Today, I am grateful for trick-or-treating. In general, I'm a Halloween Scrooge; the egregiousness of it all has worn me down ever since my firstborn hit preschool. I remember when Halloween was one extremely special night of homemade costumes and begging with a pillow case. Ah, the good ol' days! This year, thankfully, Nick's intermediate school isn't allowing costumes or parties but is collecting extra candy later in the week to send to the troops overseas. The soldiers use the candy to build good will and put smiles on kids' faces...and I imagine, to give themselves a tasty treat as well. That's a Halloween celebration I can get into!
Today, I am grateful for this verse shared by a blogging friend who is battling an inoperable brain tumor:
"I will never forget this awful time, as I grieve over my loss. Yet I still dare to hope when I remember this: The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease. Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning. I say to myself, 'The Lord is my inheritance; therefore, I will hope in him.'" Lamentations 3:20-24
Today, I am grateful for the new season of The Next Iron Chef. Generally speaking "reality" shows annoy me, but in The Next Iron Chef, competitors are all superlative chefs given unusual challenges to stretch their creativity and knowledge of food. Not only does the show give George ideas for the Iron Chef challenges I invent for him, it is exactly how I challenge myself with paper crafts. By forcing myself out of my comfort zone and creating random restrictions to push my creativity, I learn new things about paper and ink and stamps and design. And as my Word of the Year is Learn, this is a very good thing.
Today, I am grateful for this picture from Pinterest, which made me laugh and wish we could read animal minds:
What in the world are they thinking?
What are you grateful for today?
Today I am grateful for a wonderful "free" weekend. I love having plans and dates and events on the weekend; but it is also very nice to be free. I cleaned out closets and drawers, and switched out summer for winter. I filled a box with donations and emptied a lot of hangers. I created some cards and played with copics. Today I feel rested and accomplished and for that I am grateful.
ReplyDeleteI used our new DVR to record the last few of last season's The Next Iron Chef and watched them all yesterday as I played in the craft room. The personalities are as interesting as the food. Michael Symon seems like he would be a lot of fun in the kitchen.
Have a great week! Marie
With the exception of having to manage the rental properties, I'm glad I am retired because it means I can sleep in (which is rare) or nap anytime I want. I love naps. Especially with my Honey. :0) I'm also glad for fresh raspberries from the U.S. that were cheap enough to purchase last weekend. I love berries. Of any kind.
ReplyDeleteLoved that verse Janelle had on her blog. She is so amazing. With all her difficult challenges she can still remain such a positive witness for the Lord. So, I guess I'm glad for her strength to do that, too.
I'm not a Halloween person either. Loved it when we were little and my Dad would buy apple cider and cake doughnuts for the treaters to come in and have. We live 3 miles out of town, now, and in the 9 Halloweens I've been here, we've never had even one kid. I didn't buy candy this year because guess who ends up eating it?
And you'll be proud of me. I actually made my first thankful card to send this month! I made it for a contest that I won't win but I'll have to wait until end of next week to post it on my blog.
A huge congrats to George!! Better him than me running I say LOL!
ReplyDeleteHubby loves watches any type of cooking show - and we benefit :)
I'm not a Halloween fan and my soul gets really distressed when I see little kids wanting to wear excessively gory costumes and parents letting them. My daughter has an extremely sensitive spirit and there were a few years when we kept her back from elem. school as she would have nightmares for a few nights after Halloween.
What saddens me even more is the fact that Halloween is the most celebrated adult "holiday" and is celebrated more than Christmas...
So today I'm am thankful for the faith I have in The Light of the World that came down into darkness, who will have the ultimate victory over this dark day many have chosen to celebrate over His life giving birth at Christmas and who will provide my heart and soul the shelter they seek from the knowledge of this very sad reality.
Today I am grateful for a good hairdresser who talked me out of a blue funk!
ReplyDeleteI am grateful for a good veterinarian who listened to me.
And I am grateful for the trick or treaters who remind me of a more fun time!
Today, I am grateful for women of faith who are not afraid to share it.
ReplyDeleteI am grateful to you for posting that wonderful photo of the dog and the fish - it totally warmed my heart and brought a huge smile to my face as I am sitting thousands of miles from home at my parents' house noticing just how much they have aged since I saw them 6 months ago.
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