Grateful Friday

Today I give thanks for...

This morning's sky just before dawn.

A date with my guy last night. I took him to his first story slam and he really enjoyed it. Enough that he said he'd like to attend another some time. I'm telling you it's better than t.v., except for This Is Us of course.

Dinner the other night. This Spanish twist on Smitten Kitchen's sheet pan chicken. It was so easy and we all enjoyed it.

Fresh baked bread lathered with Irish butter. I'm convinced I was born in the wrong time. I would love to spend all day taking care of my house and family baking and making everything from scratch.

Room for two.

Cat close-ups. There's nothing sweeter than those faces or that nose freckle.

Snow. Finally. It snowed Sunday night and off and on all day Monday. We are seriously behind normal totals. Never mind that it's going to be in the 40s for the next few days so it's all going to melt.

Girls who ski. Also girls who are kind and brave and say thank you a hundred times for taking them.

Teddy is taking and hopefully acing his last exam right now. I was proud of the amount he studied especially for his chem exam. Sometimes I take for granted that he's a responsible, self-motivated student. So is his sister. We don't have to hound, hover or prod.

Two new books waiting for me at the library this week...my fourth and fifth of January, and Peanut for being my cuddly cat companion.

This quote from The Story of Ove:

Sometimes it is difficult to explain why some men suddenly do the things they do. sometimes, of course, it's because they know they'll do them sooner or later anyway, and so they may as well just do them now. And sometimes it's the pure opposite - because they realize they should have doe them long ago. Ove has probably known all along what he has to do, but all people at root are time optimists. We always think there's enough time to do things with other people. Time to say things to them. And then something happens and then we stand there holding on to words like 'if.'

Family sing alongs. Cousin Jim sang the Eagles and nephew Nate sang a Dylan tune. Then Gerry closed out the night with Ripple. That's a favorite of mine and it was a beautiful way to end the evening.

Progress. Slow and steady.

Self-care.