Day Three Hundred Thirty Four

Today is my birthday.  This is a picture of the inside of the birth announcements my parents sent out 39 years ago.

Day Three Hundred Thirty Three

Thankful For This Community.

I am thankful for the wonderful community I've found at CY365.  Amazing people and amazing resources.  It is a delight to call these women my friends. 

Day Three Hundred Thirty Two

Something Old I'm Thankful For.
This was my Grandma's mixer.  It was made in the 1940's and it still works.

Day Three Hundred Thirty One

A Tradition I'm Thankful For.

Getting ready for Christmas right after Thanksgiving.

 Maybe Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store.

Maybe Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more.

Day Three Hundred Thirty

A Childhood Memento I'm Thankful For.

I chose a memory rather than a memento for this prompt.  Each time I'm in the produce section I'm reminded of my grandparents and their garden.  I grew up around fresh fruits and vegetables.  I grew up planting, picking, canning, baking and eating part of my grandparents garden.  I'm thankful for the time I spent with them in the garden and eating the food from the garden.  Wonderful, sweet memories I will cherish forever.

Day Three Hundred Twenty Nine

A Person I Am Thankful For

I'm thankful for so many people in my life including these two goofballs, my mom and Dalyla.

 

Day Three Hundred Twenty Eight

Thankful For Family

This year we added two new members to our family for Thanksgiving.  My brother's girlfriend Sarah and her daughter Annie.  I'm not sure how Sarah feels about having Annie's picture on the web so I've blurred it out.  Sarah cooked a fabulous dinner for my family.  We had a wonderful Thanksgiving.  I'm thankful for my family and friends and I'm thankful for these two little monsters who brighten my days.  

Day Three Hundred Twenty Seven

A Warm Object I'm Thankful For.

Mac and Cheese.
Yummy, gooey, thick and creamy mac and cheese.
I love mac and cheese.

Day Three Hundred Twenty Six

A Dessert I'm Thankful For.

Cherry Pie.  Oh I love cherry pie.  My grandma used to make the best cherry pie with sour cherries picked right from her own sour cherry tree.  It was the best.  King Soopers makes a cherry pie that is pretty good.  It is tart like my grandma's used to be and is generally my contribution to the Thanksgiving dessert table.

Day Three Hundred Twenty Five

A Wooden Object I'm Thankful For.
This little box made in Poland was a gift from my parents.

Day Three Hundred Twenty Four

A Book I'm Thankful For.

My 2010 Project 365 book.  It was the first year I completed P365.  I enjoy randomly looking through the book.  For me it was worth the effort.

 

Day Three Hundred Twenty Three

A View I'm Thankful For.

Watching this little diva grow up.  I love standing back and just observing what she does.  Everything these days is about doing it herself and being all grown up.  I'm thankful she allows me to be part of her life.

Day Three Hundred Twenty Two

Something In My Home I'm Thankful For

This hope chest that was my grandma's.  I miss my grandma and am thankful to have so many memories with her.

Day Three Hundred Twenty One

A song I'm thankful for.

It's difficult for me to pick just one song I'm thankful for.  I love music.  All types of music.  One of my favorite bands is Sugarland.  I love their music and they are so much fun to watch live in concert. 

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Day Three Hundred Twenty

A Part of Nature I'm Thankful For

I love seeing the leaves change colors in the fall.  From green to red or yellow and finally brown.  More than seeing the leaves change color I love the delight in Dalyla's face each time she brings me a new leaf.  (Which is almost every time I see her.)

Day Three Hundred Nineteen

A technology I'm thankful for - the internet.

There are so many gadgets and amazing things I could be thankful.  I am certainly thankful for my camera but besides that I am thankful for the internet.  Without it I would not have met so many amazing people who also share my love of the lens.

Day Three Hundred Eighteen

I'm thankful to have a refrigerator full of food to eat whenever I am hungry.  I am fortunate to have a little extra to donate to those who need it at Dalyla's school.  They help feed approximately 100 families each month and can always use donations.  This month Dalyla's class helped the volunteers who oversee the donations.  Her class had a special basket this month to collect food and toiletries to give this month.  Using sales and coupons we were able to donate four bags of groceries and one bag of toiletries this month.  Dalyla enjoyed being able to put the food in the special basket in her class.  I enjoy being able to use some of the extra money I have along with coupons and sales to help these families each month.      

Day Three Hundred Seventeen

A color I'm thankful for.

Pink!  Dalyla's favorite color.  She loves it.  I love that she loves it.  I'm a purple or yellow kind of girl,  but pink makes me think of her and when I think of my sweet Dalyla I smile. 

Day Three Hundred Sixteen

A smile I'm thankful for.

Today I took Dalyla to see Santa.  She was so excited.  We did her hair and she got all dressed up in a new outfit complete with a tiara, wand, necklace, braclet and ring.  It was one of the best times we've had together.  I'm so grateful to have been able to take her.  She talked about Santa the whole time she was getting ready and the whole way there in the care.  She was smiling for hours.  I will always remember this day. 

After we were done seeing Santa she let me take some pictures of her.  She tried so hard but it was so windy and it was later in the afternoon so the sun was awful.  Oh well, it's not like I don't have any pictures of her.  LOL

Day Three Hundred Fifteen

A time of day I'm thankful for.

I love late morning and early afternoon.

Once again I tried to capture the time 11:11am on 11/11/11.  Better than last year.  Next year on 12/12/12 I'm going to do something fun.  Something big.  Well, big for me anyway.  I don't know what but I'm going to plan early.  :)

 

Day Three Hundred Fourteen

Something new I'm thankful for.

Custom piece by Chrissie Grace from In His Grace.

When I hit my one year anniversary for quitting smoking I knew I was ready to take the next step in my journey to wellness.  In the past several years I've gained quite a bit of weight.  I've never been an overly active person but a combination of quitting smoking, working from home, medication side effects and poor eating habits have resulted in a much larger and unhealthy me.

I'm told small steps are best.  So I've been making some changes with my food.  I'm trying to eat more vegetables.  I'm drinking more water and less soda.  I'm eating salads most days of the week.  (I still use Ranch Dressing but I think I'm moving in the right direction.)  I'm trying smaller portions and seeing if I'm still hungry later instead of eating until I'm full.  I've been eating breakfast each day for the past several weeks.  I'm trying new things. 

I am struggling with the exercise part but I'm sure I'll figure it out eventually.  I hate to exercise.  HATE IT.  Seriously hate it.  I'm not going to sugar coat it.  This will be the hardest part for me.  I smoked for half of my life and I'm overweight.  Moving is hard for me.  I'm easily winded and my knees hurt.  I don't know how to swim and I've tried a bike and even the bike hurts my knees.

A few weeks ago I contacted Chrissie Grace to see if she could make a custom piece for me.  Over the years I've purchased several items from Chrissie including custom items and she never disappoints.  I wanted something to help me through these changes I'm making and I knew one of her "She Said" pieces would be perfect.  I told her what I wanted it to say and that I liked yellow, purple and butterflies.  I left the rest to her.

When it arrived I was moved beyond words.  It was more beautiful than I ever imagined it would be.  It is perfect and I am grateful.

Check out all of the amazing, creative pieces Chrissie has. 

Day Three Hundred Thirteen

A memory I'm thankful for. 

My mom is famous for saying "That can be your memory."  Whether it is something serious or funny she is known for randomly reminding us that any event or time can be our memory and to store it in our memory bank.   

Day Three Hundred Twelve

A soft object I'm thankful for.

Quilts! Quilts! Quilts!  I love quilts.  My mom makes the most amazing quilts.  These are just a few of my favorites.  I've uses some of my quilts so much I've worn holes in them.  They are beyond repair and I have them tucked away in my hope chest. 

Day Three Hundred Eleven

A luxury I'm thankful for.

A year ago when I quit smoking I decided to use the money I would have been using to pay for cigarettes to pay for a garage.  It is worth every penny.  :)

Day Three Hundred Ten

A number I'm thankful for. 

I am almost finished with my second year of Project 365.  Each day for almost two years the number 365 has been part of my life.  The good, the bad and the ugly.  :)  I'm thankful for the friendships I've made, the memories I've captured, the skills I've learned and every photo I've taken along the way.  

Day Three Hundred Nine

A word I'm thankful for.

To live in the present moment is a glorious thing.
I am thankful for the ability to be mindful in a world that surrounds us in chaos.

Out beyond ideas of wrong-doing and right-doing,
there is a field.
I'll meet you there.

When the soul lies down in that grass,
the world is too full to talk about.
Ideas, language, even the phrase each other

doesn't make any sense.

~Rumi~

Day Three Hundred Eight

A trinket I'm thankful for.

From concerts to quotes, pictures and notes.  Places I've been and have always wanted to go.  These little keepsakes I've collected or gotten from my friends and family make me smile each day.

Day Three Hundred Seven

Today I am thankful for CDOT.  

They work hard plowing our streets so we can get where we need to go after it snows.

Day Three Hundred Six

Something green I'm thankful for. 

My Oscar the Grouch hat because I live in Colorado and it snows often.

Day Three Hundred Five

I am thankful for a clean place to purchase my groceries.  I am very weird about where I shop.  If it's dirty, I won't shop there.  The grocery store down the road from my house is always clean and fully stocked.  My pharmacy is there, they double coupons and they sell Chiquita bananas.  Not many places sell Chiquita bananas and I only eat Chiquita bananas.