30 Days of Gratitude: Day 7

Jack the amazing sleeper cat

Today I am thankful for my pets. I know that is so freaking cheesy, but seriously I'm so thankful for my lovely animals. They are such cuddly balls of fur that I really love coming home too. As you can see Jack is a little bit crazy, which isn't too far off the mark. He's the old man of the crew. I found him outside one of my old work places over 10 years ago. He was standing outside the back door just huddled up. I thought he would bolt when I opened the door but he just sat there so I scooped him up and brought him inside. I had to hide him in one of the rooms until I was off and prayed the entire time he wouldn't have anything wrong. Thankfully he vet said he was in really good health, just malnourished and really depressed. Yes cats can get depressed. Someone had obviously abused him and in the process cut his whiskers down to nubs. He hit the jackpot in our house though because he was a spoiled little rotten kitty and now is my shadow. I'm really the only one he tolerates for long periods of time. He's trained my mother to give him treats every time she comes to visit. It's hilarious. I'm so thankful for him though because even when I've had a bad day or a long day he's here and ready for me to sit down so he can curl up next to me on the couch. Such a relaxing feeling just sitting there petting him and being still.

Fleur the princess

Fleur is our little princess. She is really a hot mess of a kitty. We got her as a companion for Jack when we moved. He needed a friend to entertain him while we were at work and school. We got her when she was three-four weeks old. Her mother was killed, or at least that is what the lady thought. We looked at the three, two girls and a boy, but knew with Jack being male we didn't need two males fighting it out so we wanted a female. I picked up Fleur first and immediately she curled up and went right to sleep. Just so cute. I couldn't handle how cute she was that night. It had just finished raining and we were having dinner with our parents that night. I knew when she went to sleep I would keep her, she was too cute not too keep. She's a unique little one. Fleur doesn't jump beyond the bed. Other cats jump up on counters, but not her. She just watches you until you pick her up and put her on the counter. And she loves water from the faucet. It's really funny and sad at the same time. And she LOVES to lick. She wakes you up form a dead sleep licking your face. She licks water bottles, faucets, bathtub walls after showers, if it has a speck of water she will lick the heck outta it until it is bone dry. Like I said, she's unique and by unique I mean special. But she can be a cuddler and at night it's quite calming to have her cuddled up next to your hear.

Mayhem the monster

Last, but certainly not least, is Mayhem the monster. He certainly lives up to his name. He is named after the mayhem commercials from Allstate. you can't see it too much in this one, but he looks like he is wearing a tux with a little tie down the center of his chest. Stef first saw him in our old place. He was a tiny kitten going to town on the stairs by our front door. I put food out for the mom and hoped to try and catch them both, but to no avail. Fast forward a few months to our move and he popped up on our back porch. I am assuming the mother was killed and he was left to fend for himself. We had been putting food out for the strays in the area {a bad idea to many, but I'm related to a Dr. Doolittle and I can't let an animal go hungry} so they wouldn't be hungry and eating the neighbors trash. It took a little time but I was able to scoop him up and was supposed to give him away but I couldn't handle giving him up as I had grown attached. Over a year later he's my shadow as well. He's still skiddish around others {He doesn't like people that are not my sister or I really.} and he still scratches like a kitten, but he's my little monster. I love him beyond measure though. He is really cute in the morning when he hasn't quite woken up yet and he will snuggle up and purr to no end. It's a nice way to wake up in the morning :)

I'm thankful for these little monsters. They bring me such joy and while they are more than a little nuts, they make me happy at the end of a really long day.

30 Days of Gratitude: Day 6

Regardless of the rather vocal feelings towards the election, I am grateful for the opportunity to express my feelings through voting. In the 10th grade I had a really great history teacher, who's name at this moment I cannot remember, but she said something which has remained with me all these years. Without any reservation she told our class that we had a duty to be informed voters and that if we didn't know where a candidate stood then we should do the country a favor and not vote on something we didn't understand. Now, as a 10th grader who really didn't have much of a concept of politics I didn't quite understand what she meant, but years later I can see why she spoke so emphatically. I realize the responsibility we have in voting because of the impacts upon others because of their votes.

My parents always stressed the importance of being an educated voter as well. They taught us how we needed to know the issues, needed to know the candidates before we voted. I'm so thankful for their willingness to teach us and for not always sheltering us from everything. I don't mean they didn't try to protect us, or were not protective of us being children and having a childhood. Instead I mean they taught us as we grew. I'm so thankful for that because as an adult I feel like I can make more informed decisions. But this isn't about my parents tonight!

I'm thankful for the opportunity to exercise the right to vote. Thankful for the women who fought bravely and valiantly for women's right to vote. I don't think they ever thought of the huge impact their actions would have over 91 years later. The suffrage movement isn't something I'm overly familiar with as I was a World History major rather than an American History major, but I've read some of their stories and wow I don't know if I would have the fortitude to face the challenges they faced. It's incredible to think of their zeal and fight.

30 Days of Gratitude: Day 5

Monday. Today I am not thankful for Mondays, but I am thankful for something which makes Mondays a little more bearable: friends. I'm so grateful for my friends today because in face of crappy days at work they help not only make them easier to bear because I can vent to them, but in my case they are also people with whom I work and they are in the words of Penny Hart Ah-maz-ing! (If you don't want Happy Endings then you won't get the reference an if you don't get the reference then you are seriously missing out on a HI-LARIOUS show. Seriously. Just take my word for it and go run to watch it right now!)

I love Pooh and Piglet. They are always there to help
 each other, no matter what!

I am thankful for them putting up with not only my insane craziness, but also letting me vent to them without judgement. Sometimes is nice to just let that burst of frustration out and then move on with life. No words needed, just getting over it. Tonight I get to swap stories with the every Ah-maz-ing Nubia where we will undoubtably eat more food than we should and swap nightmares at work and in the end walking out feel far better about the day than before. :)

30 Days of Gratitude: Day 4

 Okay I know how this looks. Posting food and then saying I am thankful for food. But eh this is what I am thankful for today, especially since I didn't have to cook today :) I am thankful for food, not because of the nourishment it provides to the body, but also the soul. Food is a pretty important part of any culture and in my family food plays a major role in everything we do. I remember being a child and sitting around the dinner table listening to the adults chatter on about whatever it was adults talked about then. I remember being slightly in awe of those dinners and thinking I couldn't wait until I was old enough for those conversations. I did eventually reach the age, but things had changed since then. We'd lost plenty of those who used to sit at those dinner tables, but the memories still remain. I'm thankful for the memories that food conjures up. I'm thankful that at times when I smell something I am immediately transported back to a time when we

had that dish for dinner. I am thankful for the familiar and comforting smells that come from the my mother's kitchen and how it seems to envelope you in a comforting blanket and for a brief moment everything is right in the world. And I'm thankful for the memories that remain no matter how long time passes.

30 Days of Gratitude: Day 3

Atlanta Temple December 2011

I love the temple. I love everything about the temple, the work I do there, the women with whom I have the supreme pleasure of working with and of course the peace and comfort I feel inside these sacred walls. Waking up at six in the morning isn't the easiest thing to do on a Saturday morning, but somehow we manage to pry ourselves from out nice warm bed and take solace in this holy place. I am thankful each Saturday I can enter this house and participate in these sacred ordinance and I am eternally grateful for the blessings the temple has brought into my life.

30 Days of Gratitude: Day 2

Getting all caught up today for the gratitude month. Today I am grateful for my parents. I know this is kind of a generic kind of thing to be thankful for, but seriously think about it, without them I wouldn't have anything to be thankful for because I wouldn't be here!

My parents are pretty much the most awesome parents in the world. They were young when they married and had us. There were times I'm sure they never imagined their lives working out in the way everything unfolded. By the time my parents were 22 they had three children and were living a few hundred miles from home. Not quite how I would imagine my life. I know life wasn't easy with the three of us; we were pretty rambunctious children. Often they found themselves away from their family with none of the natural supports to help when dad was away. They did the best they could with everything they had and there were times I'm sure they didn't quite know how they would make all the ends meet.

Somehow though they managed to make the ends meet together. We never went to bed hungry, or at least hungry without making a choice to not eat. Mom always said she wasn't a short order cook and if we didn't like what she fixed we didn't eat dinner. Dad was a hard worker. He wasn't always there because of the military, but when he was home he was home. We didn't have much growing up. We infrequently got the expensive toys, but those we got were well played with and cherished. We may not have had all the material things in life, but they gave us everything we needed: love, kindness, honesty, truthfulness, choices, opportunities to fail. I said that once during a conference, the best thing my parents gave us was an opportunity to fail and everyone nodded and agreed. For me that is what I am most thankful. I'm thankful they taught me how to stand on my own two feet and the ability to make decisions and know that if they didn't work out that in the end it would all be okay because no matter what they loved me and were proud.

30 Days of Gratitude: Day 1

I've been seeing everyone doing a 30 days of gratitude for this month and I thought what a better way to celebrate Thanksgiving than counting the blessings in your life! I know this is four days late but it's the thought that counts not when it is posted. For the first of November I was thankful for something for which I've worked towards these last two years. On November 1st I found out my petition to graduate from the master's program and my senior research proposal were accepted. Oh the joy in my heart as I opened my email and read this sentence: Your petition to graduate has been approved and sent to the Registrar. So. Much. Joy.

I've been working towards my master's degree over the last two years and a few personal issues prevented me from getting it completed this fall. I had to push things back another semester to the spring so I've been a little antsy about getting it finished, mainly I wanted to get it approved so I wouldn't be waiting another year for graduation. This hasn't been the easiest of roads. I'm one of those that will tell you straight up getting my master's degree was freaking difficult and requires far more attention than an undergraduate degree. But in the end I'm not sad I chose to get my master's degree. I look back over the last two and half years and I know it was the best decision I made. There were times, especially during the proposal writing process, I questioned my decision. It's not easy writing a proposal and trying to second guess a man who who questions everything. Every step of the way was a headache. There are no words really to describe how exhausted I was when I finally saw the approval. I've never been more thankful in my life! Such an awesome feeling and I know the next eight months will be torture in every sense of the word, but I know when I walk across that stage and am hooded I will  know in that moment it was worth the headaches, sleepless nights, cross-eyed reading sessions, back aches from siting in front of a computer analyzing data and generally being a hermit while finishing the research. I'm holding onto that moment because that is what is going to get me through.