Sunday, February 4, 2018

Little Thankfuls That Add Up To A Lot

When you KNOW you're going to be writing a list of thankfuls for the week, your focus shifts from all the things that could be better about your week to all the things for which you may be thankful. I've mentioned before that I am a hopeless optimist, and it certainly lends itself to coming up with a thankful list. Now here are my Ten Things of Thankful for this week:

1. So many kind comments, both on the blog itself and on Facebook, welcoming me back to the TToT. I cannot tell you how incredibly happy that made me!

2. I found 11 cents on the ground at the gas station when I stopped to get a drink. 



3. Labor intensive preschool crafts that turn out super cute, like this one that I found on Pinterest:





4. Painting the hands of 25 preschooler BRIGHT RED without a single mishap.

5. Our 50th day of pre-k was celebrated with a 50s-themed party. I don't like parties, so my thankful here is that it's over (although I will have to do it again with my T-Th class; it takes longer to get to 50 when you only have class two mornings a week, so it won't be until late March or early April). 



6. I participated in Ivy's Six Sentence Stories this week, which you can read here. It felt so good to see the prompt and have an idea pop into my head. 

7. Movie Pass. Have you heard about this? It's kind of like Netflix, only with movies. For $10 a month, you can go to a movie every single day if you want to. We got our cards in the mail on Thursday, and we have now seen "The Post" (I fell asleep), "The Shape of Water" (I loved it), "Coco" (my husband and daughter sobbed at the end), and "Molly's Game" (which was better than I expected). 

8. So very thankful for helpful cats. Nora helps me do laundry, make my bed, put on make up, tie my shoes, make stuff with paper, load the dishwasher, sweep the floor, take a shower, and, this week, she helped me sew: she laid on the fabric as I was cutting it, bit the thread as it came off the spool, tried to grab the needle and the presser foot as they moved across the fabric, and knocked everything off the sewing table except the actual machine. Good times.

Nora Pearl

9. There's a chance of nasty winter weather on Tuesday afternoon, and with that, there's hope for a snow day. I hate nasty winter weather (I hate WINTER), but a snow day is a gift. THIS JUST IN: SCHOOL IS CANCELED FOR TOMORROW BECAUSE OF THE LIGHT BUT EVIL SNOWFALL WE HAD TODAY!!!

10. My daughter turned 19 today. 19. She's grown into a strong young woman, and I am so proud of her! Happy birthday, Emma Kate! 




How about you? Can you find the thankfuls in ordinary life?

Linking up with Josie Two-Shoes and her Ten Things of Thankful blog hop.







24 comments:

  1. Great list ...can you send Nora over to my place I can use the help...Teddy my dog only supervises, comes in handy because he is a great chaperone, but I say would it hurt to put his own dish in the sink after he is done eating and run some water to soak...( you're lucky)
    The movie pass sounds great, at the very best it's a night out..Ill check it out.
    Happy Birthday to your daughter...
    11 cents is a good start,or a great reminder, heck it's both ...have a wonderful week Marisa

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    1. Teddy doesn't help with the dishes?! Sheesh! Nora helps clear the table (in one clean sweep).
      Check out Movie Pass! It's terrific!
      My husband always teases me for picking up pennies, but they add up!

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  2. (#1? you might find this amusing, but I used to do a 'joke' with a scottian friend of mine; as we left, say, a coffee shop and I'd gotten a little change (from the purchase), just as we approached my car, I'd throw the change high in the air, over my shoulder. he always found that to be the height of humor.)
    #4 I assume that it wasn't permanent red dye?
    Haven't been to a movie theatre since ...'Risky Business' (warning: dangerous math!)
    10 When did you adopt a young adult?!!* Sorry, my memory says: 2 kids, getting into mischief at school, good at sports.... clearly your TToT has a typo.
    *pass along a 'HB ED!'

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    1. My grandma was a jokester and I need to write the story of her tossing pennies on the ground.
      Red washable tempera paint. Minimal staining.
      My husband usually hates to go to the theater, because he says the floors are sticky, the seats are usually broken, and it always smells like feet. He's willing to compromise this to see movies so cheaply!
      Blink! There went my kids, from babies to adults. (adult-ish - let's be real).
      Passed your greetings on to her and she said thank you (one of her favorite coaches in high school called her ED)

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  3. I think I need to see Coco! So many people have praised this movie.
    That preschool craft is so cute, but to not have a single mishap with all those little painted red hands, now that is truly impressive, knowing how quickly those kiddos can twist and turn.
    Nora is really testing your patience with all her helpful ways. I would be so frustrated trying to sew with all her help.
    Glad you could rescue those coins. Did you get them all clean and shiny again?

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    1. Coco was really good and the animation was beautiful! I had no idea what it was about and learned a lot about Day of the Dead.
      We sometimes make handprints using craft paint, and when we do, I look each of them dead in the eye and tell them if the paint gets on either of us, it will not wash off, so there will be no wiggling. So far, so good!
      I was so afraid Nora would get her foot under that needle! I've never had a cat like her before!
      The poor coins had been run over in the parking lot, but they will spend the same whether they are shiny or not! I've decided to save all my "found money" and see how it accrues!

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  4. Nora is such a very cute cat. I bet she gets away with lots because of her cute little face. Gotta love her. I never heard of that movie pass thing. How did you get it. It sounds super good. Groupon? Let me know. It's funny how you start thinking of your week in terms of gratitude and things just go a whole lot better. I love the Preschool project. I'm going to screenshoot it and share it with my friend who still teaches. It's fun to be back.

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    1. Nora gets away with EVERYTHING, even my husband, although we say "Dammit, Nora" about a dozen times a day.
      Go to MoviePass.com to get all the info. You fill out some information and arrange to make monthly payments with credit or debit card, and then they send you a Movie Pass debit card with your name on it. You download the app onto your phone, then go to the theater (you have to be within so many feet of it, so the parking lot), choose your movie and time from the app, walk up to the ticket booth, ask for a ticket and hand them the card with the exact amount you need loaded onto it. You can go to one movie a day. Check it out!
      If I didn't have an assistant, the handprint picture would have been SO MUCH HARDER!

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  5. Wishing your beautiful daughter many happy returns of the day! Wonderful thankfuls.

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  6. Movie pass sounds great, and if we were living in CA we would probably have signed up by now. With so much to do in UT, we haven’t gone to the movies as often as we once did.

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    1. I only wish we had a place where we could see art house movies. We used to see foreign films and indy films when we lived in CA. Here, we don't always get first run movies THAT ARE UP FOR ACADEMY AWARDS, because we live in a cultural void.

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  7. So nice to see you posting again!

    Lorrie at www.shrinkrapped.com (sometimes--not posting so much myself these days . . . )

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    1. Thank you so much! I have missed it and am glad to be back!

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  8. We are supposed to get snow tomorrow after getting a nice amount yesterday. Since I love winter this is typed with much more enthusiasm than you probably read it!
    The cardinal pictures are fantastic. I remember painting chubby little hands for projects like that. It always cracked me up when it was my burly little men who protested at getting dirty while the princesses of the group were like --bring it on!

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    1. Y'all have gotten quite a bit of winter weather this year, haven't you? A lot of wintery stuff breaks apart as it crosses the Kansas border. Must have to do with the topography or something. I-44 is a big dividing line for weather around here.
      I painted hands purple last year for a project (can't even remember what it was now) and it stained their hands bright pink! It was just tempera paint, but that stain would not wash off, and the boys all thought it was cool to have pink hands!

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  9. I love going to movies. I saw The Post, just tonight I saw The Darkest Hour, but I would love to see Coco sometime too.

    Happy birthday to your daughter. February is a great month to have a birthday. Mine is on Saturday. Happy February Birthday to her.

    If I haven't said it yet, glad to see you back here.

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    1. Coco was really good, and the colors are so bright and pretty!
      Happy early birthday to you! February is a good month!
      Thank you, Kerry, so much for the warm welcome! It's good to be back!

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  10. Happy Birthday to your beautiful daughter! Your kitty is adorable.And the art project is too cute, I may try that with my 2 year old great niece.

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    1. Thank you for the birthday wishes! The kitty is a hot mess, but I love her to pieces! I post pictures of her on Facebook all the time with the hashtag #DammitNora
      I love projects that involve hands or feet! They are only cute and little for so long!

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  11. From Josie, but because my blog won't let her post, this is copied from an email she send me:

    Happy Monday Dyanne! And happier still because you have a snow day! I remember how we used to look forward to them as kids, and I'm our sure teachers did even more! Sending my comments on your awesome TToT post this way, 'cuz as usual I am persona non grata on your blog. :-)

    It does our hearts good to return to blogging and realize that we were actually missed. Such a great group of people there, definitely where I feel most at home.

    Papa Bear seems to find coins often, me not so much. Maybe it's because he always stops to pick up a penny. One of my favorite things to do that I learned from a friend is to leave any change returned on my vending machine purchases in the coin return slot for someone else to find and feel happy about.

    The little red cardinal handprints are adorable...and how very brave you are to undertake that with a classroom full of little hands!! I can imagine how much fun it was for them! :-)

    Kids get so wound up on party day, but we looked forward to them so much. Many of those have gone by the way in schools now, and I think that's kind of sad. Learning can happen like that too! But for teachers, yes, a lot of extra work on top an already crazy workload and the potential for chaos reigning! :-)

    I loved your 50's photo... just too cute, and you looked about 21 in that picture!! Far too young to have a daughter turning 19 and a son becoming a doctor! How fast the years go! Your kids are doing great, you've taught them well! And empty-nesting is fun! :-)

    I didn't get a Six Sentence Story written last week, my writing schedule kind of fell apart, but I am glad that you did, and I'll be back to join you this week!

    I haven't heard of Movie Pass, but what a great idea! We love to go to the movies, but even at Senior prices, it gets expensive. Especially because "someone" thinks popcorn and a drink are essentials to his movie experience. Just a big kid at heart. :-)

    Nora sure does her best to "help" you with everything! :-) As I write this morning I am surrounded by five napping assistants. When I get up to use the bathroom, I come out to find they're all at the door waiting for me, I guess in case I escaped down the shower drain or something?? I am always amazed at how they want to be wherever we are, such devotion... and so many opportunities to "Help"! :-)) Your life would be much less without Nora dearest. <3

    Speaking of which, I am going to send you a picture by messenger of a cat litter which is MUCH better than what we were using. The clumps stay together, no smell, and no sticky clay at the bottom of the box. Amazon doesn't have this particular version of the brand (there are many kinds of it) but this one is for multi-cats, has no scent, and really works! If you buy the 40 lb bag at Petsmart or at Chewy.com the price is really good.

    Have a warm and wonderful week, Spring is coming soon (I promise).
    XOXO, Josie

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    1. Teachers like snow days even more than kids do!
      I cannot tell you how much I appreciate your warm welcome back to me! Everyone has been encouraging and you are right, these people are "home".
      I will NEVER pass up a penny on the ground. I walk across parking lots looking down. Hopefully I won't get hit by a car!
      My preschoolers are so used to me painting their hands that when I call them over to me to do a project involving paint, they always hold their hand out flat for me! Sometimes, I have a terrible time convincing them that this time, they get to HOLD the brush!
      The glasses and the scarf hide the parts that look nowhere near 21, but thank you just the same! The 50s day party isn't too bad, because it's just the kids; I don't like parties when the parents are there. I feel self-conscious, plus the kids don't behave as well with their parents there.
      Okay, here's the scam with the Movie Pass: if your theater is part of a chain that has a loyalty card, you can use it when you get your Movie Pass tickets. Then you can use points accrued for popcorn and drinks and stuff. I just signed up for the loyalty card, and I've already got vouchers for two small popcorns and one for a small drink if I go see Peter Rabbit.
      The bathroom door in our bedroom doesn't latch, so I can close it, but Nora and Pete can both open it (Pete gently noses it open. Nora stands on her hind legs and hits it with her front feet as hard as she can, sending it crashing into the vanity every time.) She is currently standing IN my jewelry box. I have to watch her or she'll snag something out of it.
      I HATE that sticky clay at the bottom of the box! When I use up the litter I have, I'll try your recommendation! Thank you!
      That groundhog can't be trusted. Spring HAS to be along soon!
      Love you!

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  12. I have not heard of MoviePass but I am so going to check it out. I love going to the movies. I want to see the Post, but it's not a good sign if you fell asleep. Congrats on painting 25 preschoolers hands without a mishap. That is truly impressive.

    WeekendsInMaine

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    1. Definitely check Movie Pass out! It's fabulous! If you see The Post, make sure you brush up on your Watergate-era players, because I had no idea who anyone was and gave up trying and that's about when I fell asleep.

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