Being Thankful

It seems there is a new trend in facebook statuses.  Some of my friends are writing one thing they are thankful for each day, now through Thanksgiving.  I thought that this would be a great daily blog post and hopefully have me get back into the whole blogging thing. 

I'm off to a late start, so this post will include seven things I am thankful for, since today is the 7th.  Some days might be lengthy and others may be short and sweet.  Sometimes it's hard for me to write down how I feel.  Whether it be short and sweet or a short novel, I'm thankful for many things.  So here we go!

Day 1 - God - I am thankful for having God in my life.  I am thankful for the life He has given me and for the people that are part of it.  I know my relationship with God could be a lot stronger, but I try and I am thankful that I can work on that relationship.  Being thankful for having God in my life makes me think of a song I used to sing at summer camp: "Give thanks with a grateful hear, give thanks unto the Holy One, give thanks because He's given Jesus Christ, His Son; And now, let the weak say 'I am strong', let the poor say 'I am rich', because of what the Lord has done for us, Give Thanks!"

Day 2 - Jeremy (my husband) - I am thankful for my husband, Jeremy.  He is the most loving, caring, patient man I know.  He accepts and loves me for who I am.  Who knew my high school crush on Jeremy would lead to us dating, getting engaged and becoming husband and wife.  We have been through a lot, and I know most couples say that, but we really have been and I am so very thankful for Jeremy being at my side.  I am thankful that I married to a person that I can laugh with, cry with, be silly with, and just be with.  Thank you Jeremy for being the one I get to spend the rest of my life with.  I love you!

Day 3 - Family - My family is huge!  My grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, in-laws, nieces and nephew.  I am thankful for the love and support from each and every one of them.  I am thankful for all the times we have spent together and all the memories we have made.  And I am thankful for all the future get-togethers we will have and memories to be made. 

Day 4 - Leggs (my dog) - Leggs is a Hurricane Katrina rescue dog.  I adopted him about six years ago and I'm so happy that I did.  He makes a terrible day turn into a not-so-bad one.  He is there to greet me when I get home and loves to sleep by me at night.  I'm thankful for being able to be an owner of a dog who loves me!

Day 5 - Home - I am thankful for the apartment Jeremy and I live in.  It is the first place that we called home, together. 

Day 6 - Friends - I am thankful for my friends, old and new.  I wish some of them lived closer, but I'm thankful that we keep in touch.  I am thankful that they accept me for who I am, for letting me vent about the silliest things, and for being there when I needed someone to talk to.  I am thankful that we can go weeks without talking and then the next time we talk, it feels like it was only the other day we last spoke to one another. 

Day 7 - Job - I have been working on my current job since I graduated college.  I am thankful for being an environmental scientist and the paycheck it provides.  I am thankful for the opportunities this job has given me and all the skills that I have learned.  Who knew you could get paid to play in the dirt??  I have met some wonderful people working in my field and I'm thankful for the wonderful co-workers that I have.

4th of July Weekend

This 4th of July was spent in upstate New York camping at my family's property.  We try to go at least once a summer, usually one of the holiday weekends (4th of July or Labor Day).  Since the property we own is just vacant land, there are no houses/cabins, no running water and no electricity.  So when we go, we have to bring everything, and I wouldn't change it.  I love sleeping in a tent and cooking over a fire.  And spending a weekend with my family is an adventure all by itself!

Here are a few photos from the weekend:

Dirt road leading to the family property

Surrounding land

Sunshine over the frog pond

Cooking part of our annual 'Thanksgiving' dinner.  Every year, my uncle cooks a turkey in a smoker and everyone else makes all the sides to go with it.  Who knew you can make Thanksgiving in the great outdoors?

And here is the result of all the contributions by everyone.  This is Jeremy's plate.

And this is me, after driving a quad in a downpour.  You can see our little kitchen setup too.

Roasting marshmallows over a campfire

Our annual group shot.

Happy 4th of July from all of us!  Hope you all had a wonderful 4th of July weekend.

Handmade Gift Exchange

I participated in the summer Craftaholics Anonymous Handmade Gift Exchange.  This is the second time I entered and had so much fun meeting a new friend and creating a gift for them.  

My partner was Susan and she has an awesome blog called homeroad (be sure to check it out!).  I was so excited when the package arrived in the mail and couldn't wait to see what she sent!  When I saw the box she packaged everything in, I knew I was going to love the gift.

She included a cute a little note on a mason jar tag (love mason jars!).

Susan made me a set of hand stamped tea towels and a pin cushion!  I love my gift and couldn't wait to hang the tea towels on my oven door. 

Thank you so much Susan! :-)

Way Behind...

Well it started out well, but about half way through the month of June, I feel behind....way behind on the 30 Days of Creativity.  I'm sure if I go back to what I worked on and the pictures that I took, I could come up with the remainder of the month.

Tonight I'm going to concentrate on the things that I worked on to post.  Including the gifts I received from my Craftaholics Gift Exchange partner! 

I hope all of you had a wonderful 4th of July!  I spent the weekend camping with some great friends and family.  I'll be posting about that as well.

Stay tuned!

My "Other" Mother

My mother-in-law is turning 60 this month (June 21st to be exact).  We are doing something special for her birthday and as one of her gifts, friends and family are writing letters to her to be placed in a scrapbook.  I'm not very good at writing letters, I have a hard time putting my thoughts and feelings into words.  I was looking around online, trying to find a poem or saying that would be nice as my contribution to the scrapbook.  Let me tell you....there are some very cheesy mother-in-law poems.  And then I found the poem "My 'Other' Mother".  There were different variations, so I put together bits and pieces from them and came up with something I liked.

I didn't want to just type up the poem with a nice font and then print it.  Using Picnik (LOVE this site...I have a membership but you can use some of the program for free), I came up with this:

I thought this poem was perfect and I love how this came out.  Simple and personal.  Hope she likes it!