time every week. I followed politics (maybe too much). I was in touch. Not so much anymore. We quit Time, and I haven't even opened the last four issues of Newsweek. And you know what? I don't really care. (See #1.)
• I do, however, read crafting blogs and humor blogs and parenting blogs and educational blogs and psychology blogs and dharma blogs. On my phone. Before bed. When I should be sleeping. (See #1.) And I love it.

For this month, I want to focus on that which I feel gratitude for. Here are today's thankful November items:

1. A patient co-teacher
2. Watching Sean the Sheep with the whole family tonight
3. Spending yesterday doing puzzles with Sawyer
4. My parents and Jason's mom for taking care of Roz after school this week
5. My own courage to speak face-to-face with a higher up about what has been really bothering me
6. My higher up for his open-door policy and his ear and his calm demeanor as we disagreed
7. Photoshop Elements for finally running (even though it promptly crashed - at least it was running)
8. Spaghetti for dinner two nights in one week!
9. Time to create a syllabus for my seniors
10. Roz and Sawyer's pictures that they drew for me and their dad
11. A new dentist who didn't make me want to bolt out of the office and who understood all the concerns about my previous dentist. (That's a-whole-nother blog post.)

What are you thankful for?

Thankful November: try again

Sorry about that last post. I can't delete with this app. Anyway, ten things for which I am grateful:

1. The health of my family

2. The warmth of my dog curled up next to me

3. Everything my husband does around the house

4. Dharma Zephyr

5. Holidays

6. Being 40

7. Health insurance

8. Graphjams making me laugh

9. My colleagues

10. Time to read with my kids

Thankful November

There are many things to be thankful for. Here are ten of mine.

Random List of Things That Make Me Happy

1. The softness of a new sweatshirt
2. Reading with my kids
3. Enjoying Roz's sense of humor
4. Baked potatoes with real butter and sour cream
5. Students saying they like the book we're reading in class
6. A child's excitement for Halloween
7. A good cup of coffee
8. Dharma talks with friends
9. Students excited about their senior projects
10. Eskimo kisses