Friday night grateful moment

hat's not to love? A warm house, a cozy sweater, a steaming cup of soup... it's Friday night and I'm in heaven. This week has felt especially dark. Doh! The switch to Standard Time seems to take me a bit to catch up with, and I am hopeful that this weekend I will get not only caught up, but spring out ahead of the curve on the dark and dreary...

Meanwhile, it's Friday. Grateful for that. Fo sho.

The election is over. Extremely grateful for that. I wish for, dream of, pine for a different way for our country to approach these big decisions, but alas, divisiveness and polarization is still the way of it. I am grateful to have avoided much of the nastiness, just by paying attention to other things; but next time, I do think I'll take a total social media break for the week prior and after (at least). Remind me of that, would you?

nice

I'm grateful for the flavors of the seasons... still eating on that squash! Had a gorgeous bowl of borscht tonight with husband. Spent some time gleaning pomegranate seeds from their pith earlier this week and enjoying them by the handful. Looking forward to many Perfect Bites for Thanksgiving dinner. Oh joy. (If you're new here, the Perfect Bite is what I call the sublime combination of turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, maybe a little cranberry sauce and a bit 'o gravy, all on your fork, headed into your mouth for a piece of Thanksgiving heaven! I talk about it a lot: here and here, just for starters.)

Had birthday lunch(es) this week, and packages in the mail too... I'm grateful that the birthday celebration has stretched out so lovely over the past couple of weeks! I've gotten to enjoy tidbits and meals--glorious meals!--with many dear and loved ones.

I walked in the back door to an afternoon surprise visit from Seth. He's on a bit of an extended time at his other house before an extended time with us around Thanksgiving, and so it was a lovely surprise indeed to actually glimpse that beautiful boy and not just have to make do with texts and phone calls. We had a lovely catch up and he had a snack (of course). I'm still smiling and so so grateful for such a boy.

feelings

The East Coast is still in repair mode, and I'm grateful for them that the end is somewhat in sight (though, oh what a clean up!). I'm grateful for Corinne and I that our trip was the week that it we happened to schedule it, as Sandy actually hit land on my birthday itself.

It's been a hard week for many, as every week is. A coworker has a sister who is recovering from a catastrophic car crash, a friend's father experienced a stroke and most recently I learned of a missing son for a blog reader/Facebook friend. Sadness and hard times persist; I'm grateful that every one of the people I mentioned above has a support group of family and friends to see them through these challenges. 

This variation on the iconic I heart NYC logo seems appropriate (and some days, not just for NYC!).

Being November and all, gratitude gets a bump up on everyone's to-do list, and it's fun to see some of the daily thankful lists on Facebook and other blogs. My friend Lisa always keeps me laughing with her insights and witticisms. My favorite of her gratitude posts so far is about punching babies. Seriously. You'll want to check that out.

I think I might need one of these. You know, to keep track of the thankfulness.

calendar

I'm also grateful for all the usuals:
my Creator
my health
my man
the prospect of hours of deep, deep sleep
lazy weekend breakfasts to look forward to
naps by the fire
maybe (just maybe) watching a few snowflakes
color,
music,
kind and thoughtful words...
You know, MY usuals.

I hope you have some usuals in your life--things you can count on to lift your spirits when needed, and to rely on in good and bad times. What would make your "usual" list?

Happy weekend! Peace.