The house is finally finished. Yesterday the final contractor came and went and left me with a fully restored home with beautifully clean carpets. They are white, though, so that clean feeling should last approximately three more minutes before the kids muck them up again.

So today's obvious piece of gratitude is for this house. Our home. I love it more than I have ever loved any edifice in my entire life. It's not that it's perfect, because it… Read More

In honor of National Blog Posting Month, I'll be writing here every day in November with a daily morsel of gratitude. The truth is that I have SO MUCH about which to feel grateful that this should be a walk in the park.

First up: BLOGS.

I LOVE blogs. There's just no way around it. I came across a private online journal for the first time about six years ago and I was immediately hooked. … Read More

Today Alexander had a no good, very bad day, although it didn't start off that way. He seemed to be fine in the morning before school and was in a chipper mood when I picked him up. Then we had some friends over and he turned into a complete bully. His friend Joshua is a little younger than him and I think Alex tends to be the one in charge when they play together. (Now that I think about it,… Read More

Today I was so busy with the kids that I got literally ZERO items crossed off my list. If anything, I just added more (call the painter, arrange for a lockbox to be put on the front door, call the guy at the construction company to let him know what color our grout is, get the oil changed in my car, etc.).

We spent the entire day out romping around in the rain and having a blast, though,… Read More

I am one of those annoying people who finds it almost impossible to be unhappy for longer than an hour. I ridiculously find the silver lining in just about every situation and can honestly say I've not spent a single day in my life depressed. I think it's mostly genetic seeing as my father has an irrepressible positivity that he inherited from his own mother.

However...

Sometimes, just as I'm just drifting off to sleep at night, I find that I can't breathe. … Read More

Guess what? IT'S RAINING! Right now! Just like it has been for almost a month now! We had a lovely, blue-skied weekend, but the rain is already back again, this time with giant, splattery drops that fling themselves sideways, kamikaze-style against our windows and sound like hail, but technically aren't. I'm already learning that there are lots and lots of different types of rain besides, you know, rain. The words, "it's raining" have suddenly taken on about a million new… Read More