Thankful Things on Thursday

The week was off to a strong start. Sunday was the perfect start to the week and Monday & Tuesday were solid days. Yesterday I hit a wall and the grumpiness returned in full force, I'm happy to report that today I'm feeling a little less crazy and a little more rational. I've also decided I need to have chicken strips & fries for lunch so that's probably also contributing to my inner peace. 

I've been joining the Stuff & Things link up with Joey and Kristin for a long time now so when I found out that the link up was going into retirement after today I knew I needed to link up one more time. And since I've been feeling more grumpy than not lately I decided it would be a good idea to dedicate the last Stuff & Things to stuff and things I'm thankful for amid the current chaos of my life. 

Last year before camp started I jumped on The Fringe Hours  by Jessica Turned bandwagon and had a genuine mind shift. I always thought that I needed large chunks of time to do things that I loved. And as a consequence of that thinking I rarely got to do those things. The whole point of the Fringe Hours is to find little pockets of time and use them. And now I've discovered that by being productive when I need to be, most days I can create a full hour that I can use to work on Project Life before work. I still prefer a full afternoon of scrapbooking but I am thankful for The Fringe Hours!

Even though there's snow in the forecast, it's still starting to feel like spring around here. Blue skies, trees that are starting to think about coming back to life, temperatures that don't involve a minus sign and sunshine are all things I've been feeling thankful for this week.

Best friends, group chats and Skype dates are all things I'm feeling overwhelmingly thankful for lately. 

In this moment I'm also pretty thankful it's Thursday and that there is a whole weekend ahead followed by the last full week on work before the end of my office contract and a little break between office life and camp life.  

Also linking up here for Thankful Thursday. 

Thankful

It's been a strange week around these parts. I got some fabulous news and also had a few incidents that were not so fabulous which made me feel a nauseous kind of anxious. I definitely need to take a step back and focus on the things I'm thankful for over the past few weeks.

I am so thankful I have good studded winter tires on my car. I live out in the country and work in town at least once a week I find myself driving to/from work in snowy, icy and way less than ideal road conditions. It's not enjoyable, but I'm glad I have good tires because it makes me feel more secure and a little safer.

I'm thankful that my contract was extended by two weeks taking me to mid-April. It's perfect in that it gives me time to keep making good money before I go pack to camp pay cheques and it gives me enough time to prepare for camp. Last year I was in the office from February-May before living on site for the season. There was a rumour going around that our contracts could get extended until May, which wouldn't have given me zero time to prepare for staff training & camp.

I'm thankful that not only will I have some time to prepare for camp I also have time for a vacation. J. and I booked a trip! I got a passport two years ago and have never used it, so I'm excited to finally add a stamp. Not to mention soak up all the Vitamin D my body can hold! (While wearing  copious amounts of sunscreen because I'm not in the market for skin cancer.)

I'm thankful I have the ability to pick up the TV remote and change the channel when "Dr."Phil or "Dr."Oz come on. 

I'm thankful for the first few minutes in the morning when I stay in bed, slowly wake up and take time to pray about the day ahead. 

I'm thankful for the first hour of my day when I can sip coffee, watch morning news shows and start the day stress free.

I'm thankful for the opportunity to link up for the Thankful Thursday Party so I can share my thankful moments and read through others.

Tunes & Tastes

I feel like this week has been so chaotic! I made 3 trips to town in 3 days, but I did finally get my laptop fixed! With a totally empty hard drive my first priority was to restore my iTunes to its former glory. I spent a solid two hours yesterday importing CDs but I barely made a dent. If anyone has any music/song suggestions now would be the time to share them! I listen to a lot of country but I also listen to lots of indie stuff and I'm not ashamed to admit I have a soft spot for One Direction and the Jonas Brothers. 

Pinterest

Last night I Skyped with H. & R. for three hours. I love those girls with every fiber of my being. Our friendship isn't perfect, I mean, technically I'm their boss four months of the year...and like any boss/employee relationship there are definitely times when I have to be the "bad guy"/authority figure. But we work through it. Part of what makes us so close (other than the magic that is camp) is that we learned pretty quickly on that if we wanted to be friends we needed to forgive each other and not hold grudges. It's pretty easy to get annoyed/frustrated with somebody when you live and work with them 24/7 and if you don't learn to accept apologizes, discuss disagreements, agree to disagree and respect each other by the time August comes around you cannot wait to get far away from them. I am so thankful that the three of us "clicked" almost instantly but also realize it takes effort to keep a friendship and having that kind of friendship is worth all the effort in the world.

Pinterest

I recently realized how thankful I am that I genuinely enjoy cooking! I love being in the kitchen trying a new recipe, creating something from scratch or making an old favourite, it all makes me happy. I see posts on my Facebook/Twitter almost daily from people either complaining about eating Kraft Dinner for the fourth time that week or sharing a photo their latest kitchen disaster. I'm not saying I don't have my share of kitchen disasters (someday I'll tell you the "microwave s'more" story), but I just laugh them off and move on to my next culinary adventure. I can't imagine hating cooking so much that you eat out every single meal and avoid the kitchen like the plague. I don't know if my love for cooking & baking is a product of nature or nurture but I'm sure thankful for all the hours I spent baking with my Grandma as a child and for parents who let me experiment in the kitchen (just as long as I cleaned up my mess afterwards). 

On that note I am off to start supper, import a few more CDs and catch up on last's nights episode of Survivor!

Candy, Coke & Criminals

Today's Thankful Thursday is brought to you by three of my current favourite things: Candy, Coke and Criminals. 

Swedish Berries & Sour Patch Kids are at the top of my favourite Halloween candy. I've already eaten way too many of the 'fun-sized' packages of both. My only complaint is that they are usually accompanied by the fun-sized packages of Fuzzy Peaches and I have no use for those things. 

I'm thankful for an improving attitude towards food that let's me enjoy eating some candy and not feel ashamed. There's nothing wrong with a few treats as long as I eat plenty of veggies and good stuff the other 90% of the time. 

 

I already mentioned friends brought me back a case of Vanilla Coke from their trip to states, but last night I cracked open the first can. It is just as delicious as I remember. It's probably a good thing I don't have constant access to it all the time because I would have a hard time not drinking gallons of it a day. Last night Mom and I were putting together treat bags for the Trick-or-Treaters and Peyton promptly made herself at home in an empty Coke box. 

I'm thankful for the adorable Peyton, thoughtful friends and Vanilla Coke.

Is anyone else as obsessed with Criminal Minds as I am? I am such a huge scardy cat when it comes to spooky stories and blood & guts type things but I can not get enough of this show. I want to be best friends with Dr.Spencer Reid. And J.J.. 

I'm thankful for TV shows that remind me despite all the bad in the world there are a lot of good people too. And that I might be having a bad day, but at least I'm not being kidnapped by a crazy serial killer. 

Thankful

I'm thankful to be a part of the Bigs & Littles Network for this round! 

My assigned Big is Samantha over at Designer in Teal  and I'm really looking forward to getting to know her and learning from her blogging experience!

Along the same lines I am incredibly thankful for the new followers I've gained in the past week! 

I'm thankful for messages from friends that literally make me laugh out loud.

I'm thankful for hot cups of chai tea on damp days.

I'm thankful I have an idea for NaNoWriMo! I was going through old notebooks searching for an idea and I came across a character name that I had totally forgotten about. I can't start writing yet but I have spent some time thinking about it which should make things easier come November 1st!

I'm thankful for getting to start my day by spending some cuddle time with my cat.

I'm thankful for homemade chocolate chip cookies. 

I'm thankful for real progress being made with funding for a year-round position!! We've been stalking our application online and at last look it's still "processing" but has been assigned a case manager which is a really good sign!

I'm thankful for the feeling of totally have your life together when your bra & underwear happen to match.

I'm thankful for donuts. Specifically chocolate dip and vanilla dip with sprinkles.

#onebigtruth Thankful Thursday

Today I'm participating in a really neat link up with some amazing bloggers who are sharing what God has done in their lives. At first I wasn't sure I had anything really worthy of blogging about, so many bloggers have incredible stories of God's faithfulness through infertility, singleness, adoption...and I'm still waiting on things. There are a million little things I am thankful for each done, but compared to others my story seems insignificant. Then I had an 'ah-ah' moment and realized that is my story. I may not have a big story right now, but that doesn't mean I won't. God is always working in my life. His timing is perfect. Some days I get discouraged and think that I need to give up on my dreams and than I'm asking for too much. Then I remember that I'm not. God can do anything, even more than I can dream. It just might take some time. Which means the first thing I'm thankful for today is that nothing is hopeless or impossible with God.

 

                  

 

On a lighter note I am thankful for the cheesecake that is in my fridge. As soon as I finish this post I am going to make myself a cup of tea, light a candle and do some reading while I enjoy every delicious bite.

 

I'm thankful for a stack of books in my to-read pile that I am finally getting around to reading.

 

I'm already thankful for the homemade pizzas I plan on making for supper.

 

I'm thankful for friends who ask "how was your day" instead of "what's up?".

 

I'm thankful for last minute babysitting opportunities, which leads to extra money, which is always nice.

 

I'm thankful for hot cups of coffee on chilly autumn mornings.