Ten Things of Thankful: Week 17

I'm just diving in this week...time is of the essence: 

1. I am thankful that my 10yo did not play football this year. He had always wanted to play it and last fall we finally gave in. And it was awful; there were, of course, parts that he loved…but who wouldn’t love being on a winning team that ended up going to The Super Bowl? Here is a brief synopsis of it, just in case you missed it last fall (or if you would simply like a refresher). So yes, I am thankful to not have to deal with all of that.

2. I am thankful that my 12yo, who has never once in his entire lifetime ever shown any inkling of interest in football (and NOT futbol as he likes to say, lest you be confused), but AMERICAN football. I am not really a fan, though I live with two die-hard fans. One loves the Steelers and one loves the Packers. The year that the Steelers played the Pack in the Super Bowl it was a tense game, to say the least. But we did have a festive (and yummy) cake. And no I did not make it, but I did buy it at a fundraiser the night before for cub scouts. And I did help eat it. All this rambling to say, I have always been thankful that I had one other person in my house who was sane when it came to football season.

However, this lack of interest has always kind of left him on the edge of things when it comes to his dad and his brother. Not in any sort of intentional way…it’s just that they live in Crazy Town in the fall, and he and I don’t.

3. But this year, the kids on the court decided to form their own Fantasy Football league, and my 12yo (shock of all shockers) decided he wanted to join in. So for that I am thankful (item #3 for the list). This has given the three of them an issue over which to bond, thereby leaving me alone while they three visit Crazy Town. But it’s ok; I’m a big girl. NOTE: The PBA are playing each other this week, and it could get U.G.L.Y., because the 12yo is really starting to talk some smack. Stay tuned as there may be more details to follow...

4. I’m thankful for my sweet friend who gave me clothes which she took out of her sister’s closet (no worries, the sister knew and didn’t want them back…I’m not an accessory to a crime) with the sole purpose of keeping them for herself, but at some point discovered that they were too big for her (my friend) so she gave them to me. So yes, I am thankful for the friend and also that she’s smaller than me (this is undoubtedly the first time I have ever been thankful for that).

I may need to do some ironing...or Mr. Always Random does...I don't iron.

5. And I am thankful for the cute red cardigan I bought at Salvation Army, to coordinate with said skirts, for less than $2.

6. I am also thankful for the encouragement my friend (the very same one from way up in thankfulness item #4) gave me regarding her boys. She has three of them. But was very pleased to report that the oldest and middle son are, as of late, treating each other like friends (gasp!). I have a few more years to wait, possibly, (because her boys are in their late teens) but I am thankful to simply have some inkling of hope.

7. I am thankful that my 10yo is already putting together his Christmas List/Packers Wish List (see, I told you it was Crazy Town), because it is going to take us some serious finagling to get this kid even a fraction of what he wants on this list. (Grandparents, you have been notified…)

8. I am thankful that my 10yo can make me laugh, and that he’s so much like a little old man (no offense to all the little old men out there who may read my blog...I'm certain there are tons of you...). Some might call it having an old soul. Regardless, his speech sometimes makes him seem older than he is (although when you look at him, you think he’s younger as he’s kind of on the small side…so I guess it all evens out.) As I was tucking him in bed one evening last week, he said to me (notice the quotation marks because this is an exact quote) “Mom, when you’re looking at my Christmas List, there’s one thing I need to explain. It’s on the hat. Under the size column, I marked S/M because I need the small/medium size. And that’s in the adult size, because they discontinued the youth sizes…sadly.” Seriously, who talks like that (ok, other than me…who talks like that? Ok, my mom. I’m seeing a pattern…you?)

9. Without going into too much detail about it, just know that I am having trouble collecting payment for some of the freelance writing I recently was thankful for. And while I was (and still am) thankful for the opportunity to do some freelance, I am not thankful for this ongoing issue. So…all this to say, the PBA and I were in the car the other day and I was stewing about this whole ordeal. My 10yo asked what was wrong (I assume he thought he was in trouble but wasn’t quite sure what so he was testing the waters), to which I replied, “Nothing.” But he knows his mama and pushed me further. So I pretty much told the boys what was going on, and tried very hard to not disparage the people who were behaving poorly. And I asked the boys what they thought I should do about it, and without hesitation, they both replied, “Pray.” 

Well, I'll be honest...that wasn’t the answer I was looking for; I wanted a tangible, “what I could physically do or say to these people” kind of reply…and they gave me what I needed to hear. So I am all kinds of thankful for that. And though at the time of this printing I am still dealing with the issue, my heart is softened and I am trying hard to not allow myself to let this scenario run around in my head and consume my thoughts like it was before.

10. Christine had a post on her blog this week which was a tribute to the pigs she had just sent to the butcher. Trust me...she's hilarious (doesn't it sound like it?). And in this very same blog post, she included a contest in which she encouraged the readers to write their own poetic tributes to the pigs in the comment section. 

I was in no mood to participate as I don’t like poetry, as a general rule. Some poems are ok, but mostly I don’t like it, and I don't get it. And though I attempted to be a good sport, I still don’t really like poetry, as evidenced by my writing, however I do enjoy some bacon. 

So all this rambling to say, I am thankful that Christine and Lizzi pushed me to write things that are beyond my comfort zone…such as poetry (even though I mostly wrote song lyrics, as all those years working in a preschool has me more partial to them…plus those songs get stuck in your head like nobody’s business!):

You may or may not have wanted to read what I wrote, but here it is anyway:

Poem #1
Roses are red
Bacon is delicious
Too bad piggies have to die
I hate to be malicious.

Song #1
(To the tune of “You Are My Sunshine”)

You are my bacon,

My lovely bacon…

You make me happy

With sides of eggs.

You’ll never know, Dear,

How much I love you,

Cause you’ll be dead

when you get to my plate.

Song #2
(To the tune of “A Peanut Sat on a Railroad Track”)

A piggy sat at the butcher shop
His heart was all a-racin'
Along came the butcher's ax
Chop chop! Tasty bacon!

Song #3
(To the tune of “Five Green and Speckled Frogs”)

Five pink and fattened hogs
Sitting near the rotten log
Eating the family's kitchen scraps
One jumped into the truck
‘Stead rolling in the muck

Then there were four pink and fattened hogs…

Four pink and fattened hogs
Sitting near the rotten log
Eating the family's kitchen scraps
One jumped into the truck
‘Stead rolling in the muck

Then there were three pink and fattened hogs…

Three pink and fattened hogs
Sitting near the rotten log
Eating the family's kitchen scraps
One jumped into the truck
‘Stead rolling in the muck

Then there were two pink and fattened hogs…

Two pink and fattened hogs
Sitting near the rotten log
Eating the family's kitchen scraps
One jumped into the truck
‘Stead rolling in the muck

Then there was one pink and fattened hog…

One pink and fattened hog
Sitting near the rotten log
Eating the family's kitchen scraps
One jumped into the truck
‘Stead rolling in the muck

Then there was: a whole freezer full of bacon…

Poem #2
There once was a girl named In the Coop,

On all things fake-farming she’d give you the scoop.

She loved pigs and chicken

Though often they’d sicken

And die before they’d become soup.

And with that, have a fabulous day!

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