Friday night grateful moment

o dearly wanting a nap right now, but as it is evening already, and will be actually time for bed when I finish this, more or less, I will forego the nap and just mention sleep/rest/chill time, oh, like 45 times or so in this post.

It's been a good week. A few bumps in the road, but nothing too mountainous. Just very very glad to be home, with both boys, and warm.

I posted the above picture to Facebook today, saying something along the lines of "really? still foggy?" and one dear commenter reminded me that I could possibly make my own sunshine. Yes, tis true, and I'm grateful for those reminders, even though we are a couple of weeks into this particular inversion, more or less. But it sure wouldn't hurt to have a little help!

sunshine

I'm grateful for people. People to laugh with, people to share with, people who love me and I love, people to work with and get things done with. People are good. Someone posted a song recently on Facebook, "People Are Crazy," and I watched the video. Funny, cute, and somewhat on point, but I am glad not to have too much crazy in my life. But songs titled "People Are Good" just aren't as catchy, I suppose.

I'm grateful for our pups. Darby is showing her age, and Chief has stepped it up in the neediness department lately--somehow I think in Jack's absence he has a heightened sense of what's to come with Darby, but maybe I'm imagining a brain cell or two more than reality... Regardless, they are sweet and unwavering in their affection, and I so appreciate them.

So grateful for my guys. Having them both home and tucked up for the weekend is just bliss to me.

Grateful for family, near and far. Got a call from my Grandma this week, and those always make me happy happy happy. They are getting shorter, the calls... I don't think her hearing works too well over the phone anymore. But, I'll take what I can get.

Music makes my world go round, quite often. I can't listen at work--I'm not doing the kind of work where that would even remotely be beneficial, so I have been listening in the car! In the mornings! This video popped up this week, and not only is it a Carpenter's song (!), but it's Zooey, so what more could one wish for?



I am grateful for music, always... the power of lyrics and the catchiness of some tunes. There can, indeed, be other tunes I am much less grateful for... anyone seen that ad from Toyota with Kelly Clarkson and a few grayhaired men (I think there's a food guy, James Lipton, and some sports dude?). Well, that song they burst into? Drives. Me. Nuts. I don't usually watch ads because we're blessed with dvr technology, and why watch ads when you can whiz past them? But maybe it was the Super Bowl? Something has made me watch a bit of live TV lately, and that ad seems to air a lot. Too. Much. Between that the the yelling JCPenney ad at the end of January? Crazy. Which ad wizard exactly thought that was a good idea? (OK this has taken on a rant quality, rather than a peaceful, grateful tone. I will stop. Now.)

I'm thankful for simple meals. This week we ate quite simply... soups, popcorn a couple of evenings, salads... quick to prepare, yummy to eat, not too time consuming. I'm all for time-consuming recipes, at times; and at other times, easy peasy pleasey.

I am grateful that it's not minus-something-or-other, even with this fog nonsense. At least there's that.

I ordered up a white board this week at work, so I could get a more visual sense of what we're working on. It really helped. I'd write, then take a picture with my iPhone, erase, start over using notes from the first version, and repeat. What did we do before our phones could capture things for us? So so helpful, I'm very grateful for technology that actually assists in the process, and for the ability to lean into a learning style (visual, for me) rather than chafe and fight against it.

I am really, really ready for summer fruit. Even spring fruit would be good--though I'm hard pressed to actually think of much that's any good before local strawberries in June... In the meantime, I am grateful for some variety in the winter fruits. Red pears are a big favorite around here; you have to get them on the right day or they go to mush, but we tend to stick toward the slightly crisp side, so we're usually safe! I like mixing up the apple/orange/banana routine a bit, for sure. And grapes? They're currently running in the $4-6/lb., so I think we'll be giving those a miss for a while!

I hope you have lovely things on tap for the weekend. Grateful things. Joyful things. Tell me what's going on with you, what you're grateful for, and if there's any sunshine where you're at!

Peace.