January Gratitude

[SiouzQ.]

Okay, I'll start because right now I'm having to work a little bit harder to feel grateful. I just want to let you guys know before I head off to work that just reading various posts this morning has lifted my mood and reminded me to view my current life situation as something that is evolving and moving forward, even as it feels like I am stuck (for now) in certain things (like my job). I need to remember to be part of the solution and not the problem and to view each day as a gift to find out what my true calling is going to be. Thank you all for posting!

[puglogic]

I am grateful for the sun this morning. It's very cold outside, but I can throw open all of the curtains on the south side of the house, and the sun heats us all day. I'm right now looking at my bare feet, wiggling my toes in a pool of sunshine on the rug. Thanks for starting this thread, SiouzQ

[razz]

I woke up hearing the kettle boiling for tea and knowing that DH was making it and a cozy fire in the livingroom. I felt really appreciative of his efforts for doing the routine activities each day.

[folkypoet]

I am grateful for just about everything this month. Last year on our 15th anniversary, my husband left. A week later, my brother helped my son and me move everything out of the three-bedroom house we'd been living in for the past seven years - in 107 degree heat. My brother and I both have chronic conditions (he, Crohn's; me, MS), so it was certainly no picnic. I was a bit low, to say the least. I was also extraordinarily happy. Those fifteen years were... difficult. For a lot of reasons. And though I had determined to stick it out, apparently, he hadn't. My son and I (and my brother, as well) moved in with my father who lives in a small, two-bedroom house. We brought along four dogs (one my brother's, and three mine and my son's), and three cats (all mine and my son's).

Those few months were hard. We were four people and seven animals in a very cramped space, but we made it work. My son adjusted amazingly well to his new life - a life without his friends, his beloved, long-standing social homeschool group, and his father.

Anyway, I'm sure you don't remember, but back at the end of September, I posted a request for ideas for a special weekend. I had met a man on the Internet (really? on the Internet? yeah <sheepish grin>) on September 19th, and we were seeing each other for the first time. Well, we married on October 19th. When it's that right, you just know. He is so kind. So sweet and loving. He's responsible. He's thoughtful. He's tender and gentle in all his actions. He's everything.

My new husband, my son and I are living in Flagstaff, Arizona in a beautiful old house on the side of a hill on the grounds of an observatory. The view from our kitchen window and our upstairs porch is the most picturesque in town - literally. Photography crews ask our permission to film the San Francisco Peaks from our house. Yes, we're only living here temporarily while he searches for work in Texas closer to my family (you can't imagine how touched I am by this), but even if it's only for a few months, it's magical.

I'm so lucky to be able to stay at home and homeschool the little one (rather than having to work and homeschool, like I've always done before). I'm learning how to cook and bake vegan meals - something I've always adored but never had the time to delve into properly. I'm dreaming of having another child (once we're more settled) - a dream I had long ago given up on. He cherishes me. And I cherish him. I'm happy. Finally.

I had never pictured anything like this. To say I'm grateful is such an understatement. But, yes, I'm so very very grateful.

[citrine]

I am very grateful for my life, for Matt, for our old/new home, for our kitties, and his kids/my future stepkids :)
I am grateful for that my business is going really well, that we have a good, simple life.

[razz]

Today was my 68th birthday and I don't usually have much fuss or bother as DH and i both consider birthdays just another trip around the sun.
It was lovely to get cards, phone calls, and go out with DH to enjoy a lovely reasonably priced prime rib roast beef dinner with wonderful service at a rarely frequented restaurant using a $25 voucher that I had won in 2010.

Some days things just mesh so well together that it is a real treat.

This thread is wonderful to read and share in others' happy experiences.

[Lainey]

folkypoet, congratulations and best wishes!

I'm grateful for dinner with a fun group of friends this past week, and also for having the money to pay a large but necessary auto repair bill.

[earthshepherd]

Great thread, and happy belated birthday to razz.
I am grateful to be recovering well from major surgery and enjoying life again after a long stretch of dealing with health problems. I am also grateful that our winter here has been nearly snowless!

[Blackdog Lin]

I am happy for y'alls grateful stories. They make me smile.

I am grateful to be looking at retirement. I am terrified that I am making the wrong decision, but grateful for the opportunity to start a new type of life after 32 years of working in the same building in the same town doing the same things. It's time to spread my wings.

I am grateful for the original SL forum, along with this one, without which I would never have gotten out of debt and wouldn't have the option of my (early) retirement. I am grateful for all the posters on here that keep me on the "straight and narrow", and remind me that I can (hopefully) have a full and fun and satisfying life on less money.

I am especially grateful that this forum has a minimum of snarky people on it. Snarky online people hurt my feelings sometimes, so spending time on this forum leads to feelings of warmth and connection and learning, instead of the opposites.

[frugal-one]

Blackdog Lin... You will never regret retiring! I have been retired since February and am thankful every day that I retired! I am also thankful that I am feeling better. For a while there I thought perhaps I waited too long and would not be able to enjoy my retirement!

[Simpler at Fifty]

I am grateful for overtime pay this month. We are saving for window replacements and have a tight plan for 5 months. With the OT in the next few weeks, it will help us immensely. So even though I am working more hours, I am aware of the bigger picture.

[puglogic]

I am grateful to be alive and healthy, and to (mostly) have the power to keep myself that way if I'm willing to do what it takes. It's very empowering. I also received my first orders of seeds to plant my new gardens this spring, and I'm just like a kid at Christmas.

[Jemima]

I'm grateful that I'm now retired and making out just fine on Social Security, a pension, and some investments. It's wonderful to not have to go out in the cold weather or battle city expressway traffic any more! Or put up with stupid, lazy coworkers! :D

[JaneV2.0]

As much as I am chafing at being snowed in, I absolutely love the peace and quiet of a neighborhood without mowers or blowers or countless cars going buy. Since we haven't lost power, there aren't even any annoying generator noises. Heavenly.

[Jemima]

As much as I am chafing at being snowed in, I absolutely love the peace and quiet of a neighborhood without mowers or blowers or countless cars going buy. Since we haven't lost power, there aren't even any annoying generator noises. Heavenly.

How I envy you! I feel like I'm living in Miami, PA. Aside from the freak snowstorm just before Halloween, we haven't seen much winter here. And so the noise goes on. Delivery trucks. Remodeling noises. Car doors being slammed. And last weekend as a special treat, two elderly and very rude women banging on my door late Sunday afternoon just as I was about to take a nap. (Seventh Day Adventists, I suspect. One of them actually tried to look into the kitchen through a gap between the window shade and the window frame.)

AGH!!! I'm beginning to wish I had taken to the woods instead of moving into an over-55 development, and I'm seriously considering putting a gate across my front porch that will only be open between nine and five on weekdays. Maybe with razor wire trim. What about "No Soliciting" don't they get??? >:(>:(>:(

[puglogic]

I'm grateful to have made it to the half-century mark (today's my 50th) without any major health problems, and with most of my faculties still intact, a healthy, well-adjusted, peaceful person. Looking back at my history, the odds were definitely against me even surviving this long, let alone being happy to be here. Hooray for life!!

[DarkStar]

I'm grateful that I got a good project for my Masters Thesis. And that I'll be able to stay where I am to do the research, instead of moving to one of my university's other locations. And I'm really grateful this week that I've made so many new friends over the last year in this town, and am making even more now that I'm in grad school.

[JaneV2.0]

How I envy you! ...
AGH!!! I'm beginning to wish I had taken to the woods instead of moving into an over-55 development, and I'm seriously considering putting a gate across my front porch that will only be open between nine and five on weekdays. Maybe with razor wire trim. What about "No Soliciting" don't they get??? >:(>:(>:(

No need for envy; this neighborhood is a lot noisier than I would like. I over-rode my instincts when I bought the place, unfortunately.

I've thought about buying this sign: http://tinyurl.com/7y4c8xc , perhaps it would keep your tormentors at bay.