The End of November's NaBloPoMo

I have made it to the last day and have managed to post everyday. I enjoyed doing my writing at the end of the day to a point that some days I think that I miss the midnight deadline. I started out doing both NaBloPoMo and posting a status everyday of things I am thankful for on Facebook. I kept up with NaBloPoMo, but gave up mid-November on the thankful statuses. I just didn't feel the passion anymore to continue to post things that seem to have become trivial to be thankful for. I did say that I would probably post on the blog my thankful status posts from Facebook on the last day so that is what I am going to do.

Day 1:  I am thankful I was able to spend time with my family this evening attending Church, dinner, and Riley's last Spooky Gym as an elementary student!

Day 2: I am thankful that my children got to meet their great grandmother while in Thailand last year.

Day 3: I am thankful today for my health and for the ability to lead an active life.

Day 4: I am thankful that we live in a city with an awesome library system!

Day 5: I am thankful for my parents who are always there for me and my family. I love you very much.

Day 6: Thankful that I knew Linda Umstattd! Wonderful person and friend. May she rest in peace.

Day 7: Today I am thankful for my friends, old and new, young and old, near and far. You all have influenced my life and made it richer! Thank you for letting me be a part of your lives.

Day 8: I am thankful that I am able to foster my children's interests, whatever they may be, from trucks and trains to Lego, Nerf guns, archery, and hunting. The future looks to hold more artistic interests, drawing, pottery, and cake decorating.

Day 9: To my gramdmother, Mon Chaisurat, thank you for leading us by your example. We will remember you always.

Day 10: Thankful today for a day of rest in order to be refreshed to face the challenges of a new work week.

Day 11: Thank you to all those who serve and protect our country.

Day 12: I am thankful today to know many parents who love and care for their children; parents who take the responsibility of raising a child seriously and believe in being a parent first and then their friend.

Day 13: Thankful for all the opportunities I have been given in life, personal and professional.

Day 14: I am thankful for my education and that I am able to use my education to influence the lives of others.

Day 15: Thankful for my parents today and everyday! They have always supported me in whatever I wanted to do!

Day 17: I am thankful for all children; they teach you with their innocence and truthfulness.

Day 20: Thankful that we are able to help where we can, both in our local community and overseas!

Day 30: Last, but not least, thankful for my husband and the life we have built together. May we continue on our adventures together for all the days of our lives. Love you very much.

Well, after going through my post, I had 18 days of thankfulness. I have much to be thankful for in my life and although I try to concentrate of the positives in life, sometimes the negatives do get me down, but not for long!

What was the last thing you searched for online? Why were you looking for it?

I was looking for the correct spelling of a friend's last name so I could post it on Facebook as what I am thankful for today. So, once again, thank you Linda Umstattd for your kindness and friendship. May you rest in peace.

Happy 39th---

Well, I have made it to 39. Not quite the big 4-0, but close.

Just survived another Valentine's Day, my 28th if my count is correct. Maybe next year will be the last; it will be bittersweet!

Still working on Project Life, thinking about taking pictures everyday or having a spread for every week. Not sure how it will all turn out. Gave up on the Collect at the end of January. Too many gadgets to carry around to document life events on.

I have a friend that is doing 13 half marathons in '13. I know that it could not be a goal that I could achieve, but I have thought about doing 13 5k races this year in the same spirit. I have about six already on my schedule, so what is another seven? We will see where this goal leads me.

I did invest in a new camera two weeks ago and am itching to start another fleece project, but work has also kept me pretty busy. Need to update the Smash books and do some de-cluttering. Thought that I was going to get all these things done this weekend, but really need a break to relax, rest, and recharge, so who knows what I will get to, but definitely need to do some laundry.

At 39 I am very fortunate to have my family and friends with which to share my good times and bad. Looking into the future, I have Disney to look forward to next year! GO MICKEY!

Secret Santa Gift Exchange

Secret Pal, Secret Santa, everyone calls it something different.  At one of my old schools we use to have year long secret pals.  You gave one gift a month and you would reveal yourself at the end of the school year in June.  At the school I am at now, they do Secret Santa, five gifts over five days for $5.00 each.  I did it last year, and I am doing it again this year.

Last year when I did it, one of my friends said that she didn't do gift exchanges or secret santa because it just added to the stress of the season.  For me, even though I sometimes feel stressed by it, I also like to do it.  I think that it gives me something to look forward to leading up to the holiday.  I also like to get to know someone who I might not know otherwise.

This year I had to pick three times.  The first time I got myself; the second time I got the person I had last year; the third time I got a person that is the polar opposite of me.  Her favorite thing to eat is peanut butter, and I put on my form at the bottom that I cannot eat peanuts, but can eat things that are processed in a factory with peanuts.

So far, I have given Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and Reese's Pieces in a gift bag and caramel corn with peanuts.  I have another gift that I forgot to get out and give today.  Then, I think a Tim Horton's Gift Card and a non-food item from the list of favorites will round out my gifts!  I have gotten a bag of Chex Mix, a jar of Jelly Bellys, and Mint Truffle Hershey Kisses, all of which make me very happy!

The Gift of Books and Friendship

Over 10 years ago my friends and I went out one night and as we were talking, we decided to start a book club.  At that time we decided on six members, myself, my friends and their mothers, and a former coworker of one of my friends.  We decided to meet on the first Wednesday of every month.  From the original six, five of us still remain.  We have had some friends come and go, some come and stay, and one go and come back.

We all love our book club for different reasons.  Although I don't always read the book, I always try to go to book club.  This is the one thing that I have kept consistent and fought for the most over the last 10 years.  It is my time to explore my interest in books and to read a few that I may not have read otherwise.  It is also a time to get together with friends and learn from their lives and share mine with them as our book club ranges in age from close to 70 to myself, the youngest at 37.

The one thing that we have done over the years is discuss the book.  There may be side conversations or other dinner time conversation, but, at some point, the discussion questions come out and we actually talk about the book.  We still rotate houses and everyone hosts once a year.  We use to meet year round and gave that up a few years back as it got harder and harder to schedule around vacations.  We were up to 10 members at one point, and right now, the nine that we have seems just right.  We don't meet in July and August, go out to eat in December and have a potluck in June.

We have changed the way that we pick books.  When we started, we chose books month to month, then quarterly.  Presently, the host for this month picks the book for the next month.  The new system seems to be working out and is fun!

We don't know the big secret as to why we have remained a book club for so long.   But, we do know that we hope to continue meeting long into the future!

It's 11-11-11, make three wishes!

I wish for good health, love, and happiness for all those that I love near and far.

I wish for my family to be able to continue to travel and see the world.

I wish for my parents to be able to retire and enjoy long life.

Update

To bring everything up to date, we have had some changes the last few months. I haven't been blogging much due to other obligations. In the spring I took two classes to maintain my Intervention Specialist license in case I needed it for my tutoring position next year. In May I got a kindergarten teaching position and am very excited about the prospect of working full time again with children.

With the end of the school year comes the start of festival season. We did two festivals this year and I think that we might be done. I have not done well in the past in the fall and do not anticipate that this season would be any better.

We had some family friends visit in June, and I had a great time taking them to Amish country. It was the best trip that I have ever taken to Amish country. We had lunch at an Amish restaurant, visited the Amish and Mennonite Heritage Center, and ended the day sampling cheese at Heini's.

Father's Day weekend brought Ron's two best friends and their families to our home. I had a great time catching up and getting to know the wives while the kids played. The kids had an awesome time playing together and playing on the water slide that our neighbors brought out.

July brought the 4th and time spent with family. We had a great weekend with parties and fireworks. Now, comes more time with family as we visit Boston and Maine!

Hawaii Day Four: Snorkeling

We went to a beach in Makena to go snorkeling on this day. Ron, my brother in law, and nephew went off to snorkel and got the opportunity to see a sea turtle. I was not able to go out with them because the kids were not situated on the beach and the sand. They just wanted to play in the sand, and Riley did not want to have anything to do with snorkeling. I tried to follow the snorkelers out, but found that my swimming abilities were not good enough to challenge the waves without a life preserver of some kind. Once they got back, the idea was floated to climb over the rocks to go snorkeling, but everyone was too tired from their last trip out to go with me. Hopefully, we will be able to go snorkeling again or go to Turtle Town because sea turtles are my absolute favorite.

We had lunch on the beach, and left about 2pm when the wind picked up and started blowing our things around. Once the kids were settled at home, my niece and I took the electric bikes (ebikes) out for a ride. We went down to Kihei Rd. to look at the little gift shops and stores that are there. The bikes are very fun to ride. They go about 20 mph, and you can peddle if you want to, but don't have to.

The adults went out to celebrate Ron's 40th birthday at Sarento's, a restaurant on the shore. We got there in time to have our pictures taken and see the sunset. It was a very nice evening with good food and friends/family.

Stupid Stuff

My mother has always told me that when I talk to one of my life-long friends, she always knows who I am talking to because we always talk about stupid stuff. I was always somewhat offended by this remark until the other day when I was talking to my friend, and we ended up talking about what kind of TV our children watch, and what kinds of foods our children eat. Then, I started to think to myself that we do talk about stupid stuff, but it is stuff that interests both of us. I think that when you have been friends for as long as my friend and I have, you keep finding things that interest both of you to keep your friendship going.