Day 129 of Thanksgiving....

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Today I am so very Thankful for the Ability to Live Vicariously!  As it says on Dictionary.com it means

felt or enjoyed through imagined participation in the experience of others: a vicarious thrill.  So many times in life, we aren't able to do all of the things we would love to do, but if we allow ourselves to enjoy others participation and joy in their doings, we can experience so much more.  I have an online friend who reminded me of this today.  She has the absolutely most adorable English Bulldog and I so love and enjoy seeing pictures of her and hearing about her adventures!  Most likely I will never have my own Bulldog but I can enjoy hers.  Our sweet niece is in the Air Force and living in the Azores and I love seeing pictures and hearing about all of her and her new hubby's adventures.  I will more than likely never get there but I am enjoying it just the same.  Sometimes enjoying things vicariously can be even better than the real thing and can also allow you to connect with others in a new way all over the world!

Day 128 of Thanksgiving.....

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Today I am so very Thankful for Security!  For years my security was tied to my job - I believed as long as I had a good job and hubby did too, (and I never doubted that we would) I would be fine with security.  I have always had faith and feel security from that as well.  But it wasn't really tested because there was always the job thing.  Ah...the bliss of young life and the unknown.  I truly believed that all we had to do was work very hard and the paycheck would always follow - no questions asked.  Well not so much!!  After going through job loss and things I thought only people who didn't want to work experienced, I realized how naive I had been!  I won't go into all of the details - that is another blog and another day - but that is when I began to learn what real security is!  What is there when the paycheck isn't - who is there and how much can you depend on that faith you have been carrying in that backpack of yours?  It's not easy and not always pretty but true security can come from faith and relationships and so much more.  I remember a book that is on my shelf - "Come Before the Storm"  meaning find your faith before you need it and unfortunately I didn't but I do try hard now to put my faith and belief in things other than paychecks and money.  They can always go away.....faith and people who are truly there for you won't!

Day 127 of Thanksgiving....

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Today I am so very Thankful for Pictures!  Pictures - photos - whatever you call them, give us a reboot to our memories and I have a closet full to prove it.  Being a mother, pictures have been a huge part of my life for a very long time.  I always think that if I lost the ability to see my boys as babies and children and then young men, I would just die. Now that sounds melodramatic but i cannot overemphasize their importance to me!  One of my favorite things to do is go through old pictures and it can become quite consuming because I don't like to stop - I enjoy them so much.  Of course they don't enjoy this obsession and most of the time would like to keep that closet door closed tight.  This year is one that truly brings the importance of pictures to mind - two of my boys are getting married and I can't think of anything more important in wedding planning than to have these documentations of the day.  It goes by so fast and is over before you realize it.....but, as in everyday life, we can revisit and go back anytime with the help of our photos - one of my very most prized possessions.  I know one day they will enjoy taking the trip back as well and I will have them here for them when they do.

Day 126 of Thanksgiving......

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Today I am so very Thankful for Exercise!  I don't always like it, well really I mostly don't like it but I am finding that exercise, even just a little can make a real difference in my mood and how I feel.  When I don't want to drag myself off the couch - I crawl on the floor and go through about 10 minutes of stretching, I suddenly feel better and even have energy.  Another great thing about exercise is that all movement counts!  I have been making an effort to walk more around the house while doing chores, sweep the kitchen floor rather than vacuuming it, walking outside with my dogs and fetching the mail myself.  These are all small things but I am able to tell that movement is a little easier and with a little less pain.  As we get older it becomes easier and easier to do a lot of sitting and moving as little as possible.  I have been going down that road for a few years now and just like they say - move or you won't be able to or another favorite use it or lose it!   When I started seeing myself in one of those little scooters, I began to realize that exercise is my friend.  Now if you really need one of those then by all means that is a good thing.  I am just thankful that exercise is helping me keep moving for as long as I can!

Day 125 of Thanksgiving....

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Today I am so very Thankful for Recipes! Today is Sunday and around our house that means family dinner with the boys, their girls and friends.  Hubby has been in the kitchen for hours working on a Greek feast for this week's fare.  The smells roaming through the house are so delicious and I am so looking forward to dinner.  Every now and then he yells to me to look up this recipe or that.  We use online recipes just about everyday and it is such a wonderful resource.  I yell back ingredients, temps and times and he makes it happen.  This process got me to thinking about recipes and how they figure into our lives daily.  Recipes for the food we eat, but also for the way we live our lives.  I am learning that we can discover many things from recipes - I have a plaque hanging in my kitchen that gives a recipe for tenderizing a husband - lots of love and kindness.  Think about all of the recipes we can use to make kindness in our lives - kindness toward our selves and others.  I am thinking I will make a new kind of recipe book!  Recipes for friendship, marriage, parenting, neighboring, the possibilities are endless.

Day 124 of Thanksgiving....

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Today I am so very Thankful for Sowing!  Okay - this is a big bad sounding biblical word but it holds much power!  I so well remember Sunday School when we would read passages aloud and one that always hangs in my memory is You will Reap what you Sow! Alright - so I plant seeds and I get to eat the veggies that grow - right?  Well - there are lots of other interpretations of Sowing and I ran across one this past week on a food site I was reading.  In this reference Sowing was more an act - our acts that are spread out into the world like seeds. Sow a thought, and you reap an act; sow an act, and you reap a habit; sow a habit, and you reap a character; sow a character, and you reap a destiny. ~ Charles Reader.  In the context on this site it was all about eating right but this could apply to anything in our lives.  Right now I am learning that I actually am what I eat and I reap what I sow as far as what I eat.  Then......brain is clicking......I think further and realize again that everything that we do in life works like seed out into the wind and this makes a ripple - our ripple in the world.  Awesome.....or not - sure makes me think about everything I say and do.  I know we all know this but it sooooo easy to lose sight of.  For me Sowing is going to be in the forefront of my mind!

Dictionary . com:  to implant, introduce, or promulgate; seek to propagate or extend; disseminate: to sow distrust or dissension.

Day 123 of Thanksgiving...

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Today I am so very Thankful for Art!  My Dad was an artist - he used to say commercial artist but in reality he was a sign painter.  He made some sort of famous signs around town when I was a child but I didn't get it at the time.  From time to time we would have Jamil Race Cars in our backyard while he was painting signs on them; the face to a huge landmark clock rested on his drawing board while he painted and gold leafed it's numbers and hands; highway patrol cars were lettered and numbered by him; a few local restaurants had his hand lettered signs.  But what I enjoyed were the silly things he drew and scribble and showed me.  One Christmas he made a life size painting of the nativity scene for our church basement.  It was two huge 6 foot tall canvases that had to be attached.  It was glorious and many parts of it contained a glowy substance in the paint that would catch the light.  Every Christmas we had life size wood cutouts of Santa and snowmen.  It was magical to me although I still didn't appreciate art until I got much older - mostly because I can't draw a straight line.  Now I am enthralled by art that I love and enjoy.  The colors and design bring me joy that is uncompared and the great thing is that art is everywhere in our lives - we just have to open our eyes and take it in.

Day 122 of Thanksgiving...

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Today I am so very Thankful for Diligence!  All of my life I have heard that if you do anything at all, do it with due diligence.  Dictionary.com defines it as constant and earnest effort to accomplish what is undertaken; persistent exertion of body or mind.  For years I just could not get it - why...what does this mean.  Now looking back I realize that most of the good experiences in my life have involved Diligence!  Not always what I want to do but what I know that I must do.  Marriage, having babies, buying a house, keeping a job or getting one for that matter, all require an earnest amount of diligence.  I am not always an eager go getter and many times I give up because things just seem too hard - that is a quality I am not proud of and I am working hard to get away from that.  You could say that I am using diligence to learn to be diligent! 

Diligence is the mother of good luck.
Benjamin Franklin

Day 121 of Thanksgiving....

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DinkyBaby.com

Today I am so very Thankful for Dolls!!  From my very first memories I have loved dolls.  I am not even sure why but I still do and I never fail to be amazed at how a sweet doll can bring such emotion to a child's face.  I was not one of those girlies who had a special doll that I took everywhere with me - I had a wall full.  Shelves with every size and kind of doll you can imagine. They were not expensive or fancy, they just had personality.   I collected them from every vacation, every holiday and more.  My collecting badge for girl scouts was for dolls.  I just wish I still had them.  I love making dolls and bringing them to life and I hope to be able to spend some time doing this again soon.  They are so full of life as you create them and the doll actually develops a personality as you complete it.  And.....dolls are not just for girls - my boys had GI Joe dolls and boy rag dolls and more.  A very dear friend attended a charity Dang It Doll  service project this weekend with her teenaged son and I was reminded once again how important dolls can be.  These are sent to military families and they are very much in demand.  Here is the little ditty that goes along with each Dang It Doll:

When your day is stressful
And you want to scream and shout,
Here’s a little “DANG-IT DOLL”
That you can’t live without.
Grasp it firmly by it’s legs 
And find a place to bang it
And as you whack it’s stuffing out
Yell, “DANG-IT, DANG-IT, DANG-IT”

Day 120 of Thanksgiving....

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Today I am so very Thankful for the Moon!  Everybody has been talking about the Super Moon this last couple of weeks and last night it was to be at it's peak.  We had storms here and I wasn't able to see it but there are lots of pictures online - absolutely gorgeous!!  I am so amazed by this magical sphere and it's ability to bring out the romantic and dreamy side in all of us!  When ever there is a full moon, we can see it light up our backyard like a million far away lights - what a sight.  When I was little, I believed that the moon was full of cheese and then I was lured in by tales of the man in the moon.  Then during my lifetime, there actually were men on the moon.  Daddy was in such awe of the space program and if there was even a minute of coverage on television, we were glued to it.  The super Moon this week has helped us remember this luminous globe and be appreciative for all it offers us far and wide.

Day 119 of Thanksgiving.....

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Today I am so very Thankful for Exhaustion!  As usual that sounds sort of looney but if you have ever been at a place in your life when you could do so little that you were never exhausted in a good way, then you will understand.  I used to so love being able to cut the grass at our old house, hose everything off and come in a get a shower.  What a wonderful feeling - exhausted and looking at our finely little coiffed yard and feeling that sense of accomplishment.  Cleaning the whole house on a Saturday and then sitting down to enjoy the view - now that is good exhaustion.  Spending the day at a cub scout event or day at school with one of the boy's field day activities was glorious. Also the exhilaration of working hard on a job and accomplishing it is so worth it. While I can't do nearly as much now, there is still joy in good exhaustion that was provoked by glorious activity that produces something wonderful - a sense of accomplishment and joy from doing something for your friends and family.

Day 118 of Thanksgiving....

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Today I am so very Thankful for Celebrations!  We lived in a teeny tiny house for many years and we still have a not so big one now.....but that has never stopped us from enjoying a good celebration.  Graduations, birthdays, retirements, jobs, promotions.....just give us a reason and we will celebrate.  I have found that when you have very little that is the best time to seriously enjoy celebrating anything that comes along.  This is a wonderful way to bring family and friends together and share our lives and love for each other.  This year we seem to have more than the normal amount of occasions and we are making the most of each and every one of them.  As someone much smarter than me once said - life is in the small things.  Enjoy them all big and small and celebrate!

Day 117 of Thanksgiving......

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Today I am so very Thankful for Acting!  Anyone who know me knows that I have a very hard time hiding my feelings and problems flash across my face like a neon sign.  I don't like that and I so have always wanted to have the luxury of having a poker face.  Not so easy for me.  But, I have found that sometimes when things are difficult, if I act out how I want to feel or model a behavior, then it becomes easier to be what I want to be.  Now I am absolutely not talking about being fake!!  I am talking about acting happy or at least not melancholy and the happiness will follow.  They say it takes about 21 days to adopt a new behavior and for me sometimes much longer.  Negativity has been one of the erks that I have tried so hard to loose and acting out being positive has helped me to do this.  As the invincibly positive Norman Vincent Peale used to say "by deliberately acting counter to what you now are, you can develop into what you want to be!" 

Day 116 of Thanksgiving.....

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Today I am so very Thankful for Scars!  Now I am not talking about physical scars although they are interesting as well.  I am talking about mental and emotional scars that we all develop over the years, some so many more than others.  The scars you earn through an emotional job loss, a divorce, a failed relationship, hurts hurled by others - the causes are endless and they can be profound.  I have learned over time that if I use these scars to my advantage they can make me stronger and like the balm you use on physical scars, they become less noticeable and less painful as well. If I don't put a bandage on and move on there is much to gain. I have found that examining these types of wounds and finding and realizing what I can learn from them, will make all of the difference in their eventual healing.  But.....I don't want to completely erase them because they are reminders that we can learn and grow from life's pain - we can find the good and the lesson in all we experience.

Day 115 of Thanksgiving....

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Today I am so very Thankful for a Sense of Humor!  I truly believe life can be made better by seeing the humor in it.  My Daddy was the perpetual joker and he kept me laughing as a child with funny faces, hair-dos as well as silly cartoons......sometimes at very inappropriate times such as in church.  I lost him very early on but he left me with quite the sense of humor and a delight for all things silly.  One of my favorite gags was when he would get up and put hair gel in his normally curly grey hair and make it stand on end.  He would then come to the breakfast table as if nothing was out of place and proceed to eat his breakfast.  Oh well - guess you had to be there but these antics made what was a somewhat tough childhood bearable.  Thank you so much Daddy for my Sense of Humor - it serves me well!