Gratitude Challenge Day 3 :: Food

Let's dip right into it. Here's the scoop on today's Gratitude Challenge. 

Day 3. A food you love.

Really no surprise here. I mean you know I love ice cream – whether it's 95 and humid or 20 below windchills. (By the way it truly is never too cold for ice cream!)

While I enjoy it – a lot – I hadn't ever thought of being grateful for it. But I guess I am.

Sometimes it's a reward for doing something good. Sometimes it comforts me (not necessarily a good thing). Other times it leads to socializing (a very good thing). Or even meeting new friends (awesome). So I suppose I am grateful. 

But mostly I just love it.

And no, I don't have ONE favorite flavor. I do like most varieties of mint chocolate, blueberry cheesecake or crumble, coconut, caramel, and on and on. As with all the things I'm grateful for in this challenge, I'll include the disclaimer that this list is not all-inclusive.

And as far as food goes, I also could eat these every day:

• Pizza
• Popcorn
• Buffalo chicken anything
• Fiber One Cereal

Just seeing if you're paying attention. I'm just grateful for food on the table (or in the freezer) every day and never having to worry where my next meal comes from. 

Except when King Cone and DQ are both closed for the season!

#gratitudemonth

Gratitude Challenge Day 2 :: Smiles

Day 2 of the 25-day Gratitude Challenge asks us to name something that makes us smile. Well that's a lot of things for me. So I'm combining last year's A to Z gratitude challenge with this year's since I can easily think of 26 things.

Day 2. Something that makes you smile.

Amazon. There's always something good in the Amazon box – even if it's a gift for someone else or a heating element for the stove. Their logo is so appropriate! And don't forget you can support your favorite charity through Amazon Smile. Look into it. I've supported the Emily Klopotek Angel Foundation 71 times already. Which I should be embarrassed about since that reflects a certain level of Amazon shopping!

Babies. Well when they're sleeping or eating or babbling or laughing. Not necessarily the screaming fit part.

Casey, Clay and Carter. Love our boys! Just smiling at the blessing of the brown-eyed bandits.

Doggies. Because they're such big sweeties. Yes they are! 

Eagles. I both smile and say "wow" a lot.

Fonts. Call me a graphic designer geek, but I love my fonts!

Golf. Just kidding. I smile maybe a third of the time and curse the other two-thirds. On average.

Hallmark movies. Always, always, always a happy ending.

Ice cream. Except during brain freeze.

Jim. Usually. 

Kayaking. So peaceful. So far away from every stressor in life. Just smile in contentment.

Laughing. Scientifically proven that you'll smile when you laugh. Even when you're laughing so hard, you can't breathe, you're still smiling. I guess breathing isn't a requirement.

Mom. Oh my gosh, my mom is so clever. I can always count on her for a good pun!

Nieces and nephews. Love seeing them. They make my heart smile!

Old friends. Even if we haven't seen each other in one week or "ages," we hug and smile and pick up the conversation where we left off. What a blessing.

Picture-perfect picture. Maybe it's prideful, but I do enjoy when a photograph turns out the way I wanted it to.

Queen's English. After watching a few series on Netflix, I still can't help but giggle when I hear the Queen's English – and laugh at myself for having the subtitles on to understand it!

R people. Love my R people. Now that we're older, my siblings mostly make me smile.

Scrapbooking. The best therapy. Lots of concentration but also a lot of laughs and joyful trips down memory lane. 

Talking to my boy. Will forever be a treat!

Upbeat music. Especially of the '80s variety. You can't change me!

Vacation! Oh yes, especially the ones in the past 5 years: Maui, Scandinavia, Germany, Alaska, and Blue Jay Drive.

Wicked. And other broadway musicals. But I'm mostly excited about Wicked... and seeing it again in just 3 more sleeps!

Xmas. OK I really cheated there. But everything about Christmas makes me smile!

YouTube. Try it. You'll find something to laugh about. Every. Single. Day.

'Za. OK I cheated again. But nothing brings a smile like that first bite of pizza! After recovering from burning the roof of your mouth, that is.

Thanks for smiling along with me today!

#gratitudemonth

2021 Gratitude Challenge :: Day 1 - Someone

Happy November. Happy Gratitude Month! Remind me in 2022 to just consider every month Gratitude Month so I'll continue to count more blessings than challenges. 

Last November I did an alphabetical A to Z gratitude blog. This year, thanks to a suggestion from my former pastor, I'm doing this 25-day challenge. It'll mix things up. And you might even be surprised at some of the answers.

1. Someone you're thankful for

OK, not necessarily surprised the first day. A few dozen obvious answer here, but of course I need to kick off the month with gratitude for my much better half. And I mean Jim this time, not my twin sister. (Though I'm extremely grateful for her, too.)

So much to be thankful for with this guy. Not sure where to begin. Just know it's not an all-inclusive list here because that would take forever – and The Voice is on in half an hour.

One big thing today is that we've been working from home "together" for 606 days and we're still talking to each other. Even sleeping in the same bed, still! Obviously, he's got plenty of patience (mostly) and a high tolerance for ... well, me. Thank the Lord for that! On so many levels.

Pre-pandemic, while I worked out of the house and he at home, he'd manage to work laundry and dishwasher time into his work day. No worries, I have not interrupted his routine at all. But I'm seriously thankful he's attentive to it and has the work flexibility to do it. (See previous blogs about me being an undomestic goddess.)

Of course, I love his big brown eyes and dimples – and thankful he passed those along to the boys – but he does have a nice personality, too. Not in a bad way. 

He's Mr. Social. Everyone knows he's friendly and funny. But he also has good character. That becomes evident every time we run into people he's coached before. And that's a lot. And they range in age from 3 years younger than him down to current 15 years olds. What's special is these "kids" don't just remember him, he remembers them, too. And honest to god, they share a mutual story or memory each time. That's a good leader. A good influence. 

No wonder he's such a good father. And such a good husband. Coaching all those kids has prepared him to cope with me and my 8 million shortcomings. One of which is exaggerating, he'd point out. So I'll drop it down to 800. 

I can't thank God enough for making sure our paths crossed 25 years ago – yesterday, in fact. Definitely too many blessings to count. But I'm grateful for them all. 

Love you, hon! 

Hoping for Spook-tacular instead of Spooky

I'll blog now before I learn if Halloween was really a trick or a treat. Hoping a treat. But the Vikings are scaring me with their inability to hold a lead! Tied after 3 quarters. Uff da.

Meanwhile, the Braves could take the Series tonight but got a bit spooked and are behind. I am hoping the Braves pull it off one of these nights. My brother-in-law is a huge fan and this would make his week! Plus, who likes the cheating Astros anyway? Put rocks in their Halloween bags!

Alright, gotta get back to my recliner and the games. Was a low-key Halloween here with just one family of trick-or-treaters. Glad I wisely bought Jim's favorite (Butterfingers) instead of mine (Reese's Peanut Butter Cups) for leftovers.

Or am I? 

Crossing fingers I won't need comfort candy later. Happy Halloween!

Keeping Pace

It was almost too nice of a day for state cross country. Seriously. Sunny and nearly 60. That's warm to run this event. Especially for a middle-aged photographer trying to run from spot to spot to get a good shot.

It got me steps. But it also got me hot and tired! 

After last year's extreme crowd-size limit plus dividing the meet up in three locations, it was actually nice to have it back in Rapids like one big happy family. If the family had thousands of members, that is.

Our Lady Royals finished 10th as a team. I hope they are holding their heads high because being a top 10 team in the state is a pretty, pretty big deal. If you ask this lifer cross country mom. I was proud of them for powering through the nerves and powering through a tough course. 

Since I was there, I got to shoot pictures of a few other runners, too. Grantsburg (where I have history and current family) had both a boys and girls team run today. That was cool. And the boys especially did well, finishing second. Was able to share some pictures of both teams on social media. And assigned some cousins to handle sharing them with the people runners' families.

By the time I got home and got done going through photos, I needed to not only sit, but give my hands a rest after several hours of clenching and unclenching the camera and then the computer mouse.

So yes, I did sit on the recliner and watch one of the new Hallmark Christmas movies. I had pumpkin spice coffee for breakfast so that makes up for DVRing and watching Christmas love unfold in October. I promise tomorrow will be all about pumpkins and candy. Or just the proper seasonal coffee drink if my legs hurt from running today and I need to relax!

Note to self: Never try to keep pace with kids half your age. Make that a third. Uff da. What was I thinking?!

Great job, runners!

$tre$$ Relief

After pulling my hair out for the past month (at least) over computer issues, I decided to take action today. Which, of course, always comes at a price. But look at this pretty view...

Yep. It's a clean, completely uncluttered desktop of a new iMac. I had to do it. We just happened to be gifted a free afternoon off at work, so although I hated to spend off time getting stressed and dealing with computers, it was worth it now.

Went to Best Buy in Plover and had it all set up by the end of what would have been a normal work day.

It's so nice! I couldn't believe how quickly Photoshop worked. And well, everything worked! Finally got through some volleyball pictures I took weeks ago but couldn't edit since the old computer (still sitting here for now) was locking up and restarting and only letting me open up 25 pictures at a time. That is so time-consuming when I have my typical several hundred from an event! 

So hopefully tomorrow will be stress-free after shooting state cross country where our Lady Royals return for the second year in a row. Finally got to create their "good luck" graphic, too.

It's possible I rely on my computer a little too much, eh? I mean I just realized I have 5,000 blogs under my belt so yeah, I do use it a lot. Lucky you, though. Right?

$igh.

Twisting and Shouting

Had an "old school" fun night with two girlfriends as we stepped – or twisted and shouted – back in time to hear The Beatles. Or something close to them.

The Britins were in town playing a fundraising concert for the Wood County Crimestoppers. Basically, if you donated, you got tickets. My friend Sharon found herself with some extras so Cindy and I tagged along. What else is there to do on a cold and rainy Thursday night in central Wisconsin?!

It was at our Performing Arts Center so definitely not a bad seat in the house.

And we felt pretty young in this crowd! But still could sing along to all the songs!

It's funny because they do dress the part. I think the top photo was when they started the band some 40 years ago in the Milwaukee area and probably had legit haircuts like the real Fab Four. Now you can see they have faux hair (very obvious wigs) as the faux Fab Four.

But they put on a great show. And are still very talented vocally and instrumentally. Sounds just like the originals.

I don't have a voice left so apparently was singing all night without realizing it. Even got a few steps in when they sang Twist and Shout as their encore. Fun time. Especially for the few of us that really don't care what's on TV tonight.

Though you may be losing your voice, too! Enjoy this hard day's night!