30 Days of Gratitude: Day 11

Day Eleven: I'm grateful for that amazing moment you've been wishing for something and suddenly it's yours. It's happened to me a few times very recently. Maybe it's the abundance I was supposed to prepare for. God always has a way of putting what I need (whether I understand that I need it or not)right in my path. Ala my husbands shoes I tend to trip right over what I need most. People, opportunities, things I've been blessed my fair share of times. I've survived and thrived because of these blessings.

Aside from the things I need there are things not so crucial to my survival I wish for too. Recently, I found myself thinking, "I need a night out with my husband." Soon after, cue my friend sending me a Groupon for half price tickets to a musical. Viola! Date night achieved. Last week I took stock of kid's new Christmas clothes and find myself frustrated by Isaac's lack of dress shoes. A few days later a 60% sale yields dress shoes in his size. Hurray! Now he'll be dapper head to toe. I was chatting with my cousin after sending her some Disney Rewards codes a few days ago. It turned out we both wanted to take our daughters to the new Disney movie. We have similar budgets so we were discussing the possibility of scoring free tickets. I told her that Disney was offering them, but we already owned all the movies containing those codes. I was keeping my eye out for any deals, but I wasn't feeling very hopeful dispute the times I've been successful in the past. A few days later I got a notification about a free advanced screening of of Frozen next week! I held my breath crossed my fingers and there were tickets left! I even sent my cousin the link and she scored two as well! It's a bit of a drive, but it'll be a lot of fun.

I feel incredibly blessed that so many of my wants and needs are being met lately. I'm a lucky girl. It's possible that preparing for abundance simply meant to start perceiving the blessings all around me.

30 Days of Gratitude: Days 8, 9, & 10

Day 8: I'm grateful for bad jokes! Like milk through the nose in front of a crowded lunch table stuff. The jokes that reassured you that your once charming boyfriend had truly transformed into someone's dad (oh, the puns!). Those terrible jokes that snap you out of reality for just a moment. The jokes that really should be followed by wah-waaah, but you're so taken aback you laugh. You're not really laughing at at the joke, but at the person who actually said that out loud! Those jokes.

Day 9: I'm grateful for dress up clothes and the silly girls who wear them!

Day 10: Childhood best friends! Honestly, what would we do without them? You'd never make it to adulthood without them. I feel as blessed by my own as I do by my children's. I mean, is there anything more wonderful? No judgments, no expectations just fun and silliness. Just thinking about it makes me want to watch The Sandlot (or it could be the s'mores we had the other night-I'm thankful for them too).

Day 6 & 7: 30 Days of Gratitude

Day 6: I don't want to jinx it by speaking too soon, but I'm grateful for the chore chart website I discovered. Isaac has been reading and then not recording it in his reading log and taking 0's for his reading grade and other nonsense like that this year. I've told him repeatedly that it just doesn't count if you don't document it properly.

Welcome to the real world, kiddo. Here's your time clock. Aside from that issue, it takes me out of the equation enough that it's not personal if he misses a chore and loses points and motivates him to be more independent. It's paperless and self updating once you set the parameters. They have a setting for saving your points as if each point is a penny. You can save for toys, give to charity or request your balance be deposited in a savings account. For now I have Isaac's rewards set to computer time, dad time, mom time, park trip, ice cream cone, skip a chore, etc. Thus far he accumulates enough for an hour of computer, spends it and repeats the process.

Day 7: Smart kids! Not to brag, but I have some smart cookies around here. We started the day by attending a parent teacher conference at Riley's charter preschool. It was Mike and I, Riley's teacher and the director of the preschool. The director started by explaining that these kids are held to charter standards which are higher than other schools. After that Riley's teacher took over and explained she was performing above those standards in all areas! She went on to give us some ideas for how to challenge Riley at home because she knows "how much Riley loves a challenge". Lovely meeting.

The only down side to that conference was that it made me sad that Isaac's teachers no longer appreciated him the way Riley's teachers do. Believe me once upon a time I had a similar meeting with Isaac's teacher, but it all came to a halt in first grade when an over taxed and pregnant teacher saw Isaac's abilities as more work and our offers to send extra work for him as judgement of her. He's had a few great teachers since then, but it changed his perception (and ours.).

Tonight we went a meeting about applying for magnet schools. It was a blanket meeting for emerging kindergarten age, sixth graders and 9th graders that focused on the application process. It turns out he has more options than we initially thought (yay!). There's even a new middle school program starting next year very near our house that's engineering and technology based. It would be so nice to keep him close to home. I'm getting a head of myself here, though. We have a leg up on the application process from this meeting the next event is an information fair where we can check out all the programs in one night. After that there are individual programs at each school to attend before the application deadline. Phew, I'm tired already. We'll know where he's been accepted by my birthday though. I'm so excited that we have information and options. I hope we can find him a great fit!

Day 5: 30 Days of Gratitude

Day 5: A few weeks ago I decided to make myself a massage appointment. I told myself I'd earned one and I'd do without some other things so as not to upset the budget. Then, as is often the case when I make plans for myself, I totally forgot about it! When they called to confirm my appointment I felt excited, but almost immediately guilty. Sneaking off at dinner time to spend real money on myself for a luxury. Tsk-tsk, me.

I felt like a criminal warming up leftovers, switching on a movie and running out the door. That is just how Mike found them happily eating and watching a few minutes later when he wrapped up what he was working on and came to check. The whole drive I was nervous. This wasn't my first massage (although it had been years) so I think it had to do with time of day and money.

Once I got in the room and began chatting with the message therapist I had (as I so often encourage my kids to do) an attitude adjustment. I heard my physical complaints coming out of my mouth not in a whine, but as if they were items on a grocery list. I heard myself listing recent major stresses and my eyes begun to well up with tears. As my friend in L.A. used to remark so evenly "Well Katie, that's a lot." Yes, yes it is.

I absolutely earned this. I deserve to be in less pain. I have a right to take care of myself. I did a good thing by making the appointment. After an hour of deep tissue I felt much better, but it was obvious we weren't going to work out everything in one session. When I checked out I explored my options. Wouldn't you know it, they had a plan with discounted messages if you commit to at least one a month for a year. Not only did that sound entirely necessary and reasonable (especially, now that hospital bills, doctor co-pays etc are starting to die down), but for signing up I also got an additional discount on the message I just received.

I booked another appointment for Friday and went home to help put kids to bed. I was hungry and sleepy post massage, but my temper that had been so close to the surface was non-existant as I asked Riley for the fifth time to put her socks in the hamper and get in the tub. I felt more fluidity of movement than I can remember having before, but mostly I just felt like my mind was clearer. I got Riley out of the tub, into pajamas and into bed for a story and the smile never left my face. Evenings are always so hard because I'm tired and either the pain is worse or I've been tolerating it too long. I even ate all of the dinner Mike made me which is a change since my appetite's been super low lately.

I felt like I needed to keep the secret of my massage and committing to more of them, but then I realized no one was judging me except me. Mike thought it was a great idea for me to start going at least once a month. He was happy I felt better and glad I got a good deal. My next appointment is during the day though, I wrote it right into my to do list!

3rd & 4th Day: 30 Days of Gratitude

Day 3: We are eating lunch outside on the patio in November!

Day 4: I hit a couponing milestone today. It seems I've cut my weekly shopping trips from $40 when I started couponing (a little over a year ago) to $20 now! Both of these trips were $18 totals for $60+ retail value of groceries. I've definitely come a long way. I had been feeling so much guilt about having surgery and not being able to shop or cook. Then when I did feel better I was ashamed that my stockpile was gone. It took me a while to realize that's what it was there for! My family ate pretty well while I was healing. There were minimal store trips for Mike to make during that time which we're both thankful for! Most importantly, there wasn't a single morning with nothing for breakfast before school or lunch packed without fruit. So, good job me. I'm so grateful that I've not only learned, but continued to improve these skills. I love it you can see hard work paying off!

2nd Day: 30 Days of Gratitude

I am so glad that all the metal is out of my back! I can't believe how long I walked around with that crap grating against my soft tissues. I'm so glad that's over. I am so relieved that most of what I believed was permanent mobility limitation from the fusion was actually just the over-sized and loose hardware causing pain when I moved.

30 Days of Gratitude

Day 1: I am thankful beyond words for my co-parent. Sure he's messy, he snores and he always winds the kids up at bedtime, but thank goodness he's here. Divide and conquer is the only way to go sometimes! I do a lot for my family (sometimes to my own determent), but I only have two hands. Thank goodness, I can tag him in when I've had enough. Thank goodness, I can send him to help Riley with her shoes or Isaac with homework while I make dinner. I'm so grateful he's here to fly Riley to bed or teach them to climb trees.