This year wasn’t exactly the best year of my life. Neither was it the worst. So I’m thankful for that.

I’m thankful for my husband, who works so hard to take care of us so I can be home with Little Girl where I want to be. And he puts up with me. Even when I’m cranky.

I’m thankful for my sweet daughter, even when she is cranky, because cranky or not, she is a blessing beyond any other blessing I’ve ever been given.

I’m thankful for Melody who patiently and lovingly puts up with the attention of an almost three year old. She protects the house, she comes when she is called, she is our companion.

I’m thankful for the fact that my father is still around so that my daughter can know who he is.

I’m thankful for Mike’s parents who are always willing to help in so many ways, not the least of which is to care for their granddaughter whenever we need them to.

I’m thankful for our house, unfinished though it is. I know that it is where we are meant to be, and it is home.

I’m thankful for the gifts God has given me - especially my music and my creativity.

I’m thankful for my mom, because I know she’s with me and is a part of me.

I’m thankful for my best friend who makes me laugh and cry and always listens.

I’m thankful for my other good friend who keeps me company on instant messenger when I’m lonely.

I’m thankful for my goddaughter who fills me with pride.

I’m thankful for her siblings, especially her big sister, who help me so much with Little Girl when I need it the most.

I’m thankful for the friends that have reappeared in my life after an absence, and I hope they stick around for a long time.

I’m thankful for all of the people in our life who make up our village and who are a part of our lives.

I’m thankful for my blogging buddies who make up my little community, and for those who no longer blog, but are still a part of my life.

And most of all, I’m thankful that I have so very many things to be thankful for.

May you have a blessed and happy Thanksgiving and may you spend it with someone you love.

It’s the month of thankfulness, so I’m going to try and post some reasons I’m thankful as often as I can for the rest of this month…

LG and I went to Michael’s this morning since they are having an awesome Veteran’s Day sale. I bought a few things (and used my 50% off coupon from the paper yesterday - yay!) and we were trying to cross the drive in front of the store to get back to our car. A car (finally) stopped for us and as I raised my hand to say thank you, my bag broke and all my stuff fell all over the the street. My other hand was of course holding onto LG’s hand, but I had to let go in order to pick up my stuff, so I told her “stand there and do not move” as I scurried to grab my things so as not to hold up traffic for too long.

A family had crossed the drive ahead of me, and the dad turned back and helped me pick my things up. LG stayed put as I had told her to, the cars didn’t honk at me, and we got across the street with all our purchases and both of us in one piece.

For the kindness of strangers, I am grateful.

Today is Columbus Day. Did you know that? Theoretically, I knew that. But I didn’t think about it directly affecting my life today. It kinda did, though, although I didn’t realize why at first.

LG and I had to go to the Cox Digital store to switch our regular cable box for a second dvr today. We got there, I gathered the cable box and the kiddo and I walked up to the store. And saw an unbelievably long line. And turned around and went back to the car. I was trying to meet Rochelle at Target so we could hang out together while we did our respective shopping. Which we did. But there was no way I’d have made it if I’d stood in that line!

Target shopping finished, I decided to try the Cox store again hoping that maybe the morning rush had subsided. Ha! But, since I was already there and LG was in a reasonably good mood, I decided to just take a number and wait it out. My number was 42. They were on 22. So. not. kidding. A little while later, a chair opened up and I snagged it so I didn’t have to hold the cable box and corral LG while standing up. By this time there were on about number 29. Then the gentleman in the seat next to me tapped me on the arm and handed me another ticket. 35! I thanked him sincerely and breathed a sigh of relief because I wasn’t going to have to wait quite as long as I thought at first. Then three ladies walked in and as they were looking for a seat, the nice gentleman offered them his seat (there were two open ones next to his) because he was about to get called. He was 33 or 34 I think. The ladies made a comment about it being Columbus Day, and I said, “Oh, so THAT’S why it’s so busy in here! I’ve never seen it this busy.” They were really nice and were talking about their number (49), so I offered them my 42 and when they hesitated thinking I needed it, I explained that the gentleman had given me a lower number so I was giving them my original ticket.

One of the ladies said that was just “all kinds of good karma” and kind of like “pay it forward”. And it was. I felt really happy to have someone be kind to me, and it felt good to be kind to someone else. Hopefully they passed their 49 on to someone, too - maybe someone with a small child who was dreading the long wait.

Either way, I think she was right. It was definitely “all kinds of good karma”.

So Happy Columbus Day!

Hello? Are you out there? If you’re reading this in your feed reader, or you’re actually here on the website reading, then please come out of the shadows and leave a comment today. I’m going to try my best to leave comments on all the blogs I read today rather than just lurking as well. Because as you can see, it’s de-lurking day! So, leave a comment here, pretty please, but leave comments everywhere else, too!

And just to give you something to talk about, in case you’re at a loss, let’s discuss chili since it’s National Chili Month! I love chili. Love. It. So, in the comments you can tell me whether you like beans in your chili or not. And if you’re really ambitious, you can leave me a link to your favorite chili recipe so I can try some different ones out this winter. Or if you don’t like chili, tell me, tell me why?

Or you can talk about whatever you want, but whatever the case, please say something for goodness sake! Comments make everyone happy (as long as they’re not mean, of course), so de-lurk! It’s de-lightful! It’s de-licious! It’s de-lovely!

Because of the heart issues I had earlier in the summer, then the wear and tear on my throat from the transesophogealechocardiogram (when they stick the tube down your throat to get a better look at things), and finally the nastiest summer cold I’ve had in many years, I realized today that I haven’t sung a real solo at church (other than a few lines) since probably the beginning of June. That’s a long time for me. It was sad and frustrating and at times I wondered if my voice would ever come back.

Well, it’s not all the way back, but it’s well on the way again. Today, I sang a solo at Generations (our monthly religious education program) and another solo at mass tonight. And it felt really really good. By no means was it my best work, but just to be able to do it without coughing or without wondering if my voice was going to come out when I wanted it to was a true blessing.

Music is my escape and my joy and it was really hard to be without it for so long. But I think I’m back! Thank you Lord!

And, by the way, Marlene did a really cool song that was a little different from what she normally does, but it was kicka$$!! (Can I use that word to describe a God song? lol!) I think we did pretty well for the first session back from summer break, if I do say so myself. :)

In about 23 hours, my procedure is supposed to begin. We all know that won’t happen at exactly the right time because that’s the way stuff goes at the hospital, but I’m sure it will be close anyway.

The good news is that the hospital called yesterday and the insurance approved everything, so all we have to pay is the co-pay.

Two years ago when I had this done, LG was only 8 months old and I decided then that it would stress me out more for her to be away from home then it would stress me out to not have Mike with me at the hospital, so Grandma came over in the morning and stayed with her until Mike got back after they had taken me in. That was what worked best for me last time. They even pinned a picture of her to the pillow so if I turned my head I could see her sweet little face.

This time, of course, I’m going under general anesthesia, so I won’t be turning my head to see her picture. I also won’t be stressed about her being at Grandma’s all day since she goes there all the time and she can actually communicate her wants and needs. So, since all of your comments said you’d have your hubby with you, I feel less guilty about wanting mine with me and he’ll be there. ;) He’ll drop me off at the hospital to start checking in, then drop her off at Grandma’s and come back because the hospital is really close to our house and that arrangement will let us sleep the longest. And when you’re talking having to be there at 6, sleeping as late as possible is a good thing!

I’ll be home sometime Friday afternoon - whenever they decide to let me out of there - and since Mike has to work and they don’t like you to be alone and I’m not supposed to lift a thirty-something pound toddler for a few days, Rochelle has graciously consented to come babysit us Friday night. So, we’ll be watching Bridget Jones movies (because she’s NEVER SEEN THEM!!!!) as long as I can stay awake.

I’ll try and post something when I get home to let you know I survived (which I’m sure I will). In the meantime, thank you for all the wonderful thoughts and comments and emails you’ve sent. I really truly appreciate there are people out there who care what happens to me! Thank you for your support and prayers and thoughts.

The wonderful Susie did me the great honor of nominating me for a Thinking Blogger Award! Thank you Susie! And now I get to reciprocate and nominate other people!

In keeping with my policy of not tagging people, I’ll let those I nominated decide whether or not they want to do the meme themselves. Don’t feel obligated if you don’t have time or don’t have blogs you want to nominate. It’s all for fun! But, if you do choose to play, here are the rules:

1. If, and only if, you get tagged, write a post with links to 5 blogs that make you think.
2. Link to this post so that people can easily find the exact origin of the meme.
3. Optional: Proudly display the “Thinking Blogger Award” with a link to the post that you wrote.

Now, without further adieu…here are the five blogs that make me think….

Here in the Hills makes me think about art in all its shapes and forms. Naomi has lived a rich, full life and knows so many interesting people. She writes about television, acting, music, art, her beautiful garden, and shares her amazing photographs. I rarely come away from reading her blog not having learned something or being enriched in some way.

Just*dot*Christina is such a strong lady and such an amazing writer. She makes me laugh and cry, sometimes, too, but she always makes me think.

I will finish my list with three of the favorite moms in my life - they each have four children and they make me think that I might not screw my little girl up too badly. They encourage me, answer my stupid questions, and make me laugh all the time (and not just in blogland)! So here’s to Marlene, Theresa, and Bernadette, my three best fellow-mom friends.

Update: T’s blood pressure has gone back up, so please keep praying.
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Thank you to all of you who have been praying - prayer is really a wonderful thing and it works!

My friend T is up and about, her blood pressure is back in the good range, and they’re moving her to another room. So all good news. She finally got to see her little one and she is doing great as well. She just “has to grow” as they say. LG was a “feeder/grower” herself, although she didn’t have quite as much growing to do before they sprung her from the hospital.

So things are looking up for them and that is truly a blessing. We didn’t get to go see them today as Mike is trying to deal with his truck and my car has not been available so that I could sneak away before church, but I just spoke to her on the phone and promised her to come visit tomorrow. She sounds a lot less “fuzzy” than she did yesterday and that made me feel a lot better, too.

Thanks again for the prayers, and keep them in your thoughts when you are able. I’ll have more on this topic tomorrow I hope!

Thanks to all of you who commented yesterday. I got eight comments - which is a lot on one post for little old me - and I’m going to round it up to a nice $10 donation to the March of Dimes.

Thank you again!

They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, (although I think it’s nice to give credit where credit is due - like how I stole the idea for my monthly letters with photos from Dooce, which I think I’ve mentioned before, but it’s been awile, so credit to Dooce for that!) and that being so, I’m totally stealing this idea from Miss Zoot because I think it’s such a great idea. This is the official week of De-Lurking as coined by Sheryl at Paper Napkin back in 2006. (De-Lurking Day was coined in 2005, and then changed to week in 2006.)

Anyway, Miss Zoot is donating a dollar to charity for each comment she gets on her de-lurking post today which is a wonderful thing to do. I do not get even close to as many comments in a WEEK as she gets on one post, but still, every dollar helps. So, for every person who comments on this post (lurker or not) today, I will donate $1 to the March of Dimes (which is linked right there on my side bar - see it?) to help fight prematurity (up to $50 which I’m sure I won’t reach anyway…lol!) - a cause near and dear to my heart since my sweetie was a preemie and my good friend’s twins were even smaller preemies. We were lucky that Little Girl didn’t have any major issues at 8 weeks premature and only spent less than 3 weeks in the hospital. My friend is lucky that her twins (born at 14 weeks premature) both survived - they have certainly had their problems, but they are doing well at four years old. So, leave me a comment and it’s worth a dollar to the March of Dimes, and if you feel so moved, make a donation yourself by clicking on the sidebar.

I could write pages and pages on what I’m thankful for, but I’ll try to keep it short:

I’m thankful for:
• the four M’s in my life and the M who is no longer with me*;
• for dogs present, dogs past and dogs to come;
• for Mike’s family who treats me like their own;
• for my family even though I don’t see them very often;
• for my friends (you know who you are and how much I love you);
• for my goddaughter and her awesome siblings;
• for my blog friends and their support;
• for my health;
• for the roof over our heads;
• for my faith in God and relationship with Him;
• for food on the table;
• for my gift of music;
• and for everything else I didn’t mention here.

To all of you who read this today, whoever you are, Happy Thanksgiving. And if you don’t celebrate Thanksgiving today, then just take a moment to be thankful for the things in your life that make it worth living.

*Four M’s = My husband, my daughter, my best friend and my dog; M no longer with me = My mother

Today is my 4th “blogiversary” so I thought I’d talk about how I got into blogging. It’s all Mr. Syndromes fault. I blame him. ;-) I had a website probably about 10 years ago which was mostly just a repository for links. This was long before blogging as it is now was even really thought of. Way back then Mr. Syndromes also had a different website than he does now and he had his own online diary that he wrote his thoughts in. It’s been awhile, but as far as I can remember there was no way to leave him a comment. You just read what he had to say and that was that unless you wanted to email him. We were out of touch for awhile, and I have no idea what became of that website, although once I did find some of the pages on the Wayback Machine which was quite an interesting trip down memory lane.

At some point after we got back in touch with each other, I found out about his “blog”. What on earth was a blog I wondered? So I read it and I even commented on it. The whole idea of comments from people you don’t know was just fascinating to me, but I wasn’t ready to plunk out the money for a domain of my own at that point. I mentioned the fact that I thought it would be fun to have a blog of my own one day and four years ago today he told me about Live Journal and hooked me up with a free account. And I guess the rest is history.

I love the interaction of comments. I love meeting new people and learning about their lives. I really love the fact that you can get so caught up in another person’s life that you’ve never met, maybe never even seen a picture of and feel like you are friends. I love that you can interact with people all over the world and share your lives with each other - boring or funny or sad or exciting as they may be. I have met so many wonderful people through this blog and I really can’t tell you how much it has meant for me as I have learned how to be a stay at home mom to Little Girl. I love that I can ask the internet to pray for my friends and not only do my friends pray and my regular readers pray but people who have never been to this site pray and ask others to pray. What a gift that is. So yes, the internet has it’s negative points. There are stupid people out there and they do stupid things. But all in all, blogland is a really great place to be a part of. So, thanks for visiting my little blog. Thanks for every single one of your comments. Thanks for getting involved in my crazy life in whatever way you’re involved. And here’s to the next four years. Huzzah! :)

I took the plunge and upgraded to Wordpress 2.0.1 tonight. Luckily Mr. Syndromes was on instant messenger with me to hold my hand in case I broke something. And luckily he told me to back something up that I almost didn’t back up. I would have been very sad had I not backed it up, too. Anyway, it seems like it’s working okay and nothing got broken in the process, but if you have any problems, please let me know!

Thank you Mr. Syndromes. Big smooch!

I just wanted all of you to know that I am trying very hard one way or another to respond to each and every comment that has been left for me regarding the loss of our beloved dog. It truly means so very much that you have taken the time to support us. Not all the comments are getting to me through email as efficiently as they normally do, so bear with me. I will respond sooner or later!

In some ways it sort of feels like our new year has started today rather than Sunday. We had an ending. Now we have a beginning, and soon we’ll hear the pitter patter of eight little feet and be cleaning up messes all over the house - not unlike what we’ve been doing with Majerle the past few weeks. So it will begin again. And no we won’t feel the same about the new dogs, but that doesn’t mean we will love them less - just differently. And Little Girl and whatever their names might be (I’m pushing for Linus and Lucy, but Mike is not convinced) will grow up together. In a way, Mike and I grew up with Majerle, Lady, and Bob. The circle of life.

Some moments from our day:

* Little Girl looking all around for her “DA!” as I carried her to the great room this morning for her breakfast. And still looking for her when we came home from Grandma’s this afternoon.

* Driving out of the driveway this morning and passing the three trees that mark the final resting places of our furbabies. That was a tearjerker of a moment.

* Catching glimpses of different things out of the corner of my eyes, and thinking it was Majerle. It’s hard to not have a dog around for the first time in almost 14 years.

* Talking about our dogs with Mike at 4:30 in the morning because I woke up and couldn’t get back to sleep. Reminiscing. Laughing. Smiling. Just remembering.

* Talking with my sister-in-law (a huge dog lover) about our dogs and her dogs and how absolutely amazing is our vet - so much so that we all continue to go to her even though we have to drive many miles to the “old neighborhood” to get there. She drove miles in the opposite direction from her home last night to come to our house after the clinic closed so that Majerle could be at home in her final moments. That’s an amazing caring doctor in my book.

* Coming home to an empty house and knowing that it was permanently empty of my precious dog.

* Watching the last little movie we took of Little Girl patting Majerle’s head last night before the vet got there. She won’t remember it, but we will.

* Grieving, saying goodbye, and looking to the future.

Thank all of you who helped in one way or another, whether by being here, sending emails, prayers or healing thoughts, or just leaving a comment. I feel blessed to know you care about me, my family, and one sweet dog.