Z Day

I am grateful for the Zoo. I am glad that it exists so that Jackson can see and appreciate animals without any of them needing to live in my house.

Y Day

Y is for You.

I am just making it under the wire for today. If you are reading this you probably love me and I am grateful for that. I appreciate that you come here to read and, even better, if you comment (even if it is to chastise me for breaking the rules).

I am here with 2 of my sisters so I will let them decide my punishment. I am hoping it is to wake up early and drive them to Greek Town.

X Day

X is for relaX.

Not only am I inherently a multi-tasker and I am also very lazy. Maybe the multitasking stems from my desire to get as many tasks done as quickly as possible so that I can get back to laying on the couch. I don't get much laying on the couch time nowadays. If I do, I usually have a monkey climbing on my head while I am laying there. But when I do get to lay down and relax I am so grateful.

W Day

W is for Windows (both literal and technological).

Boy, you snooze you lose, and I am not used to being the one snoozing. G totally stole my W (waterfalls) yesterday.

So I switched to windows (so to speak). I am grateful for actual, physical windows. I love being able to see nature and stuff from the comfort of my warm, cozy, house. Notice that this past weekend we did not have much luck in the window department in our hotel. The bottom part was obscured by the hotel and from looking at the top you can see why.

I am also grateful for Bill Gates' Windows. I am old enough to remember the days of DOS, when you could only have one program open at a time and it was sloooooooow. I am a multitasker at heart (as are sisters--I have three projects on Adrienne's temp desk here at my office this morning) and I just love being able to have multiple programs open. Right now I have 9 separate programs open on my computer (for a total of 11 windows), but I have been known to have many more. I use these programs all day long so there is no reason to close one in when you will just have to open it up again in an hour. And don't get me started on how much I love the tabs in the new Netscape! I have 4 of those as my homepage and I currently have 8 open.

V Day

V is for Vicks Nyquil.

I love me some Nyquil. It is the only thing that helps me sleep when I have a cold. When I am miserable and just trying to make it through the day, just thinking about taking Nyquil in a few hours and being able to sleep keeps me going. I am grateful that Nyquil exists.

U Day

U is for Used.

I am grateful for used clothes. I can afford to but all new clothes for Jackson but it would be such a waste. I love that I can go to the consignment shop and buy great clothes for just a little bit of money. Then when Jackson is done with them I bring them back and they give me some money. Cool!!

T Day

T is for Thanksgiving.

I love Thanksgiving. I actually hate the food part. I am not a big fan of turkey or fixins. I would be just as happy with pizza or even happier with spaghetti. I love the family part. I love it with a passion. I am grateful most for our tradition of going up north to the Soo.

We started this when EcnoTravel offered even better bus specials over the holiday to entice people to go. Mom and I would head up on the bus and get a room. Gretchen and Gordon would follow in their car and share our room. This way we had a car and could venture to other casinos while the others were stuck wherever the bus left them. We found that the casino was often empty on Thanksgiving day and if you went over to Canada on the Friday after Thanksgiving all of the silly Canadians are working (ha ha). Mostly, as has been mentioned during this thanks-giving marathon a number of times, we laugh! We laugh until we physically hurt and then we laugh some more. We gamble and we laugh. We soak in the hot tub and we laugh. We occassionally see a movie and even if it isn't funny we laugh. I think last year we saw some completely forgetable movie but we laughed ourselves silly at the sight of Adrienne in the very last row sitting on the top of the back of the chair--something about being more comfortable, but a pretty funny sight nonetheless. We are not above laughing at each others. We laughed at gimpy when he had a broken foot. We did wheelies with mommy when she was stuck in a wheelchair. We are never mean, but we are always, always funny. Even the gimpiest among us appreciate funny.

I am grateful that this years trip is only a week away.

Hello Donut!

S Day

S is for Snow.

I just don't have time to do an entire post on "simplicity" "sincerity" or "sensitivity."

We got about 5" of snow a few days ago and it is all gone. We are expecting 6-12" tonight and tomorrow and that is good news (I promise not to make you drive in it A!). A fresh layer of white on everything makes the world a very calm place. I know you get crazy drivers in the snow (you get them out of the snow too) but when you come out of the house at 6am and the world is covered in snow it is a special kind of quiet. It is beautiful, magical, and serene (another S). I could use a little serene.

Serenity NOW!

R Day

R is for Ready-to-Wear

This is for Mom. I remember her saying how happy she was when they came out with polyester ready-to-wear clothes. Not having to iron was something she was really grateful for. Raising 5 kids I can understand why.

I haven't used an iron in years myself. I find that most things stay wrinkle free if you hang them up right out of the dryer and if they don't, well, then I don't want them. Lyle likes to have an iron handy when we are travelling, but I don't even do it then.

Actually, "ready" is a good word, I am grateful for ready people. This goes back to the "quick" post but my family is also always ready. They are ready for anything and they are ready 15 minutes early. If you say "we are leaving," you can find them on the way to the car. Not saying "OK, let me just..." Funny how none of us need to "just" anything (well, most of us don't need to just).

The Holliday Park travel group is like this too. It took Lyle a little getting used to but when you tell this group to be back on the bus at 1:00, they will all be there at 12:45. Every one of them. Lyle did adjust since it really was everyone. He would have balked if I made him get back at 12:45 only to wait for the "late" people showing up at 1:00.

With my family we also don't debate where we are going. Someone suggests something and we go. I have to leave the room when others do the "where to have dinner" dance. "I don't care. Wherever you want to go." "No, not there." "Anywhere is fine." "Well, I don't really feel like Italian. But really anyplace is OK." It makes me crazy and I just don't care. The point is to be with the people you love and want to spend time with, not getting the meal you "feel" like at the moment.

Wow, this is turning into a rant. Oh well, as you can see I am being sneaky and saying how grateful I am for my family without actually using them for my letters. I am grateful for my quick and ready family.

Q Day

Q is for Quick

Right behind nice people I am grateful for quick people. People that don't need to be hit over the head with a concept in order to "get it." People that can drop a joke at the drop of a hat. The majority of my relatives fall into this category and I am grateful. It is wonderful when you run into someone in real life that shows a quick wit. Once at a casino I went up the club desk and said "I can't remember if I got a card the last time I was here." The staff person did not miss a beat and replied "I can't either. We must have been so drunk." He made my day.

P Day

P is for Pictures

In case you haven't noticed, I have been recording Jackson's life through pictures. I really should have done Flickr as my "F" but I didn't think of it at the time. Taking pictures of a child's life is not new and exciting. What is new and exciting is the way we can share them with the people that we love. I know later in my life I will be very grateful for all of the pictures and stories that I have of Jackson. Probably more grateful than I am right now, which is hard to imagine.

O Day

O is for Ontogeny.

It recapitulates phylogency, you know. Let's hear it for Mr. Shirkey!

I remember sitting in sophmore biology in high school and Mr. Shirkey having us chant that line and I loved it. I loved the way it felt when I said it. I never really understood what it meant, and I just found out today that it was wrong, but I loved it nonetheless and it was the first thing that jumped into my head when thinking of an "O" word.

N Day

N is for Nice.

I like nice people. I am grateful that I have so many in my life. And I am grateful that I occassionally run into some in the real world. You all know by now my aversion to other people, so it is very pleasant when I come across random people that are nice.

M Day

I am grateful for McDonald's. Not only did it give me my first real working experience (if you don't count the two or three jobs I had before I turned 16), but it has always been a symbol of civilization to me. I can remember being lost in a new city and just catching a glimpse of those golden arches calmed me down immediately. Nothing bad can happen now, I have a warm, safe place to go and ask directions. I can remember driving down the road by myself and needing a bathroom so bad that I was willing to brave a gas station (this was back in the day when gas station bathrooms were outside and universally disgusting) but then noticing that telltale fleck of gold about a mile down the road and knowing that if I could hold on until then I would be met with a clean, warm place to pee.

These days it is a place where I can read. An actual hard-copy, open-it-up-and-look-at-the-pages, book. About twice a week (when I don't have Jackson) I stop for a Sausage McMuffin (which I invented about 25 years ago, thank you very much) and I read my book. My meal only lasts about twenty minutes, but I drag it out so that I can read just a little bit more before heading to work. I am grateful that I have a warm, comfortable, reasonably priced, place to do that.

L Day

L is for Laughter.

I love to laugh. I love to make other people laugh. Getting Jackson to laugh is easy. Getting Lyle to laugh makes my day.

Laughing with my family is the best feeling ever. Luckily, we do it a lot. A whole lot. Especially on our annual trip up to the Soo at Thanksgiving (see Gretchen's K). We laugh until we hurt. This year I am sure we will be laughing and crying in equal measure, perhaps at the same time.

I love this picture of Gretchen and Jackson laughing from June 2005.

I laughed out loud just this morning; what a great way to start the day. I was eating a muffin at McD and reading my book (Plato and a Platypus Walk Into a Bar-- thanks Kat) and I read this line. "There is nothing like an argument by analogy. Well, maybe a duck."

K Day

K is for Kleenex (with potion).

Gretch said to keep it simple.

I am nursing a slight cold right now. Nothing debilitating. Just annoying. I always buy Kleenex (yes the brand Kleenex) with lotion (I loved the commercial where the little girl called it potion) and I can't imagine blowing my nose without them. Especially when you are three or four days into a cold, if you didn't start out with the potion tissues you are just going to be rubbing your nose raw. Ugh! So without dipping into family, that is my K. Kleenex.

J Day

J is for


Sorry, I couldn't help it!

I Day

I is for iPhone.

Some people hate the very idea of cell phones, let alone one that will let you check your email and the web in an instant. They don't like being always available, they want to check out.

I LOVE being always available. I love not being tied to my desk or home waiting for a phone call or an email. I love being reachable.

I have had a cell phone for many years now. For the first five or so it lived in the car for "emergencies." When I was pregnant with Jackson it became just that little bit more vital and Lyle broke down and got one too. Now we both have iPhones and we use the hell out of them. I can stay away from the office for an extra hour because I know they will contact me if I am needed. I can check my email while waiting in line at the grocery store. I can twitter my every move while hiking in the woods. I don't see this as a device that ties me down, I see it as a devise that frees me up. And I am very grateful for that.

H Day

H is for Hair.

I have great hair. I took me many, many years to realize this but I really do. It is just the right level of curly and I kind of like my new hint-of-gray coloring. Of course, having it be Jackson's favorite thing to touch is pretty amazing too. Even after nearly five years of being alive the boy still finds comfort in touching my hair. I am grateful that I carry such a powerful tool right there on the top of my head.

G Day

G is for Girlfriends

I am grateful for girlfriends. I have several groups of girlfriends each of whom are very special to me. My sisters make up one very important group. Sometimes they snipe at each other, but they all seem to like me (which is one of the major requirements for being my girlfriend).




I have another group from highschool and we meet about once a month to have dinner together. It is fun to have a group that you can reminisce with and you still like each other now that you are grown.

I have another group in New Jersey that I hardly see, but they are always in my thoughts and I know I am in theirs.

And then, of course, I have a group here in IN that I see on a regular basis. Elaine and Rebecca and I have instituted a weekly lunch that is the usually the highlight of my week. It is a chance to relax and talk about absolutely anything going on in my life without being judged. They understand my life and my work and they truly care.

Without getting too sappy (against the rules, right?) since I lost my very best friend in the world last year I am very, very grateful to have all of these groups in my life.

F Day

Fleet Foxes. I heard them at Pitchfork this year and I just fell in love with the music. Go here and listen to White Winter Hymnal.

"...to keep their little heads from fallin' in the snow" I don't even know what it means, but it makes me smile everytime and for that I am grateful.

And if you love swoopy harmonies as much as I do (Georgy I am looking at you) go watch this great video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMrqBldlqzA

E Day

Excel! I am grateful for MicroSoft Excel. I love this program and I can't imagine my life without it. When I think of what Mom could have done with something like this in her work life it make me weep (yeah, what doesn't these days). In her later years she used MicroSoft Money for her personal finances, but she could have organized the hell out that union with Excel.

D Day

Digital Music. I have loaded every album I own into iTunes and I still have plenty of room leftover when it is downloaded onto my iPhone. I basically have two playlists: Christmas and Everything Else. I love coming to work and hitting shuffle on a playlist and just letting it run for the day. It is like having a radio station that plays only things that I like.

C Day

Christmas Plates! I am very thankful for my collection of Christmas plates and for everyone that has contributed to it. I pull them out every year (this is a little early but I think it is justified) and they make me smile every time I use them. If I thought my marriage would survive, I would use them year round.

Gratitude A to B

I love this innovative blogging challenge, invented by G. I think it will catch on and go international.



I am already late so I need to catch up:



A - Ability. I saw this word in the middle Gretchen's post and it struck me as something I am grateful for. I am thankful that I have the ability to do all of the things that I do in life. The good, the bad, and the ugly.



B - Birthday Balloons (I get two points for this, right?). Having a room filled with balloons on my birthday is such a wonderful memory for me. I also have great memories of doing this for Gretchen's girls and now Jackson. Now I just need to figure out where to put the balloons this year.