This year, I decided to participate in the 30 Days of Gratitude project. Being a part of this project has left me pleasantly surprised. Each day reaffirms that there are so many reasons to be thankful! I hope you’ll let me know what you’re thankful for. Happy Thanksgiving!

30 Days of Gratitude (through November 21)

Day 1: I am so grateful for my husband, Lee. Never have I met a more loving, caring, supportive individual. Not a day goes by that I don’t say “thank you” to the Universe for bringing him into my life. I am truly blessed.

Day 2: I am grateful for Facebook. I have reconnected with a lot of friends who I haven’t seen or talked to for years (hello, Penfield and CCHS!). Facebook has given me the pleasure of reconnecting with my mom’s side of the family (All Hail the Romaines!). Even though we live miles away from one another, I feel closer to you than ever. I miss you all so much.

Day 3: I am grateful for comedians. I worship them. I listen to their podcasts. I try to go see them perform as much as possible. Because no matter what my problems are, no matter how anxious I feel, comedians provide me with a diversion. I thrive on laughter, and I am grateful because they make me laugh.

Day 4: I am grateful for lazy days. Other than taking Blue to the vet this morning (she’s in excellent health, yay!), I did nothing. And it was wonderful.

Day 5: I am grateful for organizations such as Austin Pets Alive that save worthwhile animals who would otherwise be euthanized because of overcrowding. If it wasn’t for APA!, we wouldn’t have met Blue or Buddy, who are wonderful companions.

Day 6: I am grateful for the freedom to choose. I voted last week, and to be able to exercise my right as a citizen and choose who I think is the best person for the job made me feel powerful.

Day 7: I am grateful for curiosity and the way it nudges me to try something new. Because of curiosity, I’ve volunteered at a wildlife sanctuary, ushered at an ice-skating competition, and learned to knit and spin my own yarn.

Day 8: I am grateful for knitting. It satisfies both sides of my brain. My left side loves following the patterns and seeing how every stitch fits together like a puzzle. The right side is enamored with the colors and textures of the yarn. And in the end, I have something tangible. What a wonderful outcome!

Day 9: I am grateful for Bob Ross. Trees and clouds look a whole lot different to me because of him.

Day 10: I am grateful for antidepressants. Before I started taking them in 2000, I couldn’t drive more than 5 miles from my apartment. Three weeks later, I was able to drive three hours to Dallas. I’m not always on an even keel, but they have definitely changed my life for the better.

Day 11: I am thankful for my cousin Scott, and all the men and women who have fought for our country. I salute you!

Day 12: I am grateful for sleep and the restoration I feel after some worthwhile shut-eye.

Day 13: I am grateful for cold weather so I can wear my handknit hat and scarf!

Day 14: I am grateful to be able to work from home most days and walk our dogs at lunch. Buddy, in particular, is serious about his walks.

Day 15: I am grateful for flexibility. I believe that being flexible is one of the keys to a happy life. I always try to have a Plan A and a Plan B, so that if something comes up, I’m not stressed out about it. It has definitely helped me in many situations.

Day 16: I am grateful for my mom. She’s always been supportive of me, she’s fun to hang out with, and she is very generous. If it wasn’t for her, I would not have been able to try freelancing. Thank you, Mom, for everything. I love you!

Day 17: I am grateful for the technology in my car that reminds me when it needs to be serviced. It even lets me know what should be done! So today, the Fit and I are going to Sears to get its oil changed and tires rotated. Thank you, Fit!

Day 18: I am grateful for books. While I’m happy to have a Nook, there’s nothing like the real thing. The *swish* when turning a page and the *crack* of a book’s spine. The intoxicating aroma of fresh ink on paper. Books are the perfect companion on any day.

Day 19: I am grateful to be an aunt. My ex-husband was also an only child, so I didn’t know what I was missing. I love my nieces and nephew. They are smart, funny, and talented. And they live in Austin! Hearing them call me “Aunt Merrie” truly brightens my day.

Day 20: I am grateful to be alive. Yes, there are bouts of depression and anxiety. But I truly have a great life and am glad that I am able to experience with all my senses everything life has to offer.

Day 21: I am grateful for recipes that have been passed down from parents and grandparents. Not only are the baked goods delicious, my mind is flooded with wonderful memories of making them with my family and friends.

This autumn we added a solar greenhouse to the  south-facing front of the house.  On a sunny day one can sit out there in short sleeves even though it’s brisk outside, and sometimes we open up the door to the house to let the heat in.  I love it!  There’s even a little grass popping up and any signs of life at this time of year are especially appreciated.

To be a bit dramatic, school work is consuming me. It’s sucking any motivation, creativity, and passion to do the things that fire me up right out of me like a Dementor’s kiss. My quantitative-something-so-other statistics class is, in fact, a soul-sucking fiend. (first world problem)

Feels good to say that aloud and get it off my chest.

Obligatory cute baby photo.

Truth is, school really isn’t that bad. If it is negatively affecting my daily go-abouts in any away, it’s because I’m letting it. I am habitually horrible at letting pending homework loom over my head throughout the day, weighing me down and stressing me out. The solution? A serious re-evaluation of my time management. My six-month hiatus from collegiate activities has me out of practice in the sport of juggling a myriad of responsibilities.

All of the aforementioned jargon is my poor excuse as to why I’ve fallen seriously behind on my “30 Days of Thankful” series. If we’re being honest here, it’s also because the series has been lacking a little bit of purpose, of intention, for me. My heart has not been as embedded into these posts as it was in the Spina Bifida Awareness series. But that, dear friends, is a problem.

I try to be sickeningly positive about life, but recently all of the superficial thankful posts splattering my Facebook newsfeed have me feeling like a judgmental negative Nancy that wants to slap society in the face. And then I re-read my posts and realize I’m just another one in the bunch.

So, is it bad that some people are thankful to have enough money each month to go shoe shopping every weekend? I guess not. But something just doesn’t sit right with me.

My dear friend Katy wrote a blog post about how she’s thankful for not being hungry. That right there was inspirational. Not because she was grateful for reliable meals, but because she spoke of GIVING.

It resonated within me. Yes, this month is about being thankful. We’re all consumed by the daily masses of trivial problems that sometimes we need to stop and be thankful for the little (and big) things we have.

But what makes my life more fulfilling, what truly fires me up and fills me to the brim with joy is the act of giving, of community service, of helping someone have what I am blessed enough to be thankful for. I have been on the receiving end of the giving tree. During years when my parents weren’t sure if there would be any Christmas presents under the tree, gifts were delivered to our door step. I’m thankful for what I have and I feel it my duty to bless someone else.

Ah-ha, I found purpose again.

So, I am going to challenge myself. For the remainder of this month, I’m going to challenge myself to be genuinely thankful. And with every thing I am grateful for, I will find a way to give that to someone else.

Challenge accepted.

Asher with Grammy.

Day 16: I am thankful for my parents. I’m thankful for their constant provision, for their endless love, for the example they set as a couple for BJ and I. They are the couple that hold hands in the car, that isn’t afraid of public displays of affection, that call their children every day, that pray for their children every night. They are loving grandparents that encompass my children with comfort, understanding, and patience.

Day 17: I am thankful to have food to feed my children. I am thankful for the Georgia WIC program that provides my family with staple food items, therefore allowing us to use the money that would otherwise go to those staples on healthier, better quality food for our family.

Day 18: I am thankful to have clothing for my children. But, more importantly, I am thankful for the generosity of every person that has ever given Asher or Eliora their children’s hand-me-downs. I am also thankful for every person that has gifted them new clothing. I didn’t have to buy Asher and Eliora coats this year. How blessed are we.

Day 19: I am thankful for my friends. I am blessed to have people that worry about me, that call to see how I’m doing, that tolerate my tardiness when I’m late for our walks or play dates, that understand when I have to cancel because my children need me. I’m grateful for strong friendships that survive the many phases of life, that continue to enrich me and provide me with constant support when I feel like I’m breaking.

Day 20: I am thankful to have people that are willing to help me with my children. I am eternally grateful for the family and friends who help me with Asher when I have to tend to Eliora’s medical needs. I’m thankful to have parents and siblings that will watch my little ones so that I can run an errand, so that BJ and I can go on a date, so that I can eat a meal while it’s still hot.

Day 21: I am thankful to be able to afford to diaper my children. In a previous post I was thankful for modern cloth diapers and for all the money I’m saving using them. But I have to take a few steps back and be thankful that we can afford to diaper our children period. There are families that reuse disposable diapers because they cannot afford to do anything but. It’s so easy for me to say “just build up your cloth diaper stash slowly, buying a diaper here and there”, but it’s easier said than done for these families. How overwhelming it must be choosing between food and reusing disposables. I must stop here before I explode into another rant.

I will report back later with how I gave or will give someone else the opportunity to be thankful for these things.

____________________
For the many:

Dare I challenge you to do the same? Hmmm…

Often times, we get caught up in trying to reach perfection, don’t meet the expectations,  and quit.  I’ve learned that that type of thinking is self-sabotage and self-defeating.

Progress and persistence are more admirable pursuits than perfection.  If you find yourself in a position where you are constantly being hard on yourself, let it go.

Accept the fact that you cannot do it ALL without any slip ups or errors.  Simply acknowledge the error, learn from it, and then continue with the flow.

In continuum, my gratitude lists goes a little something like this; I am thankful for:

Day 19:  the wonderful smiles and hugs that I get from my two boys when I walk through the door.

Day 20:  the small gestures of generosity that came my way this week.

Day 21: sharing my day’s events and concerns with someone that actually cares.

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, have an abundant holiday full of gratitude and love.

Peace and Bliss.

Transgender Day of Remembrance

Today, November 20th, is Transgender Day of Remembrance.  We are remembering and memorializing all of the transgender people who have lost their lives, often violently, solely due to their gender identity/gender expression.  In this past year alone there have been a reported 264 deaths.  There are most certainly many more, unreported.

As a member of the Queer community, I feel passionate about trans rights.  These are my people, my brothers and sisters, lovers, best friends, and family. (For more on my personal Queer ID go here: Queer Femme )

This evening I attended a vigil followed by a short program at a local church.  I was given a slip of paper with the name of a transsexual woman, her age, and the circumstances of her murder.  In my turn, I spoke this outrage aloud to the assembled group.  I was moved beyond telling.  Looking around the room, I recognized so much more than our collective grief and rage.  I saw community, kindness, love, humor, compassion, and hope.  And my gratitude meter went off the chart.

Source: style.com

View previous gratitude photos here

You can do the challenge with me! Tweet or Instagram your pictures, mention me (@mystyledaily) and include #Gratitude. I will retweet and post the pictures to my Facebook Page. Let have fun with this!

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Lets continue to remember the states and areas affected by hurricane Sandy. You can help by texting REDCROSS to 90999 ($10 donation) or visit http://redcross.org

Day 20 of 30 Days of Gratitude–Today I am thankful that Madeleine could run the entire Turkey Trot at her school without wheezing at all. Thankful as well for her doctor who helped us get her exercise induced asthma under control so she can be as active as she wants to be.

Last December, out of the blue, Madeleine started wheezing.  We were in Virginia, outside in the cold, and Madeleine was jumping up and down.  When she got in the car, I noticed she was wheezing.  This can’t be, I thought.  My girl has never wheezed before.  It must be a fluke.

It wasn’t.  She wheezed again in Virginia and attributed it to something there she must have been allergic to.  We came home and she wheezed here.  She wheezed when she biked.  She wheezed when she ran.  Occasionally, she wheezed during indoor swim practice.  She wheezed when she bounced in bouncy houses or at the trampoline place.  She wheezed when she played too hard inside.  Some weeks, she wheezed 5 out of 7 days.  It didn’t matter if it was hot or cold or what allergens were in the air.  My girl wheezed.  After a month, I finally accepted there may be a problem–after having our nurse neighbor listen to her lungs and confirm that she was wheezing.  We went to the dr, received an inhaler and prescription for Singulair.  We noticed no improvement.  We just used the inhaler a lot and learned I couldn’t go any where without her inhaler.  Maybe when it was summer, I thought.

Summer came and the asthma got no better.  We went to the beach and Madeleine played in waves and wheezed.  This was not ok.  Her asthma wasn’t improving and after 6 months of just a rescue inhaler, I decided we needed more.  I scheduled her appointment for a different doctor in the practice, one I knew worked with the school district on asthma.  He did lung x-rays to make sure it was in fact asthma, and put her on an inhaled steroid….twice a day for one month, then once a day for a month.  Finally, we noticed a difference.  The incidence of wheezing dropped down considerably.  I can count on one hand the number of times she’s wheezed this fall—all times when it was pretty cold.

Today was the Turkey Trot at the kids’ school.  I was worried about Madeleine wheezing and not being able to run.  Madeleine loves running.  In kindergarten, one of the top measures of a friend was how fast they could run.  It was warm today though, so I took a deep breath, and watched her run.  Man, did she ever run!  She finished 10th overall and the first girl in the second grade (there are 5 second grade classrooms with at least 20 kids in a class).  I talked to her at the finish and after a fist bump (Turkey!), asked if she was wheezing.  No, she told me.  I heard no rasps, no breath stuck.  I was more overjoyed with the lack of wheezing than being the fastest girl.

However, after I posted on facebook my thankful, Madeleine came home from school.  I told her what I was thankful for today and she got a funny look on her face.  Oops.  I spoke too soon.  She did need a puff of her inhaler when she got back to her classroom because her lungs got tight.  I am still thankful though, that she was able to run with only wheezing just a little bit—10 minutes after she finished and not during her run.

Photo Day 21: Where You Sleep

Mags slept here, too, until right after this was taken, when she had become quite the roller and then some.  (about 6 mos old)

No explanation needed here, I don’t think.  (Except I will say it was taken at our first trip to Starbucks… which makes all the more peaceful to me.)

Photo Day 19: Best Friend

I went through all my files on my computer… this is the oldest one.  Approximately 7 years ago… My how things have changed.  =)

View previous gratitude photos here

You can do the challenge with me! Tweet or Instagram your pictures, mention me (@mystyledaily) and include #Gratitude. I will retweet and post the pictures to my Facebook Page. Let have fun with this!

_

Lets continue to remember the states and areas affected by hurricane Sandy. You can help by texting REDCROSS to 90999 ($10 donation) or visit http://redcross.org

I don’t own a car and most of the time, I am a-okay with that.  I get where I need to be just fine.  But for the last couple of months, one thing after another has gone wrong to conspire against getting me to where I need and want to be – when I need or want to be there.  SO I am especially grateful to have a car, lent by a friend who is away, at my disposal for the next couple of weeks.  Where to next?

She and I have had our ups and downs, ins and outs, and disagreements, but one thing has never changed…how much I adore her and need her in my life.

We agree on very little…almost to a comical fault. But she’s taught me so much about myself, life, love, and how to be patient…she often gives me a glimpse from a side of things I’ll never understand, but I am forever grateful for her “spectrum” of opinions. (See what I did there? Hahah)

One year ago today a very frustrated Jessica texted me and told me she was tired of being fat an unhappy…the next day I admitted the same and we committed to change our lifestyles together, even though we were many hours apart.

A year later we have lost a combined 170lbs. We’ve both lost 85lbs! Pretty impressive eh?

Thank you Jess for being you…I am so lucky to have such an amazing bfrond. Here’s to another 14 years of friendship (Holy crapola…14 years!!)…and many many many more years of being rock stars!

Putting aside our better judgement, we headed to Colorado Bend State Park to camp this past weekend.  I figured if I had enough energy to get us ready to go camping, camping would probably be more restful than be at home for the weekend.  I was right.  When we camp, I don’t work terribly hard.  Curtis makes breakfasts and I make suppers.  We share cleaning up duty and kid watching duties evenly.  Afternoons are set aside as quiet time and I was able to take a nap Saturday afternoon.  We hiked, we sat around a campfire a lot, and we spent time together.  Wonderful. We had some nice trees around our campsite.  That easily made up for not having a playground at the campground.  John spent most of his waking time at the campsite in the trees.

Day 18:  I am thankful for camping after the end of daylight savings time.

I didn’t realize how much easier camping is once it gets dark earlier!  Friday night we were worried–we arrived after dark.  We had reserved a walk in site and had a hard time picking the “perfect” site when we couldn’t see.  Even harder was carrying our things down a steep bank to get to our campsite.  Once the car was unpacked it was fabulous.  We lit our lantern and had a warm glow as Curtis and Madeleine set up the tent.  I started the fire to make hotdogs over.  All of this was in the dark, which was nerve racking at first, but quickly became not an issue.  Once everything was set up, we ate supper.  Then, the kids all decided they were ready for bed.  They put on their pajamas, crawled into the tent, and put themselves to sleep without any assistance from us.  What!!!!????  That has never, ever happened.  In the morning, no one was awake before 6:30, which was also incredible for us.

Saturday night was just as wonderful.  We ate an early supper, made over the fire.  The sun set around 5:30 which left us plenty of time to roast marshmallows in the dark.  Again, the kids decided to crawl into the tent at 7:00.  Madeleine told the boys stories until she and John fell asleep.  Isaac needed a little help, but Curtis didn’t lay with him long before he fell asleep, before 8:00.  Again, amazing.

I had also forgotten how much I enjoy camping when it’s cold, especially when we can make a fire (unlike our October camping trip when we were under a burn ban).  The first morning it was probably around freezing, the second morning was probably 10 degrees warmer.  It warmed up nicely in the afternoon–enough so the kids played in the shallow waters of the Colorado River (not the Grand Canyon Colorado River).

© Roy Corral

30 days of gratitude journey continues

Thursday, day 15: volunteers willing to give their time and care

Friday, Day 16: glimpse of bird’s nest through bare tree branches

Saturday, day 17: tiny chickadee darting among the trees

Sunday, day 18: generous hearts sharing abundant food

Monday, day 19: a day of quiet rhythm

As the Thanksgiving holiday approaches, my prayer is that I can sustain a sincere sense of gratitude throughout the year.

Day 14 of 30 Days of Gratitude:  I am thankful for change of plans.

Day 15:  I am thankful that Curtis could come home from work at regular time.

Day 16:  I am thankful for doctors, pharmacists, antiviral medicine, ibuprofen, and the fact that all though it feels like the flu will last forever it won’t.  I am also thankful for flu shots and have learned my lesson and will in fact get a flu shot next year.

You crown the year with your bounty,
    and your carts overflow with abundance.
 The grasslands of the desert overflow;
    the hills are clothed with gladness.  Psalm 65:11-12