Taking a moment

I've been quiet the past couple of weeks because we have been so crazy at home, and then this week because we've been on vacation.  Here.  Staying Here.  We have been going 90 miles an hour, even on vacation, until this morning.  It is -13 outside and we are tired.  And since we are on vacation no one can make us do anything but sit around and drink coffee and just enjoy the view.  Well, I'm sure the kids will be after me for pancakes in a little while but right now they are snuggled together in bed watching cartoons.  (Yet another vacation treat--we don't have televisions in our bedrooms at home.)

So here are at least ten things I'm grateful for this week:

1.  My wonderful traveling companions.  We have so much fun together when we go places.  It always makes me want to go more.  My guys are flexible and adventurous.  Who could ask for more?
2.  The special terror of watching my children race down a mountain, so far ahead of me that they are just specks at the bottom.
3.  Ski school, which allows my sweet husband and me to have date "days" while on vacation, instead of date nights.  The kids love it, too, because their instructors take them all over the mountain on the blacks that I hate!
4.  24 degrees with seven inches of fresh powder, no wind, and blue blue skies.  We had one day like this and count ourselves lucky.  It was the kind of day you might get once in every two or three trips.  Truly special.
5.  The owners of this beautiful home we rented for the week.  They have been gracious and welcoming from thousands of miles away.  This lovely house really has felt like a friend's home we borrowed for the week--very comfortable and relaxing.
6.  The majestic scenery at Big Sky.  We have been several places out west skiing, and I've seen mountains all over the world.  This is truly, truly amazing.  One peak, Lone Mountain, rules over the base area, and the entire bowl is ski-able (by crazies, not me).  We are eager to see it in the summer!
7.  Long tables in the cafeteria area, which allowed us to enjoy lunch one day with some "lifties."  It was fun to get a little inside scoop on the life of the young people who make this place run.
8.  Long rides up the ski lifts, which are a great time to chat with my husband or kids.
9.  No lift lines!  Even on that perfect President's Day, we only waited three or four minutes on the busiest lifts. 
10.  The opportunity to be lifted out of our (now really crazy) busy day-to-day life and enjoy time together.

What a great week.  I'll post some more pictures, hopefully, but right now I can't find that cable that connects the camera to the computer!  (That one up there is from Bill's phone.)

Just as grateful on a Tuesday

Well, one of the problems with this "Post x on this day of the week" is that it is painfully obvious how late I am.  All the time.  Anyway.


31.  My KitchenAid mixer that powers through endless batches of chocolate chip cookies, bread dough and, now, meringue.
32.  Neil Cavuto.  (I know, I just think he seems really nice and super smart.)
33.  The rawhide my dog gets so much joy from.
34.  My sons' Sunday School teachers.  Actually I love all my children's teachers, a fortunate position, but I'm feeling the love for a couple in particular today.
35.  Rain.  How better to appreciate the sun when it comes?
36.  Smart doctors, although I'm getting tired of being grateful for this one.
37.  My own healthy family.
38.  A cleaning service. 
39.  Smart bloggers and the millions of voices you can hear, thanks to the Internet.  The less-smart ones are also fun, and sometimes hysterical.  I should share some of my guilty pleasures sometime.
40.  Boy Scouts.

Often this list feels so banal, but it is fun to come up with ten things that I stop and appreciate, just for a second.  I've been at this for a month, not always on a Monday, but I think I'll try to keep it up.

Happy Tuesday!

Monday--time to be grateful

We just finished five--count 'em, FIVE--snow and ice days here, which means that the kids have been out of school for ten straight days.  (They have today off for MLK day.) This week has been a high-wire act of schedule-juggling.  I suppose I have plenty to be thankful for:

21.  Grandparents who can watch the kids while I man the shop.
22.  And neighbors.
23.  Canned soup.
24.  My husband's four-wheel drive vehicle.  Somehow he never missed a single day of work.  Oh, wait.
25.  My friend Ann's excellent white blood cell count which enabled her to have chemo last week, after a three-week wait.
26.  Bayville Blue paint in my girls' room.  So pretty, and if I can find my son's camera I'll add a picture so you can actually see it.
27.  Peppermint sticks and the
28.  Ponies who love them.
29.  Giggly girls.  I know it won't last forever but it is music for now.
30.  Homemade chocolate chip cookies, with pecans from my uncle's trees.

May you have a wonderful and snow-free week!

Monday Morning Gratitude

A great time to stop before the week gets underway.  Actually today we have a little enforced leisure because of...

11.  Snow!  And ice, of course.  You can't have snow in the South without some ice on the side. 
12.  Pets whom we love and who love us. 
13.  A wonderful sermon which gave me a week's worth of thinking in the first five minutes.
14.  Handknit hats.
15.  Snuggling on the couch with the kids to watch a movie.
16.  The paperwhites which bloomed.  This is the first time I've successfully forced bulbs in the in winter.
17.  Brownie mix. 
18.  Photos.  We are so documented now.  Have you ever stopped to think how amazing it is that we have gazillions of images of last week, last year, ten years ago?  Imagine what it was like 150 years ago, when you only had your memory.
19.  Watching my children grow and nurture friendships.
20.  Emergency workers who are out working to make sure we are safe, even though the roads are really bad today.  (I got the road report from my husband who is at the office right now.)

Time for the second cup.  One child has still not emerged from his room.  I'd say that is taking full advantage of a lazy day!

First Monday Gratitude

I have a friend whose blog I follow, and she's been posting things she's grateful for each week. It is a good exercise and, since I'm completely unoriginal, I am going to copy her. But of course I'll aim lower...for now just ten things I'm grateful for each week. Seems pretty pitiful considering my abundant life but you have to start somewhere.

1. The town I live in--our neighborhood had a couple of break-ins over the holidays, but I must have gotten ten emails that were passed around as soon as it happened, and the crooks were caught before Christmas. People like to complain but that is pretty quick!
2. My cool keyboard that I'm typing on right now, that goes with my iPad. Not sure how blogging from the iPad will be but I'm game for a couple of posts. There's an app for Blogger that I'm not using...maybe next time.
3. New rooms for all my kids. The boys and the girls each shared a room until three days ago. The girls had wanted to split up, but that required new carpet, blah blah blah, but then finally they were ready to make the move. Then out of nowhere the boys wanted to split up, too! I'm reeling from the change, and upstairs looks like a tornado hit, but I'm looking forward to seeing how their individual personalities are revealed in their own spaces.
4. The very delicious coffee my husband makes for me each and every morning with the French Press.
5. A final day off before school and the real-life whirlwind begin again. Time for that last little bit of coffee and then cleaning up.
6. The cool pancake squirter that lets me make very good happy-face pancakes in the morning. I'm afraid that a picture will have to come later. J is also thankful for that.
7. A cat who somehow always ends up on my bed, snuggled by my feet, in the morning.
8. Children who are bookworms.
9. Exact change.
10. A new page on the calendar and a fresh start! We are excited to see what 2011 brings.

Have a wonderful day. I will try to make this more link-y as I go along, especially to link to the other blogs!

A new view, and back from vacation!

So the gratitude thing petered out because I had to get us ready to go on vacation...We are back and had an amazing time.  I'm going to spend the next few posts sharing some of that.  I learned a lot about my kids, vacation planning, and myself while we were gone, most of it good.  Some of it might help when you are planning a trip, and some of it is just fun to share.  All of the vacation posts will have "France" as a tag, in case you want to find them quickly.

But, I am grateful for:

Safe Travel

The Eiffel Tower

Family and friends who cared for our menagerie while we were away

Friendly waiters

French bread and pastries and the lovely ladies who bake them

Coffee

Children who learn to say "Bonjour" and "Merci"

Holding hands on foreign streets

A professional photographer to take photos worthy of our memories

Good "luck" that always led us to the right road

Taxi drivers intent on helping us get "there"

Yogurt

A kitchen to cook in on vacation

Hearts willing to take an adventure

A husband with an interest in history and a great flair for sharing it

Traffic round-abouts so you could always go around again

The TGV

Brightly colored umbrellas

...and so much more.  Please check back as I share some of our adventure!

Gratitude No. 8

The cell phone!  The bane of our modern existence, and yet...

My husband is traveling in Europe this week and sends me regular texts.  What a joy to get a little message every so often:  "I see chateaus!  Old, abandoned, beautiful" or "Waaaay better than China."  I know he's thinking of me, sharing a little of his day even though he's halfway around the world.

...and Gratitude No. 7

We had a bunch of family here yesterday (waiting on a pic so I can post that one!) so we had an early Thanksgiving.  Now we have early Thanksgiving leftovers.  Today, I am grateful for

apple pie for breakfast!

Gratitude No. 6

I am a knitter.  I am grateful for the warm alpaca, soft silk, fuzzy mohair, and all the other wonderful fibers I've been using lately.  This is the reason to knit--the ripe color and the absolute luxury, even if only enjoyed for a few minutes every day.  And the repetitive motion can be very meditative and restful.

In this picture are two projects I'm working on.  The teal blue is alpaca/silk/mohair, destined to be a large shawl just for me.  Unbelievably yummy, and absolutely unlike anything I could buy for myself.  The greens are a pattern I'm creating for some fingerless mitts, handpainted 100% alpaca.  Mitts so you get to touch the fabric all the time.  Chunky and soft soft soft.  Oh, and those black needles are ebony.

My shop is a yarn shop, so it's my business to get other people to "buy in" to this fiber love.  It feels good, though, to know I can still enjoy it so much!

Gratitude No. 5

Ugh...I am not good at this daily blogging!  Last week, though, I was thankful for...my patio heater!  This thing rocks.  The weather here has been gorgeous, warm in the afternoon but chilly in the morning.  Thanks to this great invention, I sit outside and enjoy my second cup of coffee in the morning.  Absolutely perfect.

Sadly, it's supposed to rain tomorrow morning so I won't be out there.  But I'll be ready for the next clear morning.

Gratitude No. 4

I took a major tumble tonight riding horses with a daughter, so tonight I am grateful for the smart polymer scientists who created the tough foam that my helmet is made of.  Think of how many times we are surrounded with something that some smart person came up with that keeps us safe, like in the car or on an airplane.  I am really pretty much of an anti-nanny when it comes to safety equipment (like I think we wear way too many bike helmets).  But I am smart enough to wear a helmet when I'm jumping with a 1300-pound animal, and I was glad to have it tonight.

Unfortunately my gold heart hoop earrings did not survive.  Wonder if I can talk my sweet husband into something new....

oops, I forgot...Gratitude No. 3

So it takes a few days to develop a habit.  We are in the middle of some glorious crisp fall days here, full of golden morning light.  My mom and I walk about 3 1/2 miles every morning around a lake near my house, and right now it is spectacular.  I'll take the camera today and try to get a picture.  Anyway, I am thankful that I live in a place where we get four real seasons, especially this technicolor one.  And also that my husband and I made a good decision 13 years ago to buy a house in my hometown where I get to see my parents every day and they are a part of our day-to-day life.

Gratitude No. 2

I am thankful for my husband, who does a way better job of accepting and loving me as I am than I do!  He is a fun partner, a great father, and an amazing provider.  I am blessed to share my life with him.  Here he is with our Boy Scout a couple of months ago.

Gratitude post No. 1

Because it's November, I think I'll post something I'm thankful for every day that I can.  We might miss during vacation, but I'll be thankful while I'm there, too!

Today, November 7, I am thankful for my new church family.  We have helped to start a Lutheran congregation here in my town.  We don't have a pastor, so we take turns with all the duties, even preaching, and we don't have a building, so we meet in a local hotel.  And God dwells there with us.  I am so grateful for every single person in that room, how they encourage me, my husband and my children.  I love our closeness and the energy.