3rd week of Giving Thanks

I am so excited that I've been able to keep up and post daily!  Some days there are countless things to be thankful for and it's hard to pick which one I'd like to blog about.  Other days, luckily they're few and far between, it is a little more challenging to come up with something...other than the obvious shelter, food, clothing, family, etc.  I am trying to get a little deeper and make sure it's truly heartfelt each day.  

If you missed it from the beginning, you can visit week 1 and week 2 to catch up on life here on my home-front!  

Here's to the 3rd week...

DAY 14:

As many of you know, Uli, our long hair daschund is a Certified Pet Therapy K9.  He has started his 2nd year at a Wake County school as a Reading Therapy Dog.  After years of studies, they have found that: (1) reading to the dog means all threats of being judged are put aside, (2) the child relaxes and focuses on the reading, (3) the child's reading scores improve by a grade level [sometimes more], (4) it helps build self-esteem, and (5) the child begins to associate reading with something pleasant.  

Today, we met another student that Uli will be reading with this year.  The student is dealing with a pretty severe stuttering issue and all the social problems that accompany it.  Uli sat and listened while wagging and offering a kiss on the cheek every now and then.  As the minutes passed, you could hear the stuttering begin to slowly subside.  

We have heard stories of children in the program who arrive with a stutter and leave without any trace of a stutter at all.  Wouldn't it be great to see & hear that change first hand?  I know if another dog has done it, Uli can too!  

I feel so blessed to have found Uli, the sweetest and most patient dog ever.  And I am so very thankful to be a part of his journey!  

Now we just have to get his sister, Addie, out there working too!

  

DAY 15:

I am thankful to have such a supportive family and gifted friends!  I spent the night enjoying great food and conversation with my parents, followed by the amazing voice of my dear friend Amy Wiggs.  I love when the 4 of us (me, Rob, Mom, & Mike) are all together!  Feels like all is right in the world.  And when we get to share new experiences and be surrounded by warm, loving, talented friends it makes it even better!  Thanks Mom, Mike and Amy for making the night so special!  Love you all! 

DAY 16:

Sometimes I forget how much I like to cook.  After enjoying another good movie (I highly recommend seeing "Lincoln" so you know what they are talking about when it wins ALL of the awards for 2012), we came home and I made Tom Yum soup for dinner.  As always, I followed most of a recipe and then threw some extra ingredients in.  Some of this, a little of that... And YUM!  It really was Tom YUM soup, if I do say so myself!  Too bad it won't be exactly the same next time.  Perhaps it will be even better.  But it won't be the same!  That's what happens when you ad-lib with recipes!  But ya know something...cooking for myself just doesn't feel the same.  It's cooking and sharing it with others that I really enjoy!  Soup for 4 made it that much better!  
I am thankful that I am fairly decent at cooking and  have family & friends that are willing try anything I make!  And they do a great job making it look like they enjoy my cooking ;)

 

DAY 17:

We are so lucky!  I enjoy living in a small town where people can tell you about years past when there were only a couple roads, when the local town building was the school house, when buildings had two entrances before the Civil Rights movement, where you still have wooden road signs, etc.  But we are also lucky to live in a town that has an amazing Cultural Arts building where artists like Reba and Chris Allen play and where Broadway shows stop by and perform.  Before seeing a Broadway show, "Hitchcock's 39 Steps" at our Clayton Center, we enjoyed a fabulous Italian dinner on Main Street, where the chefs are Italian immigrants from Italy, by way of New York and now live here in Clayton.  What a great community!  Small town charm with big city talent.  =)

DAY 18:

 Well...after our night of excitement at the theater, we heard a crash upstairs.  It was one of those situations where everyone else thinks it was the other person.  I thought it was Rob;  Rob thought it was the soap holder in the shower (which is crazy loud if you have never had it happen); Mike thought it was Rob; Mom thought it was Mike.  We never did find out what it was...until this morning.  Woke up to the clothes bar on my side of the closet hanging half way down the wall.  THAT'S what made that sound last night... the snapping of the plastic brackets holding up my hundreds of pounds of clothes.  Thank you KB Homes for your expensive closet organizers.  

Thankfully Lowe's Hardware is near by and thank goodness Rob was strong enough to hold up the bar AND help move ALL of my hanging clothes.  The task of hanging them back up, after fixing the bar, was most annoying!  And clearly I need to do more upper body exercises...who am I kidding?  MORE?  How about doing any upper body exercise at all!  The muscles between my shoulder blades are reminding me that I don't exercise!  But, it's fixed, hopefully for good, and it forced me to go through my clothes again!

Don't judge me...some of those items on the top shelf are Christmas presents.  I am done with my Christmas shopping!  Are you?

DAY 19:

I am so thankful that I am able to go grocery shopping whenever, and where ever, we want.  Mom and I spent time wandering around Costco today and I was reminded how lucky we are!  Only in America can you go to a store with all of the excess food, toys, tools, house ware, etc. stacked to the ceiling of a warehouse while you have a wide selection of choices and even fed while you shop!  Who doesn't enjoy those Costco samples?  Yum!  I feel blessed to be able to afford food as well have the access to food.  I can't imagine standing in line for hours or days at a time only to be told that they ran out of the essentials, like bread.  Too often we take things like a simple grocery store for granted.  

DAY 20:

 So thankful for yet another Mother-Daughter day.  We went to Glamor Shots yesterday and finally got mom's pictures done for her 60th Birthday.  We had fun getting our airbrushed makeup, doing our 3 outfit changes, and then picking our favorite poses to order.  I can't wait to see our magazine worthy photos!  It was a great day together just us girls!  Thanks mom for taking time for days like these.  We have been having Girls Night (or Day) Out for 35 years and I am thrilled we have another couple decades of them!  God willing and the creek don't rise! ;)