January - Months End

 Many ideas  run through my head, for a months end post.  Things accomplished, books read, things made, and on it would go.  This particular January feels like I have just been getting a handle on 2017.  Mentally taking notes on loose goals, things I'd like to do or see, books I'd like to read, where I'd like to see the boys education to be.  Nothing of great consequence to note.

Even so, the good things from today would be:

• the moon looking like a smile
• finishing the first month of my sky scarf
• decaf coffee, so I can still sleep tonight
• a quiet house
• time to just be

Snow! And it was pretty!

We got measurable snow overnight; albeit, not a whole lot, couple inches or so.  Out the back of our house it looked beautiful.  The house backs up to acres of park land.  At times, would be nice if it were our land, but other times it is nice that it belongs to someone else.

• measurable snow
• wood brought it for a fire
• clear roads
• ideas for warm dinner
• thankful for days end

 Backyard, early morning.

 Just before a good shake.

 The colors are cool looking!

This was called, "Melty Dog".

With a good fire going, room can get well above

80 degrees.

Just a few more days . . .

left in January.  The month has passed quickly.  Possibly to quickly.

• easy trip home, after a night away
• everyone happy I am home
• a dog, estatic, to see me
• trips out, just to be with Kevin
• many recorded shows to get caught up on

Saturday Thanks!

• sunrises
• no traffick
• seeing parents good friends
• simple and good pasta dishes
• sitting and chatting

Quick Post

• hanging out with the younger this evening
• KP duty, oddly enough
• silliness
• English Muffin pizza

Another Photo Kind of Day

Been a pretty good day.  Another windy day, but not as bad as a few days ago.  Getting out for a walk kind of day.  Sunshine, and shorts, and sunglasses, and hanging out on the deck sort of day.

Much to be thankful for, but here's the highlights:

• pizza on Thursday, not Friday
• walk with the boys
• enjoying the sunshine on our faces
• getting caught up in knitting
• comments like, "It's a Pac-Man Pizza"

Pac-Man Pizza

First Pizza got demolished quickly.

Didn't take long for second to be gotten into.

Sky scarf through today.  Finally figuring out how to

bring yarn up the side; haven't decided if I want to start

over again.  There are some messy spots, on the right, 

about a quarter of the way up.

Another Beautiful Day

It's been another great day of sunshine!  Lots of miscellaneous things to be thankful for.

• tree that fell, didn't cause to much damage
• dog not taking advantage of weak spot in fence
• time outside
• mac & cheese and keilbasa
• overall, just the feeling of a good day

What is blue and yellow?

The sky!!!!!!!!!!  At least for a portion of the day.  It did get gray during the middle of the afternoon but cleared up to show off a beautiful sunset.  Felt good to see the sky.

Thanksgivingn for the day:

• sunshine
• longer walk with Charlotte
• naps
• good dinner
• beautiful sunset

Know I promised the sky scarf today.  I wasn't able to fully catch up and decided to rip it out and start again.  Weaving the yarn, up the side, is a new skill for me and I'm trying to get it looking nice.  Soon is all I can promise at this point.

A Blustery Day!

A blustery and rainy day.  Windy enough to move the outside furniture or knock them over.  We survived.  Looked forward to around dinner time when we start closing up the curtains for the day; wanted an end to the cold, rain, and dark.

• wind moving the storm away
• socks
• music
• falling asleep to Screwtape Letters
• new recipe for dinner
• working on sky scarf

Maybe tomorrow I'll have a progress photo of the scarf!  I can dare to dream.

As a total side note, the slowness of the day and lack of weekly meal planning meant last minute thawing of meat.  Have found that once the meat is a little thawed, it can be cut down into smaller chunks, which cooks and breaks up easily.  Cooking save & kitchen hack!

Odd Combinations

that was today!  No particular order, or rhyme, or reason.  Just a day to be thankful for.

• ice cream and cake for dinner
• Sherlock Holmes
• perfect grilled cheese
• short nap on the couch
• hitting over 10,000 steps for 5th day in a row

Weeks End

Third week of January has come to a close.  Another week marked by the color gray.  Another week to be thankful.

• walking more again
• money to buy groceries
• first donation of the calendar year
• leftover cake and ice cream
• bacon with breakfast

Fourteen Trips Around the Sun

That is what was celebrated today!  Our Ian turned 14 today.  It was a celebration all day long, with food, laughter, and fun.  Much joy to be shared.  Here are just a few of the things that brought smiles:

• warm, orange glow from the fireplace
• chocolate croissants for breakfast
• car rides with the birthday gentleman
• sprinkles
• rainbow cakes

Trader Joe's Chocolate Croissants

Cakes before baking

Vanilla frosting and loads of sprinkles!

Singing

What a laugh!

Inside of the cake!  Colors don't show

as well as I'd like.

Errand Sort of Day

Lots of short errands run today.  Some had to be run individually; a bunch, thankfully, were done in one trip.

• gas in the van
• time with boys, individually
• 3 games of Uno, each of us won a game
• wine delivery
• talking about tomorrow

Signs of Spring

January throws a surprise.  Time to shake of the long pants, thick socks, and heavy jackets.  Today was all about a lovely and unexpected day.

• list making
• sweet sunshine
• 56 degrees outside
• daffodils poking through, the hope of Spring
• windows open
• smell of fresh air

Tuesday, Tuesday

another day of rain, and blankets, and naps, and coffee, and more coffee.  Not even worried about what the rainiest month on record is, it's still a good day.  Here's todays take:

• rain
• heat
• blankets
• clay pots
• empty schedules

Thankful ~ definition & basics

adjective

1.  feeling or expressing gratitude; appreciative

just the basics today, no extra:

• sleep
• doctors
• walks
• meal plans
• medicine 

Beautiful Slowness

That was today, from my take.  Could be considered quite busy from family members. 

The afternoon calendar wide open, nothing pressing, no special meals planned.

• blue skies today ~ way to many gray this year
• time to hang out
• kid playing in the woods
• another kid getting help with school
• leftover ice cream cake
• Green Bay Packers beating Dallas Cowboys

P.S.
I'm behind on my sky scarf!  Been noting the sky but the yarn was getting tangled pretty bad, so I ripped out the first week and have not caught up with the knitting.  Hope to get two weeks knit before the endo of this week.

Wintery Saturdays

Second Saturday of 2017!  We were due for more winter weather today, again, in the form of freezing rain and it making the roads slick.  Thank goodness it passed us by.  Something to be thankful for.  To appreciate.  Still did have activities canceled, but that allowed more time at home.  Another blessing!

Counting it all Joy:

• day to clean
• being called a superhero for cooking
• homemade applesauce
• an Eagle Court of Honor

Celebrations and Milestones

Our oldest turned 17 today; we took the time to celebrate him.  Lots and lots of food.  A trip to the Lego Store.  A trip to 5 Guys.  A trip to Chick-fil-A.  To top it all off mozerella sticks and pizza for dinner and an oreo ice cream cake for dessert.  Can't forget about the chocolate croissants for breakfast.

Tones of food today.  To much food.

He enjoyed the day though.  Birthday wishes through several social media venues, a birthday card in the mail, being sung to to (wheather he wanted it or not).

The gratitude for the day:

• 17 years of life
• wonderful young man
• more legos
• time with son
• time to relax
• cupcakes

Another Day!

Has come and gone!  Suppose it could be called a good day.  A lot of recipe reading, questions, suggestions, sleeping, school, and just life type stuff.  Not sure why it seems so hard to come up with a gratitude list;  we really do lead a pretty good life.

Here's my take on the day:

• 60 + degree weather
• able to have windows open for a spell
• a little container gardening, done on the deck
• boys confidence in my cake building capabilities
• warm (ish) walk, with the dog, after sunset

Midweek, already?

The week feels quick!  The week also feels incredibly slow.  Spuradic back pain will do that.  The moments you feel okay go quickly; then the intense pain comes back and life slows down to a snails pace.  Such a mix of feelings and sensations!

Wednesday, the 11th of January comes to a close though.  Life is still good.  Life is sleepy at this point.  A yearning for deep rest, good rest, restorative rest.  Before sleep fully overtakes me, here's my list:

• moments of blue
• relief from pain
• snuggles with the dog
• friends who get the need for pj days
• pistachios

Finding the Joy

Another gray day.  Nothing like my "sky scarf" to make me more aware of how many gray days we've had.  C'est la vie!!

Maybe early in the day, but gratitude has come easily today.  May come back to add more later.  For today, about 11 AM, it goes like this:

• thankful we live close to the firestation, just in case
• remembering good conversations
• feeling greatful dispite the gray
• good memories flooding my brain
• warmth
• permanent Farmers Market sign ~ thoughts of spring and summer

Not Sure How to Title . . .

Felt like a long day!  Thankful there was some blue, because overall, it felt kinda gray both visually and emotionally.  Still there was good! 

• the blue and gray sky
• getting stuff done
• completing at least one task I really didn't want to
• dinner together
• finding versus I'd been meaning to look up

Maybe short, but made it to five.  It's kind of a goal, now, with new planner and space for Daily Gratitude.

See you tomorrow.

Nothing Catchy Today!

If writing titles to draw the reader was hard, today feels worse.  Thankfully, I am not necessarily trying to win anyone over with my writing ability.  Not trying to earn a living by drawing you in or click on affiliated links.

Another beautiful day for the books.  Although VERY frigid, single digit/low teens frigid, it was a gorgeous day.  As the sun came up, through the trees, it was a vibrant orange; warm, glowing, inviting.  There was also the wind, gusting and making it feel colder than the already low numbers.  Sitting on the warm side of the window, it was wonderful to watch.

The joy of the day:

• bible classes starting again
• sunshine for miles
• time with extended family
• brief chats with friends
• general feeling of JOY

Day of Verbs!

Today closed with the first significant snow!  Not a whole lot, but enought to cancel events, start up the woodstove, get out the boots, and sweep the snow away.  We got maybe an inch!  Because of it, my thankfulness includes:

• napping
• knitting
• reading
• warm fire
• sweeping snow

See all the verbs!!!  snicker, snicker

Moving on!!  I'd been pondering a Sky Scarf for awhile.  This year is the year it gets worked on!  With January 1st on a Sunday, it is working out nicely for my weird brain.  There are just times order is a good and wonderful thing.  Anyway, this week has been a combination of a lot of gray days, gray and blue, snow and blue, making the scarf quite colorful already.  Here are a couple photos:

 The colors don't show up as well as I'd like,

but it is coming together nicely.

Had been hoping to use five colors,

but seeing how these three are coming together

may just leave it these.  A viragated blue, gray, and white.

That's my day, verbs and all.  Catch 'ya tomorrow!

Getting Back to Normal

It started with the week between Christmas and New Years.  No schedule, no outside activities, nothing to mark the days.  Even the first week of January had a number of things canceled or rearranged.  Today, most things were back on the schedule and I was doing the teen shuffle!

Here are things that gave be pause to think about or just a moment of joy:

• teen on top of the schedule
• fairly full tank of gas
• beautifully arranged Romain Lettuce
• Individual pizzas
• time out with one teen and laughing hysterically
• time out with Kevin

A Trend ~ Gray Days

We've had many around here!  It's the 5th of January and our 4th day in a row!  Digging deep to find gratitude in the bleek.  It'd go something like this:

• sound of wood stove moving warm air throughout the main level
• hot tea at the Orthodontist office
• teen excited at the prospect of snow
• warm dinner
• applesauce, from scratch, for kid who had the ortho appointment

What do you do on days that are dreary?  How do you remember the joy and to be thankful in all things?

Random Joy

All sorts of joy today; gratitude all over the roadmap; looks like a plate of spaghetti noodles all jumbled together.

Sometimes, randomness and mess can be good.  Today, we were okay with it.  After gathering up the stash of knitting needles and matching up their mates, I finished cleaning out a basket.  In that process, money was found, in an envelope addressed to me.  Very unexpected surprise, a joyful and greatful moment.

Another moment was driving across town, Adele on Pandora playing, and the sky clearing up.  Beautiful shades of blue and white clouds.  In the van felt warm, without the heat turned on.  This, after two and a half days of dreary, felt wonderful.

Listing the hightlights looks like this:

• blue skies
• found money
• day not rushed
• winter sunset through the trees
• moments to sit and chat

Lovely Things

Headed out to Target today (third different one in a week or so, I think) trying to find the right size desk top calendar.  This particular one (aka Target #3) has consistently had the right size, but not today!  Drats the luck.  Was recommended to go to a fourth one!  Ugh!!  I've also check other stores while there too.

Anyway, while at Target #3, I found the following beautiful planner.

 The flowers are really cute.

Front says, "ooh, la, la",

but that isn't what sold me on it.

 Check out what is by each date.

Yup, daily gratitude!

I'm trying to be reminded of gratitude, daily.

This space "sold" me on the planner.

While taking the quick photos, just noticed "weekly intentions"

across the top.  This planner gets me excited for the year.

Besides the run to Target, has been like any other dreary day.  My sky scarf has a 1 day of beautiful blue sky and 2 dreary, gray days.  But remembering the gratitude would look like this:

• on the mends from a cold
• leftovers for meals
• basic school days
• no where to go (other than errand to Target)
• finding 5th color for sky scarf
• dinner alone, at home, with hubby.  Boys weren't ready for dinner and it was a fix it yourself kind of night.
• pretty planner

That sums of January 3rd.  Hope your New Year is turning out lovely!

One More Day . . .

and not meaning a reference to Les Miserables!

Last day of Christmas Break.  Last day of not being sure what day of the week it was.  Last day of not having any responbilities.  Last day of no activities out side of the home, to mark what day it is.  That all changes tomorrow.

For today, though, not to bad of a day.  That despite head colds and other things running rampage here, count the joy:

• easy meals to fix
• Rose Bowl Parade
• time to sleep
• extra help around the house with hubby have a day off work

Short and sweet today!  :)

First Post

Happy New Year!

Out with the old, in with the new.  New goals, traditions, things to learn; the possibilities feel endless.

So far this year:

• started log for sky scarf ~ pretty mix of blues and white clouds today
• rading "The Irish Cottage: Finding Elizabeth" by Juilet Gauvin.  So far it is pretty good, hasn't become one that I can't put down, but has the potential

Thankfulness to date:

• ice cold water
• krispy kreme donuts for breakfast
• getting the house straitened up a bit, post Christmas
• premier of season 4 of  "Sherlock Holmes"

What has been good in your neck of the woods?