December 27, 2012

• I’m Thankful For:

  • Finally being able to post a thankful blog without trying to squeeze it in between posts that really rank higher than this one does.  Which is crazy, but there ya go.  It’s been a busy few months here at the blog.  Not that anyone really notices, anymore.  Social platforms seem to have taken the business away.  S’a good thing I blog for myself as much as other people!
  • X-mess being over.  The kiddie gift-exchange went really well, our crafts turned out good, the visit to great-grandma’s was nice, the light/firework display on Ariebill was phenomenal, the movies and eggnog/popcorn was delicious… and we freezed our freakin’ BUTTS off at my mom’s X-mess present activity.  ((She took the kids horseback riding ON X-mess day.  Told me it was an indoor arena so it’d be fine, but the arena turned out NOT to be heated, so it was 29 degrees for two hours and kids with no mittens/snowclothes.  We just froze.  Seriously… I haven’t been that cold since the time I got hypothermia… and my kids’ fingers were turning blue.  Mare-y Christmhorse.))  But it’s over.  And it (overall) went good.
  • Everyone loved their gifts.  Another huge plus.  In fact, Aaron was so overcome with his Captain America action doll that he couldn’t speak, he just jumped up and down and squeaked “OOOH!!  OOOH!!  OOOH!!!”  It was really cute.  And Lydia gets to take her N2A card (present) to McD’s tonight to load up Angry Birds, Triple Town, and all sorts of other games to her Nook-now-K’nook.  She’s VERY excited. 
  • Snow yesterday!  It started at 4pm, and we have enough for them to go out and play in it, today.  Now THAT has them geeked.  We’re even skipping a holiday magic show to play outside.  THAT exciting.  ((Which works for me, because I’m betting that magic show will be PACKED with bored school kids, and… I don’t embibe.))
  • The X-mess bonus Brian got yesterday at his Christmas work luncheon. One crisp hundred dollar bill is always nice!
  • Jumbo Oreo White Chocolate balls his co-worker Rick made with his wife and packaged up in a beautiful red tin for our family. They’re so big and rich we had to chop them in half and share!
  • THE DRYWALL IS DONE!!!!  Now I just need paint and a few rollers to do up the walls nicely and then we can put the house back together.  Which… I really need.  In fact, I think the tree has to come down New Year’s day.  I need to reclaim my space, again!!
    
  • Brian getting THREE days off in a row: Sun/Mon/Tues.  It was nice, because usually X-mess is when production plants send their injection molds out to be fixed/cleaned, so typically they worth thru.  But not this year!
  • Pretty Winter Solstice suns all over my fridge.  We had a good time schooling ‘lite’ this week and last.  It just was difficult with present wrapping, trips out to mail gifts/cards, pick up last minute things, X-mess crafts, the additional art…  but we had fun.
    
  • Extra side work for while Brian was home those three days. Brian is excited about keeping the machine going all the while, as he likes to putter a little here and there when he’s home. And for the extra money – it’ll be perfect timing for our camping reservations that have to be made the first of the year!
  • Our charcoal drawings. We stepped them up to every day, for the holidays, and did ‘Twas the Night before Christmas’ in charcoal, a phrase or two a night, and putting our pictures together as little flip-books. I’ll post in a day or so, but I *LOVE* us sitting down with cocoa and candy canes to stir with, and just create!
  • For the first time in years, I’m feeling the urge to get back on the stage.  Oh, I niggled about it when we auditioned for ‘Midsummer Night’s Dream’, but I knew that was going to be a bad deal from BEFORE the audition (based on the instability and mental state of the director… add on that she was pregnant and not only psycho and possessed – literally -  but as an added feature, hormonal).  Then the decent people from my theatre group called and actually invited me to perform in ‘Cinderella’ (no audition required!)… but it was two months after the Midsummer thang, and I was still angry (at the board for ignoring my problem when I addressed them, and… at the board, for taking Psycho on as a board member), and I wasn’t ready to do anything, so I declined.  Anyhow, now that time has passed, I think the best revenge is doing a role, and nailing it impeccably, and proving I’m not down for the count.  I’m antsy to get back onstage.  But because of the board/Psycho… I’m not sure I’ll go back to my theatre group.  There are other, closer shows… and I think a fresh start would be nice.  Have been thinking a lot about it, though.  I love that feeling of heady excitement that drives me to perform… and I haven’t felt it in a long, long time!
    
  • My X-mess miracle.  I was looking for presents, and found this envelope peeking out of a hiding place I use for our summer taxes.  See, our winter tax bill comes for X-mess, and I can’t ever pay it until our income tax return comes… and when we get that $$, I put aside $800 for summer taxes and hide it until we need it in August.  So when I found that envelope this weekend, I thought, “That isn’t right!  I should’ve paid that in August!”  So I fished the envelope out…?  It said “WINTER TAX 2012″ on it.  So I got out our winter tax bill… it’s $900 this year.  The money in that envelope?  $1100.  So I can pay our taxes before the end of the year, AND have two hundred dollars (which… is already earmarked, but helps with a sticky spot, perfectly).  Merry X-mess to me from… me!  Because I have NEVER put aside $$ for winter taxes, before!  That also means 2012 taxes won’t have to come out of this year’s return, either!
  • FOUR DAYS LEFT of my weight-loss challenge.  It’s called the New Years Eve Challenge… and I fell off the wagon this week.  X-mess kicked my booty… we were gone until late three nights in a row, so I didn’t Shred, we’ve had eggnog and chocolate and holiday cookies and cakes… and the drywall guys who needed babysitting (I couldn’t just go downstairs and get on the elliptical for a quarter hour, leaving them with the fine china, so to speak!)… so I have plateau-ed.  My last four weigh-ins have all been at 187.  Which is NICE… not gaining is always good.  But I don’t know if I can ditch those two pounds in four days.
    
  • I am grateful that my MFP group is going to continue… we’re changing our challenge from a New Year’s goal to a Valentine’s Day goal.  So when Brian and I start Shred Level 2 on New Year’s, I’ll have a group to log in with, still… and of the 76 people in our group who initially signed up for the challenge, there’s something like only 20 of us left… nice and intimate.  It kind of feels like the old ‘StorkNet’ days.  Before I became a moderator and saw the behind-the-scenes, that is.  LoL!!
  • I am grateful for my husband.  Seriously, wholly, amazingly blessed.  Brian is… well, when we were young and dumb, I didn’t appreciate him the way I do, now.  I catch myself looking up at him, and… all I want to do is hold him.  He takes my breath away.  He’s handsome and SO easygoing and willing to go along with my craziness, and he’s there to steady me when I stumble and make everything better when my mom makes me want to tear my hair out (she did the whole ‘Something happened, but I can’t tell you, thing that DRIVES me CRAZY)… and then I come home to our place, where we don’t insinuate and are open and honest, with my husband who… he puts everything into perspective and soothes me, and… it’s just SO different from what I had growing up.  He is incredible.  There’s just nobody like my Brian.  I watch movies and think, “These romantic comedy heroes… they don’t hold a CANDLE, not a one of them…!”  I’m so grateful that the Lord gave me my Brian.  He sure knew what He was doing when He hooked us up.
    
  • Motivation.  A week ago (B.C. – Before Churchmess), I looked at this blog (filled up thru the end of the year, barring this ‘thankful’, which was waiting, blank)… and I thought “Well, I could start on my New Years’ Aspirations…”   And not a thing came to mind.  But today?  I woke up relieved that the hollydaze is over and we’re on the downhill and there’s SO much I’ve got in my head to see and do and try and work on…!!
  • I’m grateful that the ground FINALLY froze.  You laugh, but it’s important to us critter-keeping people.  With all the wet we’ve had (ie., the ENTIRE month of October, half of November, and half of December), my critters have been wading in 34-degree muck/mud.  Getting the ground froze makes it SO much nicer for them.  They have straw to bed/warm in, but it was SO nasty, from the mud, and now we can clean everything up, get them dry and warm, and not have that whole MESS.  It really matters… and makes tending them a lot nicer, too!
  • Banket!  The kids and Brian bought me Banket for a gift.  I love banket.  Seriously good stuff… but a total pain in the hiney to make (it takes TWO days)… so when they buy it for me, it’s a total treat.  ((NoTe:  Banket is a dutch almond pastry that melts in your mouth.  I’m Dutch on just about all sides, so it’s something I grew up eating/loving.  And because this is West Michigan, banket is a fairly well known thing, and getting the ingredients is never a problem, although I hear the rest of the country has issues getting the almond paste.  It’s WORTH it, I’m telling you…))
    
  • Owen being fully potty trained.  It was the smoothest, most expedient process I’ve had, yet.  It’s SO NICE not to have to use my dresser top as a changing station, anymore!! LoL!!  And he’s much happier, too.  We haven’t had an accident in weeks – and that’s just amazing.  And so good!
  • A mega-huge list of things to be grateful for.  It means I’m blessed!
    

  • 11:33 am
  • 4 Comments