Day #22 and Day #23 of Thankfullness

#22 I'm so thankful for our cars. I can't imagine trying to do the things I do so easily every day without the convenience of having a car. Our little family is so blessed to have two of them. Even in their advanced age and mileage they treat us very well and have been so reliable, the extra grunts and noises mine makes as it ages remind me that I need to appreciate having a car even more so. Its taken me so far in life, from being single living in my parents house, to moving out on my own, to moving back home, to married life and parking outside of our own house. Its taken me to my jobs every day, through the changing seasons, to visit friends, to the hospital to visit relatives and to funerals. I've driven to Canada, to Memphis, to the Outer Banks and to multiple trips to visit the hubs when he lived so far away. I'm so thankful for my little car, its treated me well in the nine years that I've had her.

#23 I'm so thankful to have the day to spend with the hubs to mark a HUGE item off of our checklist, his office. We had it piled with too much stuff and too much furniture and it just wasn't working. My brother gave us a gorgeous desk to replace our old Target special. The gorgeous desk is HUGE and has tons of drawers where we were able to organize everything away, we also did about 4 years of filing (yes from piles and boxes of random papers), and moved out a huge lime green futon. It is now a functional office with one desk, a chair and a stool for when he plays guitar (like right now-ignore my paleness).

if you see that closet in the corner this morning it was insane. You couldn't get within two feet of the door and now it is crazy organized. Ahh feels so good to get something under control that has been a "door closer" for so long. A door closer is when you just shut the door when you have company instead of leaving it open, no matter how many times I've shut that door people always end up in it. So yay! I can keep it open now!!!

Day #21 of Thankfullness

Today I'm thankful that we have some time off together this week. Both the hubs and I took off this week to finish some projects around the house. Currently we are cleaning and reorganizing the hub's office, defrosting our freezer and doing laundry. On the plate for this week: finishing the trim work in the downstairs, doing the finish work on the floors, repainting and spackling whatever needs to be done, tightening the kitchen faucet, painting the outside trim, cleaning our laundry room and finally DECORATING FOR CHRISTMAS!! So yes, the time off is well needed right now and very much appreciated.
With all these things done it will help us to slow down and appreciate the time we have with family over the holidays. Besides that I'm just happy to spend the time with the hubs.

Making up for lost time in the Thankfullness Dept

So I started that 30 days of Thankfullness with good intentions to update the blog daily, and as intentions sometimes go it fell by the wayside. I did however spend alot time this month being thankful though and consciously thinking of the things that I am thankful for. Its amazing how much your attitude changes when you are looking for the good in your life.
So without further ado:

#9 I'm so thankful for our church. We've been looking for a new church close to our house for about a year and nothing felt like the right fit to us. We finally checked out Grace Community which is 5 min away and it was just right. We are taking membership classes now and are looking forward to getting involved and getting to know everyone there.

#10 I'm so thankful for my friends. God has blessed me with some wonderful friends that are kind, supportive, hysterical, loving, encouraging and just all around amazing. I couldn't imaging living my life without the input of these great people.

#11 I'm thankful for having a washing machine and a dryer. Sometimes I think of what it would be like to live without the conveniences that we have right at our fingertips. Laundry is my least favorite household duty, thats right its below cleaning toilets. I can't imagine how hard it would be without the conveniences that we have now.

#12 I'm so thankful that my husband is my best friend. We share an amazing love as well as a rich friendship. Our relationship has taught me so much, its sounds so cheesy but I'm a better person for knowing him and calling him my friend.

#13 I'm so thankful for the ease with which I can look up recipes with the internet. Its amazing how many things are right at our fingertips. I can't imagine how amazing my grandmom's cooking would be if she had access to thousands upon thousands of recipes. It makes life so much easier when you have a can of beans, an onion and carrots with which to make dinner from.

#14 I'm thankful for my kitty cat, while its true my cat can be quite a pain, he also is very snuggly. I never have a dull moment folding laundry or making beds because he thinks that clothes and sheets are cat toys. He does brighten my day with his crazy antics.

#15 I'm thankful for the ladies that I work with. I have three wonderful girlfriends that I share an office with. They are always there to offer encouragement, make me laugh or just talk with. It makes me happy to head to work to see them.

#16 I'm thankful for warm pot of tea on a cold November day, I love wrapping cold hands around a warm cup of tea. There is just something so relaxing about it.

#17 I'm thankful for my family. They really are good people, no matter what I know that they support the hubs and I in our decisions and love us. I've always loved coming from a big family and honestly it just gets better with age. I couldn't imagine having a small family or no family at all. There is always so much laughter when we're together, its nice that its just fun to be with them.

#18 I'm thankful for my parents house in Maine that they let us use for vacation.

Its so fun bringing the hubs to the same place we spent our vacations every year as a kid and sharing those memories with him. Its also great that there is an open door policy with the house. This year on vacation I got to spend time with three of my siblings and their families as well as my parents.



#19 I'm so thankful for my extended family. Besides having a huge immediate family we have a fairly sizable extended family who is also very close. Its wonderful being so close to aunts, uncles, cousins, 2nd cousins, 3rd cousins; we really do keep in pretty close contact.

#20 I'm so thankful for my computer. I may be slightly addicted to it but it really does help me keep in touch with friends and family far and near. It also helps me to learn so much about cooking, sewing, crafting, home improvements; its my go-to place when I want to learn something quickly

Hey! I'm caught up!!!!

Day #8 of Thankfullness

I was going to update yesterday that we purchased a bed. A HUGE bed. A bed that we used the fruit of my job to purchase. We brought the king size bed home with my Sister in Laws minivan, yeah that was interesting, considering we have a pretty significant storm going on with some leftover hurricane weather that floated north. As we drove the 5 miles home the mattress was rearing and straining to fly off the roof. I was considering this as I watched the mattress pull and tug on those ties we secured it with.

Of course I was thinking of doing this in a much cooler way, ala Teen Wolf

but alas it was raining and I don't think my sister in law would be too happy with me van surfing with her Dodge Caravan.

So we got the car home with only a few minor heart attacks where I pictured the car becoming airborne and flying who knows where. The next challenge was getting it up the steps. We had a hard time getting our queen box spring up the steps, to the point that I had to take it apart (which may have been the heart of our old mattress discomfort). After much pushing and shoving where we realized that, wow we bought a huge smooshy mattress we got the mattress upstairs with only one small hole in the wall. Good thing I'm good at spackling, heh. By this time it was about 5 pm and I made the bed then the hubs and I starting watching Away We Go. We fell asleep about 30 min in, so yeah I'd say its a good purchase. We fell asleep for the night at 5:30 pm.

Sooo yes we are thankful for our new mattress.

Day #7 of Thankfullness

I'm so thankful today for my job. I just started working again for my former employer. Its amazing to have a job that you love. I love the job itself, the people, what we do and bringing home a paycheck :)
We're using the fruits of that labor to purchase my #8 today. Will update later :)

Day #6 of Thankfulness

I'm so thankful for a the time to make some good homemade food. This weekend I've made; jalapeno hummus, vegetarian chili and corn and blueberry griddle cakes. I've also pre-cooked some beans and also some rice to use in meals this week. The time to prepare these this weekend insures that we will have good healthy food all this week. Also the food is very thrifty so it saves some coin!

I used my crockpot to pre-cook about 1.5 lbs of beans. I rinsed the beans and placed them in the crockpot with some Kombu (seaweed) and salt. I put water to cover the beans plus about 2 extra inches. This cooked for about 8-10 hours, I put all the beans in jars and will freeze some of them for use next week. It will be really nice to have some cooked beans on hand to use as that is a deterrent for me to make some recipes.

The jalapeno hummus was a 18 oz jar of garbonzo beans (liquid reserved), 1 Tbsp Tahini, juice of 1/2 lime, couple squirts of olive oil, handful of parsley or cilantro. I put all this in a food processor and add the liquid from the beans until it is the right consistency. Salt and pepper to taste. Y.U.M.

Day #5 of Thankfullness

I'm so thankful to have a home, a place to lay my head at night that I can feel safe and secure in. I've seen so much poverty on the missions trips I've been to; in Mexico with Ywam, in Jamaica and in Haiti (with Hope Alive and New Missions). I'm so incredibly blessed to have the home that I do, I pray that it would always exude love and hospitality.

Day #4 of Thankfullness

Right now I'm thankful for those little orange peelers that you get from Pampered Chef

I love oranges but HATE peeling them, this little gadget saves me getting orange juice all over my hands and pith in my fingernails. For that, I am thankful.

Day #3 of Thankfullness

I'm thankful for the beauty that surrounds me in nature. I've spent a good portion of my life living in the middle of the woods and spent that time looking at the stars, watching the deer and wild turkeys, watching the snow quietly fall down and listening to crazy thunderstorms.

Now that I live in suburbia I still make a point to look for the beauty of the small bit of nature that surrounds me. The gorgeous full moon last night.
The colors in the tree in my front yard as it changed, the leaves as the fell down in a soft blanket on our front lawn.


Wherever you are you can always appreciate the clouds as they float on by

There is beauty all around and to see it brings me such joy. I'm so thankful to God for providing this.

#2 Day of Thankfullness-I'm playing Catchup!

I think one of the things I'm most thankful for is... Yes, you guessed it. My husband. Its not a secret that I think he is all around wonderful. The most supportive, kind hearted, smart, wise person I know. What I'm thankful for today is his sense of humor.


An example of this would be a couple of years ago I got it in my head that I was going to make sock monkeys for all my nieces and nephews. At the time there were 7 nieces and nephews I wanted to make sock monkeys for and I decided this about 2 days before Christmas. Needless to say, I made myself crazy. There was crying involved as I sewed into the wee hours of the morning trying to get these silly sock monkeys done for children I had already purchased presents for. The husband patiently told me that he would give a big fat resounding NO if I ever decided to do this on such short notice (I'm prone to over-commitment), but its what he did the next morning that really gives you a picture of what it is to live in our house. This is what I came downstairs to.

blogging monkey

Guitar Monkey

Joy of Cooking Monkey

Video Game Monkey and Praying the Rosary Monkey

This sense of humor is so appreciated as it makes our house that much more joyful There are always silly, goofy things we are doing for each other. They say laughter is good for the soul, and I know it has done my soul good. Oh and by the way, its been requested that I make another batch of sock monkeys this year...

Thirty Days of Thankfulness

So I saw this little thing floating around the internet and thought it was a great idea to join in.

There are so many things that I am thankful for. Today on election day, I'm most thankful for this great country that I live in and for the men and women in the armed forces that defend her. There are so many freedoms that we enjoy as citizens that cannot be taken lightly lest we lose them.

Napoblomo

Hmm I'm on the fence on whether I want to do this, this year. I've done it for the past few years and this blog has seriously been neglected this past year; but thats a level of commitment that I'm not so sure I have in me right now. This is my way of buying myself another day to figure out if I want to do it.

Anyone else partaking?

Halloweenie

So the hubs and I have a pumpkin carving contest every year. We pass back and forth on who wins but this year I was declared the winner. As you can tell we ran with a theme this year.

Can you guess which one is mine?

Phillies Phevor

Yes, I've caught it. Normally, I'm a fan that doesn't like watching on tv. This series is changing that as I'm loving watching them kick some Yankee butt. Some of Lee's highlights last night that keep the game interesting:

and

Cooking

So I'm looking into this whole month-ahead cooking thing. I have a partner, someone I met at our new church who is a crazy coupon-er as well. I'm a little scared of this endeavor but I think I'll really enjoy just having all those meals at the ready to just pop into the oven. The first time should be er--interesting as far as the planning, the shopping and the cooking. I'll be sure to post pictures, timelines and recipes where I can. If you have any ideas or have seen any posts on this let me know!

Is it Christmas yet?

Can I decorate? Or should I wait till after thanksgiving? Or at least Halloween?

Today is Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day

Its been a little over three weeks since we lost our little one. The days have gotten easier but I do find myself still grieving our little baby that we had prayed for and wanted for so long. For the most part things are back to normal, I'm working now which is good because it gets me out of the house. I don't talk about it as much mostly because I don't know that people really want to hear about it and I don't have anything to say that I haven't already said. To say this was one of the most difficult things I have ever gone through is an understatement. It feels like a silent grief as it seems people don't realize or don't expect you to grieve as much as you do. I would have never known how much it hurts to lose a little one even as early as I did (seven weeks). I find myself thinking about where I would be in my pregnancy and each little development my baby would be making. I don't imagine that will ever change as I'll always wonder about my first baby.

I'm focusing on living and the blessings that I do have which are many and great. I do have a wonderful and caring family that has really supported us and some incredible friends. A ridiculously supportive husband who has the sweetest and most caring heart of anyone I've ever met.

Mostly I feel like I joined a club that I wouldn't ever want a membership to. I wanted to join the mommy club and talk about how my baby didn't sleep through the night or how they are growing so fast its ridiculous. Instead I'm in this club of women who lost their little ones. The members of this club showed me in the hugs that I received, the kind emails that were sent that just emulated what I was feeling and with the sorrow in their eyes that its not anything you ever get over but its just something you carry with you.

Today if you're reading this and you've never experienced this loss, count yourself blessed and hug a friend who has and ask them how they are doing. If you have, I'm sorry and please know you're not alone in this.

I'll be lighting a candle at 7pm tonight to remember my little one.

www.october15.com

Songs

When I'm going through a particularly hard time I often find a song that just resonates with me. I can listen to the song for hours and hours on repeat and it is like a soothing balm to me. I can never plan this it just happens that I'll be going along doing my day to day and a song will reach out and capture me. Years later those songs are often still some of my favorites and hearing them will transport me back to that time when the song meant so much to me.

This happened this past week. Losing the baby was/is so hard for me. My first instinct when going through times like this is to sequester myself away, which I did and I'm so glad that I did. The husband has been incredibly wonderful, supporting and caring to me. It makes me so thankful that God has provided someone who just fits me perfectly. There were times that I just couldn't stay home and on the couch and on one of those I heard "I'm Alive" by Kenny Chesney and Dave Matthews Band on the radio in my car. It reminded me that everyone has their share of heartache's and mine is not unknown to my God. Even though it hurts and its hard, I'm alive and that is a gift from God.


So damn easy to say that life's so hard
Everybody's got their share of battle scars
As for me I'd like to thank my lucky stars that
I'm alive and well

It'd be easy to add up all the pain
And all the dreams you've sat and watch go up in flames
Dwell on the wreckage as it smolders in the rain
But not me... I'm alive

And today you know that's good enough for me
Breathing in and out's a blessing can't you see
Today's the first day of the rest of my life
And I'm alive and well
I'm alive and well

Stars are dancin' on the water here tonight
It's good for the soul when there's not a soul in sight
This motor's caught its wind and brought me back to life
Now I'm alive and well

And today you know that's good enough for me
Breathing in and out's a blessing can't you see
Today's the first day of the rest of my life
Now I'm alive and well
Yeah I'm alive and well

Best infomercial ever

I love infomercials, I've been known to watch the Magic Bullet commercial so much that I know their names. If this is the future of infomercials, it gives me hope.


my favorite part is the bunny rabbit doing the MC Hammer dance.

Potato Soup Recipe

In the interests of moving that post down a little, I'll post what I made for dinner yesterday. As an Irish girl it is a fall/winter staple, the potato soup.
First I take about 2 tbsp of butter and melt it in my pot, I add to that about 1/2 a large onion and about 1/2 cup chopped scallions. I put this on medium heat for about 30 minutes so its not frying the onions but just simmering. After about a half hour I add 5-6 peeled and chopped potatoes ( I chop them up very small) and about 5-6 cups of liquid (can be milk, chicken broth or water or any mixture there-of). Yesterday I added about 3 cups of 2% milk and about 3 cups of water. You let this come to a boil them simmer for about 30 minutes. I then take my immersion blender and blend it all up. Once this is done I just salt and pepper it up.
To serve, I grate up some cheddar cheese and put it on top of each bowl. Would be wonderful with bacon pieces on top as well.

This is a wonderful, cheap fall meal. The pot I made last night will probably last for 3-4 meals for two and the total cost was $2.78 (and thats with organic milk). So that is .35 cents per serving, not too shabby. Would be even cheaper if you just used water.