7,8,9,10

Well, my goal of making daily posts about gratitude is already a disaster.  I guess that goes right along with the rest of my life these days.  Sigh.

Enough of the pity party...I have four days of gratitude to account for, and I'm going to do it!

Day 7:  I'm thankful for my oldest boy, the one who made me "Mom".

Day 8: I'm thankful for my second boy, the one who made "siblings".

Day 9: I'm thankful for my first-born daughter, also the first-born granddaughter, who helps us discover the amazing and terrifying world of girls.

Day 10: I'm thankful for my baby, the one who made our family complete.

Vote!

This Election Day I am thankful to be able to vote.  Women couldn't always vote, and I don't take lightly the suffrage that took place to earn me this right.  Women shouldn't have needed to earn the right to vote, and in essence the right to full personhood, but we did.  Why didn't more men fight for their wives?  Well, it's a stupid question I guess, but one worth bringing up again today.

Part of the modern Republican agenda involves setting women back at least one hundred years:  redefining rape, trying to limit access to birth control through Planned Parenthood and private insurance, and making access to abortion next to impossible.  One might think this is 1912, but it isn't...it's 2012.  More men should be furious that their wives, girlfriends, sisters, friends, and daughters are being treated this way.  Hell, I don't understand why more women aren't furious about how the radical Right has taken over the Republican party. 

But, I digress.  I am thankful for all the women who fought for our right to vote, and I continue to be thankful for the women who fight for the right for me to control my own reproductive organs. 

I am also thankful my wonderful husband could go vote with me.   

Kitty Love

Today I am thankful for our kittens.  It may be a silly thing for which to be thankful, but anyone who loves his/her pets knows that pets are like members of the family.  They continually do stuff to piss you off, but it the end they cuddle up beside you and give you some love. 

Whether finding a sunny place on the steps to sleep...

...or cuddling up together...

...these kittens are a special part of our family.  Thank you, kittens, for giving us your kitten love every day.

Baking Buddy

Today's post is dedicated to my Kitchenaid mixer.  I am thankful for all of my modern appliances and the convenience they provide, but my mixer is an appliance I get to use not only as a chore.  Sure, I love my dishwasher and washing machine, but those gadgets are purely meant for housework. 

My mixer helps me make all the delicious fresh bread the fam and I enjoy.  It mixes up a batch of gooey cinnamon rolls or savory pizza dough in no time.  My only wish is that it was one size bigger so that I could make more than one loaf of bread at a time.  However, that dough hook has made my life so much easier and has saved my wrists from the pain of chronic tendinitis (kneading by hand is hard work!).

I salute you, Kitchenaid mixer, for all the joy you bring. 

Autumn's Bounty

Today I am thankful for Autumn: its weather, its effect on the trees, and its harvest bounty.  Everyone knows I love to eat, and my favorite part of Fall is apples...loads and loads of apples!  Autumn in Nebraska can be a little, well, brown.  The fields have been harvested and only dirt is left behind.  There aren't too many trees here, so I really enjoy the fleeting red and yellow leaves when I see them.  Otherwise, there are just miles and miles of dirt fields, dead grass pastures, and gravel roads.  Brown, brown, and brown.

Apples, however, come in so many beautiful shades of red, yellow, and green.  Autumn's tastiest harvest is also really cheap right now which fits in perfectly with our stretched budget.  While they are available, pick up some apples and make this apple crisp.  It is so delicious!!  I have eaten two or three batches all by myself so far this year.  The best part?  You leave the skins on the apples! 

Autumn, thank you for your crisp mornings, tasty fruit, and pretty scenery (what you can find of it here in Nebraska).  I am so thankful when you arrive each year to end summer's heat. 

I Am Thankful for You, Friend

 Day number two of my month of gratitude focuses on my friends.  As stated in the previous post, my friends have been amazing since Colby's unemployment.  Actually, I know they were all amazing before, but my time of need has been their triumph.  They have been my heroes bringing gifts of all sorts: listening ears, hugs, prayers, play dates for the kids, food, coffee, and even cash.

Friends don't love you because they have to. The bond you share with friends is built on mutual respect, shared experiences, and common ground. Friends don't always agree on everything, but true friends don't hold it against you.

 I think good friendships depend on a lot of good karma: what you put out into the universe comes back to you. When you build relationships with people that bring happiness, kindness, and laughter, you will find these things all multiplying in your life. It is then your job to spread all the joy you receive. That's how I see it.

 So, by the time my struggle ends I will have many kindnesses to repay. I can't wait.

A Month of Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving Day comes once a year, but gratitude should never go away.  I've learned through struggle that being thankful for even the smallest gifts makes life not only more tolerable but more enjoyable.  For the month of November I will be writing a post of daily gratitude, and I will also be focusing my yoga classes on thanksgiving meditations.

This first day of November leaves me thankful for coffee.  Coffee?? Yes, coffee.  It is the center of many amazing moments in my life: "dates" with my friends, mornings with my husband, and productive late nights getting done all the chores needed to keep us going.

October was a month of struggle, depression, tears, and anxiety.  However, there were also many days spent sitting around a kitchen table or a Starbucks table or on a friend's sofa sipping coffee.  Sometimes I was crying; sometimes she was crying.  Most of the time we were, whomever the "we" was, happy to be enjoying some time as friends.  Heck, I even have a friend who works for Starbucks who brought me lattes on her way home from work.  It's a small gesture that meant so much to me during a time that was (and continues to be) stressful.