Noooovember 22

I am thankful that the cable box died on a night that I don't care about the TV programming.  Butttttt that means I have to listen to Nazi zombie killing.  So it is a little bit of give and take!

11/20/11

I wish I could be thankful for not coughing but today I am thankful for cough drops which help a little.

20th of November

It seems like the month is flying by!  Today I am thankful for my bed.  I haven't felt well lately and diving into it is like visiting an old comfortable friend.  I have my heated blanket previously mentioned and it is just so cozy.  Best when my husband is there holding down his side.  I do have to say that I booted him last night with my coughing and it was nice to cough freely and not worry about waking him up.  It was nice he left the sick on in her own bed to.  I didn't have it in me to get up and move. I am off now to snuggle down in my bed and become a warm cinnamon roll!

19th

It has been hard to be thankful lately because I have a terrible virus that has me coughing up a lung.  I am really thankful that my older two children are coming home for Thanksgiving.  I miss them so much when they are not here.  It is like getting a present when I have all my chicks in the nest!

November 18

Well, today I am thankful for the beautiful Autumn trees.  I was stuck in nasty nasty DC traffic and instead of screaming at the vehicles like the lady behind me I instead studied trees.  I noticed for the first time that after the leaves start falling off and the trees still have a few on they look like giant lace tablecloths.  I never noticed that before and I am thankful that I did.  There was one that was the most beautiful bright orange/red color and the sky was so blue beyond it.  The color combination was really beautiful.

November 17th

I am thankful today for my youngest child.  My second son has a wonderful dry sense of humor.  He is a really good listener and while doesn't say much he lets you know he really heard you.  He is crazy smart with electronics.  He can take things apart and put them back together working.  Solder stuff in, figure out the broken bit and find a replacement on the internet for a good price.  He does his chores usually and he plays the clarinet really well.  Although the contra alto clarinet always reminds me of the brooms dancing the sorcerer's apprentice, I still like it.  He even agrees to go shopping with me so he can carry stuff for me.  I would like to teach him how to drive but he isn't very interested.  I think he likes our time alone in the car. 

Novem. 16

I am thankful for peanut butter cups.  Not all of them mind you but good ones.  They have to have the right ratio of chocolate to peanut butter and the peanut butter has to have a touch of salt to balance the sweetness.

15 November

I am thankful for my camera.  It is a nice Nikon camera.  I got it after I fought an insurance company for a few years.  With the money that I got returned to me I bought it.  I would have never ever in a million years gathered the money together to purchase it otherwise.  I love how pretty the pictures are when taken with it.  I do wish I could take a class or have someone teach me about it so I could take even better photos.  Something to dream of :)

November 14 (no really it is!)

Today I am thankful that my family are not picky eaters.  I know it seems trivial but I am the family cook and only very rarely does anyone turn up their nose.  My youngest child is probably the most picky and with him I just avoid bones and leave some stuff plain because he doesn't like sauces much.  My husband loves fried liver and onions which I would never buy let alone cook but yet he has never complained about it.  I pretty much just make up recipes as I go along with whatever I have on hand.  Nothing ever tastes the same way twice because of that.  I cook healthy yet no one complains.  My husband was discussing my cooking with a carpool lady once and she was amazed that I cook almost every night with food that is generally from scratch.  It isn't pretty by any stretch of the imagination but it is tasty, filling and pretty good for you.  I don't know what I would do if I had a bunch of picky people?  I can barely make up one dinner a day!!!

Nov. 13 (ok it is really the 14th)

November 13th I am thankful for sleep.  When I get enough life is so much easier!  Brain functions better, I am a nicer person on and on.  If you have ever been without enough sleep for a period of time you know what I mean.  After a period of feeling sleepy you will forever be thankful for sleep.  My insomnia generally comes from worry.  Most of my worry lately has been health related.  Surgery, meeting a new Dr, starting a new medication, a new symptom etc...  I there for am very thankful for a good nights sleep.  A few weeks of them in a row would be pure bliss.

November 12

Today I am thankful for my cat.  He is warm, fuzzy and pushes his face on my ear and purrs really loudly.  It is the warmest most delicious feeling ever.  He started out as my daughters cat but when she left for college he attached to me.  My daughter picked up out at the Fort Lewis pet shelter.  We went in and she asked the workers which cat was least likely to get adopted.  Not the cute little long haired babies, noooo they would get adopted in a minute.  They had the cuteness factor of 11.  The one that wouldn't most likely get adopted was a teenage orange and white cat that was sticking it's paw out of the cage as much as possible trying to claw anyone going near.  That is the one we took home.  He has a white spot on the middle of his orange back so he was "temporarily" named Spot.  But my daughter felt he needed a long pedigree name like our dog so the cats full  name is Tangerine's Snowy Spot.  Spot has in his older age turned into more of a dog than a cat.  He doesn't hunt mice anymore, now he begs for food at the table.  He is funny, grumpy and I am thankful for him.

11/11/11

It is veterans day!  Today I am thankful for all those brave men and women throughout the history of our country who have been willing to give up their lives to protect our country.  My husband being the one closest to me of course.  I can't thank the troops without thanking their families.  All those military wives sitting home waiting, praying, worrying and planning what they would say if the chaplain shows up at her door.  Thankful for all the military brats who in no way asked for the life they were born into.  My own three military brats are amazing.  Multiple schools, saying goodbye to friends, learning how to fit in.... 

November 10th

I am thankful today for computers.  I am a military wife and have been for 25 years.  At the beginning of that we didn't have a computer.  We relied on phone calls which at that time was expensive.  At least it was expensive for a young family with only one income.  In those days phone calls were billed by how far the call was.  Long distance wasn't cheap.  When we were in Germany we would wait by the phone waiting for our families to call because calling from the USA to Germany was much cheaper than a call from Germany to the USA.  When the phone would ring it was like a present had arrived.

In the early 1990's we purchased our first computer.  It was really just used to do word processing.  I wrote numerous newsletters and created data bases for the military wives.  A little later in the 1990's we got a computer that we could go online with.  We learned how to email.  It took some time before the rest of the family caught up but they eventually did.  By the time we moved to Germany again in 2001 everyone was online and we could communicate every day, send photos, chat on and on.  Not to mention shopping online :) 

I am truly grateful for the computer.  It connects me to so many people.  Family, friends, people I have never even met in person but have been online friends with for years.  When I am far from those that I love and care about in body I can still connect with them on the computer.  It is a wonderful invention!

Thanks day 9

Today's thankful thing is easy.  Today I am thankful for my oldest child, my daughter.  Today is her 22nd birthday.  She was born in Nuremburg, Germany on November 9, 1989.  That coincidentally was the day that the Berlin wall fell.  Total chaos reined in the country and I was pretty busy myself.  Giving birth to the most beautiful smart little 6lb 9oz baby girl that ever graced the earth.  I am a bit biased I admit but she is amazing.  Beautiful, funny, quirky, smart as a whip.  She graduates from William and Mary in a few months with a degree in Philosophy.  She is trying to plan the next phase of her life.  Law school?  A job?  Graduate school??  She just has to make up her mind, her options are open.  I wish for her a child some day that gives her as much joy as she has given me.

Day 8, I voted!

Today I am thankful that I had the blessing of being born into the United States of America.  I can practice any religion I want, I can marry who I want, I can as a woman go to school without fear, I can show my face/legs and hair! and last but not least I can vote.  I did just that today.  I voted, every time I come out of the building after voting I feel so proud to be a citizen of the USA! 

Thankful thing #7

I am thankful for my parents today.  My dad is no longer with us and is very much missed.  My parents loved me so much from the second they knew of my exhistance.  My dad adored me, thought I was the smartest most beautiful girl that has ever walked the earth.  Having one person in the world that thought that of me was amazing, a blessing..... there are no words.  My mom has always been there for me.  Giving advice, listening and would do anything for me.  Most recently she flew here and took care of me after surgery.  It felt so good to be taken care of like only a mother can.  I am the luckiest daughter ever!

Day 6 of thanks

Today I am thankful for my middle child.  His heart is open and he feels other peoples pain more than he should.  He is funny, talented, smart and handsome as all get out.  He is the middle child so I think he feels left out.  His talents are varied and many, where his sister and younger brother have very focused talents.  He can talk to anyone, loves to entertain, he can do anything he puts his mind to.  He gets worried about failure and sometimes gives up before he can see he is succeeding.  He is growing into such a wonderful man.  I wish he called more, came home more etc. and most I wish he could see what an amazing man he is.

Day 5

Day 5 of thanks... I am thankful for beautiful sunny days like today.  When the sun comes out in such a spectacular way it lifts my spirits.  It is like there is a newness and the bad is pushed off into the corner for a bit.  It doesn't hurt that the Fall leaves are glorious colors so looking outside in any direction is a wonderful display of amazing colors of nature.  The transition time of Fall with the crisp air, warm sun and the colors are what I am thankful for today. 

Day 4

Today is not an easy day to find something thankful for.  Life has been hard.  Hmmmmmm  I am thankful for the little gravel road near my house with a small creek with babbling water.  I was able to stop on the bridge today and turn off the radio, open my windows and just look and listen to it.  The sound was so peaceful, I saw a heron fly away.  I am thankful for the minute of peace where all was well.

Day 3 of thanks

Day 3 of my month of thanksgiving.  Today I am thankful for Dr's.  Anyone that knows me knows saying that is very difficult for me.  I have had a number of surgeries lately, undergone dozens of allergy shots, will start physical therapy soon and just today found out I might have a problem with my eyes.  I pray not but the fact that all these people are educated and trained to help me to be as healthy as possible is humbling to say the least.  It would be a lie if I said I liked going, that I had no anxiety about it all but I am thankful none the less.

Day 2 of thanks

I am thankful for my electric blanket.  I know it seems like a small thing but to a girl who is always cold it is heaven sent.  My husband likes the room to be cold as can be.  I wake up many times a night when my blankets get rearranged, so having the warm blanket means I stay asleep.  Hmmmmmm I am a warm hot cinnamon roll.  Electric blanket makes Winter not so bad.

A month of thanks...

Looking at life with a thankful attitude this month.  First thing to be thankful for is my husband.  We have been together for over 30 years.  He has worked hard as an Army officer so I was able to stay at home and take care of our children.  It has been a real blessing to me, our children and our entire family.  Don't think that me not earning money didn't mean I didn't work.  I worked my butt off.  Volunteering to take care of my husbands soldiers families, helping with the military community, boy scouts, girl scouts, many many hours volunteered at the elementary schools.  But because of my husband I was able to give so much to so many people.  I am thankful for my husband for many things but the one I am commenting on today is that he has supported me being a stay at home mom.