Thankful Day 8

Yesterday I was most thankful for the fact that the day ended.

However, because that seems like a cheap thing to be thankful for today I’m thankful for this: LOLcat Bible.

Thankful Day 7

I am thankful for crocheting and good friends to crochet with. Last night I co-hosted the second “Craft Night” for my church. We have lots of knitters and crocheters in our congregation, so my friend Janie and I are having a monthly craft night, at least until Christmas. Last night was very fun and relaxing, and I finished one Christmas scarf and started another.

Thankful-Day6

Yesterday I was thankful for water aerobics and the giggling, extra energy, and new friends it brings me.

I also realized that I tend to be much more thankful at the end of the day than at the begining. And I don’t want to have to drag my computer home every day to write my thankful thing in the evening (if I can pry it away from my hubby). So… henceforth, my thanks from the previous day, not the current day, will be posted.

Thankful Day 5

Okay, okay, so I’m really bad at blogging every day. In my defense, yesterday when I was thinking about what I was thankful for my husband was hogging my computer to obsessively look up stuff on the new Driod phone. But that doesn’t mean I wasn’t thankful, and I was even thinking about being thankful, which is really point.

Yesterday I was thankful for meaningful, well-crafted, evocative worship. Mostly I’m thankful for that every Sunday because I love my church. www.thetablefellowship.net. Join us sometime!

Thankful Day 4

Today I am thankful for unexpected hikes with 360 degree views, sunshine and clouds rolling over the mountains. Beautiful. beautiful. Thank you God.

Thankful Day 3

Today I am thankful for pajamas, chick flicks and my cat, my own personal holy trinity of relaxation.

Thankful- Day 2

Okay, technically its day 3, but by the end of the day yesterday I wasn’t thankful for much. However, on further reflection there are many thing yesterday to be thankful for… So, to make up for it here are a few…

1) intermittent windshield wipers- it was doing some yucky spitting stuff yesterday on my drive to the airport. I can’t imagine how annoying it would have been to drive through it without intermittent wipers. Even with intermittent wipers it was very annoying. (FYI-for an interesting movie about the creation of intermittent wipers watch “Flash of Genius“)

2) Blankets and Slippers- last night I was having one of my spaz out moments, which means I was totally overwhelmed with my life and trying to fix it by angrily cleaning- this does not help by the way. So eventually my hubby grabbed me and forced me to stop and then I curled up on the couch with a blanket and my slippers and life got a little better.

3) Chinese Take-out- so I didn’t have to cook last night.

Things I’m Thankful For- Coffee

There is a movement on Facebook to post something you’re thankful for every day as your status. I think its a good exercise in thankfulness, but I wasn’t sure I wanted to use up my status every day. So I’m going to attempt to do that here. Hopefully every day, or close, until after Thanksgiving. As my friend who does National Blog Posting Month said, it’s a good discipline.

So today I am thankful for….

coffee. It’s a small thing. It’s not very original. It’s fairly addictive. But my coffee addiction also means that I have a good excuse to interact with my co-workers and seminary students and faculty. I frequently find someone in the seminary kitchen, also filling up on the bean of life. It gives me a great excuse to say hi, see how life is for them, and check in.

And sometime in the last two years my co-workers and I have been taking nearly daily intentional coffee breaks. We have discovered that we like each other better, we feel more connected, we help each other out and we actually get things done when we take these breaks. We have started calling them “staff meetings” in a semi-serious tone. Without coffee would we have these breaks? I don’t know but they have made my work life that much more enjoyable and enriching. This is why I’m thankful for coffee.

Book Club Review

#76 on my 101 things list is to join a book club. I am now part of a book club thanks to Rachel who also inspired my 101 things list.  Recently I was trying to recruit members for my book club and describing what kinds of things we read. We read everything. Okay, we don’t actually read everything, we read no pulp fiction (like romance novels, mysteries, or fantasy) We figure we can read those on our own. However, we read some fiction, some non-fiction, a little bit of everything. For fun (and to avoid work) I’m going to give a brief review of the books we’ve read so far.

1) Water For Elephants- a novel about a boy who runs away to join the circus, very entertaining but a few graphic sex scenes

2) Three Cups of Tea- non-fiction, about a man who is hiking in Pakistan, gets lost and discovers a village where children learn even though they don’t have a school.  He sets out to build them a school and then begins an organization that does the same for villages all over Pakistan and Afghanistan.

3) The Hunchback of Notre Dame- this was an experiment in reading classics we feel we “should” read. It failed. Only two of us got all the way through, and I’d read it once before.

4) The Known World- a novel about African Americans who owned slaves in Virginia. It had a non-linear plot which many members of the club found annoying.

5) Life of Pi- a novel about a boy who is shipwrecked in a lifeboat with a tiger. Fun with zoology, religion and life at sea.

6) I’m a Stranger Here Myself- a completely hilarious non-fiction book by a man who lived in England for 20 years and moved back to the U.S. Quips about U.S. culture ensue. Be prepared to laugh very hard, quote things to random people around you and just generally enjoy yourself.

7) The Unlikely Disciple: A Sinner at America’s Holiest University- a non-fiction book by a student from a mostly secular home who spent a semester at Liberty University. Its an interesting view of evangelical Christians that is both a critique of the culture and honest reflection on how the culture changes you.

8 ) The Invention of Hugo Cabret- a children’s book that is half (or less) words and lots and lots of gorgeous pictures. Unlike a picture book or illustrated novel however, the photos themselves move the plot along.

I think this is all we’ve read so far. I could be wrong. Up next: Ella Minnow Pea- which I haven’t read yet (I’m still waiting for the library to call me with my reserved copy) and our potential winter book is Waiting for Snow in Havana.

Animals I See While Walking

Recently I found a new walking route, which gets me out of the townhouse/apartment invaded Menno land that I live in and into the country, where I can see the mountains and smell farms. (I’m a country girl, smelling farms is important, even the not nice smells) Anyway, because I have a love affair with lists, I’m going to list the animals (wild and domestic) I have seen so far on my walk.

1. At least three different kinds of cows (I’m not a cow-identification expert so I could be wrong, but I’m pretty sure there are at least three kinds)
2. Two fawns less than 10 feet away (and on a separate occasion an adult deer further away)
3. Bunnies, wild
4. Lots o’ birds – my favorite are the Yellow Finches that eat the thistles in the field
5. Dogs (I’ve seen 1 and heard at least 2)
6. 2 Geese (who honk and chase me when I walk past)
7. 3 Guinea Hens
8. Lots ‘o Sheep
9. 1 Horse
10. Rats (on a farm, not up close)
11. 1 snake (dead, thankfully)
12. Goats
13. Chickens
14. Monarch Butterflies (I know, technically not an animal)

Number of Humans I’ve seen (not including the ones speeding past me in cars)- 5 – 1 other walker, 2 joggers, and 2 people working in thier yards.