My Sunday gratefuls:

Morning cuddles
Quiet puppies
Soft rain
Great burgers
Beautiful flowers
Bath time presents
Firefly finale

I didn’t get this posted last night…

I’m thankful for a relaxing day of coffee, brunch, and sitting by the fireplace while binge watching 10 episodes of Firefly, which has been on my tv list for at least a year. It was a really good day.

I’m thankful for a lunch date during which I had really good Pho. For a little warmer weather so the walk to and from my car was bearable. And for a relaxing evening.

So this is how I feel getting to the end of this week. But the week is almost over and I’m thankful that my car problems weren’t too awful: broken hose in one and dead battery in the other. I expected worse. I’m also thankful for a nice dinner tonight with friends at a new restaurant and my boyfriend helping my daughter with her math homework.

It’s my mom’s birthday today. I tried calling her earlier this evening but she didn’t answer. Instead she texted me that she was bowling late tonight. Whooping it up on her birthday, I guess. I’ve written about my mom before. She’s pretty cool. Kind hearted but sarcastic, wise yet blunt, talented but not at all ego-driven. She loves entertaining and cooking for people, but hates being the center of attention. It’s always difficult to get a picture of her because she hates being in front of the camera. She says she has an awful smile, but that’s not true. She has a very genuine smile when she’s not being self-conscious. Trying to catch a photo of her is something my sisters and I all try to do, usually attempting it when she isn’t paying attention. That makes her mad but makes us laugh. She usually laughs too and is a lot of fun to be around because she jumps right in on the jokes and teasing. She’s been the kind of mom over the years who sends cards just because. Or flowers or care packages when we’re going through a bad time. She’s been through a lot this past year with my dad’s illness and death, but she’s been incredibly strong through it all. Stronger than she thinks of herself. I hope I’m on the road to being as lovely of a person as she is today and thankful to have such a role model for a mother.

After another freezing day and another vehicle issue (this one with my newly purchased car, sigh) I’m thankful that the next few days look warmer. And that I had another yummy dinner I didn’t have to cook. I also am grateful I could sit by a fire and do some homework in relative peace.

I have a confession to make. I whined a lot today. A lot. Beginning in the morning when the van I now have parked outside wouldn’t start. I just got rid of the non-running Lincoln. Now I have a useless van. And it’s because it was ridiculously cold today. It was 7 degrees when I left my house but the wind was strong so it felt a whole heck of a lot colder. And then people happened. The guy in the office next to mine talks loudly about things uninteresting to me like his wife’s flu shot and what he ate over the weekend. I can hear everything he says as if there were no wall between us. And I know he hears me because if I sneeze, he says bless you. There were other bothersome people today and more horrible wind and cold. And as I was battling my way to the car after work, feeling the bitterness of the weather going right through my pant legs and jacket, I thought about a headline from the local newspaper the other day where two homeless men died because the abandoned house they were in burned to the ground from the fire they started to keep warm. And I was immediately shamed and grateful that I was heading to my car. Because I have access to more than one vehicle. And I was going home to a house where the furnace works and I have a fireplace and other ways to stay warm. And I was leaving a job that I’m lucky to have, regardless of the inconvenience of my thin office walls. It’s so easy to forget that the things we take for granted are things others sometimes literally die trying to get.

Sunday.

Sleeping in.
Chance enjoying the snow.
Warm beer bread delivered to me.
Playing games with friends.
Banana pudding.

I’ve been whining about the weather already because we have officially turned the corner into winter. It’s been hovering around the 30 degree mark and windy. Today we had snow flurries for most of the day. I know why people move to warmer states starting about now. It’s not pleasant here anymore. But I’m thankful today for some warm items: my bed in the morning, a car heater that works, gloves, chocolate peppermint tea, hugs, my cat’s furry belly, homemade tacos, snuggling on the sofa, and long hair.