#9 - I am thankful for music
I love music - I have it on as much as I can. I love to sing along, not going to win a recording contract but that's ok.
One of my favorite things is when the girls and I turn the music up a little louder in the car and sing along.
I carry my iPad into the bathroom so I can play music while I shower and get ready in the morning.
For me a run isn't doable without music. One time I ran a 5k and forgot my earbuds ... sorry fellow runners ... you all had to listen to my music or I never would have gotten through those 3.1 miles
It is on in the kitchen or playing on my computer when I'm working at home or in the office.
Sometimes it is for comfort, sometimes it brings me joy and sometimes it melts away the anger.
It is almost always there.
#9 - I am thankful for music
#8 - I am thankful for coffee
I'm not going to lie. I love coffee and my day doesn't start right if I don't have it. Just the smell of it brewing makes me happy.
Funny thing is, I didn't start drinking it until I was 30 and it was totally for a guy. He made coffee a whole experience. On a weekend afternoon he liked to go to this cute little cafe and order a coffee and just enjoy that coffee ... no cookies, no pastry, just coffee.
So with lots of cream and lots of sugar .. I made myself drink it. The more I drank it the less sugar and less cream I added - until it could actually be considered coffee and not coffee flavored milk.
Paul is not a coffee drinker so before the girls it was one cup of coffee to start my day. When the girls were babies and sleep eluded me .. I drank the entire pot, every day.
I still drink an entire pot - but it is the 5 cup baby pot that you find in your hotel room.
#8 - I am thankful for coffee
#7 - I am thankful for the right to vote
Election day is always in November and it is always what I am thankful for on that day. I think voting is so very important.....
This year I am a candidate for a seat on our city's Board of Education so today feels a little different than it has in the past.
Paul and I went to the Senior Center together to cast our ballots. We posted the last of my signs at the polling places and shook hands with a couple of candidates.
Campaigning is not for the faint of heart -- the door knocking, the phone calls, the events, the debates ... I think I could sleep for a week straight.
A handful of people hung up on me and one lady asked me what I was going to do about Betsy DeVos. I chuckled when she was preaching to me about DeVos because - seriously? I feel like I can be a strong voice but ousting DeVos isn't even on my radar.
This weekend I heard our current President has the lowest approval rating since they starting tracking approval ratings. I re-read my post from last year, Rock Bottom much of that still applies.
I vote every time an opportunity presents itself -- primaries, mid-terms, presidential. It is more than a right, it is a privilege.
I hope you are all as thankful as I am that you can vote and that you do.
#7 - I am thankful for the right to vote
#6 - I am thankful for our favorite pizza place
We frequent a local family restaurant in town, Irene's. We always got pizza and grinders from there but at some point we started going and eating in. The food is delicious and they are great with the girls. When they were younger Kristen loved ravioli but it wasn't on the kids menu. They happily made her a smaller portion.
They know what we order to drink, they know the girls by name, they know that Paul's grinder is "no cheese, no tomato" -- they know US. We go there so much that a couple of sneaky people at work put us on the Irene's menus and strategically placed them on the table when they invited us to join them. The girls LOVED it.
I love that there is a wide variety on the menu, that they make the best soup, and that everything tastes so good.
Over the summer, the girls were traveling with my parents and Paul and I went for a late dinner. One of our usual servers asked where the girls were. Then she went on to say "I love your family, you have the best dynamic, you interact the whole time you're here" We were caught completely off guard. We thanked her for noticing and for mentioning it to us. She went on to say that she sees so many people sitting at the table but not interacting - that they are all on their phones. She mentioned our Tic Tac Toe and Hangman games and how we talk to each other and that is makes her smile.
I left Irene's that night full - my stomach and my heart - full.
#6 - I am thankful for our favorite pizza place
#5 - I am thankful for Google Maps
Last weekend we traveled to Massachusetts for a wedding. Our friends graciously invited us to stay with them AND to take the girls.
Paul hadn't been to their house in years. We also needed to get from their house, to the church, and to the reception location and then BACK to their house!
Before the days of google maps -- it would have been phone calls, directions written on a sheet of notebook paper and .. I don't even really remember how you figured out how to get anywhere without using the internet or Google maps.
I think I used AAA or my Dad, my Dad knows how to get anywhere. Well, there was that time he had an old map and we almost froze to death on a logging road in Upstate NY (that's a story for another post) but other than that he knows how to get anywhere.
#5 - I am thankful for Google Maps
#4 - I am thankful for quiet mornings
I'm often the first one up in Romanskiville regardless of weekday or weekend. I head downstairs, start the coffee and walk the dog. I curl up with a book, catch up on laundry, pay bills, meal prep or something else on the "to do's". Sometimes it's only 15 minutes and sometimes it's an hour ... but that time gives me a chance to think, plan, problem solve with out any distraction. Sometimes I just get to take in the view...
#4 - I am thankful for quiet mornings
#3 - I am thankful for our family photographs
I try to be so good about taking pictures of concerts, halloween costumes, birthday parties and Christmas morning. We have thousands of pictures from before we were married til now.
Thing is, when you're the one taking the pictures you aren't in the pictures or I'm in the picture but Paul isn't.
Lucky for us, a close friend and neighbor has taken an interest in photography and has a sweet camera. She often thinks to bring it along and then makes it a point to take pictures of the 4 of us.
Don't get me wrong -- we have those thousands of pictures of all those magical moments .. but the ones of the 4 of us .. those are my absolute favorites.
#3 - I am thankful for our family photographs
