Gratitude (And it's not even Thanksgiving!)

About a year ago, I was feeling very sorry for myself. My skin just kept breaking out. I said to Bill, "I would be happy if my skin was just sixty percent better." (Because I always think in exact quantities and percentages.) Well, when I went on bed rest shortly after that, my skin did clear up. It probably was about sixty percent better. A few times I think I felt grateful for the improvement, but most of the time, I still mourned the blemishes that I continued to have. Now that I am back to having acne like a teenager (while at the same time having wrinkles like someone in their thirties has), I realize that I should have been more grateful for that time, albeit brief, that I could go without makeup without being completely humiliated.

I could use that story to talk about how we should be happy with what we have because we will never have enough and always want more. But I was thinking more about gratitude tonight. So, in an effort to show (and feel) a little more gratitude for some of my blessings while I am still experiencing those blessings, here is my list of things that I was grateful for today. 

1. That person who invented Kleenex. As someone who is allergic to most of the world, what a necessary thing for me! What did people do before that invention? So nice when I needed to use almost a whole box today!
2. Kids who are funny.
Avery: Mom, I found this picture of you when you were little. You were cute. You looked just like me. Sadie: Squeal, Squeal, Squeal, Eat everything I come in contact with, Squeal, Laugh, Squeal, Half-crawl-scoot-roll to get whatever I want, Squeal until no more noise comes out but keep squealing.
Bill: I found your old white laptop...UNDER Preston's bed and on.... (that sneaky little guy....)
Bill: Carter, stop shaking your booty! (He is CONSTANTLY dancing and shaking that skinny little bum.)
Avery: Sadie, stop being inappropriate. We can be inappropriate, but you can't because you're just a baby.
3. A husband who makes dinner.
4. E-readers. I bought and read a book and never had to leave the couch. (I realize the potential for laziness here, but I'm claiming sickness for today.)
5. Books in general. Especially Jane Austen and Georgette Heyer when I am in this kind of mood. And other books inspired by these authors. Maybe I'll stop being lazy and do a post on my book blog about Georgette Heyer. I bought a lot of twenty books by her on ebay today, with only three repeats of books I already have or have read. I am so excited to get them. Somebody can have the repeat books if they want.
6. Running water and heated water. I would not have felt well enough to go fetch my own water. Plus, I really needed that shower.
7. A new couch. Eight months with only a loveseat in my upstairs family room makes me really appreciate this cute new contemporary/transitional textured gray couch with chaise lounge on one side that we got at the Fischer Furniture outlet in Logan for only $699! Especially good for setting up my sick station with Kleenex and books and phones and laptop. Comfy too.
8. Brother(s) and Sisters! I have the best, of course. (I am including in-laws here.)
9. Friends. If you are reading this, you likely fit into this category. Thanks for being awesome and for at least pretending to like me.
10. Black licorice that doesn't have corn syrup. I ate a couple of pieces today, and the bag is still right in front of me. (Not that I can't understand if you do not agree with me here. It is definitely a strong flavor.)
11. Conditioner. My hair smells nice now, and it is super soft. Funny looking because it is drying weird, but soft.
12. Pajamas that are comfy.
13. Chocolate. I didn't have any today, but in the book I read, they were eating chocolate, and I was thinking about how good it is. I could write poems about chocolate. If I had an appetite, I would go eat some right now.
14. Costco. I like their diapers that rarely leak. And their book prices, usually better than Amazon. And we usually buy Kleenex in bulk there. Just buying contacts there, for just one of us, saves us enough money each year to pay for our membership. Then we use that money we saved to buy more books...
15. A baby who slept in late so that I could also sleep in late and have weird dreams that included Chris Johnson and then driving some weird van/bike combination, maybe like a Flintstones car I had to pedal to escape the mafia.

What were you grateful for today?

One of Us

If you have not cried over spilled milk, then you have never been a nursing mother.

Avery told me, "I think Sadie's going to have a really cute voice."

I think so, too. She started babbling for the first time the other day, and she hasn't stopped since she discovered she could do it.

Carter sat on the couch next to Sadie and me. He pointed at Sadie and said, "It's weird to think that she's one of us." I asked, "What do you mean?" He responded, "Well, she's so... small..." I asked, "Is it weird to you that she's in our family or that she's a little person?" "BOTH!"

I am not making dinner. I looked at recipe books for an hour. Nothing sounds good. Except chocolate. And cinnamon rolls. And my husband's parents are here, so I think chocolate and cinnamon rolls are out of the question.

Carter's on a roll lately. I thought that since he was nine, he wouldn't say funny things anymore. I am glad to be proven wrong. He makes me laugh all the time still.

He's not the only one.

Preston told me that I am not an old lady or a young lady. "You're a medium lady. And you're medium because you're not fat or skinny. You're just medium all the way."

Thanks.

Avery was on my bed playing a game today. I heard her screaming, so I ran to her to see what was wrong. She had somehow smashed her toe in the top drawer of Bill's nightstand. I don't know how she did it, and I couldn't really comfort her very well because it was so funny to me. Bill's nightstand is about a foot away from the bed.

Two good things about summer: Leverage and Warehouse 13.

What do you like about summer? (Besides the fighting kids....)

Conversations of the Day

A couple of things from our day today:

Preston: Carter and Boone are being so gross! I don't even want to be anywhere close to them.
Me: What are they doing?
Preston: They're being a weird band with gross songs. Carter is burping all the songs, and Boone is making tooting sounds. It's disgusting!

Do you really expect nine-year-old boys to be any different?

And a little later while driving home:

Bill: Look at that really cool sunset, boys.
Carter: I see it. It does look cool. It looks like a sedimentary rock.

That's just what I was thinking...

And because I can't stop laughing about this story....

http://www.ksl.com/?sid=21340615&nid=711&title=goat-man-spotted-in-mountains-of-northern-utah-&s_cid=featured-3

You'll Feel Better About Yourself...

If you want to feel like a better parent, you can read about these conversations that took place at my house recently.

Me: I am so sick of nobody listening to me when I tell you to get ready for bed! It makes bedtime my least favorite part of the day because it takes an hour for everybody to bush their teeth and get their pajamas on! Please just obey the first time!
Carter: Well, bedtime is my favorite part of the day, and it makes me sad that you keep yelling at us and ruining my favorite time.

Obviously, I need to do way better about not yelling at the kids at bedtime.

My house is mostly organized and almost clean (except for my bedroom and the office and the bathrooms). Carter commented, "It feels really weird when the house is this clean."

Obviously, I need to do way better about cleaning my house.

I was telling my kids about how someone helped me move Preston's bed when I couldn't even get it to budge an inch. Carter said, "Could you even get it to move a centimeter?" I replied, "No." Avery said, "Well, Mom, you would be a lot stronger if you would exercise more."

Obviously, I need to do way better about exercising.

We cleaned out the pantry yesterday. About one-third of the food was expired. There was some food that had expired as early as 2003. Carter asked, "How many things are in this huge pile of food?" It was the food that we were throwing away. There were over 120 items that we wasted, costing at least $300! And that doesn't even count the food that we had already put into the trash!

Obviously, I need to do way better at rotating my food.

Those are probably enough examples for you to feel better about yourselves.