Thankful 30

After a whole week on the road, I'm thankful Patient Husband made it home safe tonight.

Thankful 29

I was thankful for an uplifting talk with a friend today.  Also for yet another unusually beautiful November day. Thankful for the full moon shining directly on the lake casting a most beautiful moonbeam on the waves, and Jupiter right there keeping the moon company.

Thankful 28

I am thankful today was a calm day. Wednesdays usually aren't.

Thankful 27

Thankful the Christmas shopping is almost done.

Thankful 26

I'm thankful it took less than an hour to put the piece back together.  Sigh. 

Thankful 25

Oh, dear.  I was humming along all day long cutting out the bazillion pieces of applique for the new baby's first quilt (due early February).  I cut out all the pieces for the barn.  I hummed along thinking "Oh, this is a good thankful day...I have the whole day to do this without stopping."  I sewed the bits and pieces of the barn together, ironed, it looked so nice.....until at 8 p.m. I held it up for  that  final  aaaahhhhh moment.  And I saw the mistake.  The upside down mistake.  The mistake that was inside all those pieces.  I looked and looked and looked to see if there was a way in without taking the whole thing apart.  And there wasn't. So, while I was thankful ALL DAY LONG for having the time, energy and opportunity to work on this, at 8 p.m. I sat down with the seam ripper and ripped it apart till 9 p.m.   So, what in all of this is there to be thankful for?  Well.....I'm not afraid of the project anymore.  I mean, how bad could anything else be?  And after I ripped it out, I laid the pieces on the table IN ORDER so tonight it will take just a half hour to put back together. 

Thankful 24

 

Sometimes it's just the little things, isn't it?   Today, I'm thankful I could get

 from this

to this

Thankful 23

Believe it or not it's cold and snowflakes are swirling around.  The lake has 13 foot waves and the roar is deafening.  So we did a few errands and accomplished some Christmas shopping.  Thankful for that!

OH! And last night I finished Ceci's quilt!! Thankful, thankful!

 I used perle cotton and it went just fine now that I'm using the right needles.   

Thankful 22

Thankful 21

   I'm thankful for a wonderful day with the girls today. 

I took my little sewing machine that I've had since I was a little girl, dug out some squares and Elizabeth was busy for the whole day.

 

 She took to it like a girl to chocolate. 

 

 She learned the importance of pinning, the little seam guide and feed dogs. 

 

It was another one of those beautiful days we cherish in November so after naps we went down to the beach for a run.

After an hour of running, sand play and collecting rocks it was time to go back up those 153 stairs and head home.

They're in bed right now, reorganizing their universe.  Soon I'll go up with my book, lie in one of the other bedrooms so they know they're not alone and they'll settle down.  Tomorrow we take them back home and meet up with our son and his family for Thanksgiving.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.

Thankful 20

   How can I not be thankful for the start of a 5 day holiday weekend? 
   And for the Thanksgiving feast one of the fourth grade teachers puts on for her class - and invites the specials teachers to.  It's a good warm-up for what's coming on Thursday.  The kids had a great time today!

Thankful 19

   Today I'm thankful Santa loads his sleigh early.  These wrapped and secretly addressed goodies are in his sleigh and headed for a mystery friend. 

Thankful 18

I'm thankful today I got the binding on Ceci's quilt and can now concentrate on turning and finishing it.  I love sewing the binding on a project.  It says "Finished!"

Thankful 17

Today was a hard one.  Hmmm....
     This morning there were 6 deer right outside our back door.  Four hanging around the clothesline, one just inches from the door, one in the field.  Is it ok to be thankful in this first full weekend of deer hunting season that they're still alive?   The other day when I came home as I drove around the curve, they were all hanging around the mailbox (probably checking to see if the package from Amazon came yet.) I told them if they hung close they might live through this hunting season.
     Is it ok to be thankful for the 2.5 hour nap?
     For yet another day of sunshine and warm enough to hang the clothes out?
     How about thankful I made the cookies I make every year - a tradition our grandma started by not letting a Thanksgiving or Christmas go by without them.
     How about being thankful Friend Marilyn's new grandson was born healthy?
     I guess today wasn't so hard after all.

Thankful 16

I thank my cousin for giving me my laugh for the day.  And it's only 7:51 a.m.!

Thankful 15

A good friend and I had lunch today.  Thank you, good friend.

Thankful 14

Thankfully my nose is not broken.  I think.  When it lets me touch it it says OUCH! but isn't black and blue.

Thankful 13

Today we went to sign me up for Social Security.  Yikes.  One of the pamphlets described me as "old people."  While you are encouraged to do your signup online, we had a couple of questions so made an in-person-appointment.  I'm thankful we did. I joked that our life is pretty mundane but it turned out there were just enough glitches connected to me (so what else is new?) that even the woman helping us said, "it's a good thing you came in." Thankful, thankful, thankful!!

After we left we went to a new place to eat.  As I was walking out I crashed - read CRASHED - my face into the glass wall I thought was the door.  I now know what they mean when they refer to seeing stars.  I think I broke my nose.  We'll see what I look like tomorrow morning.  It's swelling, sore and there's a cut.

Thankful 12

I am thankful today that I am home from work one more day.  And thankful I finished making the peppermint patties I make every year at this time.  It's a soothing thing to make, everyone loves them.  Here goes:

 Twelve cups of powdered sugar.

 One 14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk

 One cup butter, melted and 3/4 teaspoons peppermint oil (NOT extract, use oil)

 Use your scrupulously clean hands to mix.  It really is the only way. (Holy cow! Is my hand really that wrinkly?????)

 Knead till it's the consistency of PlayDoh.

 Form balls about the size of a walnut and flatten. Lay on a cookie sheet lined with parchment.

 I layer and layer with cling wrap between the layers. Then cover and put in the fridge overnight to harden.

 Next day melt 4 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips with 8 Tablespoons Crisco (or other white vegetable shortening). This sounds yucky (the Crisco part) but it keeps the chocolate from forming that gray crawl.  Drop a pattie into the chocolate and immediately fish out with a fork.

Line them on another cookie sheet lined with parchment. Put in the fridge to set then store in a container with parchment between the layers.  Store in the fridge (or as I do, in tins on the back porch).  They keep forever but since everyone loves them, they don't last forever!

Thankful 11

Today I was very thankful we were given one more, probably our last, 70 degree windows open day.

Thankful 10

Today I'm very thankful for a phone call I received at 7:45 this morning.  Maybe two thankfuls
today...I finished, wrapped and packaged for mailing a secret!

Thankful 9

It's only 10:40 a.m. and I can already declare being thankful for today.  Just today.  The sun is shining, two loads of laundry are on the line, scones baked, and I'm headed for the couch with my full blown head cold and Kindle with a new advance copy of a book called Mary Coin.

When I got home from school last night at 9:30 p.m., bookfair finished, distress still evident in every cell of my body, I poured a glass of wine and finished the advance copy of Speaking from Among the Bones by Alan Bradley.  His character, Flavia deLuce is a gem.  Friend Laurie, get ready for this one!

Thankfully, the couch is calling me.  I NEVER EVER do something like this and I am eternally thankful I can do it today.

Thankful 8

I'm thankful I spent the night at my mom's last night.  She's 87 and this morning was on top of her game and we had some good laughs.

Thankful

It's been a rough few days at work and as a friend was talking with me this morning she said that since it's November and it's the "Thankful" month, she is writing everyday on her Facebook page one thing - just one thing - that she's thankful for.  It can be big. It can be small. But it's helping her turn her mind around.  She has a lot more going on in her life than I do and some of us handle stress better or differently than others.  I don't handle it well.  I'm learning enough about myself at this advanced age to understand why I don't handle it, but it doesn't take away from the fact I don't.   So, in honor of MaryAnn, I'm going to try it.  I'll backtrack to November 1 and think of one thing for each of the days and continue through November.

November 1:  It's Charlie's birthday.  He's seven years old and he's our first grandchild and we'll forever be grateful for him.

November 2:  I am thankful my daughter took Elizabeth out of school at lunchtime so I could pick the girls up at lunchtime and take them home with me for the weekend.  It prolonged our day Friday.  We miss having them.

November 3:  I'm thankful for naps.  I took a long one when the girls went down.  I am a napper.  When I retire I plan on taking a 6 month nap.

November 4:  I'm thankful for the peace.  The girls went home. The house was very quiet.

November 5:  This is hard.  Monday.  First day of Bookfair.  First day of trying to juggle seventy-eleven things at school.  I think I was most grateful -horrors to say- but I was grateful Patient Husband was out of town and I didn't have to do ANYTHING when I got home.  I didn't have to talk. I didn't have to eat. I didn't have to do a thing.  And I didn't.  Of course, I could have done the same if he WAS home, except for the talking and eating part.  So...I was thankful for the quiet.

November 6:  The day of stress to the limit of not knowing if it was a panic attack or heart attack.  So I'm thankful for the bookstore I went to for relief.  I'm glad it was there, close enough to be able to drive there and spend 45 minutes decompressing.

November 7:  Today!  I am thankful the elections are over.  I'm thankful our President was re-elected. I'm thankful the phone will stop ringing with pollsters or people trying to convince me to vote for someone I had no intention of voting for.  I'm thankful the mailbox won't be filled with election flyers.  I'm thankful the commercials on TV will be trying to sell me a car instead of  a person.

Phew!  I'm glad I wasn't told about this exercise any later in the month!!!

Tomorrow.

Peace and Quiet

What do you  do when the stress level reaches the point where you can hear your heart beat?  When you can't take a deep breath.  When you don't know if what you're feeling is going to morph into a panic attack or heart attack? When you can't seem to stop waking up at 3 a.m. and your racing, raging mind won't let you go back to sleep?  When the buildup to this week confirmed itself - and it's only Tuesday.  When if one more person that day asks something of you, you will look them in the eye and cry? What do you do if you feel like eating will most certainly cause you to gack?

 I slipped out during my lunch break and went shopping.  In a bookstore.   I walked in, stopped just inside the door, took a breath.  A very deep breath.  Exhaled deeply.  I walked around, touching book covers, choosing a calendar, found the new edition of the book review magazine I liked, wandered over to the cookbooks,  ambled through the children's section, wrote down some titles for Christmas ideas.  I spent 45 minutes breathing deeply, pretending that when I went back to work the afternoon would be better than the morning. 

I bought my magazine, a calendar and these two treats.  Rod Stewart's first Christmas CD ( I absolutely love his Great American Songbook collections) and Best Food Writing 2012.  

                                      

I took a deep breath and went back to work.  The afternoon was better than the morning.