Wednesday, February 26, 2014

Gratitudes for 2/25 and 2/26/14

"I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought, and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder." ~ GK Chesterton

Today I owe ten gratitudes. I am sick...again...I had a terrible allergic reaction to an elbow brace I had been wearing and it has spread over my entire body so I have been living in a Benadryl coma.

But I remain grate*full...

1. for how handsome my son looks after his new haircut.
2. that we got our federal tax refund today.
3. that I was able to get the prescription to treat my rash.
4. for a day off from work today, even though it was because I was sick.
5. for Mary Kay products.
6. for Jeopardy!
7. for Brainyquote.com
8. for Benadryl...although it keeps me in a complete daze it does calm the itching.
9. for my husband...who is weathering my complete inability to do anything with his usual aplomb.
10. for Friends on DVD.

Love~
Elizabeth

Monday, February 24, 2014

Gratitudes 2/23 and 2/24/14

"One looks back with appreciation to the brilliant teachers, but with gratitude to those who touched our human feelings. The curriculum is so much necessary raw material, but warmth is the vital element for the growing plant and for the soul of the child." ~ Carl Jung

Today I am grate*full...
that she who must not be named came and dropped off the stuff from her garage without incident.
that my good friend Will Wickham is going to come and tune the piano at the UU.
that a colleague was flexible and helped me out this morning/
That my professional relationship another coworker seems to be getting better.
That I have my cell phone back.
That my Melanie got in her ride's car without incident :) When I left this morning, she was crying and saying she didn't want to go to school.
For the Shuffle feature on my Pandora station.
For coffee.
For the Keurig in the office.
And finally, that my tax refund is scheduled to be sent to my bank by Wednesday and I should have it by Monday at the latest! Whoo-hoo! Definitely grateful for that.

Love~
Elizabeth

Friday, February 21, 2014

Gratitude 2/21/14

“Cultivate the habit of being grateful for every good thing that comes to you, and to give thanks continuously. And because all things have contributed to your advancement, you should include all things in your gratitude.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Today I am grate*full...

1. for the Creative Dream Circle. I cannot begin to come close to expressing enough gratitude for this place.
2. that i JUST GOT A GIG PLAYING OUT. ok, so it's an unpaid gig at a coffee shop, but it's PLAYING. it's PERFORMING. it's FINDING THAT SPACE INSIDE ME THAT JUMPS FOR JOY and BRINGING OUT MY BEST, MOST ALIVE SELF.
3. for my ridiculous myriad of eclectic stations on Pandora, which I still flip through until I find something that sings to my soul LOL.
4. for Friday! Two snaps for Friday y'all!
5. that pitchers and catchers have reported to spring training and it will soon be baseball season! Let's go Mets!

Love~
Elizabeth

Thursday, February 20, 2014

Gratitudes 2/20/14

"Develop an attitude of gratitude, and give thanks for everything that happens to you, knowing that every step forward is a step toward achieving something bigger and better than your current situation." ~ Brian Tracy

I wrote the first six gratitudes in my journal yesterday; I need four more to be caught up.

Today (and yesterday) I am (was) grate*full...

1. For the people at my Dunkin Donuts around the corner.
2. That I made good progress on my Organizational Behavior homework on Monday.
3. That I got a whole bunch of bottles and cans from my friend Niki.
4. That I did NOT have to drive through the sleet. OMG. Although, even though it was icy, there was enough snow mixed in with it that I think I probably could have gotten decent traction. It would have been dicey though, so I'm glad I didn't have to drive in it...and gratefull.
5. For the Creative Dream Circle.
6. That I remembered to bring my Kindle yesterday. I would not have been able to do ANY of my work for Organizational Behavior without it.
7. For showers. I usually take my daily shower in the morning, but today, I didn't get to take it until just after we had dinner. It felt so good.
8. For cozy pajamas.
9. For my home.
10. For learning new skills.

Love~
Elizabeth

Tuesday, February 18, 2014

Gratitudes 2/18/14

"Happiness cannot be traveled to, owned, earned, worn or consumed. Happiness is the spiritual experience of living every minute with love, grace, and gratitude." ~ Denis Waitley

Today, February 18, 2014, I am grate*full

1. For the quietness in the office this week as we have no students. I love our students. (CFA really has a good group of kids.) However, it is also possible to enjoy the students and enjoy the time they are not here. The quiet, plus the work I am doing on a Creative Dream e-course, is connecting me with my inner vein of gold...that place inside me that says, "Yes!" and jumps for joy. When I first connected with it, the power of it scared me...I grew up with two bipolar aunts and my mom used to describe my one aunt's manic phases as "revving." The first time I connected with it was about ten years ago, and it felt like revving. Now I think of it more as that first time being a huge power surge and subsequent connections being more like a flow of electricity.

2. That my office phone is now working again. Who knew that all I would have to do would be disconnect it and reconnect it? Technology sometimes. It makes me laugh.

3. That I appear to be embarking on a journey toward transforming my relationship with money. Whereas up to now in my life it has been a big scary monster like the dragon that Maleficent turns into in Disney's Sleeping Beauty or the snake that Jafar turns into in Disney's Aladdin, I'm working on transforming it into a cuddly monster like Cookie Monster or Telly from Sesame Street (Or maybe Bip Bippadotta, the Muppet who sings Mahna Mahna?). Money worries have a tendency to turn me into a five-year-old who's afraid of the dark, so the children's movie/TV show character references are apropos, I think.

4. That I seem to be recovering from my cold. I feel more like myself today than I have in days. Of course, it's not even 9 AM yet. It's still early LOL.

5. That the snow that was predicted for today seems to be under original projections. Roads were not bad coming to work and it doesn't look bad now.

Love~
Elizabeth

Monday, February 17, 2014

Almost a week's worth of gratitudes (from 2/12 forward)

"I am grateful for what I am and have. My thanksgiving is perpetual." ~ Harry David Thoreau

So I have gotten way behind on my gratitudes lately. I don't have a good excuse. We had some bad weather that I had to drive through to get to and from work, which was horrible for my anxiety, and then I got violently ill. Circumstances. Conspiring against me.

In any event, I owe you 30 gratitudes so here they are.

1. Grateful for early morning snuggles with the Roodle.
2. Grateful to be here to make breakfast for Melanie.
3. Grateful that we still have some money in the savings.
4. Grateful for Rachie smiles.
5. Grateful to see how Rachie and her father interact.
6. Grateful that I talked to Michelle yesterday.
7. Grateful to have a day off from work but…
8. Also grateful to have a job.
9. Grateful for clean water to drink.
10. Grateful for the ability to begin again.
11. Grateful for the roof over our head.
12. Grateful for heat, cuz baby it’s cold outside.
13. Grateful for a Dunkin Donuts right around the corner with free wifi. Safe place to study with free wifi where I don’t have to be too far from the kids.
14. Grateful for my husband’s big heart.
15. Grateful for Joey Show on DVD.
16. Grateful for the presence of mind to recognize when someone’s trying to upsell me.
17. Grateful for money to buy vision board supplies today.
18. Grateful for the Olympics.
19. Grateful for the amazing Creative Dream Circle.
20. Grateful for lunch out with my girl.
21. Grateful for the sunshine today.
22. Grateful for the fantastic Project Purse Club women.
23. Grateful for my GoFundMe donors, most recently my friend Brandini.
24. Grateful for funny internet pictures.
25. Grateful that we have internet back at the house after an almost 24-hour outage.
26. Grateful that I didn't lose my cool when my sister-in-law called while I was over at my father-in-law's this morning trying to fix HIS TV.
27. Grateful for Jeopardy!
28. Grateful that I am mostly recovered from the myriad of viruses that plagued me over the weekend...a cold, a stomach bug, and a rash. The rash I'm going to have to have the doc look at...it's an allergic reaction to a new brace I got for tennis elbow (which is hilarious because I have never played serious tennis in my life). The itchiness is all but gone but the rash itself doesn't seem to be clearing up.
29. Grateful for a week with no students at work, although I will miss the faculty and staff that are not there. Things are much less busy on a student vacation week.
30. Grateful for my awesome new sneakers.

Love~
Elizabeth

Monday, February 10, 2014

Gratitudes 2/9/14 and 2/10/14

So, dear readers, once again, I owe you ten gratitudes!

Keeping gratitudes every day for a year doesn't have to mean January 1-December 31. You can make any day the beginning of the "year." So today is February 10, and my year goes from February 10, 2014-February 9, 2015. In this manner, I don't have to beat myself up for not having done it "right."

Something I've learned by trying to be proactive about expressing my gratitude is that there is not a "right" or "wrong" way to express gratitude. When it gets expressed, my life is better.

All of that said, here's today's gratitude quote: "Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend." ~ Melody Beattie (if you've never read her books, go get them. Do yourself a favor!)

And today I am grate*full...

1. that I saw four deer on my way to work, none of whom ran in front of my car! Three were running across the soccer field behind Broadway Middle School, and one was standing alongside Route 352 near Oldies But Goodies at the intersection of Winters Road. Beautiful and majestic creatures, they are.

2. Today was a relatively uneventful day at work.

3. John did the laundry.

4. We got to celebrate the birthday of a little girl who is friends with Melanie and Marc yesterday. Her name is Ezra, and she turned 5. Her mom, Sarah, is a friend of ours. We got to see friends we hadn't had the chance to see in a while, which was nice.

5. Roads were OK on the way to work this morning. I was a little worried after driving out of my unplowed neighborhood and down a kind of sketchy Broadway.

6. My friend Stacy has been giving me water bottles to recycle to contribute to the GoFundMe campaign.

7. For my Les Miserables radio station on Pandora.

8. For Schenectady VanCurler Music.

9. For Mary Kay Satin Lips lip balm.

10. That John was driving yesterday when it was snowing and the roads were bad.

Love~
Elizabeth

Saturday, February 8, 2014

Gratitudes 2/6, 2/7, and 2/8/14

"Thanks to those who hated me,
You made me stronger.
Thanks to those who loved me,
You made my heart go fonder.
Thanks to those who cared,
You made me feel important.
Thanks to those who entered into my life,
You made me who I am today.
Thanks to those who left,
You showed me that nothing lasts forever.
Thanks to those who stayed,
You showed me true friendship.
Thanks to those who listened,
You made me feel like I was worth it." ~ Unknown

Once again, I owe you 15 gratitudes. I have been writing them down, but I haven't been posting them. Are you noticing any shifts in your life since you've been flexing your gratitude muscle?

Today I am grate*full...
1. for date nights.
2. for improvements in my marriage.
3. for books.
4. for Rachael smiles, coos, and giggles.
5. for Monica, babysitter extraordinaire
6. that Marc, who had a fever last night, is better this morning.
7. for an awesome day at work yesterday.
8. for amazing food at Sorge's. Seafood Alfredo for me, triple parmesan for John William Shook the Younger, he had a seafood chowder that was freaking to die for, and chocolate cake for dessert. And yes, it was impossibly delicious.
9. that Monica brought clothes for Rachael and toys for Melanie and Marc.
10. that my cousin Courtney turned 20 yesterday (holy crap, how in the hell is she 20?!)
11. for MY COUCH.
12. for MY LOVE SEAT.
13. for My Muppet-skin pillow.
14. That I got to sleep in until ALMOST 8:00.
15. That we went out and got some much-needed stuff today, including a new Spinbrush (my last one bit the big one a couple of months ago), flossers for my Reach Access, new mouth rinse for me and Melanie, shampoo, body wash (I had some different kinds but it's nice to have my usual back)...it feels like my life is returning to normal after a LONG time of lack.

Love~
Elizabeth

Wednesday, February 5, 2014

Gratitudes 2/5/14

"Acknowledging the good that you already have in your life is the foundation for all abundance." ~Eckart Tolle

Today I am grate*full...

1. for snowdays!
2. for our neighbor Wayne who snowblew our driveway and sidewalk!
3. for snuggles with Rachael and hearing her laugh.
4. that Melanie is safe and sound. We had a scare where we couldn't find her in the house and she wouldn't respond when we called her. Took us about 20 minutes to find her. She had fallen asleep in our bed and pulled the covers up over her head. We had looked under the covers, but apparently not in the right spot. Only when John ripped them all the way off the bed did we find her.
5. That I was able to support my high school friend Dani's small business today. Check it out here

Love~
Elizabeth

Tuesday, February 4, 2014

Gratitudes 2/4/14

"Who does not thank for little will not thank for much." ~Estonian Proverb

(That quote is funny because I have to thank for much tonight.)

Today I am grate*full...

1. That my kids got to have lunch with me at school today and my friends got to meet them.
2. That my friend Terry donated bottles and cans to my bottle/can drive to support my GoFundMe initiative.
3. That my financial aid came through today (that's the huge. that's the much).
4. That my Success Team is meeting tonight!
5. For Becca's being flexible.

Love~
Elizabeth

Monday, February 3, 2014

Gratitudes 2/1/14, 2/2/14, and 2/3/14

"If the only prayer you said in your whole life was ‘thank you,’ that would suffice." ~Eckhart von Hochheim

Crikey...

I owe you guys 15 gratitudes today, and am beginning again.

So today I am grate*full...

1. That the only failure is the failure to begin again.
2. For 80s week on Jeopardy!
3. For amazing coworkers and bosses.
4. That the transaction I had to do this morning at the bank turned out to be less complicated than I thought.
5. For my dear and loving husband.
6. For special time spent with Marc. He was playing the "drums" and I was dancing, and he kept telling me to "freeze." So I would freeze in all these odd positions. He thought that was really funny.
7. For kind words from my friend Stacey on Facebook. So often that blasted site is used for evil. I'm glad - and grate*full - that Stacey is using it for good.
8. For friends that promised bottles and cans for my GoFundMe bottle and can drive - and delivered.
9. For my psychiatric nurse practitioner.
10. For Bruno Mars' dance moves in the Super Bowl halftime show last night.
11. For Renee Fleming's amazing performance of the National Anthem on the Super Bowl last night.
12. For the conversation I had with my sister last night during the game. I hadn't talked to her in forever.
13. That my baby ate solid food for the first time tonight and did it like a pro! (She's a genius. I'm sure of it.)
14. For Night-time baby bath and lotion. Whether it works or not, it makes the baby smell so good!
15. For Melanie being such a good helper!

Love~
Elizabeth