Again with the no real reason for not writing last week, other than I just didn’t come into the computer room and sit down and type. I had even talked with my writing group that morning about the things I might be grateful for. Oh well, every other week is not too bad for writing, and I am remembering to be grateful on a regular basis, which is the real point of this. Gratitude Entry #90 – Wedding dress shopping with KI adore my cousin K. She remains the only baby I ever held on the day they were born. It was just a couple of weeks before my 16th…

I have no real excuse for why I didn’t write a post last weekend. I just never sat down and did it. Which is odd, because I knew exactly what I was going to be grateful for. But that’s okay. I am here now. And still grateful for the things I was grateful for last week, as well as this week. Gratitude Entry #86 – Little victoriesI track a lot of different things, because that’s the kind of person I am. (Note gratitude entry #84 – Excel.) Last week, I got to stop tracking something, and that was a minor little victory. Last week, we finally paid off the last…

Last week, I felt just really run down. I only left the house once, for 15 minutes, to take the dogs on a walk. Otherwise, I spent the entire weekend in my pajamas and did nothing productive, not even come here to talk about what I was grateful for. That means this week, I need to get caught up.  Gratitude Entry #82 – Erik’s stuff.Our friend Erik lives in Sweden. A lot of his stuff lives in our house. Most of his stuff is in the attic in the garage, and I do not think about it. But currently, his XBox One and PS4 are both hooked up in our…

Seattle just kind of skipped fall this year. Not entirely, but it really did seem like we went from 70+ degree days to needing the heater on overnight. Right now, we are getting fall like weather, in that it is getting into the 50s during the day, but mornings are below 40. And that may seem like typical fall weather elsewhere, but you have to remember that Seattle spends very little time below freezing, even in the middle of winter, so the fact that we are starting our mornings in the 30s means it is pretty cold for us. It also means it is time to prepare for winter.  Gratitude…

There is still a lot going on, but this week was definitely less stressful than last week. And while I have been productive this weekend, I’ve really only been a little busy and had plenty of time to actually relax and enjoy hanging out with friends virtually on Saturday and in person on Sunday. And that always makes a weekend (or any day) a win. Gratitude Entry #78 – Good insolesOne of the things I tell young people is that there are a few things in life it is worth spending money on, even when you do not have a whole lot of money. One of those things is good…

I knew going into this week that it was going to be a busy, stressful week, and then life decided to go sideways and just make it worse. On some level, that made writing tonight’s post even more important for me. Because honestly, I spent time thinking this week that there were not any small things to be grateful for this time. I was grateful for big things this week, friends even more than normal. I was grateful for the dogs this week, because sometimes they are all that gets me through.  Since I was having a hard time thinking of things to be grateful for, I decided I would…

Two full weeks of two book covers a day and not a single gratitude post to break it up. What is going on here? Last weekend was the end of my vacation. My vacation was really kind of like 3 mini-vacations. The first part had me here at home hanging out with our friend who was visiting from Sweden (though I did go into work one morning). The second had me driving up the coast for a couple of days just hanging out with my mother. And the third saw me driving across the state on Saturday night in order to go to a small county fair on Sunday morning…

A little later than ideal for a Sunday night, but once again, here at my computer, remembering to write down little things I am grateful for. And while this journal is about the little things, I am going to mention one big thing here tonight. We have our friend E visiting us from Sweden for a week and a half. We have known him for close to 25 years. In addition to being our friend, he has been a business partner and roommate over the years. Having him here just adds something to our lives. Talking over google chat every couple of weeks is nice, but it is even better…

Sunday night and I am sitting at my computer getting stuff done. I have an adorable little terrier sleeping on the dog bed next to me, and I do not have to go to work tomorrow. How perfect can an evening get? (A little more perfect. I expect that once I get everything done that I want to, I will go out and light a fire in my fire pit and make some s’mores.) And because it is such a good evening, I am giving you three things I am grateful for this week. Gratitude Entry #67 – Beautiful Sunrises Okay, seriously I am not so thrilled that the days…

Sunday evening, and here I am, at my computer, writing the Gratitude Journal post. I think this is a habit that may stick. Of course, in order for it to stick tonight, I had to decide that I should not get up and feed the dogs (although it is already past their dinner time) because if I did, I would not come back and write this. They will get fed when I am done. It has been a pretty good week, and an excellent weekend. My best friend came and stayed for the weekend as a little get-away. On Saturday, we smoked ribs and chicken, and another good friend came…