I’m grateful for my daughter, and so many of her attributes, especially the way she gives hugs & kisses (like this: hug, kiss, grab the hair on top of your head to pull you in for an Eskimo kiss, “noggin” (which is bumping the tops of your heads together), another hug, another kiss – and sometimes if you’re really lucky, she sort of forgets what she’s doing and she grabs your hair again and starts over), and also the way she puts words together. I’m grateful for my husband, who is my very favorite person, tied with Katie. I’m grateful for having enough money this year that we can buy some Christmas gifts without freaking about it. I’m grateful you mentioned Aimee Mann’s holiday album, because I will have to check it out, and also that you linked to the pumpkin cheesecake recipe, because I am SO going to make it! I’m grateful, still, on a near daily basis, that we didn’t die in our car crash in July. I’m grateful for my parents, and Geoff’s parents, and our siblings. I’m grateful for my camera and my computer and for all of the internets, and for all of my friends, and for Cosi’s signature salad with grapes and apples and pistachio nuts, because it is delicious.

I am grateful that, somehow, I find myself in a new relationship with a man who thinks I am beautiful and nice and sexy and hot and wants to be with me every minute of every day, and would if our lives would allow it. And he wants to take me on vacations and spend money on me and he makes me feel treasured and valuable, and it’s been a long time since I’ve felt that way.

Also, I am grateful for the best sister that anyone could ask for (she feeds me dinner once a week, just as an excuse for me to be able to come over and spend time with her and get a good meal in me at the same time) and great friends who make me laugh on a daily basis with their weird senses of humor. I’m also grateful for my house full of animals who all have their own interesting personalities.

And I’m happy to have the chance to share my gratitude in my blog and in here. And of course I’m happy to have great journals/blogs to read while I’m *cough* working. :)

I’m thankful I don’t have to cook a turkey this weekend. We in Canada had our Thanksgiving last month. I’m thankful that on Friday, I’ll be lying on a beach in the Caribbean for one week with my man and the kids will be enjoying the snow flurries up here with Grandma & Grandpa. Hah! Beat that!!! lol Happy Thanksgiving to y’all in the U.S.

Thankful for family, friends, and that my ER technician class will finally be over soon. (I am never taking a class that if you blow a test you cannot get your certification again.) I am crazed with the pressure!
I’m thankful for my doggies too. They make me happy.
I am thankful for your blog to take me out of my world for a little while.

If the gas company ever shows up…..I will be eternally grateful for heat. Other than that, the usual stuff—family, pets, a big-girl bed, crappy job that pays well, etc. Oh yeah, almost forgot. I am most grateful that I no longer have to fill out student loan forms. Yippeeeeee!!!!

I’m thankful for my health, my education, my “tribe”, and especially my boyfriend-cum-fiance (long story short, I ruined my engagement surprise). I’m grateful for the few but great friends that I have that make me want to be a better person, but still love and support me when I am not. I’m grateful that despite having a lot of dark days, the sunny days still appear, and still fill me with joy when I have them. I’m also grateful for all of the good memories I have, and even though I don’t access them daily, I’m glad that they are there.

Oh my goodness, I’m first for once!

Ok, well even though we don’t celebrate Thanksgiving here in NZ I will say I am thankful anyway for the baby growing in my tummy, my lovely partner Glenn, my family, my health etc (that’s all the good-feely stuff) aaaaaaaaaaand….I am also thankful for….

My new cleaning ladies
New tennis balls (did you knowl they are great for back massage? Found out in antenatal class)
Biscuits
Jelly beans and red liquorice
tv
the invention of beds and bras
jandals
apple crumble

(Um ok, so nearly 50% of that was food but hey, I’m 36wks preggers so not much else is on my mind at the mo…)

Have great thanksgivings all you American folk!

I’m grateful for the time that I had with my father. I’m grateful for the lessons he taught me about life, negotiation, and love. I’m happy he isn’t struggling with his MS anymore or going through terminal cancer. I’m grateful for the time I had with my husband’s mother. She taught me about patience and neverending faith. I’m also glad she’s done struggling with her MS and can be at peace.

I’m grateful for the child I’ve got and the wonderful, amazing, tearful, hard, excruciating year we’ve had getting to know him. It’s been hard, yet rewarding.

I’m grateful for our little family and the fact that I think we have strong roots put down that will help us weather the storms in the future. They were tested this year in ways we couldn’t have imagined, but I also think it helped make them stronger. I’m grateful and hopeful that next year surely can’t be as tough as this one was.

Blast! So I wasn’t first after all…..pfft.

I’m thankful for 5 days off in a row, for friends and family, for warmer weather, and for being alive to enjoy it all.

I’m grateful for my gorgeous and magical baby daughter, Olivia. I’m grateful for my husband, who performs random acts of awesomeness on a daily basis. Grateful for my family, and so thrilled that we live only fifteen minutes apart. So grateful for my friends, whose brilliant humor and supportive banter keep me going. Superficially, I’m grateful for my garage,

Ooh! I am thankful for my health, which is steadily improving, and the perks that have been coming with it, like a long-needed series of big steps toward mending my relationship with my significant other. Oh, and sleeping at night. I am grateful for the cold, clear days we’ve been having here. I’m grateful for the surprise bouquet of roses sitting in a travel mug on my desk. I’m grateful that the end of this semester is in sight. I’m grateful for most apple-derived products, particularly unpasteurized cider. I’m grateful for peppermint hot cocoa. I’m grateful for the forecast of light snow next week. I’m grateful for my darling guinea pig. And then all the stuff I don’t think about that much – I’m grateful that I have a comfy place to sleep, and enough food, and quirky roommates, and a supportive usual boyfriend, and this wonderful COMPUTER with high-speed internet, without which I’d never maintain sanity or a connection to the outside world. Oh, going to my parents’ home and the land of dial-up will be tough. ;-)

Hey! It got cut off. The rest was:

Blast! $10 bottles of Pinot Grigio, Christian Bale, and the Dropkick Murphys.

Thankful for: friends, family, and the no-pressure flirtation I have going on with a really fun guy I met. Puts a secret smile on my face wherever I go these days.

I’m grateful for my best friend, Christina. She’s been my EVERYTHING over the past…God…the past SEVEN years and she’s taught me so much about myself and she’s stuck by me through SO MUCH. It’s amazing how many people can come and go through your life, and just one deciding to stick around for the long haul can make all the difference.

My Thanksgiving is going to be pretty basic, but I’m looking forward to it. I hope you have a great Thanksgiving! I’m glad things are on the up and up :).

I’m thankful for my beautiful 7 week old daughter, my fabulous husband, the way sheets smell fresh from the dryer, and the way clean sheets feel against freshly shaved legs.

I’m thankful for being 7 weeks pregnant!

I’m thankful for my husband, who I love dearly. He is currently deployed at sea with the Navy, which reminds me how thankful I am for all the other servicemen out there who are going to be apart from their families this holiday season. I am thankful for my mother, who is flying across the country to be with me, as I near my 38th week of pregnancy. I’m thankful for the little brat in my belly, who punches and kicks my bladder on a daily basis, reminding me how lucky I am to be approaching motherhood. I’m thankful for McDonald’s french fries, Lindt truffles, Diet Coke and Zantac. Lastly, I’m thankful for my friends, both local, cross-country, and internet based. God bless the internet. :)

I’m thankful that my husband has this week AND next week off, as I get to spend some quality time with him that may or may not include long bouts of nudity. I’m also thankful that Jr has the friends he has in school and that he’s had wonderful teachers who’ve given him the extra help he’s needed without making stand out like a freak. I’m thankful that even though I’m still overweight (and will continue to bitch about it ad naseum, I’m sure) I have my health. Have a great holiday and may your upswing last until New Years.

I’m thankful that we’ll be going to my new in-laws’ to visit. We got legally married on the 12th, a very small ceremony, and they haven’t seen the rings yet. I’m still adjusting to calling them in-laws instead of X’s family.

I’m thankful for the house, the cats, family, the new piano, and that both of us are struggling with learning to play the piano because we both love music. I’m thankful to finally have a partner in life and that he is as happy as I am about how all of this turned out.

Life is good, and has been for quite a while now. Not much more that can be said.

I’m thankful that my boys are 8,8 and 10. Toddlers are cute and all, but it’s really much more satisfying to have self-reliant boys who understand repercussion, can help you clean up and will laugh at your jokes.

Hooray!

Oh, wow, how can I follow all this and be original? Eh, can’t.

I’m thankful for my brand-new husband, who, as someone above said, thinks I’m beautiful, sexy, smart, and cool and tells me so every day and makes me feel a way I hadn’t felt in a long time when I met him.

I am thankful for my 7-year-old girl, who is beautiful and smart and kind, and also for her little friend S, who is a little pushy now, but if they learn to love each other like my friends and I do, will be a fabulous ally as they grow older.

I am thankful that I’m learning to love my stepchildren.

I am thankful for the continued health of my family.

I, too, am thankful for a sucky job thay pays well and has fan-tas-tic benefits [signs up for flexible spending account].

I am thankful that I can turn my nose up at the cafeteria food today and *choose* to have Saltines and Coke for lunch.

I don’t really have anything to *not* be thankful for!

God bless us, every one.

I’m thankful that my 3-day, life shattering, migraine is over. I’ve never been so excited to go outside on a rainy windy morning. Yeah! And that was the painful reminder I needed to be thankful for every day I don’t have a headache.

As always, I am thankful to be alive. Everything else is transient.
I had to laugh about the kid locks. After five years I would still forget about them at times. The best thing I ever got for traveling with children was a portable DVD player. Actually we started out with a 12v TV with a builtin VCR and on our last trip (7500 miles around the country) used a Toshiba Portable DVD. The kids use head phones, the wife listens to Books on Tape with head phones, and I get to drive in peace. ;-) Best trip ever!

Wait, Aimee Mann has a holiday album?! Then I am thankful for THAT.

Also, my collection of thankfulness is random, but anyway – I am thankful for my new, great-fitting Seven jeans MY LITTLE BROTHER bought me (how cool is THAT?), I am thankful that my whole family can make it to my house for Thanksgiving dinner, and I am thankful for my snuggly super-smart pound dog, I can’t believe that dog was ever *not* wanted. I am thankful that my boyfriend can share my favorite holiday with me for the first time this year. I am thankful for cornbread stuffing and cranberry apple chutney!

And most weirdly, but most poignantly, I am so, so thankful that this year, at 28, my best friend finally found and met her father. And against all odds, he’s a good guy, and his family has welcomed her in. And this Thanksgiving, she is going to sit at the dinner table with her dad. God, I tear up thinking about that!

I’m thankful for my beautiful, wonderful, awesome partner, my family, the fact everyone is somewhat healthy, an upward moving career doing what I love, not having to travel for the holiday, good friends coming to town, and my MIL is only staying one day and night.

I am thankful for so much….

-Hylands teething tablets
-grape flavored Children’s Motrin (can you tell we are in the 7th level of teething hell?)
-daycare providers who still love my son, even after being a nightmare all morning
-my son, for saying “LOVE YOU MAMA” when I’m not expecting to hear it
-my loving husband and his wonderful family
-my own parents, who help us with so much, even though they make me crazy sometimes
-my employer, for not firing me for shitty attendance a few years ago, and for giving me opportunities to make more money for myself and the company
-my friends, especially the one that I’ve rekindled friendship with after 7 years of nothing. I missed her terribly and now she’s my best friend next to my husband
-blogs like this one, for showing me that I am not alone in my frustrations, affections, and fancy for good gadgets and grooming products

Happy Thanksgiving!

I’m thankful for: diet pepsi, the smell of clean laundry, a husband that rocks my socks off, a bitty boy that has learned to say “pretty” and constantly melts my heart, being able to stay home with him, good parents that will give me a break when I need one (or at least THINK I need one), Noggin television, pacifiers even though they will be the death of me when I have to take them away, sleep, being 17 weeks pregnant and past the horribly icky feeling, grapes … I could go on and on. What I am most thankful for is love. As trite as it may sound – it’s what keeps me going when I feel like my batteries are about to die. I look into the green eyes of the man that I love or the big ever-changing eyes of the little man who has so fully captured my heart and I know I am right where I belong. More than anything – that is enough.

I’m thankful for having the hottest, most wonderful husband in the world (he even scrubs toilets!) and for my daughter who is not only fascinatingly beautiful (i could stare at her for hours) but extremely intelligent and filled with self-esteem in a way I’ve never, ever been. I’m thankful for Zoloft, which I discovered four weeks ago, because I didn’t realize how sickeningly depressed I was until I wasn’t depressed any longer. I’m thankful for my brain. I’m thankful for blogs that I read that make me realize that I’m not the only person who worries, and frets, and says Fuck Waaay too much. Now, on the lighter side: I’m thankful for Brad Pitt’s abs in Troy. I’m thankful that chocolate covered christmas cherries go on sale directly after Halloween. I’m thankful for concealer. I’m thankful for automatic car washes. I’m thankful for Chinese take out. And, I’m thankful for tv that can pause and REWIND!

Happy Thanksgiving.

I am thankful for my husband and for my job which provides me with good healthcare and for the power wheelchair my employer’s healthcare provided for my husband. I am thankful for my family and for the MDA and for Jerry Lewis. I am thankful for our 4 crazy cats and the means to provide a nice home for them to run around in. I am thankful for our home and the neighbors and management team. I am thankful for the handicapped accessible van we have and for my zippy little Hyundai. I am thankful for high speed internet, email, and laptop computers. I am thankful for Coke with Lime, new bundt cake pans, and cheese.

I am thankful you asked and for the opportunity to share. Have a happy turkey day.

My brother got his drivers license in June and my parents STILL have the child locks on their cupboards. I break a damn nail every time I help my mom in the kitchen. But I am thankful for my parents, that they are my best friends and I live close enough to regulary break a nail at their house. I am thankful for my brother, who went from a fetus I resented because I was the only child, to a baby I adored, to a kid I couldn’t stand to be away from when I was away in college, to a young man who is brilliant and athletic and funny and makes me proud to be his sister every single day. I am thankful for my awesome friends, my comfy job, my new apartment (but not the huge spider I found in the bathtub yesterday), vodka, vanilla latte’s, chocolate, Nordstroms, Mild California winters, my health, my 90 year old Grandma and her tolerance that I inherited, the boys I have kissed and the ones I haven’t kissed yet, the Cowboys beating the Colts, designer jeans, short skirts, high heels and a 4 day weekend!

I am thankful that even though my kids will be with their father this year, I will be with my most favorite person in the world, my husband. After having survived a dysfunctional first marriage, finding true and real love has been the biggest blessing in my life. Not a day goes by that I don’t think about how lucky I am to have the man I have who loves me so completely and knows me so well. It is also so nice to read that many people also feel the same way about their spouses that I do! Aren’t we all so blessed!

Other things I am thankful for: my lovely and kind and beautiful daughters who have put up with so much in their young lives and yet have managed to do so well and be do well-adjusted and just plain old happy, being able to work part-time (allowing me time to take care of my family and also myself) and for having the choice of not working at all if I wanted. This is an amazing freedom that I am thankful for each and every day.

Little things: Chipotle burritos (OK, not so little!), foot massages (that I will beg my husband for and who will oblige happily), sleeping in the next few days, Tostitos Lime flavored tortilla chips with a cold beer, the stack of books I have next to my bedside and the time to read them.

Oh, and great sex and the desire to actually WANT to have it day after day with the same man for so many years.

Aww! Love happy entries!

I’m thankful for my loved ones obviously, and my cats. I’m thankful for the fact that even though I hate my weight at the moment, I’m not too fat that I can’t actually walk. I’m thankful for the fact that I don’t live on the streets and I can afford to visit the US next year!

I am grateful that I’ve survived the first 12 weeks of my pregnancy and that everything seems healthy and good. I’m so thankful that I get to spend the holiday with my family and friends and that, as of our anniversary today, my husband and I are still very happily married after 5 years. Ooo, and Butterfingers. Also, lavender bath salts, getting my website up and running, another beautiful California day, and sleeping late on freshly washed sheets this weekend. Happy Thanksgiving!

I’m thankful my horoscope told me I could speak my mind no holds barred today because I got burned at the dry-cleaners. Heh.

I’m grateful for the basics. Good country. Good job. Good salary. Good food. Peppermint mocha Christmas coffees. That my water’s clear in a region where the water’s murky for mostly everybody else (Vancouver’s under a boil water advisory because of excessive rainfall). The sunshine peaking through the weighty west coast clouds.

And great blogs like yours. Happy Thanksgiving, Sundry.

I am thankful for this blog, because if I didn’t get to read your occasional mildly horrifying descriptions of Riley I would very often be in a state of total despair, wondering what in the hell I was doing so WRONG with my own kid. Instead, I read about Riley and think, “Ooooh, he’s doing it too…well…either there’s more than one person out there creating a little demon, or it’s a normal kinda thing. Cool.” And nice to know that since my descriptions of Cameron would pretty much be spot-on with yours, I can expect a retraction of the horns and fangs and the sprouting of wings and a halo sometime soon…yes?
Happy Turkey Day.

We host Thanksgiving at our house. My parents, maybe my in-laws, my Grandmother. We also pick up the strays from the fire station (my husband is a Lieutenant there, but he’s not working over the holiday) who can’t leave the district. I like hosting because it’s much more comfortable to go find my old maternity pants and wander around in them after dinner.

This year, I’m thankful for 10+ months of good health and no headaches for my boy. He had surgery last January, and we’ve just experienced the best year of his life as a result. I’m also thankful for Bare Minerals makeup, Snickers bars and pumpkin pie. Oh, and toilet paper.

I am thankful for my health and the health of my family. I am thankful for my sons and wonderful husband, and the fact that he does so much to keep us happy and our house running smoothly. I am thankful for my friends and that life is getting more and more fun the older I get.

(I am thankful for this blog too. I gives me peace of mind that I am not alone in my experiences/emotions, both before and after we became mothers. –Plus, so many laughs and great comments too)

Hmmm. I am thankful that, even though I really wanted to get out of the Army when my contract says I am supposed to, the fact that I am being stop-lossed and forced to stay in means I don’t have to worry about job security for another three years. Hooray, kind of. And I am thankful that this Thanksgiving — unlike last Thanksgiving — I’m not in Iraq. Which is always a plus.

P.S. As happy for you as I am about your upswing, I must tell you that if it doesn’t end in the near future, I may start yearning for a child, and then you would have to whomp me soundly on the head and remind me that 24 IS TOO YOUNG FOR EMILY TO BE HAVING ANY BABIES.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I am thankful to have a new job I love, and that the shy animals I care for are willing to trust me, and thankful for all the many animals in my life (they’ve always been a passion of mine and I’m so grateful I get to work with them, and enjoy them at home). I am thankful for my amazing husband! And my wonderful friends, my parents and brothers, their wives, my nieces, and that all of us are in good health… I’m thankful for sunshine and good books, crazy t.v. and video games, the pumpkin chocolate chip cookies they sell at my grocery store, all the free time I have, that I have a home I love, that our finances are good, and that we’re living a wonderfully comfortable, happy, life. I’m thankful for family visiting next week, and Disneyland, which is where we’re having Thanksgiving dinner. Life is really good right now, and I’m very thankful for that!

I am thankful for disposable diapers, burpcloths and pacifiers. I am thankful for my loving parents, and that my husband’s mom is in Oregon not here. I am thankful for all my trials and tribulations, and the lessons I learn from them. I will be thankful if someone learns from them too. I am thankful for the manager that has been running my business for the past 2.5 months so that i have the opportunity to be home with my little boy.
Lastly, i am thankful that I am alive.

I am grateful for my husband and my daughter. Grateful for my mother, sister and rest of my family…even my in-laws – they drive me crazy but I really am grateful for them all.

Grateful for all of the mistakes in my life that led me down this road to my husband and my beautiful girl.

I’m grateful for my family’s health – we’ve had our share of issues but nothing that has stopped us from living life.

Grateful for bubble baths, when the baby sleeps late, pumpkin pie, chocolate chip mint ice cream, and the money in my pocket…it hasn’t always been there.

Happy Thanksgiving Linda, JB and Riley! Got my fingers and toes crossed for a sleepy boy in the car. :)

I’m thankful for your insight and humor. I’m also grateful, insanely so, for my husband: an honestly good man who for some insane reason really loves me, and my daughter, who also loves me, again, insane reason. I’m grateful for laughter…and the people that make others laugh. Especially when I hear someone surprised into laughing, and dark humor. I’m thankful for loving family, our home, every heartbeat, heat, food, and that I don’t live in a country that some retarded cowboy is bombing the fuck out of to prove he’s better than his daddy.

I’m also grateful for freedoms like speech, the right to assemble, and that people have maybe started to realize that the government isn’t above the law.

And chocolate and beer. Yum.

“bustling little penguin” = my new favorite description of toddlerhood.

I am grateful for Sam Adams Winter Lager. Even though it’s too damn expensive. Anything that mellows me out during this crazy time of year is worth it. Wishing you many more upswing days!

I’m so happy for you and your upswing.

And I’m grateful for my family, Starbucks gingerbread lattes, the idea of snow coming in the (hopefully) near future, the fact that the public library is free and so is the aquarium (thanks to our lovely pass). I’m grateful for Thanksgiving, even if I don’t like everyone who is going to be there, and for getting to bake bread and blueberry pie with my son. Also for sleep, which is my most favorite thing ever and which I’ve been getting actually a lot of lately.

I am grateful that I’ll actually get to go home for thanksgiving this year. It wasn’t looking like I would be able to. I am also grateful for finally having a job.

And speaking of my job, I actually work at a day care now, and when I’m reading your blog it makes me smile to think that the kids I work with are the same age as Riley. They’re all so cute and wonderful and I love working with them. I really am thankful to have the opportunity to do this every day. And not just because I need the income. I love working with these kids and watching them grow and change so quickly. It’s just amazing.

Thankful=full of thanks: my healthy body, even though I drive myself crazy sometimes crying and gnashing my teeth over the shape of it. Thankful it carries me through my days and nights. Also for my children, my husband of 15 years who just propositioned me (guess he doesn’t see what I see when I look at my body)…thankful that the problems over thanksgiving are because we have so much family that want to see us! Life is good.

I am so glad that Riley is in a good phase! It sounds so cute!

I’m thankful for:
good digital cameras
intelligent, well-written blogs like this one
hot chocolate with Bailey’s
golden retrievers, even when they have infected ears that STANK
baby/toddler hands clutching my neck
husbands that will turn over and stop snoring when you kick them
my favorite meal of the year on Thursday

Happy Thanksgiving, Sundry, JB and Riley!