Sharing Thanks

Some days it is easy to remember four moments I am thankful for. Today it is hard to keep my commitment to be thankful everyday. Here goes! 1) I am thankful Grandma will be able to get upstairs tonite. She got a good report from the Doctor. Hope she enjoys a good night's sleep. 2) Thankful for my sister-in-law Laurie who was able to take grandma to the geriatric doctor today. 3) Thankful for my good friends Sejal and Stella who I got to talk to. We enjoy sharing stories and laughing together. 4) Thankful that my daughter Liz is feeling better and ate a salad today!

My daughter Liz was still feeling lousy. Sometimes I wish I had a magic wand to magically make her feel better. This blog is helping me focus on the good things even when things are difficult. We can not always control what happens, we need to accept situations and think about what options we do have and act to do what can be done. Here is what gave me a smile today. 1) Watching the joy on a young new student's face plucking violin strings for the first time. 2) Playing fetch with our dog Oreo indoors. 3) I am thankful the Laurie is taking grandma to the doctor tomorrow. Hoping the doctor will come up with a plan to help rehabilitate grandma. 4) Happy that my daughter Liz is realizing how her emotions impact her health. Thankful that this may be the path for her to manage her feelings to stay healthy and be determined to be resilient.

My attitude helped me cope with some small mishaps today. My daughter Liz had a stomach virus. My puppy Oreo who has been doing well with his house training had a few accidents today. Mylanta helped and tomorrow is another day. Even on a bad day it was easy to come up with four moments that made me thankful. I am adding a new feature to my blog today sharing thankful quotes. Each week I will feature a new quote that inspires an attitude of gratitude. 1) I am thankful that the temperature was a balmy 68 degrees for a November day. 2) I am thankful that I am playing the Nutcracker with the South Shore Symphony. Tonight was my first rehearsal and I really love playing this timeless music. 3) This is the first year I am playing the first violin part for the Nutcracker. The melodies are beautiful and I will need to practice. 4) I am thankful that my daughter Becky had a safe trip back to Pitt!

It's been 12 Days since I started this blog. I am proud that even on the busiest days I can still find time to write about four things I am grateful for. Today is Sunday and the last day of our Thanksgiving holiday weekend. 1) Grateful for having a fun movie afternoon with both of my daughters. We all love the movies and we got to see "Hugo" today. "Hugo" is astounding visually. We saw it in 3D which I recommend for watching this wonderful film which was inspiring. Add a star if you love the cinema and film history. 2) Another beautiful warm weather day here. I have been exploring dog friendly parks in my area. Went to the small dog run at Cedar Creek Park in Wantagh. Oreo had fun running around. 3) Thanks to Liz for giving Oreo a bath after the dog park. 4) Grateful we had a nice family dinner out before my daughter Becky goes back to college tomorrow. Went to the Outback, good food and good conversation with my daughters and husband.

Today was a day to relax!! My whole family hit the snooze button and slept really late. I got up the earliest at 10:00 am. We all need to just relax sometimes and enjoy a slower pace. Here are my thanks dedicated to being a little lazy. 1) Thanks for a good night's sleep and being able to stay in bed to 10:00 am. 2) Thanks for a beautiful warm sunny day. It felt like 60 which is warm for November and makes up for the Halloween snow storm. 3) Had a nice lunch with my daughter Liz today. We went to Bertucci's one of our favorite family italian restaurants. They make the best fresh rolls ever. We enjoyed sharing a chicken parmigiana lunch entree. 4) Thanks to my sister-in-law Ginny. We had a nice time talking on the phone catching up for an hour. Hope you enjoyed some lazy moments to relax today.

I have been enjoying black Friday more as a family day than a shopping day. I did need to go to Walmart around 10:00 am to get some dish washing soap. By 10:00 am the crowds were not so bad. I managed to shop for one Christmas present and be home by 11:30 am. It's been my tenth day of sharing thanks. I am finding this practice to be helpful because it lets me focus on the good in everyday, even on difficult days. 1) My husband and college daughter went out at midnight to Macy's in Roosevelt Field. My daughter loves shoes and was able to buy some nice boots for $24.00 with her own money. 2) Thanks to my family for inviting us for a roast beef dinner tonight. It was delicious and although I love turkey it was nice not to have turkey today. 3) Thanks for another family fun game night. After dinner we played some fun family games. My parents had an old Password game. My daughter's enjoyed playing this game. So nice to have an electronics free evening. 4) Thanks to my si

It's Thanksgiving! This year we had a Davidson Thanksgiving. Next year it will be a Reyer Thanksgiving. This tradition allows us to enjoy the day without traveling too much. I want to thank our hosts, the Aldridges for setting a beautiful table. Here are today's thanks! 1) Thanks to Mary and Ron for making a delicious, beautiful dinner with all of the trimmings. 2) Thanks to the traffic gods who enabled us to cross the George Washington Bridge without too much traffic both ways. This truly is a Thanksgiving miracle. 3) Thanks to my nephews and my daughters, who enjoy playing hearts, and spit. It's amazing how much fun can be had with a simple deck of cards. 4) Thanks for the joy of watching two puppies run around in the backyard. My nephew Brian got a dog named mac, who was leaping like a ballet dancer chasing oreo.