Thanksday #7

I feel like I’m rewriting that song “Seasons of Love” from Rent, but instead of measuring a year in sunsets, midnights and cups of coffee, I’m measuring a year in Thanksday Thursdays. Here we are at week seven. I don’t know about y’all, but I really am finding myself feeling more gratitude overall in my life through this process.

So without further ado (oh how I love the word ado), here are the things I’m thankful for this week:

1. 1.My Sweet Dad. I wrote about Starbucks Christmas Blend ESPRESSO ROAST a couple weeks ago, and evidently my dad reads my blog. Because he just sent a package for Paxton’s birthday, and to what did my wandering eyes appear in the midst of Elmo, a Seahawks football and birthday cards? A pound of Starbucks Christmas Blend ESPRESSO ROAST! And not only did he remember how excited I was about the ESPRESSO ROAST (I capitalize this because j’adore ESPRESSO ROAST), he had it ground for me. It wasn’t purchased pre-ground. He had them grind it. The aroma was intoxicating. The coffee pot was ready for this morning by 5 pm yesterday. Thank you, Dad! It doesn’t replace having you on this coast, but it’ll do. For now.

2. 2.Sweet Siblings. a) Paxton turns one tomorrow, and Jaana has been the most excited, I think, about his birthday. She wanted to get him a special gift, and instead of a ball or Elmo toy, she picked out a stuffed blue bear that plays “Jesus Loves Me” when you squeeze it. I love her tender-heartedness that she wanted to get somethingspecial...not just a random toy.

    b) The feeling is reciprocal. I’m also thankful for Paxton’s 

    face as he adoringly gazes at Jaana. When we’re in the car, he’ll 

    just stare at her and then randomly burst into laugher. I. die. 

3. 3.Adobe Illustrator. I heart Illustrator. However, I never had any formal training on it, just self-taught. (Tragically, I’m sure I use only 5% of its potential.) But I love when I have a design issue in front of me, and I just know there’s a way to do it, but I don’t know how. It’s an exhausting but fun challenge to figure it out. And this week I figured out something related to a logo that had been bugging me for months. It was my Everest.

4. 4.My Legs. Yes, I’m grateful for them, but not a va-va-va-voom way. I’m now running 4-5 miles a day, and just this summer running for 15 minutes straight was really, really hard. So I’m grateful to my legs for getting stronger and carrying me further. My goal is a half marathon in March. Can I do it??

5. 5.Ado. I love words. Greg sometimes calls me PPT (Pretend Proper Talker) because I like to use more colorful words to describe random things. Like I’ll use ‘ravenous’ or ‘debacle.’ It irritates Greg and he’ll say, “Just say you’re really hungry!” To which I reply, “‘Really hungry’ in no way conveys the level of hunger I feel. Now, ‘ravenous’...that really speaks.” It’s a fun game I like to play to annoy him, and I’m thankful it works.

6. 6.Greg. Yes I like to aggravate just a little sometimes, but of course I adore him and love him to death. I truly am so blessed that God provided literally the perfect husband for me. He is everything I was looking for and so many things I didn’t know I needed. This week I’m thankful for his concern for me. One night it started to flurry and the weather was getting pretty bad. Normally I go to the gym at night, but this particular night he came home and said he didn’t want me to be out driving in that weather. He was worried about my safety. I love that I have a husband who worries about those things.

7. 7.New Moisturizer. I’ve been out of moisturizer for almost two months now. I couldn’t bring myself to buy cheap-o stuff anymore, yet didn’t want to spend over $10 on anything either (that whole WACF thing, you know). This week I finally bit the bullet and bought what I needed. I’m getting older (gasp! shock! awe!). It’s time to splurge past the Clean-and-Clear and into more mature facial products. I still bought it at the grocery store, so it wasn’t extravagant, but it wasn’t a teeny-bopper brand either. I call that: progress (or if I was talking to Greg, I’d call it impetus).

8. 8.Postcard Stamps. I mentioned last week about my new Christmas photo card find, and the great self-mailing postcard. Well the bonus is that the stamps for them are much cheaper, too. I’m trying to be more parsimonious, you know.

9. 9.Mother’s Morning Out. It has come time that Paxton venture out to a structured setting sans Mama. Now, I am not complaining at all...because a Mama’s Boy is exactly what I wanted. But while I adore my sweet boy and every second of his clingy little self, he has gotten quite attached. And when I say ‘quite attached,’ I mean I can’t even run to the bathroom without him crying and crawling like the wind to get to me. Starting in January, he’ll go just one morning a week. That combined with church nursery will help him establish a wee bit more independence. Me thinketh. At least it will give me a chance to actually pay attention at the weekly work meeting I attend on Thursday mornings, and not leave a Hansel & Gretel trail of Cheerios in my wake.

10. 10.New Shows. Well, some aren’t quite new, per se, but new-to-me. Like a car. And they are actual shows, not reality TV. But I’ve been pleasantly surprised by a few recently: Modern Family, Raising Hope, Community. Modern Family is flat-out hilarious. Raising Hope caught me off-guard and hooked me. And oh, how I’ve missed Martha Plimpton. And Joel McHale on Community is perfect. 

I’m most thankful to God this week for my sweet little baby Paxton, who turns 1 tomorrow. He was so worth the wait. 

But I’ll do a special post about that tomorrow.

“I’m thanking you, God, from a full heart,

I’m writing the book on your wonders.

I’m whistling, laughing, and jumping for joy;

I’m singing your song, High God.”

(Psalm 9:1-2, MSG)