30 Days of Thanks: Days 9 & 10

Blog/Website: I'm grateful for the blog written by my dear friend Jeff.  I get a glimpse of his life from Facebook, but he adds lots of detail on his blog, and it's always fun to read.  His commitment to his blog is one reason I'm writing again on mine.

Time of Day: My favorite time of the day is when I get quiet time to read in bed before turning the lights out.  I'm glad my husband is a reader too because it's part of my routine to read a few pages before bed.  We also like to read to each other, and right now, I'm reading Little Women to him because he's never read it.  I'm thankful for books and refreshing rest at the end of the day.

30 Days of Thanks: Days 6-8 & Other Nice Things

Pair of Shoes, Scent, and Restaurant... those are the topics for days 6-8.  Um, yeah.  I'm going rogue.

Day 6:  Instead of a pair of shoes, I'm grateful to be wearing shoes at all after my foot surgery last December.  It's been almost a year, and I think things are almost back to normal.  I'm back to walking (not as much as I should be), and even though I probably won't ever wear heels again, and I definitely won't wear Danskos again, I'm back to regular shoes.

Day 7: Scent.  Instead of being thankful for a scent, I'll be thankful for what a scent means.  Yesterday we had an early Thanksgiving since Andrew & I will be with his son & daughter-in-law for actual Thanksgiving.  Matt came down on Friday night, and we all went to Cider House.  Holly was home by Saturday morning, and we had a nice morning cooking and getting ready.  Since we put the turkey on before we went to bed Friday night, the whole house smelled like delicious turkey when we got up.  YUM!  Dad, Alice, Dale, Matt, Holly, and Andrew's brother-in-law Jeff came over for the meal, and it was delightful.  Good food and good company... and good leftovers!  :)

Day 8: Restaurant.  Hm.  I like far too many restaurants for my own good, but today I was going through our honeymoon photos, and I found a picture from Seattle when we ate at a place called Ray's Boathouse.  This was my favorite meal of the trip because I love trying new things.  I tried a vegetable called broccoli romanesco.  I had only seen it in pictures until our trip when I saw it in person at Pike Place Market, and then I got to actually eat it when we went out with our friend James Gibson.  It was delicious, especially when paired with my seared fresh tuna and pistachio creme brulee for dessert!

The last exciting piece of news is that we're getting a puppy.  We chose her from the other girls in her litter on Saturday and I am so excited.  She's a miniature golden doodle, and her name is going to be Georgie.  We'll get her during the first week of December, and I CAN'T WAIT!!!

30 Days of Thanks: Day 5

Today's theme is Place.  Today I'm thankful for the place where I work: Fairfield Middle School.  Our building is full of friendly, caring people who are willing to help each other and who are, in the words of Scout Finch, "Fine Folks."  I am proud of our building and our staff.  I love my job, and I love my students.  My job makes me feel like the luckiest girl on the planet.  Go, FMS!

30 Days of Thanks: Day 4

A favorite snack... well, I have lots of them; that's my problem!  ;)  But one I had for lunch today was snap pea crisps and Oasis hummus.  Oasis hummus is expensive, but it's the best hummus I've ever had.  I'm addicted!  I normally don't think of things like that to be thankful for, but I guess it works!

30 Days of Thanks: Day 3

Going to use this as my guide for the rest of the 30 days.  Thanks for posting to Facebook, Ronda Whitney!

Today I'm thankful for our warm, cozy house and our private beautiful nature retreat of a yard.  I love our fire pit, I love all our trees, and I love the privacy we have in the middle of the town.  Our house really feels like my home.  I don't even miss my nice little house on Grand Park.  I'm happy here in my space as Mrs. Edlin.

30 Days of Thanks: Day 2

Today I'm thankful for my students.  It's a Monday, and even though I'd like to be still in bed, I'm thankful for a job that I love.  So many people hate their work and aren't shy about complaining about it.  I have a job I love, and I look forward to seeing my students every day.  When I'm tired or cranky or overwhelmed, they can always lift my spirits and make me laugh.

Time to Blog & Time to Be Thankful

It's been a long, long time, blog world.

I took a hiatus from blogging a couple of years ago.  Since I'm a teacher, I filter what I put on my blog.  I write about my life, but I don't put everything out there.  I was going through some challenges 2 years ago, and I decided that until I was in a better place, I needed to step back from the blog.  It seemed that I didn't have anything good to say that didn't feel fake because of the low place I was in emotionally.  Well, things are better now.  Thankful November is a great time to get back in the swing of things.

Today I'm thankful for my husband.  The last time I blogged, I didn't even have a husband!  :)  My husband truly is my other half.  I have never been so open and so truly myself with any other person except maybe my mom.  He takes care of me, and I let him.  He's so kind and loving.  He's so smart and so giving.  I could go on all day.  Life didn't give me what I thought I wanted when I thought I wanted it, but Andrew was worth the wait.