Saturday, August 10, 2013

Ten Things Thankful: Button, Button, Who’s Got the Button? And Other Misc Things

Ten Things of Thankful

Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner!

Yes, I’m bragging.

I’m a winner.

And it’s a major award!

It’s no leg lamp…it’s BETTER than a leg lamp!

I won a button.

And not just any old button…a SHINY, NEW, MADE-JUST-FOR-ME Blog button.

Here it is, in case you've missed it the other two times I've mentioned it:

Mrs. Always Random and Usually Shallow


Feel free to grab it from my sidebar and attach it to your blog. And share it with others...we should always share with our friends.

This beautiful creation was made by Elizabeth Bradt at http://rocksnosaltmommy.com/
1. And this is my first thing of thankful for the week.

(I apologize if you read my blog with some degree of regularity and already know this…I just want to make sure I get the word out!)

2. I am also thankful for my first “real” writing gig. AND I’m getting paid for it. Yes, I also listed it in my Seven Quick Takes yesterday but I mention it here again because I am thankful for the opportunity to be published “for real”…you know, by someone other than myself.

3. Again, thankful for Spotify…you may see this item in thankfulness in every list this entire school year and for that I apologize in advance. How else would I discover such treasures as the following song, which prompted me to look it up on Youtube so I could share it with all of you?


Feel free to further your education about Gene Austin, as you listen to this little ditty; the publisher of the “video” included a bunch of info about him as well. You know you want to read it; it’s ok. Go right ahead; I won't even tell anyone you looked.

4. I am thankful that our Foster Care Home Study is this coming Monday night. And after that we just have the two-day training at the end of the month, and then we’ll be licensed. This is not at all the path we thought we would ever go down, but we are thankful for the opportunity to see where God is leading us.

5. I am thankful for an evening at home last night. It’s the first one since the first day of school (July 29). Sure we had to prepare all our accoutrements for the soccer tournament this week-end but still, we were all home in one place, and I had my jammies on at 6pm. Don’t judge.

6. I am thankful for Kohl’s and their seemingly-random distribution of $10-off a $10 or more purchase. I was able to score a new toilet seat lid cover…and yes, I wanted it to be brown. No rude comments here, please; it complements the new color scheme, don’t you know? And in addition, I got a new brown hand towel. That may have been selected on purpose. That way the guests may or may not be aware of the length of time that very towel has been hanging on the decorative ring. 

And the real part of the thankfulness is that I was able to purchase both items, after coupon, for 51 cents. Oh yes, thankful right here.

7. Which leads me to my next item. I had been ruminating upon changing the guest bathroom (sometimes referred to as the “Power Room”) for a while. When lo and behold, my parents offered to us a gallon (or two) or paint which they had leftover from painting the home theater room in their house. Clearly this stuff was true to its advertising; with the paint and primer in one, they only did need one coat to cover.  So all that to say, I thought it was an agreeable color (and I am so glad I thought so because I LOVE it in my power room, even more than I suspected I would.) So here’s the low-down: free paint, $15 rug (the big splurge at Old Time Pottery), $7 can of spray paint (with which I painted the 5 cabinet knobs, the metal trash can, the towel ring, the toilet paper holder, and the mirror), $1 towel (they didn’t have any more otherwise I would have bought them), and 51 cents for the other towel and toilet seat lid cover. (We’ll round it up and say $25 total.) Everything else I already owned. Not bad if I do say so myself (and I do say so). So all that rambling to say, I am thankful for a room make-over on the cheap.

I was trying to show the bathroom without including a photo of myself in the mirror...

So upon inspection I see that I forgot one thing...something to adorn the door. And yes, I do NEED to put something there...

Yes, I felt compelled to show you that I had a toilet...

8. I am thankful for the hoards of Boy-Mom friends the Lord has seen fit to give me…because due to all the time I spend with my boys, I sometimes lose my filter on what is appropriate to discuss and what may be crossing the line a smidge. These boy-moms are especially gracious and don’t bat an eye when I delve into topics of smashed fingernails or hygiene issues or other such topics unfit for the squeamish (or most people in general; let's call this what it is), and I am thankful for that.

 9. I am thankful for a second week of school gone well. I even asked the PBA their thoughts on it, and they both said they liked it a MUCH better, especially now that I am not working at the preschool three days/week. I knew it was hard on them (all the packing up each day and unpacking each night; and then repacking for the next day). But now that we are on the other side of it, I see how difficult it was, and I am thankful that we muddled our way through it and now can enjoy the "being at home" business. While I miss the ladies at the school, and all the sweet little kiddos (and the hugs they like to give so freely), I am thankful that we made the decision God was asking us to by leaving the school and letting someone else be blessed by that job and that ministry.

10. I am thankful for the upcoming soccer tournament this week-end. Yes, it is a pre-season tournament and we may get stomped into the dirt, but it will be good to see how the boys come together as a team, and how they fare in their first attempts at playing 11 v 11. If nothing else, they will get to bond together...as friends and as a team; at least that’s the hope!

To piggy-back on that, I must apologize in advance that I probably won’t get to read anyone’s posts or make any comments until Sunday night, but I shall do my best. I am taking my laptop to the tournament…how could I possibly go a night without it?!?

Thanks for your understanding…and have a fabulous week-end! I’ll “see” you on Sunday!




8 comments:

  1. FIFTY. ONE. CENTS! You're amazing.

    Also, didn't you get a new button? You gonna show it off then, or what?

    I'm so glad that things are going well with you and the PBA and school, and soccer, and....everything. It all sounds pretty rosy, which is brilliant.

    Thanks for the bathroom pics - glad to know you have a toilet (but whyyyy no selfies??) and such nice paint.

    And YAY that you have people around you to understand the 'boy' conversations. I've heard some of them - you're right - they're not suitable for public consumption XD

    ReplyDelete
  2. Wow, I do love your new Blog button :)

    I also love your list, as it's got such a variety of things to be thankful for - and I love the newly decorated powder room, too - that brown looks so lush! :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. congrats on the new button! My mom and dad used to sing 'Aint she Sweet?" well my dad whistled it...he was a professional whistler for radio jingles...I totally get the boy mom thing...if it wasn't about gas or poop it probably wasn't funny enough for the likes of our house...boys....

    ReplyDelete
  4. Ok, so...I have so much to say, I hope I remember it all.
    1. You had me at "leg lamp"
    2. Was just driving someone nuts the other day because I kept saying "winner winner chicken dinner"
    3. I did add your button to my page called "Great Scot! Great Blogs!"
    4. I was scrolling along, scrolling along and...wait a minute! That's ME!! EEK! My button is on your sidebar! THANK YOU! *squeeeee*
    5.Way to go in following God's leading to do the Foster care gig. Takes a real special heart to do it.
    6. Great minds think alike! I used to have off-white towels in my bathroom...what was I thinking!? Even when they were clean, they looked dirty! So, yes, I think the same way on the darker colored towels. Yep.
    7. I think you may be right, I think we could be friends in the 'real world'
    Great post! Great list!
    Have a great rest of the weekend!

    ReplyDelete
  5. ...the genius (and overall cool thing) about what Lizzi has managed to pull off here is that being two days long actually means something at the TToT... you will see Posts and Comments show up her Saturday and into the night on Sunday... sorta like Real Life...on-going conversations

    ReplyDelete
  6. Congrats on getting paid for writing! I have always enjoyed reading your stuff!!

    ReplyDelete
  7. You are a bathroom makeover GENIUS! And yay for indoor plumbing!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Writing, foster care, and inexpensive room makeover--what a great list! Your foster-care journey sounds like ours. It was never a path I imagined, but it did bring 2 of our daughters to us.

    ReplyDelete