Friday night grateful moment

short week is so lovely in many ways... in fact, the only downside I can think of is that this is the first weekend in a month that Seth's not with us (I would always put that off if possible)! We came rolling off a beautiful long weekend with the extended family, slid on in to work and home stuff, the rain piled on for a very long Thursday, and here we are at a sunny Friday. I'll take it.

Several things stood out to me this week in the thankful column:

I love living in a more rural environment. I'm thankful for the lack of traffic, for sure (can you tell we had a couple of wild traffic pileups on I-5?). But I'm also a big fan of the views of the mountains, the green (see, the rain has done SOME good things) that is everywhere, the fabulous sunsets, and the people. We have some pretty wonderful people.

I'm thankful for my sweet little family. So so thankful for our love and affection. When I anticipated what having a 14-year-old would be like, I didn't think it would be this good. Whew. We'll just stay with that thought as long as we can! And husband, he's the cake to my frosting. Or something good like that. Very good.

I'm thankful that we haven't had to water much (at all) yet this spring. That's pretty unusual. I left last weekend without really even turning on the automatic sprinklers and thought, can we really get away with that? Yes, we could. And we did. A couple of containers out front were a little dry when we got home--mostly from being under the eves and not getting the full rain experience--but other than that, it was all still quite damp. And the one bed that needed watering--blueberries--I just waited 24 hours and the rain dump took care of that!

Sunshine. So thankful for a day free of rain!

Singing along while I'm driving in my car is something I really enjoy. So maybe I'm thankful that I have a voice? I can't very well be thankful that I have a melodic or beautiful voice, so we'll just go with voice. I have some really great CD mixes in the car right now (thank you, Freedom Megan!) and I really enjoy a little spirited belting out. Some of the best mixes can be of older-ish songs, I think. You know, where you know the words by heart and can really sing along... now I'm feeling all mix-master-y... I feel a new mowing mix coming on (I also very much like to sing at the top of my lungs while mowing the lawn. You already had that figured out, didn't you?!).

Laughter is big on my list of things to be thankful for, every week. I should mention it more often (at least as often as I mention cheese, for sure). But lately I've been LOL-ing at Parks and Recreation specifically. You know how you get really into a series and watch all the seasons in a row, Netflix or Hulu-style? Well, I've been doing that with the dear folks at the Pawnee, Ill., office of Parks and Recreation, and boy do they make me laugh. I would not have thought it... saw an early episode years ago and went, "Meh." Maybe it's the lumping of episodes together that makes it so appealing... or maybe they're just plain funny.

Here's a mix of Tom moments... I have absolutely no perspective on whether they'll be funny out of the context of an episode... you'll have to tell me (or maybe don't, just let me stay in my little alternate reality where I go to work at their office and have a blast!).



I'm thankful for spring onions, asparagus, fresh little radishes, romaine, kale... all the fabulous produce currently coming on in the garden. I am excited about the tomatoes, peppers, cabbage, squashes and green beans that will also come along if only the sun cooperates...

I'm thankful for inspiring words and images... yes, it's that pesky Pinterest again! Such fun. Here are a few images and ideas I've been especially thankful to happen across this week.

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 I will be making this next rainy day, I swear!

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Maybe a little simplified, but I like the sentiment.

I hope your weekend involves all good things, with lots to be thankful for.

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