So how does it feel?

Okay, no one has asked me that since the news came out yesterday and we started broadcasting it far and wide like farmers on the prairie. A Heartwarming Christmas is on the USA Today Bestsellers list this week. Duane has made jokes about different avenues we can take to accommodate my enlarged head, but no one's really said, How does it feel?

I'm sure I could, if I worked at it, be very blase about the whole thing. I could throw out the caveats and say it's a boxed set, there are 12 authors involved, the book was inexpensive. Yes, I could do that.

But I won't. Because it is one of those wonderful things that you put in the keeper pocket in your heart and have forever. Not that you'll stay on the list or that it will bring world peace or change anything. There are still dishes to wash, laundry to do, and here in the Midwest, ladybugs to sweep up. I am no different this morning than I was last night. I'm still going to help with weekend meal backpacks for kids this morning and volunteer at the hospital this afternoon. I will still look awful in my pink jacket.

But I'll always have the keeper pocket and it's a little fuller now. I hope yours is, too. Have a great day!

Travels with...well, just travels - 6th Day

6th Day of Gratitude--I'm thankful for road trips. They give you a chance to learn, to socialize, and to enjoy that which is different. They also make you realize how wonderful home is, but that's another day...

Day Five

When I was in school--back in the Dark Ages--girls had to wear dresses to school. They had to be of a certain length (which you often negated by rolling the waistband a time or two when you got on the bus). On my 5th Day of Gratitude, I'm thankful for pants--jeans, sweatpants, even dress pants--because they are WARM.

Day Four--A Room with A View

There are downsides to living in the country (does being snowed in ring a bell with anyone), but the nice thing is you always have something to look at. This morning it is birds on the suet feeder, a combine with the sun glinting off it, and crystals of moisture shining on the still-green grass. My 4th Day of Gratitude, I'm thankful for a room with a view.

On my 3rd day of Gratitude, I'm thankful that I voted (less than 100 years ago women couldn't) and that I got to listen to Chris Botti's rendition of the national anthem that I missed last night. Being a day late did nothing to lessen the joy of the hearing.

http://uproxx.com/sports/2014/11/here-is-the-magnificent-national-anthem-from-monday-night-football/

2nd Day of Gratitude

I don't necessarily agree with Brittany Maynard's decision, but since I haven't walked in her shoes, I'm certainly not going to judge her. My sympathy is with her family, particularly her mother, who just suffered the worst loss there is. On my 2nd day of Gratitude, I'm thankful Oregon provided a safe place for Ms. Maynard to "go gently into that good night" as opposed to having to fight a battle she no longer wanted to fight.

30 Days of Gratitude - #1

1st day of Thanksgiving--a day late. Despite the media, the politicians, and all other fear-mongers among us, I am afraid of very little. I am thankful for that.