Downtime........

I am typing this from a computer at WKU, but I could literally jump up and shout that I am "SO READY FOR THANKSGIVING BREAK!!! WOO HOO"!!!! I have to go to work at 3, then I get off at 4:30 and embark on five days of nothing but family and good eating! I love it! I am excited to spend time with my kids, and just enjoy life with no hustle and bustle. I may go shopping on black Friday, or I may not! The beauty of it all is that it is up to me! Nobody dictating our schedules! Our Christmas tree is up as well as most of the inside decor, so all I really have left to do is mess with the porch if I feel like it! It is heavenly! I am floating on a cloud thinking of all this un-scheduled downtime we are going to get to have. Sure I may do some laundry here or there, and I know I will run the dishwasher and clean the kitchen a bunch. But the smile on my face is because I know I can do it all in a t-shirt and p.j. pants and not even have to touch the eyeshadow or mascara all weekend long if I don't feel like it! Of course we all know, that the time will be to short. I will turn around and it will be Monday again. But believe you me, I am gonna enjoy the next few days in every possible way..............come on 4:30! LOL!

Hope everyone has a blessed and happy Thanksgiving. Doing whatever it is YOU want to do....eating, shopping, napping, you name it! Enjoy your family and friends and don't feel bad about having that second helping of stuffing. I know I won't!

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

Life has been hectic as always! Can't believe that Thanksgiving is just over a week away and then the hustle and bustle of Christmas will be upon us! I have still been keeping up with my gratitudes this month. Even though I haven't written them all down here on the good old blog, I have made a real effort to think of as many things as possible each day to be thankful for. Sometimes that means just recognizing good things in the moment. Other times it has been actually putting pen to paper and making an old fashioned list. A few excerpts from that past week would be as follows:

I am so thankful that:

I survived my first parent-teacher conference. Actually I got glowing reviews about Ms. Kyndall! I was so happy to hear good things about my girl. And have a few fears put to rest by her teacher as well. It was a blessing!

I have had an umbrella for all the not-so-nice days on campus.

My husband is a good father and provider and has allowed me the chance to return to school without having to worry 24/7 about if the kids are in good care or not.

Keaton and Claire are adjusting to "big kid beds" (toddler beds) They are growing up so fast!

Good conversation with good friends.

I am able to watch my kids enjoying life and learning about new things! Watching them experience something for the 1st time is like doing it all over again myself. Completely amazing!!




On another note, I want to challenge everyone to not only count your blessings and BE THANKFUL.....but also tell someone that you are thankful for, THANKS! I think this quote sums it up:

At times our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person. Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lighted the flame within us.
-- Albert Schweitzer

We all have these people in our lives. And if you are like me you rarely take the time to truly put into words how special they are to you. What a good thing it is to have them in your life! So take time out this week and let them know! I promise you will be glad you did! If you are not great with the spoken word, then jot it down in a notecard. Write it on the mirror in the bathroom, leave a note on the fridge. However and where ever you want.....just do it! You might be surprised at what you spark in someone and better yet, you may just find out that lots of people are thankful for YOU too!

Have a blessed week everyone! :)

Where does the weekend go? :)

Every weekend seems to fly by faster and faster. I just don't ever have enough time in them to get done all the stuff that I want to, much less NEED to! :) I did make time this weekend though, to judge a pageant in BG. It was held at the new South Warren High School, which is absolutely beautiful! I hope all those kids know how lucky they are to go there. It is nicer than any University I have ever set foot in! It was fun to see the girls all dressed up. It was for the Calendar Girl pageant, so there was a great turn out. There was 14 contestants, which for a new school is great! My favorite part besides seeing all the dresses, was reading the girls responses to the questions that they were required to fill out. Some of them were hilarious, like what vegetable they were most like! Others were really philosophical....think like this "what is most important wealth, knowledge or beauty?". Made me remember back to my highschool days when I was doing pageants and how I thought I had all the answers to life back then! Ha, little did I know, right! :)

It was nice to be in the pageant atmosphere again. It had been since this summer that my girls had done one. We have actually decided to take a break from competing until they are a little older. Right now they are in the same age group and it is hard for me to give as much attention to each of them as I would like to with them being so young. I know that in the future we will pick it up again, when they are able to at least go out on stage alone and I can just watch from the sidelines. I hope they have as much fun with them as I always did. Some of my very best friends after highschool, were girls I met during Miss Teen Nebraska. I still keep in touch with them to this day.

I know that lately pageants seem to be cast in such a negative light. But I don't feel they are. I will always be grateful for my pageant experiences. For the knowledge, poise and self-confidence I gained from them. And for the life-long friendships that I fostered. As far as I am concerened....LONG LIVE BEAUTY QUEENS! :)

Have a great week everyone! I will be back in a day or two to update my gratitudes!

Happy Monday!

Gratitude

Lately I have been thinking a lot about gratitude, big and small. Things in life that we take for granted and the overall feeling that we should be thankful for more. We are truly fortunate to live in a warm home and have food on the table each night. But beyond that we have many other things in life in which we should take the time to recognize and give thanks for. I was blog-hopping the other night and came across several posts which all referenced gratitude journals. Simply put it is taking the time every day to write down 5 things you are thankful for. It can be as simple as the sun in the sky or the smile on your kids face. For me I am challenging myself to start and keep this journal for the next 30 days. I want to be specific. I want to rememeber that the Lord is constantly at work in my life. All in all, I think it will be neat to go back to the journal on Decemeber 2nd and see what all I wrote down! Maybe give me the inspiration for an art project or two. Ultimately I hope to keep it up through December too, cause lets face it when things get hectic around the holidays it is easy to grumble instead of giving thanks! LOL! :) I will share my gratitudes here from time to time. And if you think this sounds like fun then join in and post your gratitudes too! I will get us started..........

Today I am thankful for:

1. Seeing a white squirrel on the way to study this morning. It was funny and unusual and a neat way to start the day!

2. Having people in my life who are involved with helping my twins get prepared for school. We have an amazing team of therapists and workers who care about them like they are their own family.

3. The fact that I remembered to wear a sweatshirt today. The weather has turned cold and for some reason WKU is spending our tutition money on still running the AC! :)

4. Being able to sit here right now and know that my kitchen is clean. Even though I was tuckered out last night I still went ahead and loaded the dishwasher and cleaned up from the evening meal. It is nice to not have that hanging over my head!

5. Extra time unexpectedly in my day. I was able to leave my morning class early and get a head start on studying for a test I have at 12:30. This has put me in a much better mood!