Ten things I'm thankful for

WOW, two in one week! Pats on the back for me! whoop, whoop!

Time for another installment of my "Ten Things" to be thankful for, always varied, always random bits in no particular order. There are many things to be thankful for - Amen!

Today, yet again, in the spirit of a "REWIND POST", I am including a few oldies right alongside of a few current photos.

As always, I've chosen ten photos with personal thanksgiving below each one.

Please know for certain that my own personal thoughts on true thankfulness can obviously never be offered, nor delivered in true completeness within one simple post. And in case you just might find it interesting and want even more today, you can always skip along to view other "thankful" posts by clicking onto the archives located - right HERE.




- 1- I'm thankful for our newly renovated "Imagination Station", complete with everything for a child's love of building possibilities to happen there. He made this recently to surprise his little sister, a barn with stall dividers and much more.

It was so thoughtful, and presented with much love and affection. This is one of those - some things in life are free, freely created and freely given, from the heart.


- 2 - I'm thankful for the learning curve I've had over the past few months since obtaining my new iPhone. Wow, there is so much to learn, and so many duds out there in "app land". Actually to be fair, there are multitudes of apps out there in app-land.

Last year in July there were over 50,000 applications available for the iphone and each week another four thousand are added for iPhone users to tap in to. But how does one find them all? That is the question.

I've discovered several magazines amongst the bookstacks at the bookstore who present new apps, old apps and featured apps every month. I didn't relish the thought of spending 24.95 or more for such magazines so when I accidentally discovered them on the magazine racks, I decided to spend a few moments sipping on my hot cuppa while browsing through the pages, pen and paper in hand for those catching my eye. Many have indeed caught my hand and as time continues to press forward, I'm making notes of those I enjoy having to use, a future blog post as promised to several out there in bloggy land. :)


- 3 - I'm thankful for finding a lost son who was supposed to be reading, drawn to the family puzzle still remaining on the dining room table (this shot was snapped well over a month ago, but still dear daughter, a great challenge for us!) Love it.

Actually what was so funny about the story behind this photo is our son explained to me he didn't know which to choose from, his great book he got as a Christmas gift, or the puzzle calling his name. So he divided his reading time to sneak over in the hope of adding a few more puzzle pieces to the big picture.


- 4 - I'm thankful for our son's find at our local library - they have puzzles to borrow! Many selections await the continued family puzzle bonding times ahead. He's made a wish list of those with at least 800-1000 pieces, so we'll see how many we can accomplish over time.


- 5 - I'm thankful for another run and drama listening experience using these cassette tapes (yes, we still have oodles of cassette tapes here, right, like you Justine? LOL).

I saved all of these character building story tapes and their counterpart bible story tapes. They are completely dramatized, and so good to listen to. Recently we've adopted the practice of listening to one tape (both sides) per day during our lunch time.

Since our younger two children were much too little the last time we went through these stories, and they are really enjoying them. Even I am liking this newly formed little ritual in our days, several rounds of children later.


- 6 - I'm thankful for children with their very own gift cards, like the one above used at Subway. All four of our children were gifted with various amounts on gift cards over Christmas, most from places like Subway, Starbucks, Dairy Queen, those types of places.


It's so cute when they ask if it would be possible to buy themselves their own lunch while we're out and about running errands. And they are proud people when ordering and paying for their dining themselves. The dear little lunch bags are reusable too, the ones featuring animals from the National Wildlife foundation, complete with stickers of animals inside.


- 7 - I'm thankful for our pool table and all of the game play it has provided for us and our children. Actually my husband and I became interested in playing together several years ago when we traveled for our family reunion and there was a billiard table in the house we all rented for our time in Oahu together.

Recently, there are children found alone in the attempt at perfecting their "break" to begin a game, or their shots, or their logic play. And then, the tournaments begin, or the game after game to find the best out of however many the number is all agreed to. Determination has new meaning for a family with a pool table. (Oh and p.s. to Allison - it's really great for logical thinking, like pucks flying off arena boards type of logic for better game play strategies, wink.)

For now, as long as my husband sinks the white ball right when I think I'm out of the game, it's all okay with me. I'm practicing when he's not looking, but the thing is I want to win fairly. I have won a few games, I have. I just want to win them because I know what I'm doing and not because of simple luck. snicker...


-8 - I'm thankful for EVEN MORE library books! My early February bookstack on my nightstand gave me cause for having to wear my reading glasses, another sign I fear that these eyeballs just ain't what they used to be. I really enjoyed this stack of books, something heavy, something interesting and something just for fun.


- 9 - I'm thankful for hockey playoffs because that means another year is almost at end, at least for the ice hockey part and we can have even more weekend to our lives again.

Actually there is yet another tournament during spring break yet, a thrilling thing to our young man here who has had a great year playing in minor hockey.

As you can see in the photo above, he still likes his social times while on the bench when he should've been watching the intense game in progress, and cheering on his teammates instead of having his head turned the wrong way from the game play. LOL

Shrugging his shoulders, he usually just claims he's playing hard and having fun like we've instructed him to do all along.


- 10 - I'm thankful for being able to surprise my husband with a pedicure, mostly to get him relaxed after a hard week of coughing round the clock, especially at night, losing plenty of sleep.

No nail polish for him, although he visibly melted in his chair once those feet hit the warm jetted bath water, that is before he was handed the controllers for a fabulous chair massage offering anyone a Swedish massage and then just when he thought it was almost over, the technician's massage on his feet and lower legs using moisture cream almost did him in and placed him into a deep blissdom.

The big bonus of the evening - He slept better than he had in weeks after this surprise and has expressed doing it again sometime. Who says men can't have a pedicure anyway? He L-O-V-E-D it! And so did I while I sat next to him having mine. I am currently sporting a green/blue mermaid colored polish and very soft feet. grin, grin.


(And there you have ANOTHER ten things I'm thankful for, the second post this week....bravo to me for being better late than early.)