November Thankfulness - Always Thankful

Various and sundry things I am thankful for:

Noisy wheel bearings
Nutella
Dog hair
Coffee
Faith
Modern medicine
Green smoothies
Purdue University
Recipes
Antiques
Snoring
Bicycles
Patience
Laundry

And, of course,
Peace

November Thankfulness - Anniversary

For our 29th wedding anniversary, I thought I would write a poem (which can also be sung to the tune of Rossini's William Tell Overture, a la Fred Flintstone.)

Happy Anniversary, 

I had a colonoscopy;

Clay took such good care of me,

Happy Anniversary.

Happy Anniversary,

We got home just before three,

He made me pb and jelly,

Happy Anniversary.

Happy Annivesary,

Dinner at Tre Bicherri

Lamb and fancy ravioli,

Happy Anniversary.

Happy Anniversary,

One love letter just for me.

All I need, just G and C,

Happy Anniversary.

PS  I didn't say it was a great poem.

November Thankfulness - Gifts

Everything that can be counted does not necessarily count; everything that counts cannot necessarily be counted.  
Albert Einstein

I like presents.

Primarily, I like giving presents.  Finding just the right thing for just the right person is a true joy.

I like to wrap presents, and tie pretty bows and hand-stamp the tags.

I like to make presents.  Duct tape wallets, fuzzy fun fur scarves, purses, pictures, soap, hot fudge, cocoa mix, cheeseballs.

And I will freely admit that I like getting presents, too.  While I'd like to think that I am not materialistic, I realize that I do like things.  Not lots and lots of things, but pretty things, useful things, things that someone else has picked out for me that are just the right things.  And my tastes are simple.  Books.  Pictures.  Yarn.  Crafty things.  Antiquey things.  Basically, anything anyone gives me is deeply appreciated, especially hand-made things, which I love to display, and have even been known to frame.

But what I don't like is a present just for a present's sake.  Shopping just for the sake of shopping.  Spending money because that's what the calendar and the commercials tell you to do.  If you are one of those Black Friday shoppers, that's cool with me -- I like a bargain, too.  But Black Friday shopping is not something I am comfortable with, as it seems to consist of two of my least favorite things in the world:  crowds and conflict.

And, it falls at my least favorite time to be up -- sleep time -- on my favorite day of the year, the day I like to call Couch Friday.

Peace.

November Thankfulness - Brown Friday

Today is one of my favorite days of the year.  Leftovers, couch time, a movie or two, knitting and quiet.
And today was a little more special, because Clay and I took a nice hike at the Refuge.  Take that, Black Friday -- we just created Brown Friday (crunchy leaves version.)

So, today I am thankful for a long-legged husband who will shorten his stride so that we can walk together.  (There's a metaphor for something in that last sentence - I'll work on that!)

Peace.

November Thankfulness - Pie

My, oh my, how I love pie.  (I should write a poem, shouldn't I?)

I love to read about pie, bake pie, serve pie and eat pie.

And eat pie the next day, when it is almost always better, except for meringue pie; sad but true, meringues, like yeast breads, are outside of my skill set.

Mom was a great pie baker; her best was Raisin Exquisite.
Grandma Hunley was a great pie baker; fortunately for us, meringues were her specialty -- chocolate meringue, lemon meringue, coconut meringue.
I am just an OK sort of pie baker, whose crusts still tend to shrink and often get a little black around the edges.  I do, however, have aspirations of greatness, and look toward the day when I'll have enough time and patience to cut out little pastry leaves to decorate the edges of our pies, a la Martha Stewart.  

This Thanksgiving, I think we will have about 20 pie-loving guests, so I'm baking the following:  2 pumpkin pies, 2 regular sugar cream pies (the state pie of Indiana, and everyone's favorite), 1 brown sugar sugar cream pie (recipe here -- Clay says, "Why mess around with a good thing?" but I say, "This might be the new good thing!") and 1 mincemeat (just because).  If things go as planned, I am going to make the crusts, using the foolproof recipe from America's Test Kitchen (the secret is vodka!); if things go wonky, as they are apt to do around here lately, I will rely on the Pillsbury Dough Boy and his marvelous refrigerated crust.

Piece.  Of pie.

November Thankfulness - My Girls

Craft show admission - $0
1 spoon ring -     $5.00
2 cookies -         $3.00
3 pork burgers - $9.00
Spending a few precious hours with Sarah and Maggie -- Priceless.

OK, I know that is completely cliched, but it's true.  It just doesn't happen very often, and I am so thankful when it does.

November Thankfulness - Riley Children's Foundation

Today, I was privileged to attend the Riley Children's Foundation annual luncheon.  It was a beautiful, inspiring day; I could try to describe it for you, but there is a nice video here at the Foundation's website.

I am thankful that Indiana children (and children from all over the world, actually) have such a fantastic hospital, and thankful that all Hoosiers can easily help Riley by tossing their change into Speedway buckets, dancing in marathons or buying a Riley license plate for their car.  None of our kids or grandchildren have needed Riley services, but I am so thankful that if they do, Riley is there.
Peace.


PS Bonus thanks -- I got to say hi to Anne Ryder in the bathroom, and told her she did a lovely job as the MC.  Anne did the very last filmed interview with Mother Teresa before she died, and I've always been a fan.   She had closed her remarks at the luncheon with something she learned from Mother Teresa:  "It's not how much you do that matters, it's with how much love you do it."