Nothing like being at home for christmas

Even if it's your parents' second home in a far away state since you grew up and moved out. Still magical. Especially if you get to play Christmas songs out of the gray songbook you love so well. And make and frost and eat Christmas sugar cookies (the deformed ones are no calories, right?) while listening to a Lawrence Welk Christmas show. Ahhh, I am thoroughly a little girl right now. No trace of the responsible adult that was starting to peek through.

Nov 15

Very thankful I do not live in the paranoid world of the Bourne films. Though I probably do and I'm just blissfully ignorant. If that's the case, I'm still thankful.

Thankful for a warm house and a great car. Thankful that my worries tend to be which thing to eat (or to keep from overeating) instead of whether there is anything to eat.

Thankful for K'nex. They rock!

Nov 14

Well, obviously this day was not that memorable because it's only been 24 hours since it happened and I can't remember what it was like. Except...

I'm thankful for good friends to learn new quilting techniques with. Then we can try them out on little blocks to all help one with a full quilt. Awesome. Thankful for being super close to three fantastic cousins who happen to be sisters (not with me. With each other. Remember, they're my cousins. Okay, clear? Yes? Good. Moving on). And they love one another and are so in tune that they have their own sister language. It's kinda like Japanese in the sense that they can just say a few words that mean volumes. and thankful that I know a few of the translations from that language. Can I just say, kiwi fruit?

Thankful that that made me think of my own sister language with my two female siblings. Ah yes, it makes me think of pink bedrooms and Popples and goobers.

Nov 13

Thankful to be able to work today. Thankful that I accomplished something with my work skills.

Thankful for my fast play DVD player so I cam see a movie in almost half the time. It's great for when I get home a little later and want to still get to bed at a decent hour. It can be done! Cake and eating! :). Though apparently I am the only one who likes it. I've had two roommates since I got this DVD player, and neither one can stand to watch a movie on fast play. Oh well, more for me.

Nov 12

Thankful I didn't have to shovel snow today. Thankful I had a day off for the holiday. Thankful to sew. Nice. Thankful for a warm house on a very cold and dismal day.

Thankful for instant viewing on Netflix. Thankful for the BBC who lately have created some pretty good shows, including Sherlock, Downton Abbey, and Doctor Who :) :) love it!

Thankful for being thankful for several days now. Gives needed perspective when I have a tendency to be maudlin.

Nov 11

Thankful to be able to play music for wonderful little kids to sing to. Very very thankful that I only messed up a few times, and only one of them was bad.

Thankful I didn't have to shovel a lot of snow today. Bleh

Nov 10

Thankful today for a newly teenage niece, happy birthday! Also happy, yet again, that I still have just over two months before the Grim Reaper takes away one of my remaining years that are all that is left between me and DEATH.

Thankfulness abounds for almost a foot of snow today! Even though I had lots of places to go today, I didn't mind so much. Or at least I told myself so and demanded that I believed it.

I am grateful today for my creative touch. I have to say that I made some fairly amazing advent calendars today. Glad they turned out well. I am happy that I can decorate my house with custom made wonderful things that I love.

And I love Sixlets. And Peachie-Os.

Nov 9

Oops, missed a day again. Oh well, I'm thankful every day is a new opportunity to be perfect. Even if I usually louse it up by breakfast.

I was thankful this day for work at home to avoid the crazy morning snow makes drivers act like they have never been behind a wheel before. So nice to snuggle under a lap blanket, typing away, looking up occasionally at an increasingly white world.

So glad for the strength to be able to shovel my driveway and sidewalk. And for the desire to do so. Though not so much thankful for the two hours it took. :P

I was thankful to see my aunt and uncle and to have them stay at my house for a night. I enjoy their humor and taste and good-folk-edness.

Nov 8

I am thankful that I can sometimes work at home. It is so nice to wake up, roll out of bed, throw on some jeans (some coworkers tell me they stick to pajamas, but that's just TMI), and start up the computer while still munching on my Chex or Cheerios. It is awesome!

I am thankful for my improving piano skills. Even though I am practicing probably more than I ever have in two lifetimes, I know that I couldn't possibly have improved as much as I have by now. God is good.

I am still thankful for Peachie-Os! And for my willpower to let them last over several days.

PS to Nov 7

I am also thankful it is not my birthday. A few more months before the next number falls like a heavy blow from the Old Age Giant.

Nov 7

Today is a birthday so it easily brings to mind my thankfulness for that person (you know who you are reader!) and for their family. Thank you for being so wonderful. I am thankful that you are part of my life. You have instilled joy in knowing you.

On a more personal and self-obsessed note, I am also thankful for the great taste of things that you love but haven't had in a while. As they could possibly say, "Absence makes the taste grow tastier." On a related side panel conversation, I am thankful for Peachie-Os.

Nov 6

I am thankful for the right to vote and have my voice heard in decisions big and small. I am also thankful that I can accept, especially this year, whatever may come. It just is what it is.

I am thankful for November warm days allowing at least a few more bike rides. I am grateful for enough stamina to rock it out!

I am thankful for peanut butter M&Ms. Mmmmm. And enough net calories (see bike ride above) to have some!

Nov 5

Today is a day for thanks that I have been eating healthy. For thanks that I lost another pound. For thanks that I am one pound away from allowing myself a little shopping spree!

I am thankful that after a very long recuperation from a nasty ankle sprain two years ago, I can walk up and down stairs without clinging to the rail.

I am thankful for possibilities. That time when you can look ahead and see so many paths and options to be taken. That standing on the brink feeling just before plunging into something new.

I am thankful that I can sometimes show my capacity for responsibility in checking some things off my list. I am thankful for the prospect of a nice bike ride tomorrow!

Nov 4

I am thankful for small kids. I am thankful to be able to play the piano for when small kids are singing. I am thankful when the chorister tells them to sing louder and they start nearly shouting so much that it is hard for me to continue playing because I'm laughing too hard.

I am thankful that my piano skills are improving, despite laughing sessions.

I am thankful that I have had nine months of an awesome cousin roommate who has brought me out of my hermit shell that was starting to form. I will be thankful for her when she moves on this week to enjoy a much shorter commute.

I am thankful to have listened to inspiring words from a man of God tonight. He said that we must be firm in the faith today and tomorrow. I am not sure exactly the scope of today and tomorrow he meant, but I took it to mean literal, and I thought, "Oh, well I can definitely be firm today and tomorrow. Then the next days will fall in line too." I am thankful for this small personal encouragement.

I am thankful my phone was on silent when my mom called during the opening prayer. Especially since it was a televised event, and I was on the front row, maybe 25 feet from the microphone. VERY thankful for the silent feature.

Nov 3

Still getting used to this writing every night thing. Let's see...

I am thankful for owning a lawn that I can rake. I am thankful for the good health to be able to rake.

I am thankful for the money to buy groceries to keep me nourished and healthy. I am grateful for the many choices so i can choose things that keep my taste buds satisfied while I am nourished and healthy. I am thankful for the candy aisle so i can take my occasional (okay, frequent) trips down it.

I am thankful for a day off work to run errands.

I am thankful for nieces and nephews who love me like their parents do. I appreciate the ability to serve one, who left a Game Boy at my house when he recently came to visit, by mailing it back to him. I am thankful I had the means and a secure post office to get it to him through.

I am thankful for Weird Al, who writes such enjoyable music that I will like forever and always, and I was pleasantly surprised to find that it is great music for raking.

Nov 2

After such a Running-Around Day yesterday, I am thankful for a mostly empty and definitely quiet office today. It was nice to focus and get some good stuff accomplished.

I am thankful for my wonderful new hairdo. It makes me feel like a million bucks.

I am thankful for long, dangly earrings that swish and softly clink against my shoulders and collar.

I am grateful for a train commute, allowing me more than half an hour each way for reading stupendous books, every single [week]day.

I am grateful for stupendous books.

I am thankful that I can pay all my bills and still have a little left over to save for a rainy day. (Hopefully that rain will not have anything to do with my plumbing, cross your fingers!)

And important at this very moment, I am quite thankful for a comfy bed piled with warm quilts, pulled up to my chin, in a nicely cold room.

Nov 1st

Was supposed to post this last night, but was too tired when I got home.

Today I am thankful for an office with great coworkers who all have fantastic Humor and a "we're all in this together, let's pitch in to help whoever needs it most today" attitude. And when we've all come in to the office on the same day, much fun ensues (though admittedly a teeny bit less work gets accomplished).

I am also thankful for the exciting feeling of a hair appointment tonight, where you can expect super great things from someone you trust with your hair (and by extension, your image AND self-image). No pun originally intended for the use of the word extension, but there is an amusing psychological fit to the choice.

Thankfulness is abundant in the relief that I have not heard of any devastating news from my friends on the East Coast in the wake of Sandy. Mixed with the relief is sadness for any problems, big or small, created for anyone out there. I hope that the storm has left as little as possible of damages to hearts and minds, since that is the most difficult to repair.

I am thankful for my will power through the Halloween festivities. I did eat a little bit more, but tried to work out a corresponding little bit more to compensate. I think I may have succeeded, though Saturday's weigh-in will be the final judge.

I am thankful still further for small things like a nip in the air that smells like apples and crunchy leaves and pumpkins and just a tiny bit of something acrid, like perhaps from a burn barrel, getting rid of the branches trimmed as part of the cleanup/bedding down the lawn and garden for the winter.

Whenever I hear the song of a bird

Or look at a blue blue sky...

I think, "I need to practice the piano more!"

230

It's a good number to be at for now. Ten left before I'm back to 2000.

Even better for adding to Saturday's accomplishments is the fact that I had a great ten mile bike ride Friday afternoon and twelve miles Saturday. Gonna feel it tomorrow!

A limerick

I once had a hankering for rice.
I thought it twould be fairly nice.
I got out a pan,
As fast as I can.
'Twas then I, thank goodness, thought twice!

For housework can never suffice
When lazy bones start to entice.
Instead, I did cruise
To my bed for a snooze.
Forty winks, to be so precise!

When ticket to ride becomes too much....

Play it anyway. Forget about work. Crafts can wait. Lawn mowing can be forgotten.

Must
Play

Uggggh

Don't do that

What do you do?

What do you do when you have to be at work super early the next day and it's fairly late already?
......
Ticket to ride app!

Curse you, ticket to ride app

Now I can't get any sleep! Why can't I quit you?!

Titled post

okay, for all you rabid readers out there, here's a new post. 

what do you get when you cross a monkey and a snake?

Well, I dunno, but I definitely would want to see it!

bridges

I like the covered bridges with that mass of metal framework that towers over your head.  Pretty much awesome.  Can't explain why.  You just have to trust me.  Cause they are.

What do you do when you want to bike but you also want to sleep?

Sleep on your bike? Bike in your sleep?

what would you do for a klondike bar?

remember the old commercial?

Perhaps we should use the phrase for other things:

What would you do for a remodel of your bathroom?
What would you do for a husband who did all the housework?
What would you do for a root canal?
What would you do for an infestation?
What would you do for a night on the town?
What would you do for a hangover?
What would you do for an excuse for that lipstick stain?
What would you do for a comfy chair?
What would you do for a hug from your kid?
What would you do for a hug from your kid that was sticky free?
What would you do for another hour's sleep?
What would you do for the next big thing?
What would you do for the next small thing?
What would you do for someone to take care of your lawn for you?
What would you do for a second bathroom?
What would you do for your two boyfriends to meet?
What would you do for a dent in your car?
What would you do for a dream vacation?
What would you do for a load of laundry?
What would you do for ten loads of laundry?
What would you do for someone to do ten loads of laundry for you?
What would you do for a soft bed?
What would you do for a Snickers?

On second thought, maybe we'll just leave the original alone.  Hmmm, now I want ice cream and Snickers!

ode to a late night when you have to get up in the morning

internet's fun,
too soon comes the sun
Why can't it wait?
I'll likely be late.

Thank you

questions, comments, personal attacks?

One of my favorite statements from a college professor.  Apparently he was ready for anything.

Early mornings

Early mornings should be shot on sight. They're troublemakers.

On the road again

So it's been a while since I posted from the walking path. It's been a while since I've been on the walking path. But this morning it called, practically screamed, really, and who was I to deny it the time. I mean, it's only sleep, right?

So I just walked past my old stomping grounds and I'm a little nostalgic. But only a little. It's too fine a morning to be morbid or lonely.

funeral today

Today I went to the funeral of my first cousin once removed (my mom's first cousin).  Here are a few thoughts.  I don't normally do long posts, but today I've got a lot on my mind.

In one of the prayers, the person indicated that we were celebrating the life and the actions of Glade.  Now we've all heard of the celebration of life, but I found it interesting to think about celebrating the actions of a person.  Because of the actions he chose, we can celebrate.  Because we know now where he is and what kind of a man he was (just to be clear, he's in his eternal reward, and he's much more than a good man).  It makes me ponder what a world of difference his funeral might have been had he chosen other actions.  It may not have been a celebration....

Also, there were, by someone's count, over 600 people there.  I'd say it's safe to estimate that half were my relatives.  It was beautiful to be able to see them and share in joy and celebration and sorrow.  I truly have a wonderful family.

My grandpa, who will be turning 88 this year if I'm not mistaken, was there with his beautiful wife.  Three of my aunts were there.  Also three of my great-aunts and a great-uncle, almost half of my grandpa's siblings, were also there, and several others there in spirit.  Countless cousins.  Many from Idaho, who got up at 5am or earlier just to be there for the day and then drive back home.

We have a family tradition called the family choir.  Whenever anyone asks, mostly at funerals, we sing.  We have so many wonderful voices at our disposal.  And some voices, like mine, that can carry a tune at least fairly decently are allowed to join too.  We can make music to shout and rejoice.  We can make music that is soft and sweet.  And we love to do it.  We drive several miles to add numbers to the choir.  We show our respect by showing our talent.  We do honor to the loved one by singing in harmony and unison.  It is a wondrous thing of which to be a part.  The practices are always nice, but the thing is that the musical number during the funeral is always two steps above what we are normally capable of, and I always feel surrounded by love and grace and beauty and warmth.  It makes me tingly to think about it.  Today was no exception.  It was the largest family choir I have ever seen or been in (possible estimate at 70 or more), and we made some of the sweetest music I have ever heard.

On a less somber note, during the light lunch after, among other things we had about 10 varieties of funeral potatoes.  I love funeral potatoes!  And I got to sit with Great-uncle Ross, Great-aunt Bertha, and Kimber (cousin) and family, and we had a grand time.  I learned that my house was built the same year Uncle Ross and Aunt Bertha's dad, my great-grandpa, was born.  They had plenty of visitors, so I saw lots of family without needing to leave my seat.  And when a cousin brought over his grandson to meet Uncle Ross, the boy was asked a question that I remember being asked when I was the same age (about 6 or 7): "I have four brothers, and EACH of us has 7 sisters.  How many kids are there in total in the family?"  I smile a broad smile, thinking back on every time I was asked that same question, and how he stumped me several times before I realized the solution.

Answer to follow...

when life gets you down

an ode

When life gets you down
And just ready to shout
Just remember the king
Who stuck his finger in his nose
While waiting in a kingly pose
And could not get it out.

He pushed and he pulled,
Made noise at such length,
That his royal guards
Ran in from the castle
(There was quite a passle)
To each lend their strength


to be continued....

time to learn a new craft and/or knowledge path

Any suggestions?  I'm thinking basket weaving.

This is not a joke.

Or metalurgy.

Or, um, ....... hmmm...... archery?

Sunday afternoon

I'm about ready to get elbows deep in old history.  Can't wait!  I want to show just how much I can be my grandpa's daughter and carry on, soldier!

On the train

Always sounds so exciting to be 'on the train!' off to exciting adventures. Discovering the world in bright new ways. Face plastered against the window watching many facets of life sliding past.

Just wish I was going somewhere more exciting than work!