In everything, give thanks

I tend to be a glass half empty kinda girl. And while I am conscious of this, I tend to fail at the whole "look at the bright side" attitude. So I'm starting a gratitude journal. I know that I am blessed in all things, and so this is my way of reminding myself. So when I start to get that half-empty attitude, I can remind myself of all the things I have to be thankful for in my life. Big things and little things. Everything.
So I'll post some of the things I write in the journal, but mostly it's for me. To remind myself of all the good things in life. I encourage you to start one too.

(My printing is not very neat here. I'm kinda disappointed in it.)

"Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In everything, give thanks. For this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you."

--1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

Halloween

Yesterday was my first Halloween that I haven't worked in 4 years. And I'm so glad I didn't have to work. It was a Saturday so I'm sure it was horrible (it's usually bad no matter what day of the week it is), and it was time change, so if I had been working, I would've worked and extra hour instead of slept and extra hour.

Since it was the first one off in years, I decided I would have fun. I carved pumpkins, the neighbor and I totally decorated our houses with spiderwebs and other fun stuff. I didn't realize that I didn't take any pictures until just now. I think she may have taken some, if so, I'll get copies from her and post them later. After the trick-or-treaters were done. I headed out to a party with some friends. I left early however when they busted out the Ouija board. I don't believe in alot of things, like vampires, zombies, etc. But I do believe in angels and demons, and I believe that using the Ouija board is just inviting satan into your life. So I high-tailed it out of there.

My niece went trick-or-treating for her first Halloween. She had two costumes, a strawberry that she wore at her school carnival, and a butterfly that she wore for trick-or-treating. I know I've said this before, but she's just so darn cute.

Look closely and you can see two little teeth in there. :)

at her school carnival with her daddy

Fishing for candy

Heading out for some trick-or-treating

trick-or-treating fun

Flashback Friday

A friend of mine posts a picture from the past every Friday on her facebook. The only criteria is it has to be a picture that pre-dates digital cameras. (Remember the days when you had to wait to get a roll of film to be developed before you got to see the pictures. I miss those days, there was something exciting about finding out what pictures you got. There was always a surprise in there. Not so with digitals.) Anyway it has to be an old picture that you scan in. I have tons of pictures and need to get to scanning them into digital, so this is my motivation.

So here is my first Flashback Friday photo. I chose it because it was taken 15 years ago, around this time of year. (I can tell by the Haunt decorations.) I was 17 years old and working as a games hostess at Knotts Berry Farm. And that half person in the background was my co-worker, Jeremy, who I had a HUGE crush on. He was so cute. I wonder what ever happened to him....

And yes I posted this yesterday, then deleted it when I realized it wasn't Friday. ooops. :)

A new challenge

Fifteen days ago, my mom and I were in the kitchen at my parents house talking when my dad came in. He was coughing and looking for some cold medicine. My mom told him he was starting to sound like my aunt, who has been a smoker for years and has a horrible smoker's cough. (She probably has emphysema.) So anyway, my dad said it was just a cold, but my mom and I told him it was from his smoking. (For a long time, he's done this weird clearing his throat thing, but has never really had a "smoker's cough." This is new for him.) I'm not sure how long he has smoked, but he is 60 years old, so it's probably been close to 45 years. That day he decided to quit. It's been 15 days and he hasn't had so much as one cigarrette. Cold turkey. My mom told him she would go get him the patch or gum or that new medicine chantix, but he said no. He's been sucking on Werther's candies to help him get thru. I'm so proud of him. I never thought he would do it. I hope and pray that he keeps going strong.

And if he can do it, I can do it. I'm not a smoker but I could stand to lose a few pounds. Ok, maybe more than a few. So I'm gonna do it. I took my first spin class ever today. And although I couldn't totally keep up with the rest of the people in the class, I did complete it. All 50 minutes. I may not have stood up all the times they did, but I never stopped pedaling.

Tomorrow I'm gonna make my dad oatmeal raisin cookies. They're his favorite, and now that his taste buds and sense of smell should be coming back, I'm sure they'll be tastier than ever. (I don't like raisins, so no worries about me eating them, and failing on my end!)
I'm proud of my dad, and hopefully one day, I'll be proud of myself for losing a bunch of weight. Here's hoping we both keep going strong.

A little scary...

Friday was a bit of a freaky day for me....


I very rarely remember my dreams, and I can't tell you how long it's been since I've had a nightmare, maybe when I was a kid, but it's been years. Anyway so I went to bed Thursday night listening to the TV like I always do, Nick at Nite so nothing scary. I woke up at 3:06 when the satellite turned off to update like it does everynight. I turned the TV off and went back to sleep. I woke up at 3:13 in a total panic. I had had a dream that someone had come into my room and was trying to steal me out of my bed. They had picked me up out of my bed and were carrying me out the window. I woke up totally freaked out and with my heart racing. It felt so real because I didn't even remember falling asleep, so I thought that it had really happened. It had only been a few minutes since I fell back asleep. I laid in bed for a few hours before I calmed down enough to go back to sleep. It was getting light out before I closed my eyes again.


So then, I was gone all day on Friday. When I left it was such a nice day out, that I left the front window open. When I came home, it was dark out, and I noticed that the screen was broken. Not just broken, but smashed and hanging from the frame. I had a voicemail from my neighbor that I hadn't listened to, until that moment, and he said that he noticed the screen broken at about 5pm and so he reached in and closed the glass so that my cat wouldn't get out, but that he didn't know how the screen got broken. So then I was really worried because I thought someone might be hiding in there. So I called my parents and they came and we checked out the house and all was ok, but still it was a bit of a freaky day. I thought the man from my dream had broken in and was waiting under my bed to steal me. Very scary.

My busted out screen.

Jealous???

I went to the beach today! Yup, the beach, in October. And it was absolutely beautiful! Aiden and I went with my friend from work and her little girl. The kids had a blast playing in the water, while Nell and I sat in the sand and enjoyed the warm sun. I'm sure all the people in the rest of the country who are freezing in their snow boots are jealous! And it's supposed to be warm all week. 80's and balmy...perfect fall weather. :)

PS: I'd have pictures, but I left my camera in the car :(

Time flies!

My niece is 7 months old today. I can't believe that it's been 7 months, and that it's only been 7 months. I love her so much. Seriously, she is the best baby. She's so happy, until she gets hungry then she let's you know it! But otherwise she's perfectly content playing with her toys. She's not a big fan of tummy time, so we think she's gonna skip crawling and go straight to walking. She loves chewing on everything. We gave her a tupperware lid and she chewed on that thing all day! I love her so much and cannot imagine my life without her. I only wish she lived closer!