2013-11-03

Ten Things Thank-tober

I am on a roll with 5 Minute Friday and the kids are mellow, probably from a Halloween hangover, and they are thankfully playing dress-up nicely for a minute, so I'm trying to do a post I really need to do right now. I have been meaning to link up to "10 Things Thankful" at Considerings blog for awhile now.

I really need to work on my Attitude of Gratitude. Life, schedule, blogging slump and the blah blah blah of life have kept me from linking up to this, and blogging much at all. I know all too well when you're down and rallying with the blah blah blah and it gives you a case of the blahs, that is when you need to stop and think about what you have to be thankful for. I know, this is when it's the hardest to do, but the payoff is worth it.

I'm told the same thing is true for exercise, expelling that energy is rumored to give you energy (sounds like witchcraft) or en-dolphins or something,
I have a weird sense of humor.
from psu.com
not sure what dolphins have to do with exercise but those rapey, fishy mammals seem to have TONS of energy, so I do want to try it. 


I have yet to discover how you start, let alone keep, on that uphill battle when you're exhausted. With exercise and blogging. I know I'll feel better after both, I need to make it happen. Tangent thought. Focusing back to the subject at hand. 

I am so very thankful for people with a strange sense of humor that make these crazy memes. When I make them, they are lame, so I usually google search for them and share.
I dunno, I think it's funny
found at dailymeme.tumblr.com

I need these people with the weird humor. I NEED THIS. Humor is my coping mechanism. It helps me, it calms me, it sounds weird but I am weird and I'm thankful other people are weird too. 

It's November First, notorious month of THANKS-GIVING. Through my years of counseling, (which I am thankful I no longer require,) I learned to take time to reflect during November, before or DURING the holiday stress/madness/depression that seems to grow like mold on no-preservative bread at this time of year. We need to try to focus on what we are truly thankful for in life. Since the stress of my schedule is already getting to me, I need this now.

Bonus, I have much to do so I should be brief. Thankful of that! Tomorrow my Diane-in-Law and I are having a party to celebrate the birthdays of our favorite men, my husband and my Father-in-Law. I'm so over the moon thankful for both of them, and for my Father-in-Law's girlfriend, Diane.  

I not only love and adore my in-laws, I also LIKE them. They are laid back, yet excited about our little girls. This is everything to me. Everyone needs a support system, and this time of life, while rewarding obviously, can also be challenging and incredibly lonely. My husband works far away, he's only home for about an hour each day before we have to put the kids to bed. Any adult conversation is at a minimum.

WE are of course thankful for our two little girls, and love to share their milestones and cute little things they say and do. On my side of the family, however, they are grandchildren #10 and 11, so my family is over 'The First Step' and 'The First Words' (and babysitting, and visiting and bonding with the children,) and everything else. 

That's a post in itself which no one wants to hear, and I don't want to write, but it used to make me very sad. Anyway, enough of that. Instead of thinking about that, I am focusing on the thankful things now. I need to focus on how THANKFUL I am to have my wonderful in-laws to enjoy all of this with. 

I am also thankful that my Diane-in-law is always helpful, not just with the children, she is also an amazing cook. Cook, chef? Do you only say 'chef' if they're a professional chef? Anyway. She is a culinary genius. They visit every other Saturday, words cannot even express how excited and thankful everyone is for their visit. We try to alternate and all share in the food preparation, she brings her amazing food, we try new recipes, which I am eternally thankful for! 

You'll be shocked (not) to hear I am not a great cook or hostess, quite terrible actually. My hostessing motto is "Help yourself." I also never seem to have the right amount of food, napkins, or have what people need/want. They always want the blue/pink/yellow sugar stuff for coffee, or they want yellow mustard and I only have brown mustard. You name it, I always get the wrong thing. We're always running out 10 times at the last minute. This used to stress me out, but my in-laws are so helpful and never make me feel bad about anything. 

I am thankful that my sister, Moe, still enjoys spending time with me and my girls. We went there yesterday for Halloween. Thankful for Halloween, I love it.
I love the costumes, the movies they play this time of year, the food (candy), pumpkin-flavored everything, the decorating of food and decorative gourds. We opted NOT to get pumpkins, too busy to do anything with the food and didn't want to waste it, so we colored Halloween hard boiled eggs.
I'm cheap. And weird. But festive.
I always used to love to spend Halloween with my sisters, alternating each year with one of them. Trick or Treating on their blocks, with their awesome neighbors. 
My son and I moved a lot, and never really 'clicked' with neighbors anywhere, like both of my sisters have. Their neighbors were/are always so nice to me and my family, that is such a nice feeling.

My princesses in their costumes
I am eternally thankful they shared that with me, and my sister still wants to do this with my girls. The girls would have been bored if we stayed home on Halloween. We would have only gone to a couple of houses with the rainy weather, and my husband getting home SO LATE every day, not many people would have seen their costumes. Or mine.

I was Amy Farah Fowler from The Big Bang Theory. If you don't watch the show, she is an extremely nerdy neurobiologist. My sisters neighbors have known me for decades, none of them knew I was wearing a costume!


Right? I am more pale than the nerdiest girl on television.
I'm wearing my actual clothes, and my old glasses. I just put a barrette in my bangs. The rest wouldn't stay straight with all the rain. It's scary how little I had to do for this costume. Not sure how thankful I am about that, but.... 

I love Autumn, thankful for this time of year when I can breathe easier, and the beautiful Fall sights, sounds, and smells. Instead of focusing on the sudden and upcoming months of bone-deep, House of Stark cold, I am thankful for my old, warm, comfy woolen sweaters

We have two seasons here: Lung-butter humidity and Winterfell cold. I am almost always cold to my soul, I need these warm sweaters. They're quite expensive new, and being the thrifty (cheap) shopper I am, I found some great, warm wooly sweaters at resale and Goodwill over the years. I am eternally thankful for all the great thrift venues where I live.

Some of them I have had longer than my son has been alive, and he's 18, so yes I am obviously totally on top of the latest fashion trends.  The key to keeping them this long is never to wash them. This makes my hairdresser sick to his stomach, but I always wear at least a shirt or 2 under them. They're warm, but they're itchy.

Once in awhile I get them dry-cleaned, but really not often. Sheep don't go to the dry cleaners, and they're fine. 

Anyway, I hope that's at least 10 things and I am also very thankful to have "met" the amazing Lizzi, and to have discovered the Ten Things Thankful.

25 comments:

  1. I'm so glad you linked up. Your humor shines through in your post. Love the idea of the Halloween eggs, and the sharks made me laugh!

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    1. Thank you, I'm glad it's not just me with the sharks! My kids had fun with the eggs and we actually ATE them, so win/win. Thanks for reading and commenting! I'm THANKFUL you did :)

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  2. Halloween hard boiled eggs? BRILLIANT! You make a cute Amy Farrah Fowler!

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    1. The eggs are weird, but kind of funny and easy, not to mention cheap and we didn't waste any food. Huge win.
      Thank you, I never realized how easily I could "become" her, well visually anyway.
      Incidentally, welcome BACK!

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  3. Best costume ever hands down! I love the Big Bang Theory and your Amy Farah Fowler was spot on and perfect. Sounds like a great week and so much to indeed be thankful for. Hoping you are now having a great weekend, too!! :)

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    1. Thank you! I would have loved to have my husband be Sheldon, and wear his work khakis and any of his several Star Wars T-shirts, but he doesn't get home until late. We are having a wonderful Fall weekend, raked leaves, and now preparing for a walk to soak in the beautiful fall leaves! Hope you are enjoying this gorgeous weekend as well!

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  4. This is an absolutely GORGEOUS list of thankful and I love it. Thank you so much for sharing it, and for working so hard to keep focussed on all of those glorious things you have going on in your life.

    Your Diane-in-law sounds like an AMAZING woman to know, and you're lucky to have her. What a blessing.

    Thanks SO much for the shark pictures. I really needed the laugh they provided.

    Ahhhh I just love everything about this post's thankfuls. Awesome stuff. And so, so pleased to have 'met' you, too *HUGS* you Awesomerock.

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  5. Welcome to the TToT! We are a very focused and sincere and industrious group of blogger and bloggerini… who wield with awesome skill the mighty powerful sword pen!! or pen-as-metaphorical-sword or better make that the all-seeing List of items that show….things and different..items.

    You'll be right at home here...

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    1. Bloggerini, fancy! Reminds me of the leg lamp scene in A Christmas Story, "Fra-gee-lay, must be Italian!" I can't speak to the 'focused' part....I already forgot where I was going with this comment...

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  6. LOL at Amy. You do look like her there! Wow! She is pretty hilarious! So good to write down things to be thankful for especially when it's easy to point out so much of the bad things. Awesome, awesome linkup! :)

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    1. Thank you! I wish I looked more like her in REAL life, but hey, it could always be worse. I could dress like Walowitz!
      Thanks for coming by and saying 'hi'

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  7. You did a great Amy! SHe is one of my favorite characters! I too am more pale Im sure... love the rest of your list.. weird humor is welcome here!

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    1. I love love LOVE Sheldon, and I always tease my husband he reminds me of him. My husband is super smart, but needed a little um...help? with people skills when we first started dating.
      Glad to hear it about the weird humor!

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  8. Well, welcome to TToT! You are more than twisted enough to fit right in :)

    Dolphins make me think of Flipper. I hated Flipper and that stupid kid that always got into trouble.

    Dying Halloween eggs is ingenious. If only I liked hard boiled eggs....

    I can't wear wool sweaters, even with shirts underneath, because the itching drives me mad, but I do agree that a sweater only needs to be washed if you spill your lunch all over it, which I never, ever (often) do.

    And your Amy Farah Fowler - spot on!

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    1. Oh, I forgot! I, too, am a fan of Vanessa and her vegetable porn at My Half Assed Life (creeping on your sidebar!).

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    2. They are itchy, but I already had a stockpile of long-sleeved T-shirts for under everything.
      I love Vanessa, too, and I LOVE that tomato butt picture!

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  9. Welcome to the TToT!! So many newbies this week. I love it! My mood is always better after jumping around reading about the things which have made people happy each week.
    I don't really care if your sense of humor is weird, I'm just glad you have one. I am always grateful for people who make me laugh. The shark meme got one.
    And I love that you call her your Diane-in-law. Great nickname I may have to steal to describe my many not quite related relatives.
    I freeze my butt of 6 months out of the year. Cold just seems to settle into my bones each October. I can't wear wool sweaters, though. The itchy and static make me crazy. (I owned one once. I washed it once. Why wash it unless you spill something or someone pukes on it?)
    Trick-or-treating is always more fun when you go with others. My poor kids wouldn't know it, though. :)

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    1. I'm glad you got a chuckle out of it.
      I started calling her my "Diane-in-law" b/c saying "My husband's dad's girlfriend" is a mouthful, but half the time I have to explain it anyway, so I do really save any time? Maybe one day, when everyone knows the story.
      At least you have enough kids that they keep each OTHER company! I come from a family of 5. Love it!

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  10. I am thankful I found your blog! You always offer a good laugh.

    Also, you are way hotter than Amy Farah Fowler!

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    1. Ha! I'm thankful you found it too! And thankful for the Regular Guys thoughts on life! And thankful to be deemed hotter than the nerdiest girl on television! YES!

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  11. *LOL*. I love the Amy character and I am the 55+ version of her with no costume. Great post.

    www.mylifeabundant.com

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  12. Thanks for linking up with Thankful Thursdays link up that is happening right now. We'll be doing it very Thursday in November! You got a lot done in 5 minutes! You are right--we have so much to be thankful for, and when we start thinking of all those things, we usually get out of our blahs! Btw--I also do a Pinterest Party linkup on Mondays where your posts that are linked get pinned 3 times!

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