some groggy monday gratitude

This weekend passed by in a blur - but in the best possible way. My sister-in-law is in town and we ended up spending a good portion of the weekend with her. Hope and I on Friday and Lee, Hope and I on Saturday. We capped Saturday off with them along with some friends of theirs who are becoming friends of ours. It was a wonderfully delightful time. On that note, a few more for One Thousand Gifts.

81. Being misunderstood.

82. Whole grain apple-cinnamon english muffins.

83. Comments on my blog. yay!

84. Burt's Bees

85. http://www.zappos.com/ and fabulous customer service.

86. Lemongrass chicken (indochine). Amazing and delectable.

87. Weekends with family and friends.

88. The beauty, delicacy and difficulty of family.

89. Baking good gifts for others.

90. Blue Moon.

91. The pace of Monday morning.

92. Listening to my daughter laugh and converse with her friends.

93. Drinking coffee and checking email from the oversized chair in the living room.

94. Creating good things from recipes.

95. Watching Ladybug try to navigate her way into the oversized chair with sunbeams.

96. My handy husband and the new window he installed.

97. Flexible work schedules that allow me to have a life. Or feel like more of a Mom.

98. Contemplating Labor Day plans.

99. Clean baseboards.

100. Moms who are able to stay home with their kiddos and actually forget what day of the week it is (um, this isn't me).

One-hundred! Funny, seems like I am much further along. Yet here are 100. Grateful for every. single. one. Carrying my journal with me this week. Happy Monday!

k

still clicking along with 1000 gifts...

I just had two beautiful opening paragraphs typed - and they disappeared. Totally adding this to my thankful list. :)

I am really jazzed about this list. My friend, Denise, is making a list as well. She shared her "thankful" journal with me at work yesterday. I think carrying the journal with her is such a smart idea, that I'm copying her. There was more than one point yesterday where I thought, "there's something for the list." When pen finally met paper last night, all of those "thankful thoughts" were gone. Old age. Or just me. :) ha!

Picking up at numbre 58...

58. Pink and yellow sunrise as I work from my desk.
59. Dee-dee and ice runs.
60. Feeling truly focused.
61. Shelly. For so many, many reasons.
62. Ice cold water that pours magically from my refrigerator.
63. Dinner, waiting for me when I get home late from work.
64. Caller ID. Yeah, I said it.
65. Humid weather.
66. Thinking of things to be thankful for.
67. Birthdays that go on for days and days.
68. Monk.
69. DVR. yes. :)
70. World News at 4 am. Seriously.
71. www.google.com/reader
72. All the blogs I subscribe to in #71.
73. Good (and Godly) managers.
74. Friendships that drift or end. The process of letting them go.
75. Healing. Emotionally. Physically.
76. My Daddy.
77. The way God made me. Bumps, warts and all.
78. Seeing my husband before he leaves for work...at 4 am.
79. Facebook.
80. Yoga stretches for my lower back.
81. Fridays. The preamble to weekends.
82. This
83. Another day with breath in my lungs.
84. Being misunderstood.
85. Learning to be cautious in friendship.

I have to admit...I'm a little surprised I'm not at 100 yet. Howevah, a day with my journal in hand might change this.

Happy Thursday. The preamble to Friday. And Fridays are ALWAYS a beautiful thing!

Sometimes it's hard to be thankful...

or purposefully thinking of things to be thankful for. I'm convinced there's always something - even in the face of the most mundane or tumultuously difficult. I've been both places over the past few days. And so I pick up with #16.

16. Liz and her gifts of delictable treats (peach cobbler and homemade whip, most recently)
17. Ladybug (our cat), who lately seems to love me.
18. Strong coffee with a splash of cream - the way it smells and feels in my cup.
19. Danielle and her amazing heart.
20. My daughter's strong-will.
21. God's unexplainable unwarranted love for me.
22. Nancy Jo McFeron. The wisdom of Jesus with skin on. That's what she is.
23. Julie & Julia. TOTALLY worth seeing.
24. The pain of leaving my church home 3.5 years ago.
25. Blank greeting cards with inspiring art.
26. Ballpoint pens. Not the gel pens. Ballpoint. Please and thank you.
27. Pastor Roger Archer
28. Hope's growing pains - and growing through them myself.
29. The sound of our cat snoring.
30. Watering the lawn into dusk hours.
31. Hope's sleepy face.
32. Shannon Cline. Funniest woman I know with the grandest, biggest, most joyful heart.
33. Jesus.
34. My husband. His stubborn streak. His heart. All 18 years of him.
35. Rain that greens the lawn.
36. Hot summer sun.
37. Floating in our pool. Any pool.
38. The smell of Arizona.
39. My home. It is enough. ;0)
40. My job.
41. My car. And it's air conditioning.
42. Health care.
43. My health.
44. Watching the sun come up.
45. RV Camping.
46. Feeling safe.
47. Hope's belly laugh.
48. Lemongrass.
49. Silence.
50. Amazing writing that moves me.
51. Excellent grammar.
54. Grandma Wilson's homemade chocolate sauce.
55. My sisters. Both of 'em.
56. Laughing at Madascar 2 with Hope.
57. Knowing it's time for bed but putting tomorrow's early rise in my "forget about it" place.

Impressive? Fifty-seven out of 1,000 things of great gratitude. ;D Have you started your list?

One Thousand Gifts

I've added a few blogs to my google.com/reader over the past few weeks. One of them is A Holy Experience. It's not my typical "blog read" - but the result has left me thoughtful and pondering and sometimes, downright uncomfortable. The One Thousand Gifts blog I read moments ago fits into the "uncomfortable" category. I was intrigued. Possibly prompted to make my own list.

After reading the "directions" more than once, I decided I could use some life change. A little "joy plunged into my chest cavity" that results in the inability to stop counting up God's grace in one's life. At this point, I seriouly can't even imagine.

I don't know if I'll post the continuation of my list on Mondays only - but for now, here's the beginning of my "One Thousand Gifts" list.

1. "A Holy Experience" Blog

2. Waking up at 3:45 am and feeling ready to start the day.

3. The beginning of a tooth ache and the realization that it can be fixed. Eventually.

4. Playing foursquare last night with my daughter.

5. The fan blowing in the cool night air.

6. The new beginning of a Monday

7. The peaceful flow of a Sunday

8. Advil

9. Baskin & Robbins' chocolate and peanut butter ice cream.

10. The potential of this list.

11. The quiet of my house at 5:10 am.

12. Having survived the turning of another birthday.

13. My Mom, who without fail, remembers my birthday.

14. Hope. The noun. The verb. My daughter.

15. Friendships that are true and constant.

There's my 15 for the day - workingtoward 1,000. Perched on the desk, is a "1000 Things" journal - which is really so unlike me. It's possible that ways that are "so like me" aren't always good or healthy or relationship sustaining. Here's to change. A Thousand Things. Stumbling across a blog that has shaken something loose and is currently bumping around inside. Hope floats, so I hear. One can only hope.

Start your own list. I dare you.