Attitude of Gratitude: Day 39

(Like how I so subtly changed my title?) ;)

Well, today's post almost breaks my "nothing obvious" rule. Almost. Today I'm grateful for good friends. I've been blessed with many, but there's one in particular I don't know how I would live without.

Elyse and I have been friends for about a decade now. She's smart, funny, caring, and generous. She's an excellent example of a great mother and a righteous woman. Several years into our friendship, when I already thought she was the greatest friend ever, I discovered a bonus. She understands the nuts and bolts of writing and is a good writer herself, so she makes a fantastic editor. Not to mention a willing editor. And she helped me find the courage to write a novel to start with, so without her I'm not sure there ever would've been anything to edit anyway.

We can talk about things of deep importance, things of inconsequential importance, funny things and sad things, all in the same conversation. We can call each other for any reason, day or night, and we have.

Last but not least, she makes the best chocolate chip cookies in the world. What more could I want, I ask you?

I believe this friend was a gift to me from my Heavenly Father. We met because I was her visiting teacher. Nine months before the most difficult trial of my life, I received counsel through a blessing to turn to her in my time of need. This was a sober blessing, warning me of something difficult to come. When the reason for this warning became manifest, those words returned to my mind and I knew I could call on her. I wouldn't have otherwise, and would've walked through that trial alone. The Lord was with me, don't get me wrong. I wouldn't have been alone in that sense. But we need people here too. I needed a friend, and He knew that. I'm grateful to my Heavenly Father not only for giving me this friend, but for giving me the push I needed to be open about my difficulties when my tendency is to keep them to myself. She was a lifeline to me then, and is still a lifeline to me now.

Friends like this are hard to find, and I don't take this blessing for granted. I count her as one of the greatest blessings of my life.

100 Days of Gratitude: Day 38

Yesterday, when I asked if people were getting sick of these posts, I think what I really meant is that I'm getting sick of these posts. Not that I haven't enjoyed them, or that I don't think it's important to look around and be grateful, or that having an attitude of gratitude isn't important. I have a firm belief in the power of a positive attitude.

However.

I'm sick to death of these posts. Okay, maybe not sick to death. Maybe I'm exaggerating. What I mean is, I'm itching for some variety and the idea of doing 100 of these posts does not make me happy.

What does make me happy is the idea of cutting that number in half.

I still have more things I'd like to talk about. I'm not ready to just stop. But my new number is 50.

Having the courage to make that decision is what I'm grateful for today. ;)

(And no, the image doesn't have anything to do with this post.)

100 Days of Gratitude: Day 37

Today I'm grateful for the schools my children attend. I love the curriculum, the positive atmosphere on campus (particularly at John and Ben's school), and most of all I love their fantastic teachers. They each know and care about my children, and it shows. That makes such a huge difference to me. I'm grateful for the education they're receiving, and try not to take it for granted. The schools are one of my main reasons for staying in the East Valley.

100 Days of Gratitude: Day 36

Well, this is a wee late in coming, but I'm very grateful for all the people who helped and are helping us with our vehicle "crisis". I was grateful before too, but I just felt like complaining. It felt pretty good too. ;)

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Anyway, we've been able to borrow cars, we've received recommendations for trustworthy mechanics, and more. It's uplifting to know people care and want to help. You know who you are. THANK YOU!!!!

100 Days of Gratitude: Day 35

I'm grateful for my Bishop.

100 Days of Gratitude: Day 34

Are you guys getting sick of these gratitude posts yet? I'm starting to think I should've done a month of gratitude instead. Ah well.

Anyway, today was a great day for a lot of reasons, not the least of which was the fact that I got to have some alone time with my honey. We've had a date night for two weeks in a row! Oh so exciting! This time we decided to stay in and relax at home and it was really nice.

But that can't be my official gratitude item for the day because I already used that last week.

So today I'm grateful for the beautiful weather we had tonight. Here it is April 25, we've already had several days of hot weather and summer is just around the corner. Yet, tonight it was pretty enough that we could have the doors open while we ate dinner. We have french doors that open from the dining room to the back patio, so we had a lovely breeze coming through. I love opening up the house and nights like these (so close to summer) feel like a gift. I'll take as many of them as I can get.

Drum Roll Please...

Like a lot of you, when I first saw this picture, I thought it was water, sand, and a seashell. That's definitely what it looks like. But if that's what it really was, this wouldn't be much of a quiz.

I was impressed with your creativity. A crime scene? Lava? A wet etch-a-sketch? Excellent guesses!

Anna wins the prize for funniest comment. But no, it's not mold either.

Given my preoccupation with APOD, I thought someone might think to check the site. And it's funny to me that even though I saw this picture on APOD, I still thought it was sand and water until I saw the caption:

Flowing Barchan Sand Dunes on Mars

Mars, people. Now, that's just cool.

If you want the scientific explanation for what exactly we're looking at, don't ask me. I'll defer to NASA, as usual:

"When does Mars act like a liquid? Although liquids freeze and evaporate quickly into the thin atmosphere of Mars, persistent winds may make large sand dunes appear to flow and even drip like a liquid. Visible on the above image right are two flat top mesas in southern Mars, where the season is changing from Spring to Summer. A light dome topped hill is also visible on the far left of the image. As winds blow from right to left, flowing sand on and around the hills leaves picturesque streaks. The dark arc-shaped droplets of fine sand are called barchans, and are the interplanetary cousins of similar Earth-based sand forms. Barchans can move intact downwind and can even appear to pass through each other. Over the past few weeks, winds on southern Mars have been kicking up dust and are being watched to see if they escalate into another of Mars' famous planet-scale sand storms."

(Gee, are Mars' planet-scale sand storms famous? News to me.)

100 Days of Gratitude: Day 33

In contrast to yesterday, today is EASY. Easy, I say! Last night at the Spring Sing, the principal announced that the district decided to fund all-day kindergarten.

Oh happiness! Oh joy! Oh rapture!

Never mind that I am (generally speaking) opposed to all-day kindergarten. It is not something the state needs to fund, and I voted against it. Never mind that if the district had asked my opinion, I would've said that given the current economic crunch, I'd rather lose all-day kindergarten than do things like cut staff.

But they didn't ask me, so it's not my fault, and I get to be completely, totally, deliriously happy. Why? Because even though my oldest two went straight into kindergarten without any kind of preschooling (which I'm a big advocate for when you can get away with it), my Christopher has been a different story.

First of all, he has that tricky December birthday. I could've started him in kindergarten this year. Or not. Last year I didn't know what I would want to do, so I decided to put him in a pre-K program so I could see how he'd do and hopefully be able to make my decision a little easier. Plus, without brothers at home to play with, that poor child needed something to do besides follow me around all day. It was only for an hour and a half a day, just enough.

By the time the pre-K year was over, I knew he wasn't ready for kindergarten. I wanted him to have another year to grow up a little more. Enter the YK program. That's what he's been doing this year. For half the day.

So it's been two years. Two years of this child going to school for half a day. Two years of me driving to two different campuses two times a day. He's ready for full day and SO AM I!!

This Fall, Christopher goes to the "big school" and my life as a parent enters a whole new phase. From 8:30 until 3:00, five whole days a week, my house will be child free.

Child. Free.

I love my kids, don't get me wrong. But right now, all-day kindergarten is a beautiful thing to behold.

100 Days of Gratitude: Day 32

I'm grateful for my water heater. (My functioning hot water heater.)

Thanks Roccy! :)

We Interrupt Your Regularly Scheduled Gratitude Posts to Bring You This Message of Cheer

This is going to be tough today. I'm not in a particularly grateful mood. Last night as Brian came home, something broke in his car. We don't know if it's the transmission or what, but the gear stick doesn't work at all and just moves freely like it's not attached to anything. That can't be good.

We decided to get the Suburban running so he'd at least have some way to get to work while we figure out what to do about the car. The Burb's been sitting in our driveway, unused, for the last 7 months or so. After a lot of persuasion, we finally get it running only to discover it no longer shifts out of second gear.

Meanwhile, when we moved the van so we could give the Burb a jump, it started stuttering at idle and the check engine light came on.

So basically we have major problems with all three vehicles. Yippy skippy.

This morning I took the van to the shop and got to listen to them tell me it will take $710 to fix it, minus the $110 I already paid just to find out what's wrong. I'll be frank, the $110 hurt, but $710 is impossible.

I don't even want to know what it will cost to fix the Saturn.

So, what am I grateful for?

Lemme get back to you on that one.

100 Days of Gratitude: Day 31

(Either everyone missed Day 30 cuz it was buried under the Quiz, or no one thinks my window is as cool as I think it is. Cuz it's cool people. C-O-O-L. ;)

Anyway, today is Earth Day, so my gratitude post is easy. I'm grateful for the Earth, and the hands that made her.

Bonus Post: A Quiz

Who wants to guess what this is? Come on now, don't be shy. ;)

(I did not take this picture.)

100 Days of Gratitude: Day 30

This is sort of related to yesterday's post, but deserves it's own glory. I love my bedroom window. Not just the window, but what that window gives me. (It's such a generous window. Okay, I'm kidding.)

Our bedroom window faces west, so in the mornings when the sun comes through (not in the dark dead of winter, ahem) it's a nice, soft light. Just outside our window, close to the house, is a flowering tree. I would tell you what kind of tree if I knew, but I don't. All I know is I love this tree. We can lie in bed and watch the birds hop from branch to branch, or watch the pretty pattern it makes through the blinds as the wind shuffles through the leaves. At certain times of the year, the sun is at the perfect angle in the morning to throw a fluttering shadow of all this on the opposite wall.

It's so relaxing to watch. Brian and I have commented about it to one another many times.

So today, and many days, that's what I'm grateful for.

100 Days of Gratitude: Day 29

It would've been better to do this before it started getting hot, but I really am grateful for Arizona sunshine. Every winter I get soooo sick of waking up when it's still dark outside. If the sun's not out of bed yet, why should I have to be?? The sun goes down too early in the winter too. Honestly, it's a little depressing and I get so eager to get my sunshine back.

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I've been quite content for several weeks now. I wake up and the sun is up with me. I get to enjoy my evenings more because it's nice and light out. I loooooove the sun!

100 Days of Gratitude: Day 28

Dang it, I forgot again! Okay, for Sunday:

I'm grateful for the right words at the right time. It's amazing how thoughtful, concerned, inspired counsel can be so helpful.