Gratitude

GRATITUDE

I haven't had much of it lately.  During this month where we are supposed to be giving thanks for everything and preparing for the birth or our savior I have been pretty ungrateful, unhappy, and worst of all, unloving.  To my many friends, family, children and myself.  

I had a long overdue chat with a friend tonight.  I had to do it over Facebook because I knew I didn't have the guts to hear what she had to say over the phone, or worse, to my face.  You see, she always gives it to me straight!  I have friends that will will let me vent and placate me with assuring words, some that only want to hear the good stuff, and very few that will give it to me straight & tell me to put my big girl panties on and get on with life.  Sometimes that's just what I need!  Unfortunately, that's NOT what I have been searching for.  I was searching for that quiet ear that would listen to my woes and be 100% on my side and tell me exactly what I needed to do and give me the means to execute their well thought out plans.  I forgot that the person I was searching for was always with me - listening to my woes - 100% on my side - giving me the means to execute His well thought out plans.  I just forgot.  GOD.

Anyways, My friend first told me that (basically) my pity party needed to end & I need to Dust myself off & move on.  She told me I needed to write down everything I am grateful for.  Yes, yes I do.  I didn't do it on Facebook while everyone else was.  I just couldn't think of 30 things to be grateful for and I am sure no one wanted to see "I am grateful for my children" 30 days in a row.  They were the only good things I could see in my life for quite a while (and some days even that was questionable).  I think I can do it now.

1) I am thankful for my children - even when they are being smart Alec troublemakers - they still make me smile.

2) I am very grateful for the military and all it provides.

3) I am thankful for the men & women that serve and protect us and our rights.

4) I am thankful for MAIL.  Seriously, send a letter, it will make someone smile!

5) I am grateful for a reliable vehicle that gets us where we need to be (usually 10 - 20 minutes early)

6) I am thankful for the many friends and acquaintances that get me.

7) I am thankful that my father is healthy.

8) I am grateful to my step-mother for her insurance that has covered most of my father's medical expenses

9) I am thankful for my brother who just wants to fix things for everyone

10) I am thankful for my sister who just wants everyone to be happy.

11) I am thankful for all the family angels in Heaven watching over us)

12) I am thankful for friends and family that honestly pray for us!

13) I am thankful for SAW's fierce feelings of protection  .

14) I am thankful for Bug's quiet observation and sense of knowing what needs to get done.

15) I am grateful for all of the talented musical artists that bless the world with their music and voices every day!  

**********Halfway done and I am losing steam, but I will make it!***************************

16) I am grateful to all the writers - everywhere - published or not.  Thank you for sharing.

17) I am grateful for all the other bloggers that teach me how to make pretty much everything from scratch.

18) I am grateful for technology that keeps me in constant contact with everyone (even if I don't want it).

19) I am grateful for my mother for all the things she taught me, and all the things she didn't.  Some things I just had to learn on my own!

20) I am grateful for my "other mother" for still always being being there for me.  She's been part of my life since I was 14, even when she may not have wanted to be!

21) I am thankful that Mike knows how to cook, even if he doesn't do it as much as he used to.

22) I am thankful for the beautiful warm sandy beaches of Florida - I will get back there someday!

23) I am thankful that MJ inherited her daddy's ability to make me laugh.

24) I am thankful that I am creative.

25) I am thankful that there is a free gym within walking distance of my house!

26) I am thankful for water in every form.

27) I am grateful for my first amendment right to free speech.

28) I am thankful for my bed, my cozy blankets, my pillows, and a good book that can help me forget about the days troubles.

29) I am thankful for my Nook!

30) I am thankful for my ability to choose EVERYTHING!

Happy November everyone!

Christmas Crafting

Christmas Crafting Has Begun!!!

We save our egg cartons for friends with chickens but the pile was getting really BIG!  I had to do something with them!!  I had bug search for a Christmas craft online, but I wasn't excited about any of them.  I knew I wanted to have MJ make a Christmas tree, I just had to figure out how.  

We got out the egg cartons and started cutting while Bug got out the paints. I started stacking and figured it all out & then the girls started painting.

You can barely see the result in the picture, but trust me - it's cute!  When Dad is distracted with a new game don't ask him to take a picture of the the baby and her tree!

In the midst of trying to figure out how to stack the pieces I discovered that we had no glue!  UGH!!!

Internet to the rescue once again!  I found a great recipe for toddler safe home made glue!  This saved the day!!  I even added a bit of green food coloring since I know we will be using it mostly for Christmas Crafts!  The result was fabulous!

My Thanksgiving Menu

My Thanksgiving Menu

We decided to stay home this year and not visit family for Thanksgiving.  Good thing because we are completely flat broke!  My original idea was to buy a lasagna and have an Italian dinner, but on pay day when I went grocery shopping I was not even thinking that Thanksgiving was mere days away!  So Monday I realized - OMG Thanksgiving is THURSDAY!!!  We are broke - I had not done ANY holiday meal planning and the cupboards (yes, only days after payday) were practically bare!  Ok, not really, but when you are thinking in terms of a holiday meal - they definitely looked that way.  Ok, so back to my original plan of making Thanksgiving NO BIG DEAL.

Bug was very disappointed to hear that we were not going to have a traditional Turkey day.  It was very hard to look at her and NOT give in.  So then I started planning.  Thank GOD for the Internet or I never would have figured out that I have everything I need in order to make a pretty good holiday meal - everything but the main dish!  No turkey is not a big issue in our house since Mike doesn't like turkey and SAW prefers ham, but with $3 in the account there was no way I was going to swing it.  Luckily on our most recent trip to see Mike's parents they gave us some deer steaks - so we were good.  I also managed to be in the right place at the right time and got a free turkey!  Woo Hoo!!!  So now we have the fixings for a real holiday to be thankful for!

Of course the most important thing (when your family doesn't like turkey) is the PIE!!!  Luckily I stocked up on pumpkin so I knew we were covered there!  The last time i made a pumpkin pie (2 weeks ago for pie Sunday) I used the Libby's recipe on the can of pumpkin and a refrigerated Pilsbury pie crust.  I was very disappointed!  For such well known companies I was expecting them to be fabulous, but they were very bland!  Ugh!  So, I had to find a new recipe! Once I found that Everything else came along nicely!

Milkless Pumpkin Pie with The Pie Man's Perfectly Flaky Crust

Dinner Rolls (they are actually Hamburger Buns, but they are soooo good!!!

Macaroni & Cheese with Cauliflower

Dutch Beets (because I have tons of canned beets!)

Mashed potatoes (one of the benefits of living in Idaho - we always have tons of potatoes!)

My macaroni Salad

All this and a couple deer steaks for Mike and Turkey for us.  I am still searching for a good stuffing recipe  and I may add a few things just for snacking throughout the day (like deviled eggs or something).

Hope you all have a great day!

ps - thanks to all the great bloggers and chefs and bakers our there that shared their recipes!

Under Construction

Please forgive me for the mess

I am in process of de-cluttering my life and am recreating my blog here.

I'm sure I will have exciting things to say sometimes soon.

Feel free to follow my very disorganized and depressed thoughts on twitter.

Love to all!

Sharon

DisOrganized thoughts

Are my thoughts ever organized??

Are my posts ever organized??

I bet an editor would rip out their hair trying to fix my writing so that people could actually read it!  Ugh. I have given up trying to make my Blog something that reaches millions though.  My mere 27 followers are okay for me.  I won't deny a little twinge of jealousy at the numbers my sister's blog has, but let's face it - hers is beautiful  she writes so that you WANT to keep reading!  I am happy if even I can reach the end of my own writing and still be happy about it...

So anyways...

I am pet sitting a friends cat for the next couple months.  She is very different from Mew (who escaped and went missing a few weeks ago).  She is very very vocal, and very - uhhhh - needy.  She likes to wake me up my sitting on my head, she likes to sit on the keyboard while I am typing as well.  She will head butt you when she wants attention and you aren't giving it to her.  Very Very different from Mew!  It's fun to have a cat back in the house, though.  Although, I did notice that she has affected my allergies quite a bit.  Next week I am pet sitting my neighbors dog too, so we will see how that goes!

So this was totally not what I had in mind when I sat down to blog today, but I have lost that thought during the battle for my keyboard.

Maybe next time.

Happy Birthday Julia!!!

Happy Birthday Julia!!!

Today is my friend's birthday.  She's the same age as I am (so no need to mention any numbers, although she's so cool she probably wouldn't even care). 

Julia has been my friend for over 20 years.  She has awesome parents, and cool sister and a very spirited brother (just like me!).

Julia's request this year was that instead of everyone posting birthday wishes on her FB wall we all choose a word that describes her & Take a picture holding a sign with that word *or* acting that word out.

I think that's a fabulous idea!!  I see many many people stealing it and using it from now on! 

I immediately knew what word I wanted to use.

OPEN

Julia has always led a very open life.  She has always been a very open person.  Of course she went through her moody teenage years like the rest of us, but she maintained her openness throughout that phase. 

She is a smart, helpful, loving mother as well. 

She is doing something similar to this for her son's birthday coming up this month.  We are all sending Postcards to him and she will put them together in a book for him to treasure always.  Isn't that an awesome idea??

Anyways.  I admire Julia and her very open life.  She never shuns anyone that questions her and she remains calm (for the most part) and gives people the chance to expand their understanding of the world through her. 

I wish that we could have remained closer friends since high school, but, alas - life happens.

So, for now, I can only offer this.

My picture of her unique openness outside in the windy rain

(which MJ had to get into at the last minute).

My family is OK!

There is nothing wrong with my family.  OK, maybe we are all a little grouchy, edgy, short with each other.  Maybe we are all on our own paths of destruction.  We are good people though.  If you ask us for help - we will help you.  We don't expect you to pay us or repay the favor at all.  It is always a nice surprise when people do though.
When I get angry though is when someone asks for help, and I offer it freely and willingly and it gets turned down.  Why is my family not good enough to help you when you obviously need it ( or you wouldn't have asked to begin with).
I get especially angry when I feel like this is a personal attack (for lack of a better word at the moment) against one of my children.  Yes, my son is going through some shit right now because of a poor decision he made, but that doesn't mean he is a worthless lump.  It doesn't mean that he doesn't know how to work hard!

Here's where I get mad and call people out.  Read on if you dare!

A family member (Mike's family) posted on FB that they needed some help.  They even said they would pay (and SAW could really use the money!!!).  I called and offered SAW's help.  They "hmmmm"'d and "uh, well"'d and finally said "no thanks" on the premise that it would be too hard for SAW and that Mike wouldn't be there to supervise him.

 Are you F'ing serious???  What's so special about your damn HAY that he can't help you with it???

Here's where I take a page from Big Brother Ken's book and decide to NOT offer to help them again.  If one of us isn't good enough then none of us are.  And -  I kinda hope that no one else offered to help and that karma kicks them in the butt for this.

I am often amazed at peoples prejudices.