Thankful 2011 - Days 23 - 27

23.  I am thankful that I had completed my grocery shopping and didn't have to hit the H.E.B. the day before Thanksgiving.  Whew!
24.  I am thankful for my family, both immediate and extended.  We had a lovely time at my aunt and uncle's house.  The kids really enjoyed the day with their cousins - and so did I!
25.  I am thankful the stomach bug waited to hit until we had arrived at the ranch (as opposed to in transit).
26.  I got nothing.  One completely unused day.  Okay, I am thankful for my mother-in-law who watched my hooligans while I was dead to the world sleeping off the stomach bug. 
27.  I am thankful to be back home.  Being sick away from your own bed is the pits!  I am mostly well now (about 80%), but am looking forward to sleeping in my own bed.

Thankful 2011 - Days 19 - 22

19.  I am thankful for family date night:  a DVD and pizza with the hubs and chillies.  Captain America was a big hit - even if Z & Q fell asleep before it was over.
20.  I am thankful that I can finally, Finally, FINALLY get the air compressor out of my kitchen because I AM DONE UPHOLSTERING THE WING BACK CHAIRS!!!  (Pictures coming soon!  I am frantically sewing seat cushions.)
21.  I am thankful for my good friends who put up with my preference of McD's over Chic-Fil-A (it's just so crowded!) for rainy day play dates.
22.  I am thankful for the tireless efforts of my cousin-in-law for arranging a wonderful gingerbread house decorating party at the local Children's Museum.  I am not sure if our structure is still standing, but my kids had a sugar-buzzing good time!

Thankful 2011 - Day 17 & 18

17.  I am thankful for my Aqua Zumba class.  I get all the fun of Zumba without anyone ever seeing my legs - which is good.  It is really hard to keep the rhythm with all that resistance!  Luckily, none of the little 'ol biddies can either!  A super workout.  My calves?  Are mooing.

18.  I am thankful for my friend, Bun, who is keeping me accountable to my exercise regime.  The goal this week:  hit the gym four times.  DONE!  I am also thankful for the awesome sub we had for class this morning.  She was a salty 65+ gal in a leopard print swimsuit and giant dangle earrings.  She had  big boobs hiked up to her chin and a J-Lo booty.  Best workout I have ever had in that class.  I want to be her when I grow up!

Thankful 2011 - Day 16

Today I am thankful for fun packages that come in the mail.  I ordered a cute pair of boots from Jessica London - on super sale, no less - and they arrived today.  SO cute!  And comfy like slippers!  Huzzah!

Thankful 2011 - Days 1-15

Okay, so I'm a little late getting started, but I still have a LOT to be thankful for!  So, here goes for the first half of the month:

1.  As much as I love it, I am thankful Halloween is over for another year.  If any more candy comes into this house, I am going to turn into a Thanksgiving float.
2.  I am thankful that I got a haircut that suits me better.  I cut off two more inches and if looks SO much better! 
3.  I am thankful for my yearly trip to San Diego to visit Sister K.  This year, I am especially thankful for a trip to R Gang featuring gourmet tater tots, a visit with the chef and birthday cake flavored vodka - it was my birthday.  For which I am grudgingly thankful.  Definitely better than the alternative!
4.  I am thankful for excellent pedicures, a trip to Direct Buy that is going to save me thousands of dollars on the upcoming kitchen remodel, and for an amazing experience of a dinner with Sister K, her hubs and his super fun family.
5.  I am thankful for a WHOLE day at the beautiful Grand Del Mar Spa.  OMG.  It was completely amazing!
6.  I am thankful for the opportunity to spend a rainy Sunday with Sister K - even if we did get wet at the beach.
7.  I am thankful for technology.  Specifically, my Kindle and my iPad.  They kept me occupied throughout a long day of travel.
8.  I am thankful for my wonderful mom-in-law who watched my kiddos while I was in Cali - with Z barfing her head off and Q getting four shots.  She is so awesome!
9.  I am thankful for my fun new cell phone.  It is taking up WAY too much of my time. 
10. I am thankful that my husband's boss was not overtly judgmental of my housekeeping when he STAYED AT MY HOUSE with only two days notice.  (NOT thankful the hubs didn't give me more notice!)
11.   I am thankful for my own personal IT department who made my Bluetooth earpiece talk to the new fun cell phone.  Thanks, Brother M!
12.  I am thankful for Gigi's Cupcakes and the friends and occasions to share them.  (Happy birthday, CJ!)
13.  I am thankful for a lazy day in my PJ's and spending time with my DVR.
14.  I am thankful for Z's excellent school.  She came home with all A's on her mid-term report.  Go Z!
15.  I am thankful that one of Q's teachers thinks he's really smart - and that his behavioral mishaps might be a product of being bored.  That's way better than just thinking he is a bad seed!

More thankful tomorrow!

A Month of Thanksgiving: Days 23 and 24

23.  I am thankful that I was able to go to the crazy over-crowded grocery store unaccompanied by my lovely children.  Something about the combination of my kiddos and the shopping makes me want to grind my teeth.  You know, more than I already do.

24.  Today I am thankful yet again for my girlfriends.  They came over today to help me tame the squalor that is my house.  We got distracted by chit-chat, so no actual squalor-taming was accomplished, but I was super glad they came anyway.

A Month of Thanksgiving: Day 21 and 22

21.  I am thankful that I got to celebrate an early Thanksgiving with my aunt, cousins, and their children.  I love having family close!  Also?  I am thankful Cousin N liked my Cranberry Salad enough to keep the leftovers.  I am making it again for Thursday, and there is such a thing as too much of a good thing.  Unless that thing is pie.  Which is a whole other story!

22.  I am thankful my friend and her kids joined us for a play date at McD's.  Her daughter is Z's best friend, and her son is just Q's age.  And?  She is delightful!  Also, I am thankful for the two new moms who came to the play date for the first time.  Meet Up just keeps working its magic!

A Month of Thanksgiving: Days 18 - 20

18.  I am thankful for my Thursday lunch date with my girlies.  Especially since I am kid-less with Q in Mom's Day Out!  I am also thankful for Z's dance school.  Great instruction and age-appropriate choreography.  Yay!  Can't wait for the Christmas mini-recital next month!

19.  I am thankful for TheraFlu.  It's a miracle in a mug.

20.  I am thankful for the lovely fall weather that allowed me to send the kids outside to play this morning.  It let me rest my plague-ridden body on the couch while they burned off energy beyond my range of hearing.  Yay for free-range children!

A Month of Thanksgiving: Days 15 - 17

15.  Monday I was thankful for a play date with my friends.  Gotta love getting Q all tired out while having some adult conversation!  The Big Mac didn't hurt, either.  (Did I mention that since I got back from my dad's my resist-er is broken?)

16.  Yesterday I was thankful for being a stay at home mom.  I got to chaperon Z's kindegarten field trip.  We had big fun in the corn maze and on the hay ride.  Getting squirted with fresh milk - straight from the cow! - was an unexpected bonus.  The whole day was a welcome reminder that leaving the classroom was a good move on my part.  I need to save my patience for children who share my DNA.  Finally, I am thankful that my friend Jules could pick Q up from school with only last minute notice.  Such a good friend!

17.  Today I am thankful for a quiet day at home so I can work on getting my house presentable for Thanksgiving!  Unfortunately, I am feeling drawn to projects upstairs instead of the more pressing downstairs ones.  Oh well, they have got to get done some time, right?

A Month of Thanksgiving: Days 13 and 14

Man, I stink at this posting-every-day business!  I have totally gotten out of the habit.  Here are the next couple of days of thankful!

13.  I am thankful Q's cold/allergies haven't triggered a full-on asthmatic episode.  Who knew you could be thankful for sniffles?  Also?  Thankful for the good drugs in his nebulizer and his willingness to take his treatments.

14.  Today I am thankful for a mostly uninterrupted afternoon playing on Photoshop.  I designed a quilt for Q's big-boy-bed.  I will be using pieces of western shirts that belonged to my dad.  I will probably cry a lot while I am sewing it, but when it is finished?  Wrapping up in it will be like getting a big Daddy hug.  More detailed post on that later!

A Month of Thanksgiving: Day 11 and 12

11.  I am thankful that T got home from a week of training in Austin and rescued me from a week of single parenting. 

12.  I am thankful that Z's school schedules fun and educational field trips - and that they have the sense to cancel them when the wind is blowing 30 miles per hour and the temp is below 60 degrees.

A Month of Thanksgiving: Days 1 - 10

As it has been a hard couple of months here at Casa Critical Mass, I decided that I would put some effort into seeing the things that are good in my life.  Each day this month, I will post something for which I am thankful.  Since I am good at ideas and slow at follow-through, I will do the first ten items today.  Feel free to play along!  Grab the button from the sidebar.  Gobble, gobble!

1.  I am thankful for the good man that was my father.  In all that he said and did, he taught me how to be an honorable person.

2.  I am thankful for my sisters.  Laughing or crying, life is better with them by my side.

3.  I am thankful for my husband.  He has loved me through thick and thin thicker.  Clearly, he loves me for what is inside - a rare and precious gift.

4.  I am thankful for my two beautiful healthy children.  Enough said!

5.  I am thankful for my in-laws.  I truly won the in-laws lottery.  They love me like I am theirs and don't hesitate to drive all the way across the state to help out/attend a soccer games and/or dance recitals/give the hubs and me a chance to go on a date.  Wow.  Just wow.

6.  I am thankful for extended family the next town over.  I love that Z and Q get to hang out and spend holidays with their cousins.  I always wished for that kind of relationship with my cousins and am glad my kids get to experience it.

7.  I am thankful for my friends, old and new.  They fill my life with laughter and are WAY cheaper than therapy!  In that vein, I am also grateful for Meet Up.  It led me to my great group o' gals here in Wester.

8.  I am thankful for my small herd of dogs.  They are shed-y and slobber-y and ill-behaved and wonderful.  I love that my smallest dog thinks he is big and and my biggest dog thinks she is small.  Mostly I am thankful for the buckets and buckets of unconditional adoration.

9.  I am thankful for my health.  As a middle-aged-out-of-shape-round person, I am lucky I have good genes.

10.  I am thankful that soccer season is over, if only for a little while.

Good News/Bad News

Good news: I'm back online!
Bad news: My old hard drive is completely trashed.

Good news: I hadn't downloaded any pictures off my husband's camera since last November.
Bad news: I lost all of the pictures from January through June from my camera. And every last scrap of work from The Button Box.

Good news: The sale on the Small Town house is complete!
Bad news: We found out halfway through the eight hour drive that the closing wasn't going to happen as scheduled. Even though she knew their loan wasn't supposed to fund until the end of the month, the buyer's realtor scheduled the closing for the 15th in an attempt to get the seller's bonus. Um, no. We were going to close by fax from Wester, but through a blunder on my part that didn't happen. Nothing says fun like 32 hours in the car with kids and dogs in one week.

Good news: The house was pristine when the new owners took possession.
Bad news: The 'friend' who cleaned the house for us didn't even take us to dinner before she screwed us. I could have bought a lot of granite counter tops for what she bilked us for. Yep, the house was really clean, but all we wanted was for her to vacuum, dust and haul off the boxes in the garage - not detail the entire freaking house. Lesson learned: do not let T make the cleaning arrangements.

Good news: Husband is gainfully employed at a job he enjoys.
Bad news: He has been in Austin for training for two weeks already and won't be home for another week. Single parenting sucks.

Good news: Z is a brilliant child who knows what she wants.
Bad news: What she wants is always diametrically opposed to what I want. She may not survive to adulthood. And now Q is picking up on her bad habits. Wah.

Good news: My normally susceptible husband managed to steer clear of the swine flu that is sweeping the academy (4+ confirmed cases).
Bad news: The kids and I did not. Z and Q started showing symptoms the Tuesday after T left for his training. Just about the time they had recovered enough to resent not being allowed to go outside or play with friends, I got it. Ugh.

Good news: The children are completely recovered.
Bad news: Just about the time I decided that I wasn't going to die from the flu, I stumbled across another germ that has me talking like I regularly gargle with Clorox as I reach for a never ending stream of Kleenex.

Good news: Blackie is back from Camp Grandma.
Bad news: Blackie is back from Camp Grandma. Since her arrival two weeks ago, she has destroyed Q's security object (a small plastic sword), strewn the bathroom trash across the house (mmmmm, feminine hygiene and diaper snacks!) multiple times, eaten a box of tissues, and put a hole in the screen door.

Good news: The boxes are about half unpacked.
Bad news: The other half are not.

40/365

Today I am thankful for:

1. Z's behaviour seems to be mellowing out. I hope it is a new phase and not that she is getting sick!
2. Q is becoming such a talker. We're still having trouble deciphering half of what he says (ex: hee-ber = hammer), but he is definitely expressing himself.
3. That T is not only capable, but enjoys picking up heavy objects. I tend to over-pack boxes.
4. That all the i's are dotted and t's are crossed for the closing on Friday.
5. That not one, but two wonderful friends were willing to watch my kids while we pack the truck tomorrow. I will probably be thankful for this again tomorrow.

39/365

(Sheepishly) Today I am thankful for:

1. I did some price comparisons and was able to get the price of my U-Haul rental down by almost half!
2. The sellers of our new house are buying us a Home Warranty. Squee!
3. Everything from upstairs that is going in this phase of the move is packed.
4. My new azalea bushes are blooming again after a cold snap froze all of their blossoms.
5. The pit of despair pool is blue (if not clear), the sweeper is sweeping, my arms are totally sore toned after an afternoon of skimming oak tags and ornamental fruit tree blossoms from the pool.

38/365

Today I am thankful for:

1. That the (long-term) mess in the dining room has been cleared up.
2. That it has been warm enough the last couple of days to get the kids good and tired outside.
3. That I didn't kill Z during her almost constant temper tantrums while accomplishing #2 this afternoon.
4. That I can see the surface of my desk - maybe for the first time ever.
5. That the golf balls in my throat this morning seem to have been transient.

37/365

Today I am thankful for:

1. That we are able to complete all house-related paper work electronically and I didn't have to make the 16-hour round trip to sign a few (billion) papers.
2. That mom-in-law came over yesterday so I could take the dogs to the vet without the children. Two squirmy kids, two panicked dogs and one frazzled parent? Nightmare!
3. That T woke up and realized, "Holy sheep! We're moving! Soon! I'd better get packing!" and didn't leave all of his junk stuff for me to deal with.
4. That T also realized that driving back and forth to the new house one pick-up load of stuff at a time is a beating for all concerned (see: two squirmy kids, three panicked dogs and two frazzled parents), and decided to get a U-Haul for the stuff he will need until the kids and I join him.
5. Popsicles.

36/365

I said when I started this that I would do 365 days - just not all in a row!

Today I am thankful for:

1. A successful play date/mommy date.

2. A gorgeous day in which to feed the geese.

3. The nice (if disreputable looking) workers fixing my house.

4. That there is no imminent danger of the septic tank overflowing, even though it did not get fixed today.

5. Sassy Mamas for letting me make 4(and counting!) buttons for them.

And a bonus!

6. Early bedtime for children who didn't take naps.

34/365

Today I am thankful for:

1. My daughter having made it through the day alive.
2. The gardener dude who is going to work both quickly and reasonably priced.
3. Having found a contractor to do the outside house repairs.
4. Z's extended 'quiet time' (I use the term loosely) resulted in my being able to find a lot of useless junk good stuff for the garage sale.
5. Super Suppers.

33/365

Today I am thankful for:

1. Getting to check calls to the yard guy and the pool guy off of the never ending list of things to be done to get ready for the move.
2. Having found two really cool women from my distant past on Facebook.
3. Frozen pizza.
4. My happy husband. Much of the the time he is a grouch, so all this bubbly happiness is intoxicating.
5. That I was the only one who got hurt when Q sent the vase tumbling onto the stone floor. My little heathens refuse to wear shoes, so it could have been ugly.