I WILL be thankful in everything, even if it kills me! :)

My goal is to have a thankful heart. A heart that sees the needs in others and always seeks to reach out. To "Do unto others as you would have others do unto you." To realize that no matter what I am going through, there is someone out there going through something much worse. To get up every day and say, "What can I do for someone else today? How can I be a blessing to someone else?" Why? Because the person who constantly focuses on their own problems and circumstances lives a miserable life without joy. The person who doesn't rejoice when small blessings come will certainly not be grateful for the big ones.

Unfortunately, right now I don't have a lot of money to give others. While I like to be the "giver," lately I seem to be the recipient a lot more often. I am not real thrilled to be on the receiving end. However, that is a bad attitude to have. I want to be a gracious giver and a gracious receiver.

Today I am going to list some things I am thankful for in my life. I want to do that much more often. I want to do it not just on "Thanksgiving Day" but all year. I want to see on paper the good things I have and give God the credit.

1. I am thankful for this temp job at Wilberforce, even if I don't get to stay here. I have met some neat people and some fledgling friendships have begun. I don't know the reason why I was sent here, but God does and that is enough for me.
2. I am thankful for the heart to heart talk my daughter and I had the other day. She poured her heart out, and even said how she is so glad she can talk to me. A "bonding" moment with my teenage daughter! Priceless!
3. I am thankful for the comfortable outfit I have on today. I have cozy socks and shoes that don't hurt my feet...heck even having socks and shoes is a blessing when so many in the poorest parts of the world have nothing to protect their feet!
4. I am thankful that God kept us safe this weekend when we started sliding on black ice in the van. It happened so fast, but in an instant, the van was back in the lane it should be, and all was well.
5. I am thankful for Sue, and the many wonderful talks we've had lately. She enriches my life, all the way from across the ocean.
6. I am so thankful for the birth of my newest nephew, Christian. I can't wait to see him in person and hold him. Children are a gift from God!
7. I appreciate my friend, Brenda, so much. She is constantly helping me in some way. She makes me laugh. I don't know what I'd do without her.
8. I am so thankful to be able to see Eric and his family a lot more often. When we get a second vehicle, I know I won't have to miss church as often, and will get to see him more. I am happy that I got to celebrate Eric's birthday with him ON his birthday.
9. I am thankful that while the van is our only source of transportation at this point, and it IS old, God is keeping it on the road, protecting it...keeping it from wearing out just. He is so good to us.
10. I am thankful that my family and I have never gone hungry this year though times have been leaner than we've ever seen...and we still have a roof over our heads.

My break is over and I need to get back to work. I hope to write more soon.

I Am SUCH a Blog Slacker!

I'll admit it. I am a miserable excuse for a blogger. Truly. This blog is so neglected, someone ought to just turn me in for false advertisement, because I shouldn't be allowed to call this an actual blog, really. Sigh. More like a slog. What you get when you combine a slug and a blog. That's my page. Slog, slog, slog. Fellow bloggers, I'm really a slogger. Sad, but true.

That being said, how the heck are ya? Good, I hope! I have been stopping by my beloved friends' blogs, I just haven't been maintaining mine. What is this world coming to? ;)

I do have exciting news! Josiah's 4th grade team won the Western Ohio Junior Football Conference Superbowl this past Sunday at the Dayton Welcome Stadium! Woo-hoo! Our pee wee Rams were undefeated in all fourteen games, allowing only four scores from game one through the championship game.

There were 36 teams in his conference. Our team was a tiny team in numbers, with just 14 players. Most other teams had 25+ kids per team. Many cities had 4-5 teams, because they had so many kids in their school system. It's truly a David -vs- Goliath tale, and just about every team we played was a Goliath compared to us! I know you can't tell, but I am soooooo proud! Just bursting with pride, downright wallowing in it. After hanging out with these parents and kids, you become like a family, so it's really neat. Tonight is their award banquet, so they'll have a participation trophy, and the Superbowl Trophy as well. ~ Smiles from ear to ear.~

In other news, Josh turned in his football pads on a Monday a few weeks back, and started basketball on the same Tuesday. Sigh. I was hoping that he would take the winter off and take driver's ed, but no such luck. Boo. But he's staying busy and I keep thinking, "This will look good on college applications." Every. Time. I. Drive. Him. The. Fifteen. Minutes. One. Way. To. The. School. I. Say. That. Literally. It's my new motto. "This will look good on college applications."

Jess is doing well, and there isn't much of anything to report with her right now. No news is good news, I guess. Perhaps. Maybe.

I'm thrilled to have a four day weekend ahead! Woo-hoo! Last night Robert took Josh to basketball practice, and I picked him up. Since Jo no longer has practice, I had time to make some Christmas cards. I had such a good time, listening to Christmas music on our local holiday station and making the cards. I plan to finish up the whole process the day after Thanksgiving.

That's what I usually do every year on the day after Thanksgiving. I don't join in the shopping extravaganza. I assemble, apply labels to, and get ready to mail Christmas cards. I was a little late getting the family pics taken this year for the cards, but as we speak, the pictures are being printed and all I need to do is go pick them up. Insert big sigh of relief here. I actually took the kids' pictures in about 5 minutes, right before the bus came one day last week. I was waiting for all of us to be home in the evening, but that never happened, so I gave up. The kids will represent our entire family on the cards this year. They are the ones that people want to see, anyway, right? ;)

What are your plans for the holiday, my fellow Americans? Are you traveling or staying home?

While Robert does most of our cooking (99%) throughout the year, I do a large share of the cooking on Thanksgiving. Jess and Jo pitch in to help, and it's a lot of fun. We let Josh sleep so he doesn't wake up cranky. We'll cook way too much food, and we'll all sit around feeling overfull, watching the parade and football. I'm getting sleepy just thinking about the Thursday afternoon nap!

I've been blessed to see a lot of my friends here lately! I went to Holli's for a a mini reunion over a month ago, which was cool. There were a couple of girls there that I haven't seen since high school. Catching up was fun.

Sheila and I had a great visit at a crop recently....a privilege that is becoming rare since she moved close to an hour away.

My friend Wyn was in town for nearly a week recently due to her mom's unexpected illness. Her mom got better pretty quickly, so Wyn and I were able to have some quality hang out time.

Two Saturdays ago, I saw my friend, Mary Jane, who recently had a crochet book published. The local library held a show showcasing the fashions in her book, which Jess, my niece, DeeDee, and I attended. I just barely made it to the show, as Josh had a 90 minute basketball scrimmage in the morning, Jo had a tournament game in the afternoon. I felt privileged to be able to make it.

As a side note, Mary Jane's book is called "Positively Crochet" and is sold on Amazon.com, if you are interested. Her name is Mary Jane Hall, and the book is full of adorable designs. I don't crochet, but I am going to try some of the basic projects, just because they are so darn cute! I used to attend church with Mary Jane, where her husband was pastor and my brother, Eric, was assistant pastor.

My fun month continued, as I got to have dinner with my friend, April, and her daughter last week. We caught up over salads at Applebees'....though we've both pledged not to let so much time elapse before we get together again.

That same week I stopped by my friend, Tracy's, house and got to see her twin baby boys and lovely daughter. I hadn't seen Tracy since our Saturday day out in July, though I got to see her kids at the local flea market on an outing with their grandma last month. Babies grow up so fast, so as usual, I snapped a lot of pictures that day.

My CM friend, Sandy, has stopped by frequently here at work the last few weeks. It's been so much fun! She's such a blessing.

There is nothing quite as enriching as spending time with my friends! They're treasures! When I don't get to see my friends in person, I've been talking with several on facebook, which I'll admit is taking up way too much of my online time these days. ;)

On that note, I'm going to close for now.

Have a wonderful week, and if you're celebrating Thanksgiving this week, have a very happy one, filled with more joy than you can contain!

Another Monday This Way Comes

Well, it's back to work after four days off. It was a nice weekend. I did exactly what I hoped to do on Thursday. We got up early, and Rob, Jess, Jo and I cooked. Josh slept in late. He wasn't feeling well. More about that later. Anyway, Jess, Jo and I did the sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, pumpkin pie, tarts, banana cream pie, punch, egg nog and rolls. We got our stuff done and out of the way for Rob to do his share. He did ham and turkey, the major work on the deviled eggs (which Jo and Jess later assembled) and the stuffing. Working together, it didn't seem like all that much work for any one person.

After we ate and watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade (we ate early, like 10:30 a.m.!) we all took naps. I got up and had a little bite to eat later. I didn't really do much of anything except clean up and napping. It was a day of relaxation for all.

Friday and Saturday ended up being a lot of running around doing errands. And cleaning. No shopping for gifts. I hate to fight crowds. Although I have so little shopping done that I am sure eventually I will have to fight a crowd or two. Oh well.

Sunday I was lazy, and did little to nothing all day. So I had two days of rest and two days of running.

*Okay, I started this post yesterday when I was in a grande mood. Today, Tuesday, I am feeling quite down, so I am closing this 'happy' post and proceding to a new one.*

Thankful for a Short Week!

Hi to all, hope this Monday is starting out relatively painless for you.

My weekend started out good right off the bat on Friday. When I got home I had an envelope from Pepsi. I had won a $10 Visa gift card. I was so excited! That's the third time I've won something from a Pepsi contest! Once I won a long sleeve Pepsi t-shirt, once I won a cd, and then this! When I took Josh to practice I went out and bought Rob a new OSU long sleeve shirt with it. I am so glad I registered for Pepsi promotions! That was such a fun way to start my weekend!

Josh's scrimmage went well Saturday. His team won, and he scored six points, which I got on video. Yay! I was very proud of him! I also found out last week that a friend I met when Josh was a baby (that I have lost touch with over the years) has a step son on Josh's team. I was in the grocery store and I ran in to her, and through our conversation, we ended up figuring this out.

So, at the game we sat together and ended up talking the whole time. It was neat getting back in touch. We worked together almost 15 years ago, and always said we'd keep in touch, but life gets in the way. She and her husband are practically neighbors to us...they live in the village just 5 minutes from ours. Josh is friends with their son, so we may end up hanging out in the future some. It's ironic how there are some people in my life who just keep resurfacing, as if we are meant to be connected, somehow. (April, you're another example.)

I ended up seeing a bunch of people I knew Saturday at the scrimmage. Some were from years ago when I attended school there. Some were in grades behind me, or ahead of me, but were familiar faces still. I figure I'll never get bored at the games. I'll always have someone to talk to. Of course, my kids tease me that I make friends in line at the grocery store, so I am sure even if I didn't know anyone, I would by the end of the season. I just find people fascinating! :)

Yay! The Buckeyes won! Yippee skippy! ;) I only watched bits and pieces of the game, and listened to the rest on the radio.

Jess and I stayed at the toy shop to close it down, while the boys went to watch the game at Robert's uncle's house. Rob, Josh, Jo and Jess' boyfriend, John all piled in the van and headed out to cheer on the Buckeyes.

Jess and I closed down early and had a girls' evening out. We went shopping, (how can it be a girl's day out without shopping?!?!) out to eat, and then went home and I gave her a pedicure. She really needed one! I did a pedicure on myself a week or so back, so I just soaked my feet and then used lotion on them.

We went to my favorite restaurant, Eldorados' Mexican Restaurant. (Holli, I thought of you when I was there since you like it, too.) Jess and I both got chicken Chimichangas. Yum! I kept getting up and going over to the bar area to keep an eye on the scores. That was an exciting game!

Jess and I didn't buy a lot when we went shopping, but I got the idea for the pedicure by going to the Big Lots right by the restaurant. They had some very reasonably priced pedicure kits, so I bought us each one. I took a picture of Jess' feet before and after. It was her idea to take the picture, and the difference was remarkable! I think I am some sort of wizard! ;)

I'm really loving my new camera! I do not regret what happened to my old one now, though I would not have spent the money unless forced to. I am happy with the pictures it takes. I'm getting a lot of use out of it. (No big shock there.) Today, if our snow stays on the ground for any length of time, I may snap a few shots of our first "real" snow.

Sunday was good. I got quite a bit of cleaning in, a little scrapbooking and a nap, which makes it a good day for me. I did a lot of laundry yesterday. I don't want to have to be doing laundry all day Thursday or Friday. I have four days off in a row! Why mess that up with running up and down steps, doing laundry? I probably will do some, anyway, but at least it will be optional. ;)

Right now, I am working on a scrapbook for my sister-in-law, Kay, who is battling cancer. She went on and on about how much she loved the book I made for my mother-in-law (her mom) for her 60th birthday. I started thinking about it, and I figured it wouldn't take long for me to make a small "get well book" for her. Kay has to do 5 chemo treatments, 5 radiation, then 5 chemo. She is really weak, constantly sick to her stomach, and her hair is mostly all gone now. She is still in good spirits, but any prayers for strength for her would be appreciated. I'm hoping this book will bring a bit of cheer for her at this difficult time.

So, that's the news here. What's new in your life? Anything exciting to report? Hope you have a good week, short or otherwise. I love Thanksgiving, so I'm looking forward to it. I love watching the parade, eating, napping, and hanging out at home. John, Jess' boyfriend, is from Mexico and has never celebrated Thanksgiving, though he has been here in the states for years. We invited him over to celebrate with us, and he has been counting the days until Thursday. We're all looking forward to it more because of his presence in our home. He's a really sweet kid.

Okay, I'm out for now. Have a great day!