Friday night grateful moment

ou know it's fall when the darkness descends earlier and earlier... it's Friday evening (as I begin to write this) and yet it might as well be the middle of the night! This "feature" to autumn is both something I adore and something I dread... Funny how that can be, but it is.

I'm grateful today that husband took the day (mostly) away from work (sort of). It was a nice day, differently paced for both of us, and a lovely segue into the weekend.

We had two days of rain this week, and I loved it. Every minute of it. And to top it off, on the second day, as the rain faded and the sun went down, we had a lovely and amazing sunset. I am grateful for the sunsets here in the valley, all four seasons of them. I wish I could figure out how to take decent pictures of sunsets, but those seem just a little outside my expertise... now if I only read all the tutorials I find re: photography...

I'm grateful that Seth's first round of high school conferences went well--he's doing really good work on the academic side of things, the social side seems to be mellow enough (just the way he--and I--likes it!), and most important, he's having fun. It was kind of cool to sit there and hear how much his teachers enjoy having him in class--not that I'm surprised surprised, it was just reassuring. It was, on the spectrum of how these things can go with a co-parenting situation (if you get my drift), pretty good.

It's Canadian Thanksgiving weekend, and I bought a wee turkey today to make a mini-Thanksgiving dinner for our family on Sunday. I don't always fly my Canadian flag wildly, since I'm a U.S. citizen and and have been a resident, more or less, since 1985. I'm grateful to have my Canadian heritage, and there's nothing quite like going "home" to Canada. And, I'm a big fan of Canadian candy too. Ha. At least I have my priorities straight, eh?

And just as I wrote that last paragraph, who should call but my Canadian grandmother! I am SO grateful to have a grandma who calls occasionally to say hello. She's 92 and still kicking (gently kicking, she's a lady, after all...). I'm grateful for the kicking, too.

I continue to glean basil off my basil plants and make pesto and eat it with just about everything, so I haven't quite tipped over into fall eating completely. But with the rain this week, it really brought out the soup and stew in me, so I think this coming week will have some yumminess in that direction. I am grateful for seasons, and how it switches up the menu (whether I want it to or not!).

Another benefit of the slowed down growth in the garden and yard is that mowing is slowed up too. I do like mowing, and my love of a new lawn edger from husband has been heard near and far, but even the most avid mower likes a break... I'm not done done, but I know I can space it out quite a bit between mowings now, and I'm grateful for that!

Tomorrow I'm trekking up to my high school alma mater to say hello to my fellow graduates from 1986. While I know it must be so hard for you to believe it's been 25 years since I graduated from high school, that is indeed the case. My BFF Corinne is not able to come up from California for the occasion, but I'm soldiering on anyway... you'd better make it for 30, C. I'm counting on it! I'm especially grateful for my time at UCA because of the friends I made there. Actually, that's really the only reason I'm grateful for my time there... the people.

I'm grateful for laughter. Oh, how I do love a good belly laugh. (And I'm not one to shy away from a tear or two either--see my post earlier this week re: Parenthood. Yowsah.) Friend Jen posted earlier this week re: Melissa McCarthy's hosting of Saturday Night Live. I haven't watched an SNL episode in real time in... well, many years. So I rarely keep up on who is hosting. Occasionally I'll see a clip on Hulu+, as it's apparently pretty popular there and the more popular clips pop up as suggested viewing. Well, Jen's post prompted me to check out the whole episode and I laughed heartily a number of times--always when Melissa McCarthy was in a scene. I adore her. I always have, from Gilmore Girls days. We watch Mike & Molly too, on occasion, and Bridesmaids was really quite a hoot. She and Kristen Wiig together? Priceless. OK, so if I haven't convinced you enough, I am posting my favorite clip to help seal the deal. Love. Her. (The whole episode is available here.)



I continue to be grateful for the beauty (and sometime silliness) that IS Pinterest. Here are a few of my favorites that are definitely from the silly/pointless/what-are-you-pinning? side...

tea

bunnies

mullet (I almost feel bad about posting this... where is this person now, do they have a sense of humor about this picture? I hope so.)

google

creative

backrub

wolves  (Seth should have had this onesie...)

bra

And I'll leave you with those deep and meaningful images to take you into the weekend! I hope you have lots to be grateful for this week? What's on your list?

Peace.