Holiday Season {30 Days of Gratitude}

Thanksgiving prep took my nice blogging streak away, but I love the holidays.  Turkey, ham, family, stuffing, PIE, Christmas music, beautiful lights, traditions, baking, more pie and more ham. The holiday spirit has hit me early this year, typically stress and chaos hides it until the last minute but this year it started with Thanksgiving prep.  

I understand from a been there, done that perspective that the holidays can be hard and seemingly more so for those who have smaller support systems.  Please know that my heart goes out to you and if you need a shoulder to cry on or a plate of cookies I’m here.

Excess {30 Days of Gratitude}

***I will have to add the picture later, I forgot that blogger doesn’t like phone images***

I can be very tight budgeted when it comes to grocery shopping, mostly by need at various times. As I went grocery shopping today for Thanksgiving I am grateful that occasionally we are in a position to have excess.  I love Thanksgiving and this year I’m finding myself more in a holiday mood and hoping to continue an excess of traditions (I nearly didn’t have ham and turkey this year, until I realized how important it was to others)

Sunsets {30 Days of Gratitude}

Sunset is my favorite time of day, often on crazy hectic days it’s the only time I remember to stop, breath, and appreciate my life.

Faith {30 Days of Gratitude}

What does faith have to do with bread?  Why when I had all of the prep for Thanksgiving did I spend today making sourdough?  See what the boules up above turned into?  They smell better than they look. (both are out of the oven now)

Last week I promised my primary kids bread like pioneers made so I woke Sheldon (my sourdough start) up and spent today in a kitchen covered with flour and watching for flour, water, and salt to work it’s magic.  A few years ago for girls camp I starting thinking about the analogy of sour dough bread being like faith.  There are several ways to get your start, sometimes they are borrowed from other people, started on the kitchen window sill with flour and water and careful feeding, ordered off of the internet, “cheater” starter with potato water and yeast.  None of them are wrong, but just like faith it starts in many different ways.  Soul searching alone, born in traditions our parents teach, etc. but eventually faith and sour dough have to grow on their own and not rely on others.  The analogy goes on, but I have a disaster of a kitchen to clean up and it’s getting late.

Is anyone interested in me sharing my sour dough technique once Thanksgiving has passed?  Either traditional sour dough boules or bread without any of the sour dough tang that simply uses sour dough starts to leaven the bread.

Books {30 Days of Gratitude}

I love books, book stores, and libraries.  The feel of turning pages and the smell of an old book is comforting to me like a warm blanket.  I can’t think of anything that you can’t learn from books, whether it’s Facebook for Dummies (not kidding, we saw it) or being transported to a magical world full of muggles, flying cars, and good friends it’s possible with books.  Go pick up an old favorite of whatever genre you like best and escape the chaos for a while.

Purple {30 Days of Gratitude}

Sorry this is getting posted late, I’m working on that tricky thing called life balance and I promised myself that I would get some chores done before I hopped online for writing or playing with pictures.  Good news is my tile, stove, and sink are all shiny clean.

Today I can’t be grateful for anything if I’m not first grateful for purple.  Earlier this week I had a last minute idea to have friends, family, and whoever else wear purple for Neil’s chemo today.  I didn’t realize at the time that today was National Pancreatic Cancer day (I did know November is awareness month)  I made a post, made a few shirts for us and hoped for the best.  Neil said it best when he was looking at my Facebook page and said “so much purple”  It’s a sea of color showing people who are pulling for us and we are definitely feeling very loved today.  Thanks for your support.

Love {30 Days of Gratitude}

Love comes in many forms, but when it comes from someone who makes you feel complete, safe, and whole your entire world changes.  I’d heard from many people how much they liked Neil because of how happy I was.  I guess it mostly made sense, he does make me happy and completely content in ways that I had only heard about and didn’t really believe existed.  It’s one thing to feel it yourself, it is even better to see it in someone you love and care about.

Family {30 Days of Gratitude}

Photo Credit Jenelle Lacy 

I love this tribe of mine.  Ups, downs and sometimes it feels like we’re in a snow globe that has been shaken up but I wouldn’t trade them for anything.  I don’t have a picture of extended family so you’ll have to imagine them in there too.

Flowers {30 Days of Gratitude}

I know there aren’t many flowers there right now, but doing 30 days in November makes it hard to get pretty flower pictures in my yard.  I prefer my flowers growing in the ground instead of a vase, at least most of the time.  This fall weather has been amazing and I spent today out in the flower beds while Neil raked the lawn.  I had salvia, lavendar, beard tongue, and flax that did well this year that I am hoping will be back next year.  My corn flower did okay, so she might be back too but it’s her first year and this fall it was a struggle.

When I’m in the garden with dirt in my fingernails my mind wanders letting me sort though problems and stresses.  The benefit of my garden therapy time is beautiful flowers that thrive in the sunshine.  It will be a long winter before I see the benefit of today’s work but I know it’s coming.  Along the back I have irises planted from Harmony, mini daffodils in a few clumps, a row of crocus along the front (2 different bags and I didn’t mix them up so I probably won’t love them), chionodoxa in 2 clumps in the front bed and 2 more along the fence line, regular daffodils at the end of the fence, and some hyacinth.  I will have to come up with summer/fall plants but for now I should be good through spring to early summer.  

Sunday Drives {30 Days of Gratitude}

Sunday drives are never about where you are going, they are about the ride.  Google maps don’t get involved because we don’t care about the fastest or most direct route and time rarely matters (sometimes we have someone stopping by and then it matters)  Stopping to appreciate the landscape, wildlife, or perhaps the cows is of greater importance than the route we take.  It’s easy to apply it to life as well when everything gets hurried, audited, caught up in numbers and statistics — that’s not what matters.  Did you stop to see the calf?  To talk to people? Did you realize your neighbor was having a rough day and needed a smile?  Did you hold the door open for a stranger pushing a stroller?  I believe when all is said and done it’s not where you end up but things you did along the way that matter most.