On Giving Thanks

In February, I posted about taking on the challenge of The “Thank You” Project on my own by writing down at least one thing I am thankful for each day on a post-it and hanging it in my room. I ended up taking these down for a while, as we had some work being done in the house, which created a lot of movement in my room. I was worried that the movement would pull the post-its off the wall. But now that the work is done, I’m ready to start writing everything down on post-its and hanging them up again. Hopefully soon I’ll have the photo that Julia requested!

I find that taking time each day to think of something that I’m thankful for makes me more peaceful. I’m more cheerful each day and I handle the curveballs of the day much better than I do when I don’t contemplate the good things in life. Because of this, I’d also like to start writing this feature, and each week post things that I’ve been thankful for throughout the week. If you would like to post your own thankful thoughts in the comments or in your own blog, I would love to read them!

This post was supposed to come with pictures, however I can’t find the cord to hook my camera up to my computer. I’ll keep looking for it and hopefully I’ll find it soon! If I’m able to post the photos, I’ll let you know. A lazy Sunday, curled up on the couch with the dog, a cup of coffee and a book of poetry. Is there anything better?

The chance to watch a movie with my niece and nephew. I’m the aunt that provides them with entertainment: books and movies. We haven’t watched a movie for a while but they were over this week so we watched Pocahontas. It was their first time watching it and when it was done my niece gave it two thumbs up. My nephew is only four, so he got a little bored after awhile but stayed with us throughout the whole thing. My favorite part of the movie this time: my nephew looking up at me after Pocahontas talks to Grandmother Willow for the first time, asking, “Her grandmother is a tree?”

Finding root beer from my hometown in a grocery store here. My hometown has a brewery and sometimes I’m able to find the beer in MN. But, finding Point brand root beer in a local grocery store was even more exciting! I stocked up on regular root beer and black cherry cream.

The chance to introduce a friend to a new church. I invited a friend to attend my church with me on Saturday. It’s a really unique and fast growing church. It’s a great place for young people to gather and worship, so I was thrilled to have a chance to introduce her to the church. And she loved it!

For a perfect batch of biscotti. This is the first time I baked biscotti with the new oven and it turned out to be the perfect batch of biscotti. It was wonderful! Our old oven was on the fritz. I spent four hours one afternoon baking biscotti and by time I gave up, the biscotti hadn’t baked through completely. Another day, I put biscotti in the oven and within five minutes it had burned the bottom, without baking anything else.

A dog that wakes me up each morning. Even though it sounds awful to a night owl like me, the dog I’m currently dogsitting for an extended period of time, is just the sweetest thing! She comes into my room in the morning and jumps on my bed, taking advantage of the few minutes it takes me to wake up to lick my face uninhibited. And when I’m awake and tell her to stop she curls up at my side.

For finding the perfect cookie recipe. This week I finally decided to try Giada De Laurentiis’s Double Chocolate Espresso Cookies. I tweaked the recipe a little bit (as I do with all recipes) but they are still delicious! They are the perfect blend of being chocolately but not too sweet, thanks to the espresso possibly, and they are slightly crispy on the outside but nice and chewy on the inside. Wonderful!