- I’m grateful for Ashley’s family letting the blogging community know of her passing. I feel a lot of sadness over her loss. I feel thankful her family provided us with closure and let us know how much comfort blogging provided her in her life. There have been many times over the years bloggers have just disappeared and just left us guessing in worry.
- Our friends had their annual Halloween party over the weekend. We also had our annual sailing banquet which we also dressed up for. It was pleasant to visit with friends we don’t see often. I also love to dress in costume. That was probably my favorite part of being involved with community theater, dressing up and being someone else for awhile. Although someone did ask me if I was dressed up as a pregnant porn star. Definitely not the look I was going for. Paul and I dressed up in vintage 70’s disco outfits.
- My husband started his month long detox diet. I’m grateful he takes his health seriously.
- My son-in-law came back home yesterday after spending two weeks out of state for work.
- I finished painting my future office.
- We will be renting a dumpster this week to pull out the carpeting and get rid of junk.
- I had a good session with my therapist.
- Paul and I did some volunteer work. I enjoy helping other people and getting out of my own problems for awhile.
- I have been sleeping pretty good lately.
- We had a game night with Will and Arabella. We had a really good visit.
gratitude
Gratitude week 147
- The weather the last couple of days has been absolutely gorgeous.
- I took advantage of the nice weather to finish my fall cleaning and wash windows.
- The autumn colors have reached their peak.
- I love the home renovation shows and I am starting a project on a much smaller scale turning my daughter’s old bedroom into my office. I removed all the trim board and applied the first coat of paint. I’m grateful my husband and I are willing to take on projects and finish them even though we don’t know what we are doing. There has never been an easier time to learn.
- Breakfast with my best friend at a new restaurant.
- I was able to visit with all my kids this past week.
- Angel came for a visit and brought over cinnamon bread she made with the bread machine which was a wedding gift.
- Paul’s homemade pizza.
- Fall campfires.
- Variety, change of seasons, and getting out my winter clothes. Warm fuzzy sweaters are the best!
Gratitude week 146
- As much as I love to travel, it’s always nice to be back home.
- I’m grateful we got everything ready for winter before we left because it showed up while we were gone.
- I’m grateful to sleep in my own bed with clean sheets, an electric blanket, and a quilt on.
- I checked the state of Delaware off my bucket list.
- We made an unexpected trip into Washington D.C. so I checked that off my bucket list as well.
- Today I bought some light yellow paint to start turning Arabella’s old bedroom into my office. I’m excited to get started on some of my winter projects.
- I’m grateful for a quiet week and weekend ahead.
- I’m grateful for the warmish weather while we were travelling out East.
Gratitude week 145
- It was a rather quiet week to rest, reflect, and recuperate from the wedding.
- I was finally able to find some undergarments to fit Arabella good enough.
- Paul and I were able to get a lot done to get ready for winter. We sailed our boat to its winter home, covered the pool, shut down the cabin, and will be getting the yard ready for winter. It always feels good to get these tasks done.
- The trees have reached their peak in colors.
- We are getting ready to fly out east tomorrow for a business trip. I will be checking another state off my bucket list. Not to worry if you don’t hear from me much this upcoming week.
- We had a plumber come out this week to fix a couple problems we were having.
- I found the key to our bedroom door so we can lock it when we are gone. It’s not a huge deal, but last time we were gone Arabella slept in our bed and used our shower. We just don’t want anyone in our room.
- Dan and Angel got a duplicate gift of a big mixer for their wedding which they gave to me.
- We made plans to go to a yurt with our friends this winter. We will have to snowshoe 4.5 miles to get to a remote location without running water or electricity. Sounds like an adventure.
- My brother Luke and his family are planning on coming over for the weekend next month as my niece has a swim meet in the area. I’m glad I will finally be able to watch one of her meets. I had a good conversation with my brother.
Gratitude week 144
- My daughter got married yesterday and it was a perfect day!!
- It was wonderful to see family and friends who helped celebrate our daughter’s wedding with us.
- They couldn’t have asked for better weather for the wedding.
- I’m grateful for everyone who was a part of Angel and Dan’s special day. There are so many details that go into planning the perfect wedding day.
- I’m grateful to have a daughter who is so organized I didn’t need to worry about all the little things.
- I’m grateful my daughter picked the right person to spend her life with. They are a wonderful couple and that is more important than anything else.
- I’m grateful the stress of the wedding is behind us now and it is time to move on.
- I’m grateful our friends decided to host their annual Halloween party this year. It’s a disco theme. Time to dust off that leisure suit.
- I’m grateful to be flying out this weekend for a business/fun getaway. I will be checking another state off my bucket list.
- I’m grateful to have a lot of stuff going on the next couple of weeks to ward off some of the after the wedding blues.
Gratitude week 143
- My daughter is getting married this week!!!
- My best friend and I found Arabella a beautiful dress to wear to the wedding.
- Today is my husband’s birthday. I’m grateful for him and his mother for trying to give him the best life she could as a single teen mom.
- I’m grateful Paul’s gift arrived early (when he wasn’t home to see it) since the delivery date wasn’t until after his birthday.
- I’m grateful to have the kids home to help him celebrate his birthday. I bought him a pie and we are going to order Indian take out.
- I’m grateful for some time to just think and reflect over the weekend. My husband was gone all weekend for work and my son, his roommate, and girlfriend were out of town to celebrate a friend’s birthday. I realized I haven’t spent a lot of time alone in my life. I’ve never lived alone. It was refreshing to have some quiet time. It was nice to do what I wanted. I could listen to the music I like without someone asking me to turn it down or complain about how depressing it is. LOL I finished the book I was reading.
- Earlier this past week, I was able to enjoy what the rest of summer was willing to give. Then like clockwork it got dark and cold on the first day of autumn. Nearby areas had frost warnings. I’m really sad to see summer go, but I am looking forward to my second favorite season autumn. The leaves are starting to change colors and that’s simply gorgeous. I enjoy the cool crisp air, campfires, fall cleaning, not having to do the endless weeding, wrapping up in a blanket, pumpkin pie, and fall holidays.
- The landscaping company came and replaced all of our dead plants.
- My mom got a last minute call on the waiting list for cancelled appointments to see a specialist she had to wait several more months to see. They were able to do some tests and hopefully she will have some answers soon, a lot sooner than waiting until the middle of December anyway.
- I’m grateful for my close friends who offered to do things for the wedding. Lisa, who previously worked as a hairdresser, is going to be helping Angel get ready. My best friend Cindy offered to take their vehicle back to their house after the ceremony and drop off the gifts later that evening. Angel asked two of her bridesmaid’s fiancés to help, but one of the guys apparently didn’t feel comfortable driving anything bigger than a Prius. Seriously??!? Our friend James offered to drive people home who have been drinking.
- I’m also grateful to have a lot of people we know helping with the wedding such as the florist, the photographer, and the DJ. It’s great to support local businesses. They all gave us discounts even though they didn’t need to.
Gratitude week 142
- We experienced a notably warm summerlike weather pattern this week after three days of cool and rainy days last weekend. The cold rainy days made me appreciate the warmth more.
- Cool nights and a campfire.
- Friday afternoon relaxing on the patio by the pool.
- Finding dress clothes and shoes for my son to wear to the wedding within 15 minutes at the first store. After one day of dress shopping and a cancelled order, my best friend and I are taking Arabella dress shopping again this afternoon. I’m really hoping and praying we can find something today…
- I ordered a wedding gift for my daughter and her fiancé and it arrived the same day.
- I finished the book Don Quixote which was a challenge due to it being over 400 years old and over 1,000 pages long. There was a lot of wisdom to be found in it. It was interesting to get a glimpse of life back then. I couldn’t help but notice how different life is today. There definitely was not an emotional component to the book, yet I never dreaded to pick it up to read.
- Yesterday we went out to eat and sailing with friends to celebrate the September birthdays. The weather was perfect. It only started to rain right after we got off the water.
- We had Angel and Dan over for supper on Friday night. Oh my gosh, the wedding is less than two weeks away! Thankfully my daughter is very organized.
- I’m grateful Angel’s future mother-in-law is a seamstress. My mom and I went in to get our dresses fitted this past week.
- Mom and I got a massage.
- My son got together and practiced with his band this week. It’s been the first time since COVID. I didn’t know if they were ever going to meet again as several of the members are older retired school teachers. This group has had a positive impact on my son’s life and I’m grateful they are back together again because I wasn’t sure if it was going to happen.
Gratitude week 141
- Summer, we had several warm weather days at the end of the week.
- It was so nice out on Friday that I said screw it and put off my to do list. I decided we should spend one day of the week just relaxing and taking it easy. It shouldn’t be reserved for that one warm day at the end of the season.
- I was able to spend time with all my kids this week.
- I finally found my shoes for the wedding. I searched harder for those shoes than the prince did to find Cinderella.
- Taking time to remember 9/11.
- The landscaping company that did our big project last year is going to replace somewhere around 30 plants that either died or didn’t come in. I’m really grateful for that because it looks like crap. I really wanted to understand what the problem was. I think what happened was since they did the project in November right before the ground froze they did not get the proper watering and care they needed to grow and thrive.
- We watched a really good series on Netflix called Devil in Ohio.
- Our elderly friend Vince stopped by for a visit.
- The grocery store had a really good deal on salmon and crab legs which we enjoyed over the weekend.
Gratitude week 140
- Summer, although I feel fall starting to slip in.
- A nice sailing getaway.
- A quiet and relaxing Labor Day weekend.
- Sleeping in my own bed with clean sheets.
- Angel came over for a visit and took down the balloon arch from her party. I absolutely hate the sound of popping balloons and there were still over 50 in the house some filled with confetti. I swear her future mother-in-law must hate me. Ha ha, never again will I have that many balloons in my house.
- My daughter’s wedding is less than a month away.
- My best friend and her family had a safe, fun, and relaxing trip to Europe to visit their foreign exchange student. It was their first trip abroad and I’m happy for them that it went well.
- A friend gave us enough firewood from the trees he took down to last us all winter. With natural gas prices skyrocketing, I’m grateful for free firewood to help keep our house warm.
- The house is clean and most of the laundry is done.
- My husband is making his homemade pizza tonight.
Gratitude week 139
- I’m doing my gratitude list a little early this week as we are leaving today for the annual week long sailing cruise. I’ll be sure to share some pictures and stories when we get back.
- I’m grateful to be able to go on the sailing cruise because previous to the last year I was unable to go because I had kids starting school. I didn’t want to miss that.
- I’m grateful my kids are done with school and I am done with that stress.
- Summer, the weather pattern the last couple weeks and for our trip is pretty close to perfect.
- I’m grateful to be called up to the clerk at the DMV before I was able to even finish the paperwork. That never happens..
- I’m grateful to be able to spend the next week with my husband on a sailing adventure and talking with people since we go as a group with our sailing club. That’s one thing I missed about our trip to Yellowstone, we were pretty isolated from other people. I didn’t think I would want to talk and meet new people, but I did.
- My daughter Arabella is feeling better after COVID and an ear infection. For a few days I was having a hard time getting in touch with her and I imagined her laying in her apartment dead…so, yeah, one less thing to worry about.
- I’m grateful my friend Jen is celebrating another birthday today as she struggles with cancer.
- I’m grateful for a husband that works hard to make sure our bills are paid.
- I’m grateful for music that makes me feel better when I am sad.
Outrunning my demons 