Day #25 Art Every Day Month – 100 Thank Yous – My Take!

Today, I practiced the art of cooking…and practiced, and practiced and practiced! It was fun to cook with my daughter and daughter-in-law, but I didn’t think we’d EVER get done!

I really didn’t eat much of any one thing, but there was so much to chose from! I’m stuffed.

It was so fun to have all three of the cousins together. They are a cute bunch of monkeys, but here they are mesmerized by their movie, so they sat still long enough to take a picture.

Once the festivities wound down tonight, I jumped on the computer for a few minutes and came across a blog called “100 Thank Yous.” I liked the idea a lot, and even though I did a gratitude post last night, thought I’d see if I could come up with a quick 100 myself (I’m thinking it’s going to be a piece of cake!)  So here goes, in no particular order:

1.  Having a family I love and who love me

2.  Having a home that I love spending time in

3.  Living in Folsom

4.  Being an American

5.  Being politically aware and conversant in current affairs

6.  President Obama

7.  Having three of the greatest grand babies on the planet

8.  My Mac air

9.  My iphone

10.  Loving technology

11.  Having enough

12.  Not having to worry about where my next meal is coming from

13.  Being creative

14.  Having a whole room to do my creating in

15.  …and enough money to buy the supplies I want

16.  Kelly Rae Robert’s “Taking Flight” class

17.  My sisters in the “Fly Tribe”

18.  Being able to do ATCs

17.  My blog

18.  The people who take the time to read it!!!

19.  Facebook

20.  Loving to read and all the authors I like to follow

21.  Vacationing in Maui

22.  Longhi’s Belgian Endive Salad

23.  Visiting the U.K.

24.  Being Scottish (you don’t know how bad I wanted to be, and happy I was to find out I am!)

25.  Finding that I can paint – I was so scared I would be awful at it!

26.  Loving the Lord

27.  Knowing he’ll never leave me to fend for myself

28.  Hannah wanting to follow in my footsteps!

29.  Bea’s little parrot kisses

30.  Josh’s sweet little voice

31.  Having kids-in-law that I love and get along with

32.  The color red

33.  All my red shoes

34.  Matching towels

35.  My health (in spite of carrying some extra pounds)

36.  Dotfit

37.  Cal Fit

38.  Versa climber – my favorite exercise machine

39.  NYC

40.  Our DVR – gotta love it for time management!

41.  Whales

42.  Bears

43.  All the memories from our Alaska trip

44.  Pedicures

45.  Not having to live with gray hair

46.  Long walks on crisp days

47.  Hobby Lobby

48.  Anthropologie

49.  Katy Perry songs

50.  Betsey Johnson

51.  Pumpkin Pecan cheesecake

52.  Knowing I have people I can call at 3am and they’ll be there for me

53.  Having the ability to follow my bliss

54.  Retirement

55.  The experience of having owned my own shop for 20 years

56.  Caring for my granddaughters while their parents work

57.  Disneyland

58.  Rocking out to top 40 music

59.  All my red serving pieces

60.  Lots of fun napkin rings

61.  Being a basically happy person

62.  Having my priorities straight

63.  Spending time in my garden

64.  Having Elizabeth Warren as a role model

65.  Loving to write, and being reasonably good at it

66.  The ability to forgive and move on

67.  Snuggling up in my recliner with my computer or knitting or just watching tv

68.  Kale chips

69.  Going to Mt. Shasta to see our son and his family and old friends

70.  Scrapbooking

71.  Toscana perfume – Cleopatra

72.  My heart collection

73.  Friends who pray for me (do I ever need prayer!)

74.  Sleeping in a freezing cold room under a nice heavy quilt

75.  Memories of all our wonderful animal companions (especially Azzi) and looking forward to the day when we have more…

76.  How content I am most of the time

77.  My persitence

78.  That I am so open to new experiences, new ways of looking at things and learning

79.  My compassion

80.  My refusal to accept that the world has to be the way it is, and my optimism that it can be improved

81.  The road less taken

82.  Art and discovering how much I love looking at it and making it

83.  Being old enough to appreciate how precious time is

84.  Falling in love over and over for the last 40 years with the same man…it’s been a roller coaster, but well worth it!

85.  Roller coasters!!!

86.  Having my coffee made for me EVERY morning!

87.  Having amazing women in my life that have more faith in me than I have in myself!

88.  Having a daughter who is also my bestie!

89.  Having a husband who is a whiz with technology and financial planning!

90.  Not being blind!

91.  Chick flicks!

92.  Being a vegetarian (almost vegan!)

93.  Loving animals

94.  White wine

95.  Ice water

96.  Not taking the bounty in my life for granted

97.  The ability to love easily and deeply

98.  Wanting to understand things I don’t

99.  Loving life

100.  Acknowledging my gratitude often

What a great way to wrap up Thanksgiving! How about it? Are you up for giving it a whirl? I’d love to hear what you come up with!

Hope you had a great day!

Day #24 Art Every Day Month – With A Grateful Heart

I have learned to spend every day consciously aware of all the bounty in my life and to express gratitude for it in prayer, in journaling, and in words spoken to those who mean so much to me.

It has made me a happier person, and in some small degree I hope it has made the people I love a bit happier, as well, to know that I appreciate their presence in my life.

So on this Thanksgiving Eve, I want to put what would normally go into my journal, onto my blog. It is by no means a complete list, just the things that come to mind in this moment. There is oh so much more.

I am grateful:

• for having a family I love and who love me
• for a husband who has stuck with me for better or worse (and there has been some worse!) for 40years
• for kids who have forgiven me for my shortcomings as a parent and love me anyway
• for 3 of the most amazing grandchildren on the planet, and for the blessing of being able to be such a huge presence in their lives
• for having a home, not just a house
• for having Christ in my life
• for having more than enough of all the essentials of life, and most of the fun-to-haves that I want
• for living in a country that, although it is less than it can be,  allows me the hope it will continue to get better
• for my health, and for that of my family
• that we have had so little of the sadness that others face on a daily basis in our lives
• for my “fly tribe” – my new art community that I have come to depend on so much, and the wonderful group of amazing women that it is comprised of. These are people I mostly know only through cyber space, but that I have come to love in such a short time.
• for old friends who, though they are far away, continue to live in my heart
• for living in a community that gives us the feeling of a small town, with the amenities of a big city. Not a day goes by that I don’t think of how much I love living here.
• for having an appreciation for how fortunate I am, and the ability to not take it for granted

I wish for you a wonderful day with your families and/or friends, and that you will have “enough” of everything you need to be able to share it with others.

Happy Thanksgiving!