Backsies Is What There Is Not: Benefit POREfessional

Ruby is on my bed, playing with what appears to be a twig, about four inches long. She is tossing it up in the air and pouncing on it when it lands. I'm curious as to where she found this stick, and I suspect it was once part of some Christmas decoration that was within her reach, but as long as it isn't a snake, I'm good with it. Now for this week's Ten Things of Thankful:

1. I rescued a dog this week, and this time, I didn't kidnap the neighbor's dog by mistake - this one was really lost!

2. I finally got past Level 460 in Candy Crush.

3. We decided to go to the 10:30 p.m. handbell choir concert at our church on Christmas Eve, followed by the 11:00 p.m. service. It seemed like a good idea earlier in the day, but I was so tired by the time 10:30 rolled around, I could barely keep my eyes open. (By the way, handbells have a very soothing sound and a sleepy person cannot be expected to sit through a thirty minute concert AND an hour long church service without the expectation that she might fall asleep.) About halfway through the service, when I thought I was either going to have to go out into the library area and take a nap on the couch or go to my preschool classroom and lie down on the rug in the home living center, I got my second wind and made it through the service. (I can neither admit nor deny that I may have taken a little, tiny cat nap during a prayer that served to rejuvenate me.)

4. Santa was good to everyone this year, and only one gift needs to be returned.

5. Benefit POREfessional balm. Hides pores and feels luscious as it goes on. Expensive, but worth it.

6. Chips and salsa.

7. Some of you will find the following incomprehensible, but I have already taken down all my Christmas decorations and PUT THEM IN THE ATTIC. Once the gifts are opened, I'm kind of over it all anyway, and since I'm going out of town for a few days, I didn't want to come home after the first of the year to a house still decorated for Christmas. It feels good to have the house back to normal.

8. One more batch of caramel popcorn, and I am done, done, DONE for the season! I wish I had kept track of how many pounds of popcorn I have made since Thanksgiving.

9. We made it through the entire holiday season without Ruby climbing the Christmas tree.

10. I videoed my kids trying to figure out a pictogram riddle telling them what one of their Christmas presents was. Watch the following video and see for yourself how much trouble a couple of gifted geniuses had with it, bearing in mind this had been going on for several minutes when I decided it was worth recording. You can visibly see my son figure it out; my daughter takes a little longer....

Ruby has taken her prize stick in her mouth like a dog with a bone and trotted down the hallway with it. I have no idea where she's going to take it, but I can be assured I will find it with my bare feet at some point this weekend. Until that happens, I will be waiting anxiously for you to post YOUR Ten Things of Thankful list (the LAST ONE for 2014).