Daily Account of Thankfulness

As a result of my realization that I am just going through the motions, I've decided to post a daily account of 3 things I'm thankful/appreciative of. In the interest of time, I'll post weekly with the items by day for that week.

I set ground rules: I cannot use an item more than once a week... so I can't cheat by using my husband and kids every post. The items do not have to be monumental or life-changing necessarily - there is joy to be found in small stuff too.
Hopefully this exercise will provoke me to stop and smell the proverbial roses...

I'll start easy... I'll start my account from last Friday (mostly because I cannot honestly remember what happened before then - thus the need for the exercise). By the way, these are in no particular order of importance...

Friday, October 31
I was thankful for...

1. The nice weather for Halloween. The last few Halloweens have had cold, rainy, windy weather.
2. The kind interaction of complete strangers in my office with my children.
3. A stress-free (and coincidentally work-free) day at the office.

Saturday, November 1

1. Sleeping in to the late hour of.... 8:00 a.m. Seriously, it was wonderful.
2. My dad keeping the kids for me so I could go run tryouts for our local junior volleyball club
3. A quiet, uneventful day that ended with a calm dinner with just the girls and I (Mike went to the Razorback game)

Sunday, November 2

1. Spending time with my girls decorating sweatshirts. It was horribly messy and they absolutely loved it.
2. Lounging in the bed with Mike for almost a full hour after we woke up. Normally he wakes up before me and doesn't like to stay in bed, so it was a nice treat.
3. Daylight savings time. An extra hour of sleep that magically appears... wonderful.

Monday, November 3

1. The sun being up on my drive to work.
2. Mike and I having lunch together.
3. The giant hugs and the awesome sound of "Mommy!" being yelled when I picked the little girls up from daycare.

Tuesday, November 4

1. A full, productive day at work with minimal interruptions. They're very rare these days.
2. The tree tunnel. It's the leg of my drive to work where the road is not only lined with trees but the branches stretch over the road, giving the illusion of being in a tunnel. It's absolutely stunning in the fall.
3. An extremely tiring but enjoyable evening of semi-competitive volleyball with good friends...

Wednesday, November 5

1. Wednesdays being my short work days and the day that Hannah and I get some alone time.
2. The Question game that we play at dinnertime. It started with the normal "How was your day" stuff and evolved into a way to entertain everyone at the table, including me. (I suggest the KidChat books... lots of fun questions for kids like "If you could make something else besides snow or rain fall out of the sky, what would it be?" Hannah wanted kittens, Ryley opted for mice, and Abigail wanted hot dogs. It's a fun game, even for the smaller girls.)
3. The freckles on Ryley's nose. She only has four or five, they're in a semi-straight line, and they're so cute.

Extra credit.... Three things to work on for next week:

1. Patience, patience, patience... It's in short supply and as a result I'm losing my cool far more often than I should.
2. Creating more opportunities for events to be thankful for - stop using "I'm too tired" as an excuse.
3. Calmly and rationally telling my husband why I'm irritated instead of letting it fester until I blow up.