Thankful Me

My attic needs my attention. Boxes and bags have taken up residence, and seem to be multiplying.  I've been trying to get rid of things we no longer need, and yesterday I dragged down a couple of boxes from the attic.  I was absolutely sure I didn't need anything in them--they were in the attic when we moved into the house nearly five years ago--and yet I still felt compelled to see what was inside.  

The 23rd Psalm, familiar to many, brings peace with its lyrical poetry:   1  The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.   2  He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.   3  He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.   4  Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.   5  Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.   6  Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.

When I was young, my family's house sat directly across the road from a big empty field.  I remember when a housing development started to go in, my dad declared that it was time to move.  At the time, I thought it was a bit silly that a few houses going up would prompt such a big change, but now that I'm older, I understand.

I've spent a fair amount of time this morning vacuuming.  I had been nursing along my old vacuum for quite some time, but recently decided to go ahead and buy a new one.  Oh, what joy:  no stopping every few minutes to unclog the hose, no loss of suction.  It behaves the way a vacuum cleaner should.  To add to its appeal, it takes me back to my childhood every time I use it. 

We eat the vast majority of our meals at home around the dinner table.  When the kids were little, they would tell us about what had happened at school, John would talk about his time at work, and I'd pipe in about what I had done that day. 

This post is like my recent 10K run:  finished rather late, but happy to have completed it.  Before I write more about the race, though, here are some thankfuls I noticed earlier in the week: 1.  I'm thankful for the wind.  It's a familiar sound here, and I rather like to hear it howling.  It often signals a change in weather--usually colder--which, living in a hot desert, is a welcome relief.  (I can live with our January daily highs, though, but I still like to listen to the wind from the comfort of my house.) 2.  I'm thankful for the moon.   I probably post a photo every month, but every month I think, "Wow!  Look at that moon!" I must have a short memory, but the beauty of the moon never fails to amaze me.   3.  I'm thankful for friends who play the organ.  As I've mentioned before, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints operates with a lay clergy. Because not every congregation has someone who has b...

At the end of last summer, my oldest daughter and I ran a 10 K race at Disneyland.  It was our first run together at Disneyland, and as we ran, we noticed many other runners wore costumes.  Their attire added to the festive nature of the race, and we talked about wearing costumes for our next Disneyland run.

I remember what the missing item is from this past weekend's Ten Things of Thankful post !  I'm thankful for empty boxes--specifically, boxes that used to house all sorts of papers that I do not need to keep.

Argh!  I had a post all ready to publish, and somehow, it completely disappeared.  Well, that just gives me another chance to look back over my week and review again the things for which I am thankful.  Breathe, Kristi, breathe.  Focus on the thankful! 1.  I'm thankful that we were able to attend church with our granddaughters on Sunday, and John blessed our newest edition. 2.  I'm thankful that I got to be at Disneyland for the final day of performances there by Billy Hill and the Hillbillies .   I don't think I've ever been part of such a unified-in-their-support audience.  It was really a lot of fun, in a bittersweet sort of way.   3.  I'm thankful for those who offer encouragement.  I am signed up to run a 10K next week, and I am much less prepared for this run than I should be.  I came down with a whopper of a cold after Thanksgiving, and didn't run for weeks.  I ran 5 K on Dec. 30th and was feeling...

Yesterday, a woman approached me in the grocery store to ask, "Are grapes not in season now?"  I was a bit taken aback, and told her that grapes are more of a summer crop.  When she said she couldn't find any grapes, I realized that her real question was, "Does this store have any grapes for sale, and if so, where do I find them?"  I pointed her in the direction of the grapes, and wondered how many consumers are so removed from food production that they truly don't know what is in season locally, and what has been imported or brought out of cold storage.  

Monday, January 6, I found myself at Disneyland.  Anyone who knows me will realize that isn't an unusual place to find me. In fact, one of my daughters posted on facebook recently:  I think my mom should just change her answering machine to; You have reached the mobile # of Kristi , I am currently unavailable, but just leave me a message on Disneyland resort loudspeaker and hopefully I will hear it. LOL! I usually enjoy various areas of the park during a visit, but this week I went with only one purpose in mind:  to watch Billy Hill and the Hillbillies perform on their final day as Disneyland performers.  After 21 years, Disneyland chose to retire Billy Hill and the Hillbillies.  I will definitely miss watching them play there; my typical Disney visit always includes their show. 

John blessed our newest granddaughter in church on Sunday.  My daughter asked if I would make a dress for the occasion, so I spent last week behind my sewing machine, stitching and (let's be honest) ripping out stitches.  Once I managed to get both sleeves sewn on right-side-out, I was pretty happy with the results.     Thanks for an easy-to-use sewing machine, and thanks for sweet granddaughter!

Just a quick post today--a post that should have gone up yesterday--to wish my grandma a wonderful 97th birthday! I wrote a bit about Grandma here .   I'm thankful for each of Grandma's 97 years, and I'm totally counting this as a Ten Things of Thankful post! Thanks for a gentle, kind, strong, determined grandma, who is a great example to me!  Your hosts A Fly on our (Chicken Coop) Wall , Considerings , Finding Ninee , Getting Literal</ a>, Home On Deranged , I can say mama , I Want Backsies , Rewritten , Thankful Me , The Wakefield Doctrine An InLinkz Link-up

Out with the old, and ring in the new!  Years, that is.  The Ten Things of Thankful blog hop is still here.  Please link up your post and help make this hop bigger and better than ever in 2014!

I've now updated this post.  The video should come through now. I once heard the hour before dinner referred to as the "arsenic hour."  Any mom recognizes the challenge of putting food on the table while simultaneously (or as I once inadvertently, yet accurately, said, "same-ul-time-ously") trying to meet the attention-demands of the children--demands which grow with the grumbles of the kids' tummies.  Words spoken during meal preparation too often are sprinkled with arsenic rather than sugar. 

This video serves as a good reminder to us all to look ahead in this new year.  I hope that 2014 brings joy to your life!   Thanks for new beginnings.