Gratituesday; I love Bloggers

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Today I'm grateful for blogging. Why? I love all the amazing people I've met through their blogs. I love the dozens and dozens of new recipes I've tried and loved. I love the fantastic parenting advice I've gotten. I love the funny stories that have made me laugh and the testimonies that have built up my faith.

Blogging has connected me to an amazing community of women from all walks of life and parts of the country. I've received so much from that community!

So thank you bloggers! Thanks for your time and transparency and for sharing your lives and stories.

If you're willing, I'd love to get to know you better! I have two things to ask of you.

First, if you are a blogger, leave a link to your blog in the comment section. That way I can stop by and take a peek, and so can my readers. (Don't get too excited, I don't have that many.)

Second, please help me find a permanent name for my blog. Your combined creative genius FAR exceeds mine, and I could really use some advice! Check out this post and vote for your favorite.

Thank you so much!

Gratituesday; My Keurig

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I usually try to post something uplifting or spiritual for Gratituesday. But not today. Today I am in love with my coffee maker.

Oh, yes, I love my Keurig. 

My husband bought it for me when we moved here. 

It brews one cup at a time, and since I'm the only coffee drinker in our house, it's perfect. 

There is no mess. Can I tell you how much I love not having a mess? There are no filters or grounds. Just these adorable little thingies called K-cups. 

It brews in 3 minutes. 

It's so easy to use my kids make me coffee. 

It is my very, very favorite small appliance. Ever. Better than my waffle maker. Better than the microwave. 

Maybe not better than the bread maker. I do love the bread maker. 

Still. 

I love my Keurig. 

Gratitude

I haven't had a shower since Tuesday. (I know.) I've had a touch of the flu or something, The Amazing Husband has been working double overtime, I can't seem to conquer the laundry that's been building up, and the two year old has been... two. 

So this morning I loaded up the kids (minus one, plus three friends) into the van and drove them to the park to burn off some energy. And I was feeling pretty darn wretched, thank you very much. Having a nice little pity party all by my own self. 

And then this song came on the radio: 

And all the kids in the back started singing along. 

And I remembered that I love my life. And my two year old. And yes, my laundry.

Gratituesday

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This week I forgot about Gratituesday. Maybe I should be grateful for my giant homeschool binder, which is supposed to keep me organized, when I use it. And I am. Grateful, not organized. I mean I am organized, but obviously I could use a reminder now and again, since lately I can't seem to remember a darn thing that isn't written down.

Anyway. What I'm really grateful for is...

The Internet.

Ok, let me explain. I feel like I spend a lot of time wishing we could all go back in time. Back to when prayer was allowed in schools. And people knew their neighbors and helped each other out. Back before rated R commercials on TV at 6pm. Before it became okay for women to go shopping at Costco in nothing but a bright red sports bra (true story).

I know I'm romanticizing the past, but doesn't it seem like everything was better back then?

But there is one thing they didn't have back then that I would sorely miss. The Internet.


The Internet connects me to my fabulous blog community. Without it I'd never have met Laura at Heavenly Homemakers, or The Pioneer Woman, or Connie from Smockity Frocks. (Ok, technically I've never actually met those people, but you know what I mean.) How dreary my life would be without Not Me Mondays at Raising Olives! 

Without the Internet, how could I instantly access a recipe for mango salsa? How could I research all the books I want (and all the books I never knew I wanted) on Amazon? Not to mention the stuffed animal net I found for my girls. Did you know they still made those? Yep they do!

No Facebook. No Hulu. No Evites. No playing Bejeweled for hours on end while the laundry piles up unfolded!

It must have been so sad and colorless back then without a daily Bing image. And so today I'm grateful for the Internet for bringing us all together; for bringing meaning and value to our lives each and every day.

Thank you, Al Gore. 

Gratituesday; Big Closets

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I may have mentioned before that I love my house. (One of these days I'll do a photo tour. Really, Mom, I mean it.) One of the things I'm grateful for are the large bedrooms with walk-in closets! This is the closet in our school room. The closet!

Judah and Westyn playing during school. 

Is that fun or what? In the last house I'm pretty sure the girl's bedroom was that size. Ok, that's not really true. 

But it was close. What are you grateful for today?

Gratituesday; Bubble Baths!

I really love my house. One thing I'm especially grateful for is the giant soaking tub in the master bath. I almost never use it, but twice a week it becomes a bubble-filled swimming pool for the kids. They can all fit in there together (with suits on) and we can get the bubbles almost 2 feet high. The kids are in bath heaven, and my little girl self grins right along with them.

Gratituesday; On Purpose

If you've been following this blog, you know that our family recently made a move to southern California. You may also recall that this move was not, for me, a particularly a welcome one.

It has been very easy for me to slip into a bad mood about it. I find myself beginning to harbor all kinds of self-pitying thoughts, especially this last week of illness with no friends nearby to call on.

So this week for Gratituesday, I'm forcing myself to be positive. Here are the things I'm grateful for in miserable crowded sunny California:

• Lots and lots of homeschoolers
• Really great weather
• A really big house. So big that I'm a little embarrassed about it. 
• People who wave at you when you walk by
• Lots of state parks and national forests within driving distance
• The BEACH is 45 minutes away (well, without traffic, but now we're getting negative)
• No billboards of mostly nude people (we moved here from Vegas)
• Green, rolling hills
• Lots of very nice folk who have done their best to make us feel welcome

Gratitude doesn't always come flowing like a river all by itself. Sometimes we need to remind ourselves to be grateful. Sometimes it takes effort. Sometimes we have to do it on purpose. 

What are you grateful for? 

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Gratituesday; Sick Kids

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The grand adventure in our house right now is a nasty virus that's taken out 3 of us so far. I've gotten about 10 hours of sleep over the past 3 days, and I was going to skip this post altogether, but it's always good to pause and remember to be grateful. Even with snot all over your pajamas. 

So today I'm thankful that we live in a country where I have access to good medical care. This might sound antithesis to my post on health care, but it's not. I'm so glad that if I need to, I can take my kids over to the pediatrician. 

I'm grateful that the worst I have to fear for them is the flu, or pneumonia. That polio, smallpox, the plague and starvation are non-realities in this country. 

I'm thankful that I can run down to the grocery store for Pedialyte and popsicles without worrying about my bank balance.

We are really, truly, fabulously blessed. 

Gratituesday; Leslea

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Today, my first child is 9 years old!

Nine is a big deal, folks. We're pretty excited about it and we'll be celebrating with friends, tacos and chocolate cupcakes.

Because it is her birthday, I told her I'd do a post completely dedicated to her. It'll be fun to look back in a few years and see what she was like today. Today, she:

• is 4'3" tall
• loves horses
• and dogs
• prefers purple to all other colors
• loves her new brown boots
• likes spelling best
• and math least
• and wants to work with animals when she grows up

Happy Birthday Leslea! 

Gratituesday

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I know this sounds cliche, but after spending the last few days in near constant prayer and contemplation over the Hanley family and their loss, I am grateful for my kids.

I have heard of families who have lost children in the past, but something about this story has struck a chord with me. I feel like God has buried the Hanley family in my heart and I literally cannot stop praying for and thinking about them. I'm grateful for this, because it has heightened my sense of gratitude for my kids and all the joy and chaos and laughter and even the trouble they bring to my life.

I'm grateful that I get to be Leslea, Owain, Alese, Judah and Westyn's mom.