Counting My Blessings

1. My best friend, aka my husband, aka Jason, aka my other half.  The other half description feels literal sometimes.  Together we make a whole.
2. Two healthy, happy, loving boys.
3. A fabulous relationship with my parents.  Who I actually like and admire and look forward to seeing.
4. My sister, who knows me in ways no one else in the world ever will.  And still loves me anyway.
5. Great in-laws, who made Jason who he is and have boundless love for all of us.
6. Skype, Facebook, and free long distance, so 3, 4 & 5 don’t feel quite so far away.
7. Heather, not my sister, who is still my best girlfriend, even though we don’t talk as often as we’d like.
8. The June Mommies, who kept me sane when the kids were little and are simply great girlfriends now that the talk isn’t mostly about babies and toddlers.
9. Jodi and family…making our life change of 2009 about a billion times easier than it might have been.
10. Kelli, to whom I talk even less than Heather, but who always holds a solid place in my heart.
11. 20/20 Lifestyles – the program holding my hand, guiding me, and pushing me while I become a different person, inside and out, and every single person associated with it.  Especially…
12. Derik, my trainer, who has pushed me to find a strength I never imagined was there.  And Monika, my dietitian, who helped me figure out a healthier way to have eggnog while we decorate the tree this year.
13. Amy & Brian, who introduced us to 20/20 Lifestyles and who are rocking it like crazy, themselves.
14. Silliness.
15. Snow in November.
16. A new-this-year job that makes Jason happy, in an industry he’s always wanted to work in.
17. The internet.  Oh man, the internet.
18. The people it has brought into my life.
19. Crustless pumpkin pie.
20. “Thanksgiving kisses,” which Kalen bestowed upon me when I got up this morning.
21. Music.
22. Christmas music, which Jason will finally be allowed to play in the house in a few hours.
23. Books.
24. Yarn.
25. Photoshop.
26. Supportive bras.
27. The purple house behind ours, which is probably classifiable as god-awful, but which makes me smile when I catch a glimpse of it over the fence.
28. Gretchen, for counting her blessings and inspiring this list.
29. Trumpets, pianos, and guitars.
30. Marching bands.
31. Healthcare and healthcare professionals who truly care.
32. People willing to fight for healthcare access for everyone who needs it.
33. People willing to fight to make the world a better place, in general.
34. Holiday cards, which will probably start arriving next week.
35. Mashed potatoes, because they make all my guys so happy.
36. Trees, glorious trees.
37. Electricity.
38. Travel, not that we’ve done much lately, but the promise thereof.  The world and its people are amazing to experience.
39. Eyeliner.  I don’t wear it (or make-up in general) often, but I love what it can accomplish.
40. Games.  Board games, card games, video games.
41. Love.  The meaning of life.  (It is, you know.)
42. The smell of turkey breast with apples, onions, oregano, rosemary, and sage that is currently wafting through our home.  Oh. My. Goodness.
43. A good stretch.
44. Writing.
45. Legos, because they make all my guys so happy.
46. Teachers, both general ed and special ed.
47. School staff.
48. Therapists.
49. Harry Potter (and J.K. Rowling).
50. Blogging, and the ten or so of you who check in all the time.  Thank you.

I could go on forever, but there are Yukon Golds in the kitchen awaiting my knife.  Happy Thanksgiving, all.  Be safe and happy.

Tuesday

• I didn’t turn my computer on all weekend, which suited me fine at the time, but I still felt compelled to catch up on the tweeting, facebooking, and RSS’ing of it all yesterday and today.
• I found a couple of new-to-me blogs here and here, and I’m enjoying wasting time being inspired by them.
• If we had had any doubts about the move across country (which we hadn’t), they would have been washed away over the past few days of parent-teacher conferences.  The boys are excelling, and Nicolas, especially, is making more progress academically than I have ever seen him do.  I am so proud.
• I found the fabric I wanted for the boys’ room on clearance for $1.99/yd at Ikea and foam core at half price at Michael’s this weekend.  Nifty simple pelmet, here we come!
• Ironic Thanksgiving story of the year: We are having our first vegetarian Thanksgiving this year, having been graciously invited to a friend of a friend’s house on the big day.  I promised Jason some Turkey on Saturday, so I bought a breast when they were on sale a couple of weeks ago.  Yesterday, a friend who doesn’t cook turkey called to offer us the free one she’d received at the grocery store.  Today, Jason won a free one at work.  We are overrun (in a totally blessed way!) with turkeys.  (Which are being stored at our friends’ house, because they have a stand-alone freezer, and we have the smallest freezer known to humankind.)  They will come in very handy for dinners in the New Year.
• I’m excited for Friday.  We’re decorating a little earlier this year than we have in the past, because we’ll be out of town for ten days around Christmastime, and we want to enjoy our decorations for as long as possible.  It was Jason’s suggestion, and I love it.  (I think he would’ve decorated a couple of weeks ago for this reason, but he knew better than to suggest to me that we decorate before Thanksgiving.  Smart man.)
• The latest Muppet video on YouTube has gone insanely viral today (I’ve seen it on three blogs and many more Tweets).  I love it.  It is quintessential, classic Muppet, especially in the very last note of the song and in the little piece directly afterward.

A Thanksgiving Poem

While packing boxes yesterday, I ran across my Poetry Book, written and compiled in sixth grade.  In honor of Thanksgiving, I give you an acrostic:

Hmm, little did I know that would mean “domestic scientist!”  And how ironic that I never took a day of chemistry in my life.

There is much to be thankful for, this year and always.  I’m working on remembering that on a daily basis.  Everyone have a great, happy Thanksgiving, and give extra hugs to those who are dear to you.