Thankful Thursday

Today I am thankful for...

• my stellar family and friends
• the many blessings in my life, and being able to recognize them (big and small)
• the fact that things always work out God's way, not my way...this is way good because I don't have a clue what I'm doing most of the time :)
• my health
• my job
• Auburn's very first ever BCS #1 ranking...cautiously excited (very, very, very, very excited :) )
• the beautiful, gloriously cool fall weather that arrived here today (to stay? could it be???)
• a successful first Honors Club meeting after school today
• the chance to go on a walk this afternoon
• no ill effects (so far) from my flu shot
• getting to catch up on my "Jersey Shore" this week...I should be embarrassed about how happy that show makes me (but I'm not)
• my new nail polish...never thought I'd get on board with gray nail polish, but I love it
• wrapping up my second grad school class...one more to go for this semester!
• Christmas Village plans with my Mimi next week
• the silent, dramatic interpretation of the Jamestown experience my kiddos did in Social Studies today...it was hilarious and they LOVED it
• a (hopefully!) relaxing weekend coming up, and the start of a new family tradition on Sunday
• no more dreams about Michael Myers since that awful Tuesday morning...let's hope it stays that way!
• payday tomorrow!
• "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" on TV tonight...the holidays are officially here!!!!

HAPPY WEEKEND!

I had a dream...

My alarm went off this morning at 5:30, as usual. I clearly remember turning it off, making grand plans to reset it for 5:45, and being excited to catch a few more minutes of sleep. Only by the grace of the good Lord did my eyes open at...wait for it...wait for it...6:16. Ick. I try to leave every morning by 6:30ish, so I was panic-stricken. I think I set a new land-speed record getting ready and, thankfully, made it to school right on time. With wet hair, zero jewelry, and considerably less makeup than usual, but I made it.

Oh, and what was it that woke me up from my extra long slumber? A dream I was having. A scary dream. A dream I didn't want to have. A dream about this weirdo:

That's Michael Myers in the original Halloween movie. He's just finished killing a guy, throws a sheet over himself, puts on the dead guy's glasses, and (slowly, silently...so yikes) walks up to the girlfriend. She apparently has 11 brain cells and takes a stupidly long time to figure out that this. is. NOT. her. boyfriend. It doesn't end well for her. If you've never seen this, I'm jealous of you.

I was dreaming about this. I woke up right before he grabbed me. Rise and shine, indeed!Michael Myers dream + oversleeping = the opposite of how I like to kick off my Tuesday mornings.

Thankful Thursday

Today I am thankful for...

• my awesome family and precious friends
• the grace of God, which gets us through the bad times
• the power of prayer
• opportunities to reflect on how blessed I truly am
• my job, and how sweet everyone has been to me this week
• the thoughtful cards my kiddos and my "math babies" made for me while I was gone...so cute, and so (unintentionally) funny
• the fact that one of my kiddos calls the Tums he has in the nurse's office "TumTums"...and has all week long...I don't have the heart to correct him because it's so stinkin' cute...so cute that sometimes I pretend like I didn't hear him the first time so he'll have to say "TumTums" again
• pretty fall weather
• my mulled cider and pumpkin spice candles (who are getting a whole lot of burn time these days)
• getting to celebrate 2 way cool friends this week...happy birthday LA and Sara K!
• TumTums
• chugging through my first semester of grad school...not tons of fun yet, but definitely manageable
• a chance to catch up a bit on sleep and life this weekend...much needed
• rediscovering this today...heard about it on Rick and Bubba this summer and it made me giggle again today
• TumTums

HAPPY WEEKEND!

Sometimes

Sometimes, something happens that takes your breath away and changes the track your "life train" was traveling on. Sometimes, you're left wondering why. Sometimes, you're reminded in a not-so-subtle way how short life is and how thankful you should be for each moment.

Uncle Mack was too young to go and we didn't expect this at all. If anyone reads this, please pray for Uncle Mack's wife Tammy and his kids Jerry, Sarah, Abby, Spencer, Leannan, and Maggie. Please pray for Mimi and Grandad. Please pray for DennyJ and Aunt Dianne. Please pray that all the rest of us know how to help in the best ways possible. I don't even know what to do or think right now. Please pray.

Thankful Thursday

Today I am thankful for:

• my family and friends
• my health
• my job
• fun plans this weekend :)
• fall weather finally (finally???) here to stay
• the safe rescue of all of the miners/rescuers in Chile...I watched so much of it on TV that I'm fairly positive I could rescue any of you if you got stuck in a collapsed mine
• getting to climb Yogurt Mountain tonight with a sweet friend
• the birth of sweet baby Luke Conerly today...so excited for Suzy and Ian!
• the fact that I got to be friends with this cool kid for 14 years...
  (This was from Psychedelic '03, my very first sorority date party. I was new in Auburn, with 1.5 new friends and -4 date possibilities. I was planning to just wallow around in my dorm room instead of going by myself. Mikee very kindly offered to take me so I didn't have to skip out, and even willingly wore women's clothes from the thrift store. And yep, he even volunteered to go shopping with me. His $2 pants were too tight to button so we had to rig them up with a rubber band...after he laid down on my bed trying to suck it in. He even treated me to a fancy dinner of frozen burritos...heated up in the MICROWAVE, no less. Mikee made that such a fun night, and made me feel a whole lot less like a loser freshman. Easily one of the highlights of my college days.)

I miss him and that sweet smile and his crazy hair and his totally infectious laugh. A whole lot has changed in the 5 years since he left us, but he is still definitely loved and missed. Every day.

HAPPY WEEKEND!

Just sew sew...

I think I was getting a little bored with the "same old, same old". And honestly, maybe I was getting a little cocky. I mean, I taught my own self how to sew. I can crank out burp cloths, bibs, and headbands like a machine. So I decided to branch out. Yesterday, on my day off, after crossing off everything on my to-do list, I decided to make myself a throw pillow. I found a great tutorial, bought the world's cutest fabric, and set to it. Two hours later, I was nearly in tears, with a much-too-long, impossible-to-sew-up "throw pillow".

My task: I needed to sew 3 buttonholes. My dilemma: I don't know how to sew buttonholes. I practiced and practiced and still couldn't get it. No problem...I just sewed on the buttons by hand, not realizing that the buttonholes are IMPERATIVE to making this work.

So now she's unfinished, and will remain that way until I gather up the motivation to finish what I started. Sometimes, we all need to be humbled a bit.

Oh well, at least the fabric and buttons are cute!

Thankful Thursday

Just realized I didn't participate in Thankful Thursday last week. Woops. I'm definitely thankful, but sometimes don't feel very bloggy. Back to normal this week!

Today I am thankful for:

• my family and friends...love 'em love 'em love 'em


• my job...it wears me out daily, but I'm glad to have it


• the lessons I'm learning this year


• my health


• the beautiful fall weather we're having...still a liiiittle warm, but I'll take it


• getting to sew last weekend, and getting to mail out some little bundles of baby goodness I adore these new fabrics, particularly the dotty/swirly one. I'm thinking of making myself a hot new outfit out of it. Thoughts? Yes? No?
  {It's a little ridiculous how happy sewing makes me.}

• Kira and Princess Sugarpieangelface coming to visit this weekend...I love visitors, particularly of the former-bathroomie-and-her-precious-babe variety
• a field trip tomorrow
• making an A in my first grad school class, and maybesortakinda deciding on what I want to ultimately do with all this extra schooling I've decided to put myself through
• the new devotional book I bought this week
• t-shirt tiiiiiiime tonight! I. love. this. show.
• a day off on Monday...yes, please!

HAPPY WEEKEND!

STOP the presses!

I just read something that totally altered the course of my fall. I am elated. Beyond elated...euphoric! This article states that...ready yourself...the pumpkin shortage is over!!! No more waiting list at Publix. No more hoarding cans in my pantry. I'm gonna eat pumpkin in EVERYTHING. Pumpkin muffins. Pumpkin pancakes. Pumpkin salsa soup (so yum). Pumpkin to dip my fries in instead of ketchup. Pumpkin on a spoon, straight out of the can. Just kidding about the last two, but NOT kidding about my level of excitement. I plan to take on an orange hue by December. Bring on the pumpkin!