Thirty Days of Thankfulness - Day Thirty

Me

On this, my 27th birthday, I am so thankful for my life.  I am happy in the knowledge that I am following God and find comfort in the fact that, while I would not have chosen this path that I am on, it did not come as a surprise to God and He is guiding and protecting me every step of the way.  He has authored a wonderful story in my life so far and I know that He has great chapters written for my future.

I look around and see all that God has blessed me with and I feel so grateful that I have three wonderful sons who are happy and healthy, a wonderful and dedicated mother and father, a fantastic sister, and the most compassionate, supportive, and loving best friend in the world.  All these people have blessed my life beyond words.  

I look forward to the future without fear and with much peace and happiness.

Thirty Days of Thankfulness - Day Twenty Nine

Football

When I was about 15, out of a desire to spend more time with my dad (because I'm a big daddy's girl), I sat down one Sunday on the floor in the living room to watch football with him.  I knew absolutely nothing about football and probably drove my dad crazy with questions..."what does holding mean...what is the difference between illegal contact and pass interference...why did he do that...why can't they do that... why can they do that?  The list goes on.  He answered each question so patiently and soon I knew as much about football as any male.  

Little did I know at the time that having a knowledge and interest in football would be useful in rearing three sons.  We've watched a lot of it in our household.  C.J. and I watched Packers games together but Jon and Zack are more into college football.  

I have been watching less pro football this year because of all the violence and illegal activity off the field by the players.  I was glad as it seemed they were really instituting a no tolerance policy lately but that all fell apart when Ray Rice was re-instated this past week - only months after knocking his wife unconscious.  This has now opened the door for Adrian Peterson's return after beating his child with a tree branch and pleading guilty to a misdemeanor charge.  

But, football has provided many bonding opportunities with my dad and my boys and for that, I am thankful.   

Thirty Days of Thankfulness - Day Twenty Eight

My Extended Family

I often said I was fortunate that I had my grandparents for as long as I did.  I  was, in fact, over twenty when I lost my first grandparent - my maternal grandfather. I was pretty close with both sets of grandparents but I spent much more time with my maternal grandparents.

The reason for that was mostly because I was very close to my aunt and cousin and they lived in the same city as my grandparents.  Every summer I would go and spend at least 2 weeks there and shuffle back and forth between my aunt's house and my grandparent's house.  One of the most vivid memories I have of my grandpa is him sitting at the dining room table playing cards, having a beer with salt in it, and listening to the Brewers on the radio with Bob Eucker announcing the game.  My grandmother would make popcorn (with colored kernels) and we would either play cards or watch a movie.  My grandfather would also bring me to the restaurant he frequented to "show me off."  And that is exactly how he made me feel...like I was so special to him and he was so proud of me.  

 My aunt and I have a special relationship and I was so close to my cousin when we were growing up.  We even have sons who are three weeks apart in age.  Unfortunately as we married and had kids we went in different directions. She moved to Jacksonville, Florida in 1995 and as luck would have it, was moving back to Wisconsin the week before we moved to Florida in 1999.  

My aunt (middle) with my cousins kids

My aunt, cousin, and cousin's daughter

I feel so lucky to have these memories - and many more.  

Thirty Days of Thankfulness - Day Twenty Seven

A day with my boy

One of the reasons we are moving to Florida in May is that Zack and I are alone up here.  I have family near Milwaukee and a great best friend and both offered invitations to spend the day with them, but because we have a furry creature with four legs who needs to be taken care of, we passed on the offers and spent a quiet day at home alone.  

I started the day by putting up the Christmas tree.  It doesn't take long to assemble but once together each branch has two branches attached to it that need to be pulled out and arranged.  So, it is kind of tedious...but I think it is a beautiful tree and feel lucky that I was able to get it in the d-i-v-o-r-c-e.  

Midday I went over to my bff's house to take care of their dogs.  Ollie and Rudy frolicked in the backyard for about 15 minutes while Jamie was being stubborn and wanted to stay in the house.  I fed the dogs and eventually was able to get Jamie out too...she does things in her own time.  

I had bought a small turkey for Zack and me so it only took a couple hours to cook.  I made some mashed potatoes, corn, and cranberries (for me only) and we sat down to eat while watching Wreck-it-Ralph.  

Then later, we capped off our Thanksgiving together by playing Mario Party 2 and watching Monsters University.  

Arianna "watched" the activities from a chair in the living room

Thirty Days of Thankfulness - Day Twenty Six

Internet

I know this is kind of lame but after being without internet for the majority of the day yesterday (hence not getting a post done) one comes to realize just how much of your life's existence depends on the internet.  

Zack was, of course, super duper happy because no internet meant he could not do school - which, in stark contrast made me very unhappy.  

But school aside, I realized just how much I use the internet. I use it a lot to satisfy my curiosity.   For instance, if I am watching a show and I don't know what they are talking about- -I google it.  If I am watching a true crime investigation show and I am too curious to wait for the conclusion to find out if the person is found guilty or innocent- - I google it.   If I am watching it and I just want to know more about the crime- - I google it.  

Many times yesterday I found myself instinctively grabbing for computer.  

Soon, I will backtrack and write a post for yesterday on how I was thankful for going a day without internet because Zack and I enjoyed some quality time last night playing games together...before I sat down and watched Nightmare on Elm Street (the original one)!   

Thirty Days of Thankfulness - Day Twenty Four

Just thankful to be home

This is our reality right now

Too early for this in my opinion and especially disappointing since we just got rid of our last snowfall with weather in the 40's this past weekend.

I hate driving in snow and part of me panics every time it snows when I am not at home.  Even though true Wisconsinites will say that this snowfall is "nothing", I am grateful that I am done with work at 1:00 on Mondays and I was pulling in my parking lot just as the rain was turning over to snow.  

Also especially grateful that I have Tuesdays off so with 4-7" of this gross stuff expected to fall overnight, I am glad I don't have to drive tomorrow morning either.  

What made me think I could survive another winter here????  

Thirty Days of Thankfulness - Day Twenty Three

Christmas Season

Again, not really "thankful for" as much as a time of the year that makes me really happy. 

 I love the time of year between Thanksgiving and Christmas.  I love listening to Christmas music, Christmas decorations, and watching Christmas movies while admiring the lit up Christmas tree.  

I love counting down and looking forward to our Christmas trip to Florida.  

But what I love most is C.J. comes to visit.  This year he flies in on Friday the 5th and will drive back to Florida with us - 12 days...soooo excited.  

I put up the Christmas decorations this past weekend.  Well, some of them...the apartment is too small to use all of them.  

Thirty Days of Thankfulness - Day Twenty Two

God's Provision

Last month I was approached by a parent who was looking for someone with enough knowledge of Microsoft Access to build a database for their company.  The job would require approximately 10 hours of work and would pay $100.00/hour.  

I could do that...no problem.

I just finished yesterday and will present it to them Monday and see if they would like for me to make any changes.  But even if they do, the changes should be minimal.

The payment for this job will help out with Christmas presents and Christmas travel.  

When I took this job teaching computer three years ago I never thought it would come in handy outside of school but I am starting to realize that knowledge of Microsoft Office features could lead to other job opportunities someday.  

Thirty Days of Thankfulness - Day Twenty One

Arianna

Okay so it's not so much that I'm thankful for "her" as I am happy that I have "her".  

I first began looking into reborns a couple years ago.  The biggest draw back was always the price...they are pretty expensive and I could never justify the expense.  

It always remained in the back of my mind and every once in a while I would check out e-bay and see what they had to offer but  never found anything that I felt was a good deal. 

oh my cuteness...little lacy socks

Until last month.  I found this Arianna prototype doll for a steal! It was cheaper to begin with because it is a prototype and not a one of a kind reborn creation.  But even for a prototype it was a pretty nice price.  "She" is 28 inches and can wear all kinds of fun 12 or 18 month little girl clothes.  For someone who never had a little girl to dress I could have a lot of fun with that.  Not that I am going to run out and spend a lot of money on clothes for a doll...I;m not crazy! But she did come with a few cute outfits to choose from.  

  

These aren't great pictures of her - you can't even see her pretty headband.  I'll have to take more later.

Thirty Days of Thankfulness - Day Twenty

God/Jesus

Growing up I was a Catholic.  I went to Catholic grade school and Catholic high school so I have always had God in my life in some capacity.  But as Catholics we were indoctrinated to pray to Mary, pray to saints for intersession, and view the Bible as an interpretation of God's word.  The Vatican took great liberties in interpreting the Bible and then making and enforcing man made rules for Catholics to follow.  All prayers were recited from a book or recited from memory.  

At one point in my life I began questioning these things, doing research on them, and then choosing to follow a different path in my relationship with God.  I do not have anything against Catholics - it just didn't work for me.  I do believe the Bible is the true word of God.  I do believe I need only to pray to God - I do not need intersession.  I do believe my prayers mean more when they come from my heart and not a book. 

But I am so thankful that my parent's brought me up to believe in God.  The foundation they gave me is responsible for the relationship I have with God and my relationship with God is the foundation in which I live my life.  

Thirty Days of Thankfulness - Day Nineteen

Ex-husband

I know this sounds weird and if I was writing this 15 years ago I certainly wouldn't feel the same way(or we wouldn't be divorced).  

But today...I am so thankful for him.  I accept full responsibility for our divorce - not for the events leading up to the divorce - but for the divorce itself.  He was willing to work things out...I was not.  I now realize that at the time I did not love myself so I was totally incapable of loving him.  

I only say all this to point out that he had every reason to hate me...to be mean to me and to make my life miserable.  But he did not.  He has always been very kind to me and he is such a great father to our boys.   

He has always supported me in decisions I made regarding the boys - even if that meant following through with a discipline imposed by me but carried out during his time with the boys.  

I am so grateful that I have a partner who was willing to put the needs and feelings of his children ahead of his own.   I think we have co-parented pretty successfully.  

Thirty Days of Thankfulness - Day Eighteen

Tramadol

Oh I am so very thankful that I found this medication.   I still vividly remember my doctor walking into the room while I was crying because I was in so much pain.  

We discussed options and I left with the prescription that would change my life.  I ran into the pharmacy like a mad woman putting all my hope for a normal life in that one bottle of pills.  I took one that night...and one the next morning. I remember thinking about noon that day that I had had 0 pain.  



Now, most days I am 99% pain free.  Occasionally I will get some nerve pain in my ears or in my upper right leg...but those are few and far between. Some days I can feel throbbing pain in my upper body but those are few and far between also.

The only thing the Tramadol has not helped is the hyper-sensitivity to touch.  If someone touches my upper, outer arms it is very painful...as if I have a huge bruise there.  

Overall, I am very grateful for this medication and it appears as if I can continue to take it long term since I have been using it for 14 months and have only had to one increase...and I am still on the lowest dose (50 mg).  

Thirty Days of Thankfulness - Day Seventeen

Tuesdays


Not gonna lie---today was a rough day at school.  In all my years of teaching there are maybe 6 or 7 days that I can remember going home and being completely drained of all my enthusiasm for teaching---today is one of those days.  

Truthfully I was planning on doing a "thankful for Tuesday" post anyway because who doesn't enjoy a day off.  But today it takes on a little different meaning.  

Something was brought to light on Friday that made me do some exploration today into a situation.  I'm sorry but that is as specific as I will get.  I will keep specifics at school private. I will only say that it involved many students and it calls into question their current character.  The good news is that they are still very young and are a work in progress (aren't we all really) and hopefully we will be able to chalk this up to a learning experience that will help develop their future character.  

Anyway, I left school feeling very defeated and am so grateful that tomorrow is my day off.  I am enjoying my day off more this year because Zack homeschooling = being able to sleep in.  In past years, even with a day off, I still had to get up by 7 to get Zack to school on time.  

So tomorrow I will rest and recharge and be ready to face another day.   

Thirty Days of Thankfulness - Day Sixteen

Black Forest Fruit Snacks

Last year when I was desperate for something to eat for lunch I grabbed these fruit snacks that I had packed in Zack's lunch.  I normally do not like fruit snacks (therefore the desperate part) but I was shocked at how good these were!

Since then I have been hooked.  They are the perfect snack when I want something sweet to eat.

Thirty Days of Thankfulness - Day Fifteen

Saturday Night Tradition

While Zack and I both have a TV in our bedrooms, we were not able to get cable hooked up in there so we can only watch DVDs on them.  

Zack doesn't watch too much TV anyway but one thing he does love is college football so I let him have the TV on Saturdays and we watch one game after another.  Mostly SEC games.  

The Gators are so so bad again this year...but hopefully that means a coaching change at the end of the year.

For dinner we order pizza - using Pizza Hut but occasionally from Dominoes - and we watch college football.  

I love football and probably know more than the average female about the game - but, if not for Zack, I would not be spending my Saturdays watching football all. day. long.  

But I do love spending time with him and creating memories.

Thirty Days of Thankfulness - Day Fourteen

Friday night routine

Friday is pretty much my favorite day of the week.  I have been blessed to have easy work days on Fridays as well...this year being done at 10:50.  


But it is our Friday night routine that I love the most.  Zack and I spend our Friday evenings at BWW.



Then we head over to Target (or the circle store as Zack used to call it) to do our weekly shopping.



and then home where I proceed to clean the entire apartment...in thirty minutes...including washing and waxing floors!  



And finally collapse onto the sofa to watch TV - usually Forensic Files if nothing better is on - and munch on the chips and salsa I bring home from BWW...yummy.






And bed...the feeling of crawling into bed on a Friday night is the best!!!

Speaking of...it's bedtime and my bed is waiting for me.