40 Things I Am Thankful For

In honor of Thanksgiving, I am making a short list of things I am thankful for. I say it is short because I realized that 40 things came too quickly while I was writing my list. I chose 40 things because I turned 40 last Monday and I happened to have a picture of my candles. No other reason. I had to make myself stop so I could finish the post and go to bed at a reasonable Thanksgiving Eve hour. You will notice that a lot of the list has to do with very recent events. It’s where I am right now. Some of the items are random daily treasures and some are life defining. You decided which are which. Happy Thanksgiving!

40 Things I Am Thankful For (in no particular order)…

1. Boot jewelry

2. 9 year old smiles with missing front teeth

3. My dining room chairs in 4 colors

4. That my children will still pose for grueling photo shoots at the beach for under $5.

5. Bandit

6. That my Thanksgiving cherry pie didn’t burn

7. Free trombones and trombone lessons

8. That I finished knitting my nephew’s blanket before he graduated from high school.

9. Warm queso on a rainy night.

10.Twirly skirts

11. Erie sunsets

12. Friends who sew magical aprons

13. 12 year old quarterbacks

14. That the season of Advent is starting soon

15. Furniture Junk-it (come on addicts—-you know who you are)

16. My camera

17. Blowing out 40 candles while more than 40 friends sang to me.

18. That some boys do dishes

19. Watching Brad Paisley while soaking wet

20. Far away family that loves you enough to feel close by

21. Being married to a poet

22. That my parents moved to Abilene

23. That I got to watch my boys watch their first rock concert (U2 ROCKS!)

24. That we live in this blessed free country

25. That people were willing to die so that we could live in a blessed free country

26. That rainbows come after storms threaten to blow you out of Abilene (anybody go to the ACU nationally televised football game?)

27. That so many of the paper flowers my coffee girls made survived my party

28. Orange sherbet and vanilla twist cones at Whippy Dip

29. Dreamsicle toes to match my ice cream cone

30. The Taylors and their “party barn”

31. That sometimes sick babies come home from the hospital to be well again

32. The magical night I took my boys to the balloon festival

33. Highland Church (including Sojourners class and Ladies Coffee friends)

34. That smile

35. That Richard and I have great jobs at a great places with great friends to work with.

36. That I have watched my boys participate in “Sack Sunday” for at least 10 years

37. Aidan’s quirky sense of humor

38. That certain wizards aren’t “too old” to trick-or-treat with certain mummies

39. That people actually danced

40. That, for the moment, I am still taller than my oldest child—-but only if I’m wearing heels)

Anticipation…

In anticipation of my 40th birthday party this evening, I had an impromptu photo shoot with my paper flowers that will be the decorations. The theme is Funky Fiesta. I got the idea from a party room my mom showed me when we were at a mexican place in Midland this summer. I knew I was having a dancing/country party at my friend’s barn. I’ve known that for 2 years. I start planning early I guess. But this vision of paper flowers at the restaurant sealed the deal for the decorations. I searched online for the perfect flowers and was disappointed with the cost. So, I started searching for “how to” videos and such. I found PLENTY. So, I happily went to good ol’ Hobby Lobby and bought a rainbow of paper.

I decided to bring it to Ladies Coffee Night a few weeks ago and we had quite a festival of paper. It was one of the most fun evenings I’ve had in a long time. My mother-in law always says that half the fun of something is the planning of it. She was certainly right in this case. I could NEVER have finished this many flowers all by myself. And now I have not only a collection of unique party decorations but a reminder of how blessed I am with so many friends.

When I look at these flowers, I don’t just see beautiful colors and festivities waiting to happen. I see individual people who bring me lasting joy and celebration on a daily basis. I can’t wait to go to my party and share in celebration with so many people—each as unique and lovely as my paper flowers.

(Richard nearly killed himself hanging lights last night over the dance floor/driveway —I’ll have a tribute to him later.Hopefully some pictures tonight will show off his work.)

Now, on to creating the perfect outfit to wear. I want it to express my “inner Dixie Chick.” Fun. Fun. Fun.

Too bad you only turn 40 once!

Dr. Contraction

Well, this is what I did at work the other day. Mrs. Jinkerson in first grade discovered a great idea to try to teach the concept of contractions. She very graciously let me play the role of Dr. Contraction while she went over reading lessons with another group. It was so much fun that I made a guest appearance later in the day for second grade. I sent around an e-mail at school that read as follows…

“Do you have letters that need to be removed? Word condensing is Dr. Contraction’s specialty. Not only will she make contractions right before your very eyes—-she will allow interns to observe in her operating room and have hands on letter removal training.  The contraction possibilities are endless.  Call today to make an appointment with Dr. Contraction.  (Also available for house/classroom calls)”

It was fun making people laugh in the middle of the day. Sometimes I think that’s why I go to work.

Wonder what I’ll be doing tomorrow? I assure you —-it won’t be boring.

 

This is a photo of an actual surgery about to take place on the words “she is.” The letter “i” will be surgically removed and a red “scar” (a.k.a. apostrophe0 will be placed where the incision was made.) And thus….the word “she’s” will emerge.

This is a photo of riveted children whose minds are exploding with all of the knowledge being poured into their brains. Ot it’s a room of second graders being polite while they wait to line up for music. You be the judge.

FREE AT LAST!

Hello deprived readers of Library Girl. Many of you have inquired about the lack of new reading material provided here in recent months. Here’s the scoop.

School started.

That’s pretty much it. My job changed and I no longer had as much energy for “extra-cirriculars”. I have continued to take plentiful amounts of pictures. I just haven’t had the time to write them up. There were moments when I felt like I wanted to write something but It wasn’t in the chronological order of things because I had gotten so behind. I felt like I couldn’t write anything current until I had caught up with the summer posts. And so, I wrote nothing. Not good. And not fun.

So, here is my new plan.

(Since I made up the original plan in the first place, I can change it, right?)

After an enlightening discussion over tacos at Rosa’s with my dear friend Katie, I have decided to grant myself permission to drop Project 365. It will be referred to in the future as Project 185 (as that is how many days I actually got to). So, I won’t be printing a journal for myself of 2009. Just half of 2009. I have a feeling I will still enjoy it.

And now—(dun…dun…dun…)

I officially release myself from the burden I placed on my own self. I am no longer bound by date or subject matter for any post. I can write whatever I want whenever I want. I can write about Aidan’s October birthday in January if I feel like it. I can write about our summer trip while I am on Christmas vacation and then add a Christmas post right after that if I feel like it. Ha Ha Ha Ha! Oh, the freedom of  releasing yourself from your own ridiculous constraints.

Thank you for your kind patience in this matter. The requests from my friends and family to continue have been heard. And I am now able to move forward with a boundary free blogging experience. I will write when I can and not worry about it otherwise.

AMAZING!

Even though I no longer work in the library, I can’t bring myself to change the blog title. So, it will remain unchanged. However, the woman beneath the name is a new creature of freedom! But I will always be Library Girl at heart. I’ve heard I may be helping with the book fair later this month—so it still counts, right?

I wonder what other constraints I am placing on myself that need to be reexamined. Who knows what I might give myself permission to do? Don’t worry boys, I don’t think the grocery store and the laundry are optional. Now….loading the dishwasher…hmmm…that might just be another story.

Glad to be back!