Friday night grateful moment

Today I'm grateful for:

* Sunshine. Kind of explains itself. And alas, it shows off, with startling clarity, the dusting that I have been putting off... until today! Dust bunnies have been banished.

* The husband and the boy. Both fill my life with much joy and love.

* A mostly clean house and a clean garage. Another afternoon project...

* The promise of spring. I know we're being teased again, but it's kind of nice...

* Friendship. New, old, those I see often, those I see less often. Even those I've never met (yes that's you, Warm Bunny)!

* Sushi. I'm not greatly experimental, but what I like, I love. Maybe one day I'll even get the chopsticks figured out. I know this will shock you, but I'm very UNelegant with chopsticks.

* Music, the sharing and exchanging thereof. I have a great musical karmic debt that I am needing to come out from under... kind of like the economy... well, not THAT bad. But still, I have some sharin' to do. My favorite song is STILL Ingrid Michelson's "The Way I Am." Simply. Love. It.



* Reading: with Seth, by myself, last thing at night, first thing in the morning. Online. On my Kindle. Even a "real" book! Tackling the pile on the bedstand, one by one...

* Amazing creativity from this artist, Curtis Steiner, and his 1,000 blocks. Seth and I watched this in awe last night, exclaiming over every iteration.

* New inspiration in the kitchen. This weekend I'm going to experiment with no-knead pasta, some new recipes for the breadmaker (husband will love!), some ricotta gnocchi... why does that all sound so carby? Carby end-of-winter goodness! Soon enough it will be about salad and fresh things... I'll munch on a carrot or two for good measure...

* Family near and far, to be in touch, to be connected; for this I am especially grateful. For phone calls from my Pa while he's out walking, from my Ma when she wants help on FB, from my s.i.l. when she's on the way to the grocery store, from MJ when she wants to hear how warm it is in WW, from Grandma to say thanks for Christmas goodies... from Shelby... wait, no call from Shelby? Must fix that asap!

* Memories. As I watch Seth go through middle school and all its many ups and a few downs, I am reminded so vividly of that time in my life. The commute to school, the friends (ups and downs), the boys (!), making "taco" sandwiches for lunch (salsa and cheese between bread slices!), books I read (the Betsy and Tacy series, Anne of Green Gables and every other book by that author), stories I wrote (true silliness), my room with the giant rolltop desk and lots lof little nooks and crannies for cards and stickers (some things never change), listening to my Bible in Living Sound going to sleep at night, the rubik's cube contests... This week Seth has really decided it's about solving the rubik's cube, and all I can do is one measly side... so he's been watching YouTube videos and plans on enlisting Uncle Shelby's help soon. Meanwhile I shared with him all about the rubik's contests at school as kids and how Uncle S. had a trick to make his rubik's go super-quick, and how if he was going really fast it could catch and explode... Seth loved that visual thought.

* Humor. Our other YouTube adventure this week was delving a bit deeper into Monty Python. Seth had been exposed to some, but not the especially choice bits Mom favors, so we did a little cheese shop, a little argument clinic, a little job interview... now that one really speaks to me!
For your weekend viewing pleasure...