A thankful month - Days 28 - 31

I slacked a bit the last few days - the babies have been keeping me quite busy - so here is a cumulative post for the last 4 days of my thankful month.

I am thankful for all the wonderful and generous people we have surrounded ourselves with.    From family, friends, co-workers, neighbors and even co-workers friends.

Specifically, many of the above classifications of people have been so generous with their love, time, gifts and hand-me-downs that have been so helpful in keeping our costs in line the last 5 months.    We have been so lucky to get A LOT of Nathaniel's clothes handed down to us from neighbors and old co-workers, even some from my co-workers neighbors; and more recently, we have received a large number of toys from another co-worker and neighbor.

Of course there are all the gifts that family and friends have given them/us, plus all the time my parents have watched the kids for us, and then a neighbor who keeps telling us they will watch the babies (who doesn't love baby snuggles and there is one for each!).    We have just been so blessed with the people we have been able to surround ourselves with and I am super blessed for all those friends, family, co-workers, neighbors, etc.

Although I won't be continuing these thankful posts into the new year, I will continue to be thankful for everything that my family and I have been blessed with.    We surely have, and continue to, endure some tough times, but I will do my best to remember to good times and think about how lucky we are.

From my family to yours - I hope 2013 is as good a year for ourselves, my family, friends and readers as 2012 was for me.

Happy New Years (Eve)!

A thankful month - Day 27

I'm thankful I don't live near a firehouse or police station.  The below video was taken on Christmas Eve when Santa came around on a fire truck, so we had to listen to this ALL DAY LONG!   Unfortunately, I left when he came through our neighborhood so I couldn't actually capture the most entertaining part of sirens - when they both HOWL back and forth.   This video just shows Charger barking his head off while Kalas howls - nonetheless, still entertaining, and still thankful I don't live near a firehouse or police station :)

A thankful month - Day 26

Im thankful that I don't have to go to Hawaii this year (well really next year).    For anyone who reads this and doesn't know me that well or what I do.   Im a program manager/meeting planner, and I travel a modest amount of time on business.    Every year my company heads up a meeting in Hawaii that takes us there for about 10 days.    In theory, it sounds really cool.    That is unless you work in my field and know that all business trips entail LONG days, LOTS of work and no time to explore.

A typical day in Hawaii consists of waking up at 3/3:30am local time (approximately 8/8:30am ET) and many times you are staying at the property "next door" - aka 1 mile away - and you have to walk over in the pitch dark at 4/4:30am - well before the sun is rising.    The meetings officially start at 6:30am, and you are on cruise control from about 5am-2pm.    If you are lucky and don't have a lunch program, the meeting ends at 1pm.    But that just means the meeting portion is over, you usually don't get out of there until about an hour later than that.     Sometimes you get a few hours to sit on the beach (as the sun goes down) or take a much needed nap.   And then it might be an evening program/reception, although those have been going by the wayside due to finances or just dinner with your co-workers - and then its groundhogs day each day thereafter.

You do get the last afternoon free if you can run out of there before anyone needs something from you, but even then, you don't typically get much to do because its 2pm and you have to catch the 10pm red eye, and the airport is always backed up there, so you need to arrive no later than 8pm, so no time to travel.

So - yes, I have been to Hawaii 5 times over 4 different islands and 5 different cities, and I can usually give you some good tips on things to do and places to eat - but other than eating, drinking and working (well last year it was just eating and working), there really isn't much else I get to do.

So for the 26th day of my thankful month - Although I have taken some awesome pictures there, I am thankful that I get to stay back and hold down the fort in the office and go home at night to my husband and children.

A thankful month - Day 25

On this Christmas day, I am thankful for the Jewish homeland, Israel.

I have only been there once, and that was 13 years ago - well overdue for a trip back - but even though I have not been, I am thankful that the Jewish people have a place to call theirs.    It is filled with a long history of ups and downs and survival, and much of the history we do share with our Muslim and Christian friends.

I pray that one day Israel will be a nation filled peace and understanding across all sectors and religions, but in the meantime I stand by her to protect and defend herself and allow the county and its citizens to prosper.

A thankful month - Day 24

I am thankful for nice, fluffy, light-falling snow.   We did not get much the other night, but we got just enough to call it the first snow for Sara and Nathaniel (unfortunately no pictures as it was cold and dark, and gone by the morning), but most of all - I LOVE how much of a puppy Charger becomes in the snow.

Yes, the same dog who is deathly afraid of rain, loves the precipitation when it comes to the white fluffy stuff.    He runs out like a big ball of puppy making big laps around the yard and then runs around eating as much of the snow as he can.   And when it is time to come in, he stands there (like seen to the right) with a "why?!?!" look on his face and tries to stand his ground.  

I am more of a spring person, I don't like the extreme temperatures or weather, but the snow is totally worth it to see my "puppy" become a puppy again!   I'm super glad this was just a covering that melted by morning, but it is even more exciting to watch him when we have significant snowfall!

A thankful month - Day 23

Another added benefit is that we have become each others built-in dog sitters.   Its so nice to know that if I just need someone to let the dogs out, or someone to watch them while I go on vacation 9 times out of 10, they will be able to help out.   Well - actually I haven't come across the 1 out of 10 times that they can't yet, Im just assuming there will come a day and time when our plans overlap:)

I am thankful for our wonderful neighbors and "built-in" dog-sitters.    We had the luck and pleasure of moving into a home that backs up to a super, wonderful family (with a dog).    When we got Charger, Charger and their dog became best buds.    Now that Kalas is here, they are all good buds - albeit their dog loves to come over to see Charger and Kalas go crazy on their own...and he just watches and grazes the backyard - how funny dogs can be!

Anyways, during the course of living here, my neighbor found a wonderful woman who became his wife this past summer, and the few opportunities we have all gotten to hang out together (outside of the doggy playdates that is), we always have a great time.  


I am thankful for everything they do for us and to be able to call the entire family our friends!

A thankful month - Day 22

I am thankful for coming out in the positive at the casino last night.    We went to celebrate hubby's bday using a groupon I had.   I paid $20 for Valet Parking, $20 credit for food and $30 gambling credit.    Since we were new card holders to the casino, we each also got $10 free play credit.   So we had $50 of slot money to play with from the top (that we had to spend all that night).    We walked out with $48 in winnings - all from the penny slots :)    And we could have walked away with more, but by the end of the night I had $5 of free play left, but I wanted to head home, so I went to a $1 slot and quickly played that $5.

In the end, when you consider the cost of the groupon, the extra money spent on dinner and the tip to the valet parking attendant, we spent $15 to celebrate Adam's birthday - those are numbers I like to see :)

Maybe we will go back every once in a while and have similar luck with our own money - and Ill be sure the buy that Groupon for Adam's card if it appears again (you can only have the groupon on your card once)