On the Horizon

There's been a change in the wind.  I can feel it.  I think . . . I hope . . . I PRAY that we have ridden out the storm of the past couple of months, and we can finally look forward to bright horizons and some smooth sailing . . . at least for a little while. Things seem to be settling down here.  A week has just slipped by us without any major catastrophe or new calamity to deal with.  Unfortunately, at the end of all arduous journeys, this traveller's body grows tired and weakens, but after a quiet weekend home filled with sleep, orange juice, and movies, I feel better.  I feel rejuvenated, and after I get some antibiotics into me, I will be even more ready to take on the routine craziness that is Shenanigans Inc.

Feeling hopeful that our trials are behind us, for now, I want to share with you some of the things from this past week that I am particularly grateful for:

1.  Baby girl is FINALLY feeling better!  No, she is not ready to run a marathon or even complete an entire soccer training session yet, but her medicine is working and she is healing.  This is definitely the highlight of my week!

2.  I am grateful for dear friends who appreciate how important it is to have a good addiction in your life.  They introduce it, they encourage it, and they feed it!  Everyone needs friends like mine.  On Friday night, along with eleven such friends, I sampled one of the sweetest nectar of the gods:  STAMPING.  It's like crack cocaine for a desperate, Mormon housewife, and I am hooked.

3.  I am grateful for my lack of self-respect, which allowed me to harass the fine folks at K100 on their Facebook page and to win 2 tickets to a special, early screening of Breaking Dawn, part 2.  This has become an annual tradition for me and my other desperate, Mormon housewife friends, and I am so excited to be going again.

4.  I am grateful for a handsome, level-headed husband, who took the kids to a movie Saturday night leaving me home alone to do one of my favourite things:  ironing while watching a movie.  Yes, I am weird, and yes, my life is that sad (remember: desperate, Mormon housewife . . . tee hee!), but there is nothing better to do on a Saturday night.  You pick out the chickiest of chick flicks, grab a box of kleenx and a diet Coke (okay so maybe you need two good addictions in your life), and start alternating between ironing and sobbing, ironing and sobbing.  Truly, this is the highest level of awesomeness one can attain in life!  I swear . . . you have to give it a try.

5.  I am grateful for the movie, The Notebook, because not only will you ugly cry while ironing but also when you give a quick run through of the movie to your level-headed husband and too-cool-for-the-people, teenage daughter.  Awesomeness and embarrassment all rolled into one!

6.  I am grateful for a highly-skilled photographer friend, who will drop everything on a moment's notice and tramp through the woods with my family on a cold, November afternoon.  She doesn't even judge you when you show up in an early pneumonia, highly-medicated state with wonky kids who were eating Cheetos two minutes prior and are covered in flecks of orange, fatty goodness.  She's the best!

Seriously, though, I am happy to see that things are finally settling down here, and even though no one likes to be confronted with trials in their life, I am grateful for ours.  They have made us stronger, and they have helped us to take notice and better appreciate all the tiny blessings, no matter how silly they are, that help make each day memorable.  What are you grateful for today?