Gratitude Day #20

Friday, November 20

1. I am grateful for the weekend. This weekend I am without my children until Sunday morning. I plan on sleeping in, (sleeping in!) organizing the craft room/office space, catching up on daycare paperwork and bills, sorting through outgrown clothes and organizing the recipe binder which has exploded. I plan on wearing my pajamas until at least noon on Saturday.

2. I am grateful for a simply wonderful party with 39 of the most beautiful, kind, fun and talented women. We had such a good time at Pardon My French last night! The dinner was delicious, there was so much food - everyone was able to take some home. The live music was great and thanks to several talented women (Deb and Melissa and Heidi and Kelly) who put together tables capes and games and fun name tags and clever water bottles, the place looked amazing. So. much. fun.
Thank you ladies for coming and hanging out together!! The movie was a happy surprise. I did not go in with high expectations as Twilight was not adapted very well, but the movie was really, really fun. Team Jacob this morning. I'll do a full review soon.

3. I am grateful for being able to laugh at myself. Friday I managed to slosh scrambled eggs all over the burner (a hazard of cooking on a stove where none of the burners are level) resulting in nasty smelling smoke and setting off the fire alarm. Ten kids panicked (not mine as they are used to it), three of them huddled on the floor shouting "stay low, don't breathe, get below the smoke" while I sent Max over to wave the broom at the smoke detector and Sophie threw open all of the doors. After going off about 5 times, we got it under control. Later in the day, I burnt a bag of popcorn in the microwave while prepping for a craft. With 12 kids in and out that day, there was no time to shower again before leaving for the party. The last daycare child left at 5:45, my own kids were picked up 15 minutes later and I was out the door at the same time. If I sat next to you last night and smelled like burnt popcorn and eggs, I am truly sorry. It's just life these days and I can laugh at it.

4. I am grateful for a new used little TV which has made my life surprisingly easier. My friend Carrie just bought a new house which came with three TV's including one of those little tiny ones with the VHS built in. She offered it to me and I thought I would put it in the basement craft room to allow me to have a movie on in the background while I craft (yes, we still have lot of VHS movies). As none of the plugs are working down there right now, I brought it up to my bedroom. On Thursday and Friday mornings, I have two little girls (2 and 3) who arrive at 6:30am while the rest of the kids do not arrive until 7:00am. It is usually really hard to watch them downstairs while trying to get my own kids up and dressed upstairs. It used to involve a lot of yelling up the stairs. Now, I just plop the two of them down on my bed in front of a video and they sit there happily while I get my three kids ready for the day. Thank you Carrie.

5. I am grateful for time with friends. Susan and I used to talk to each other every single day as I watched her two youngest children for almost 4 years. I miss our conversations and I miss seeing her. Last night after the movie, we spent some time catching up without kids screaming in the background or life in general interrupting us. Staying up until 2:30am to catch up with my friend - lovely. Waking up this morning - uugh.