Grateful Friday

Today I give thanks for...

Laughs.  My girl recently questioned what inning it was while on the sidelines of her brother's football game.  He wondered if I had ever eaten pod suckers aka pot stickers.  Much of Jerry Seinfeld's performance was lol. "You don't drink coffee, you have coffee," Seinfeld said. "Have is a big word. You have sex. You have surgery. You have second thoughts."  .

Tears.  She has been paging through old albums this week which explains all of her questions about when she was a baby.  She brought one out the other night when Coach and I were relaxing into the evening.  Together we paged through it.  She started to cry after taking in so many pictures of Nanny.  I cried too.

Words.  The stacks on the tables beside my bed and my reading spots are growing taller.  I'm reading a parenting book and Rubin's Happiness Project alone, and also Where the Red Fern Grows out loud with Miss Bit.  I finished listening to The Other Boleyn Girl, and I enjoyed it although it did amble on.  I suppose that may be owing to the fact that the outcome is a well-documented historical fact.  Now I am well into Bobby and Jackie and feeling even more incredulous than ever that people actually worship the Kennedy family to this day.  They were not particularly good people.  In fact, I am drawing so many similarities between those Kennedy boys and that Tudor Henry VIII.  I suppose that's not surprising given the fact that they are put on pedestals as America's royalty.  Camelot Shamelot.  It is eye opening to the extent the media can shape personas and leave lasting legacies that are not accurate representations.  I've also gotten a few comments on my posts this week from other bloggers I have admired and enjoyed from afar.  I finally felt compelled to leave them messages and then they stopped by in return.  I've been blogging here for a long time, but I have never embraced the commenting and connecting.  I didn't really get it.  Now I am starting to.

Nourishment.  I finally made caramel apples for after school snack this week.  They are easy peasy and just much better than the store bought versions.  I also made a batch of pumpkin donut muffins.  They reminded me of the donuts we would get at the pumpkin farm with my dad each year.  Those we washed down with warm apple cider.  My muffin went perfectly with a cup of coffee.  I also made shepherd's pie to the delight of my whole family.  I use ground turkey and only a little cream.  It's an easy, tasty, healthy one dish dinner.  Voila!  I have a few  new to me cookbooks I checked out from the library and they are inspiring me as I think about next week's menu.

Peace.  It's been superb sleeping weather.  I've been sleeping soundly night after night.  Then when I wake I feel content with these fall mornings.  They feel, smell and look good too.  I feel good and smell good in return.  As for looking good, let's just say it's a work in never ending process and after a late night with Jess last night, today not so much.  I left work early this afternoon so I could take a nap.  It was the perfect day for crawling back into bed.