TToT: Movember and More

I am thankful to be part of the Ten Things of Thankful party for TWO weeks in a row, woo hoo! There are many things to be thankful for, and so many things that I am really trying to focus on the positives about. Sometimes you have to dig pretty friggin' deep for the thankful part.

1.    I am always thankful for Movember. Click here to see a whole post on that with shiny, happy, mayhaps a little freaky Mo-pictures.

2.My husband turned 40 this week! Even though 40 seems to be the birthday that decorations go from shiny, happy, sparkly to BLACK with tombstones and "RIP" we feel the same, (so far) upon turning 40. We are thankful to be happy and healthy, and it seems the older we get, the better life gets. We require less physical things to be happy, and we are content to be home with our little family.

3.  I’m thankful for the children I watch in my home. Even when they get dropped off at 4a.m. Their parents bring them here, my children & I get to play with them, and the money their parents provide covers some cost of our meals. Some days are tough, but it’s the most rewarding job I have ever had.

  4.Thankful for my husband’s job which is far, and takes him away from us for so many hours every day. It is the reason we live in a house, which I am thankful for, even if I have to clean it! 

 5. Thankful for our backyard, yardwork and all! We have tons of leaves, had a fun time jumping and playing with them, until my neighbor pulled out his loud leaf blower and we had to go inside. We needed a break anyway.

6.  Thankful his job allows us to both have a vehicle, even if one of the places I go is taking my son to his job. This takes us about an hour every day (M-F) just to drop him off. An hour on a good day, if we don't have to turn around, drive back the 20-30 minutes to pick him right back up. My girls do NOT like being strapped into their car seats for that long. I try to bring books/toys/snacks to keep them occupied. 

    If we didn't have a vehicle to drive him there, and he had to rely on public transportation, this job would not be possible. It would take him almost an hour and a half ONE WAY to get to this place by public busses.

7.   Jobs are not something to be taken for granted at this time where we live, so we are thankful that he has this job. Even if they sent him home early THREE days out of 5 this week.

 8. If he can stay there long enough, this job will reimburse him for school. Phenomenally thankful if we can make that happen! My son is a teenager, I really try to be thankful for anything right now at this stage of life. Some days are a real struggle, but he is healthy, and hopefully one day he will be happy again, and resemble my funny, creative son again. We will be so very thankful whenever that happens!

9.  I’m very thankful for audiobooks, which make these trips everyday so much more enjoyable! Listening to book 5 of Game of Thrones, my favorite thing of anything ever. I listen when I push my girls in their stroller, and at night when the sounds of husband snoring, and the kids sleep-fussing fill the air.

 10. I am one of the few people thankful for Daylight Savings Time, where we turn back the clocks an hour in the fall and then ahead in the spring. EVERYONE with children complains about the adjustment, but if you have children waiting for a bus in the morning, this allows them to wait in LIGHT instead of in the cold, damp dark. 

from 4molnars.blogspot.com

    Before we did this last week, driving home the sun would be DIRECTLY in front of us, without chance of a workable sunscreen, for 20-30 minutes. The baby cried and wailed, she won’t keep sunglasses on. I would try to block it with my hand, but I did need to watch the road and the traffic. Now it gets dark at 4:00, but no more sun in our eyeballs.