The ABCs of Thanks

Finding Joy | The ABC's of Thanks
…a simple act of gratitude.

Write a list using the alphabet and then list one item that you are grateful for that starts with the given letter. Don’t forget to link up at Finding Joy when you’re done.

Here’s mine.

AAidan and Adam. Need I say more?

High Five!

BBooks. Because reading is AWESOME. Beaches, because they smell like sand and sun and sunscreen. Babies, because they are a nice way to start people. Bananas. They’re funny.

cCats, even when they are bratty, or stinky, or naughty. Cupcakes from Molly’s Cupcakes. Chocolate chip cookies. Mmmmm. Christmas. My favorite holiday.

DDisney World! And for being blessed enough to visit six times so far!

It's Us!

EEmail. It’s my choice way of keeping in touch with people!

FFamily. ‘Cause I love them. Friends, too.
In the Animal Kingdom

Silly!!

Three Generations

GGreen, for the color of grass and leaves in the summertime.

Bridge

HHugs. They never fail to make me feel yummy inside.

IInternet. I’ve made so many friends and learned so much thanks to the Internet being around. It’s integral in my life. Also, I am grateful for incense. It makes the place smell so good and it makes me *feel* good.

JJuice. Especially 100% cherry juice. Delicious.

KKirtan. Beautiful call and response chanting. It’s non-denominational, and the music of my soul.

LLibraries. A free way to feed my reading addiction.

MMoney. It helps me get the things I need and sometimes even extra things I just want. Also, Moksha Yoga. The community there is the best. I’m honored to be a part of it.

NNice people. They make the world so much better.

OOpportunity. To work from home, to make friends from all over the world, to live in a cool city (even when it does get on my nerves/cost too much), to do yoga, to meet my favorite authors, to meet celebrities, to eat good food, to have a warm home, to wear skinny jeans, to improve my life every day, to be creative. To love. To live.

PPandernoodle. My favorite teddy bear ever.

Q – My favorite letter to sneak and push on people’s keyboards while they are frantically typing. Qs just make everything quirky. πŸ™‚

RRonica. My name.

SSushi. It’s delicious and good for me. Sun, because it’s beautiful and warm. Skinny jeans, which I vowed I’d never wear. Until I started wearing them and loving them with boots.

TTrees. I am a real life tree hugger. I don’t hug trees in the city because dogs pee and poop on them. But let me loose in an arboretum? Good times.

UUnconditional love. There is a lot of it in my life.

VVacations. Especially to Disney World.

WWater. I love water. I love to drink it, I love to shower in it. I can’t swim in it, though, and I don’t like it when it’s falling the sky in the form of any sort of rain. But I do like water because it’s what keeps me alive. And it tastes so good! No calories or fat! Perfect.

XXP points in those stupid games I play on Facebook. I should quit all of them. Maybe I will one day.

YYoga. It has changed my life. For real.

Wheel/Upward Facing Bow Pose: Urdhva Dhanurasana

ZZoos that have giraffes.

Awesome!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING, EVERYONE!

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Third Grade

Grade 3
He says he’s not all that excited about Christmas presents. “I’m all about the food!”
His mind is blown because he hates Justin Bieber but likes Selena Gomez.
He can’t get his head around the fact that they’re dating.
He’s obsessed with Angry Birds, ninjas, and LEGOs.
He’s such an awesome kid!

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I am {blank} because….

Random Ronni

…a little meme I got from The Wiegands, who got it from Little Miss Momma.

I am {weird} because…
· I hate the sound of footsteps.
· …and the sound of people/animals eating/chewing/kissing/licking/etc.
· I like to eat fruity cereal with Kool-Aid instead of milk.
(Shut up. It’s good. Don’t knock it ’til ya try it is ALL I’M SAYIN’.)
· I still play with dolls.
· I have an extremely loud sneeze.
· My fingernails grow really fast.
· I love washing and drying clothes. Not so much with the putting away.
· I like the crunchy sound the vacuum makes when it’s sucking stuff up.
· I talk in cartoon voices most of the time.
(Adam hates it.)
· I don’t talk to my mom on the home a lot, but when we do talk, we make up for lost time.
(I think our record is seven hours straight.)
· I need glasses, but I think I look cuter without them so I usually take them off for pictures.
(But sometimes not.)
Yoga Happy

I am {a bad friend} because…
· I hardly ever pick up the phone when it rings.
(In all fairness, the phone is rarely anywhere near me whenever it rings.)
· I’m bad at making the first move when it comes to keeping in touch,
especially if it involves a phone call.
· I am a homebody.
· I forget birthdays.

I am {a good friend} because…
· If you tell me a secret, I will keep that secret locked tightly in my heart forever.
I’m still holding secrets of people who no longer speak to me, only because I made that promise.
· I wish I had all the $ in the world so I could spoil all my friends rotten.
· I will make you laugh.
· I am trustworthy.

I am {sad} because…
· I don’t think the temperature will break 60F in Chicago for the rest of 2011.
· It’s already after 9pm.
· I broke Adam’s oil fragrance burner by mistake today while I was cleaning. πŸ™

I am {happy} because…
· Aidan got honor roll and perfect attendance.
· I get to go shopping tomorrow to buy a NEW oil fragrance burner!
· I bought nearly $200 of merchandise at Old Navy today, but only paid just under $35.
· Aidan’s room is clean! I pwned that ish.
· The living room is clean!
· Aidan will be here in TWO DAYS!

I am {excited} because…
· Um, hello! Aidan will be here in TWO DAYS!!!
· Thanksmas is going to be awesome.
· Many photo taking opportunities are coming up!
· My birthday is a month from today!

· It’s almost time to put up the Christmas decorations.
· Christmas is going to be awesome.

Random Ronni

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[Insert Clever Title Here]

I hadn’t planned on blogging today, but I’m sitting here and decided why the heck not? What else is there to do?

Oh yeah. CLEAN THE LIVING ROOM. Again. Because Adam and I clearly cannot keep this place clean for more than a couple weeks at a time. BUT. I will leave that until Sunday because Sunday is already going to be a super duper cleantastic day. Aidan will be here IN FOUR DAYS and his room is still a fall down mess. Sunday is do or die, man.

This is what I’ve been up to since Monday.

Two yoga classes. Tuesday’s class was more challenging because I hadn’t eaten anything before class (I woke up 12 minutes before class was to start! Good thing I live very close to my studio), and also because she had us do this pose I HATE, when you’re in plank but you pull your leg in toward your elbow and basically just hold it. Until I get stronger, I will hate that pose. Hate. Ironically, doing that pose will make me stronger. So guess what I get to do when I am done posting this?

Because quite frankly, I used to not be a big fan of Chaturanga Dandasana (think about being stuck halfway in a pushup) or Trikonasana (triangle) but I like them now because I am stronger. Although I almost changed my mind about triangle on Tuesday. Mia (my teacher) kept coming over and adjusting me, so I thought that I’d been doing it wrong. But then she said that she was picking on me; that I looked great but she wanted to push me to the next level. πŸ˜€

Finished my bathroom makeover. I actually didn’t realize I was making over the bathroom, but I did. New shower curtain liner, new hooks (instead of those annoying rings), new rug, and new trash can. It looks pretty spiffy in there!

More Christmas shopping. Yup. Amazon.com, Big Lots, Anderson’s Bookshop, Disney Store, and Meijer, I salute you for your fine selections. AND I got to visit my favorite hippie shop as well. Lots of new incense to try! Oh, and I finally got a plush tree skirt. I’d been wanting one for years, but they’re always too expensive. NOT IF YOU GO TO BIG LOTS. I got one for $10. I mean, it might fall apart after a couple years, but still. I have a plush tree skirt!!

Read two new books. One was called Giving Up the V. The book was OK and everything (the first chapter rocked my socks off, for realz, yo), but I could not get past the HUGE continuity errors in one of the chapters. The errors were within pages of each other, so it was a big miss. I know books go out with typos all the time–there’s just too much to catch and not enough time to catch it all. But these errors were BAD.

Visited the library. Checked out ten books. Think I can have them all read by December 7? I’ve already finished two and I’ve already dug into the third.

I’m really glad I look young. (I knew I’d be happy about that someday!) When I visit the teen space at the library, I don’t get a lot of crazy looks because I like YA novels. I still hate that the books are locked down at this particular library but they get the newest ones the fastest and they have the biggest selection in the city, I believe.

Attended the 90 Second Newbury Film Festival. This would have been easier to sit through if the person behind me had washed sometime in the past week. Strong sense of smell + a stranger’s B.O. = very unhappy Ronni.

Got my coat! It’s 80% down and so pretty! YAY!

Saw my friend Jen. I have a few friends named Jen. This particular Jen, I hadn’t seen in probably a year if not more. It’s a shame. We all live in this city, but busy schedules and traffic and long commutes make it hard for my friends and me to get together. Sad.

Officially broke out the Christmas music! Oh yeah, baby! And it was Adam’s idea! Considering he views Christmas with a *very* cynical eye (which kinda breaks my heart b/c Christmas is my favorite, man), I was really shocked. We listened to it in the car on the way to hit the ‘burbs for shopping today. I was happy. I don’t think he was.

Wondered why the fresh hell my neighbor wants to blast music with a lot of fast, angry sounding guitars at 9:00am. I understand it’s his “getting ready” music, but does it have to play over my head when I’m trying to sleep in? At least it only plays for 15 minutes or so. I should probably be getting out of bed then anyway, regardless of if I stayed up til 2am or later (which I most likely did).

Wondered what to do about my cat’s halitosis. I already got a solution to his stinky fur, and that was dump baking soda on him while he was sleeping and rub it in (pretending to pet him). So his body doesn’t stink, but his breath is kickin’. And seeing as he washes his body with that breath, it’s a matter of time before he stinks again. And I can always tell when he’s bathing because I can smell it.

He’s such a handsome bugger, too. He doesn’t look like he should stink so much, does he?

Crookshanks Photo Shoot

Smelly cat, smelly cat, what are they feeding you?
Smelly cat, smelly cat, it’s not your fault.

Started putting together my own yoga practice. I know right? What, you thought I was doing that all along? Pshaw. I should have been doing it all along–but I always liked guided practices with a teacher and sage and adjustments. Or a DVD at the very least. Heck, even a YouTube video–something to help a sister out. But now I finally feel comfortable enough to put together my own practice! And Suzanne Sterling’s music (along with some other lovely musicians) will help me do so. Now If I could just get the cat to stop sitting under me when I’m in Adho Mukha Svanasana (that’s downward facing dog for you non yoginis)….

So there you have it. A quick recap. It looks like I haven’t done all that much, but IT FEELS LIKE IT.

This weekend, well, you already know one of the things that needs to get done.

Clean Aidan’s room. God help us all.

Clean the living room. Cause, as I said, Adam and I can’t keep it straight for anything. And I want it to look nice. At least for a few hours. Or minutes. Whatever.

Christmas shopping. We’re celebrating “Thanksmas” with Adam’s family next Friday. Thanksmas is a combination of Thanksgiving and Christmas. Adam’s mom does that when we can ALL be there for Thanksgiving, which isn’t often (plus Aidan will be with us–a first–and my first time having/seeing Aidan on Thanksgiving in five years) and we need to finish shopping for them STAT. Got most of it done today, will finish up tomorrow. YAY shopping. Maybe I’ll try to finish all my shopping tomorrow. And anything extra I get for people? That’ll just be extras/stocking stuffers. Yay.
I know what you’re thinking. Stop that laughing!

My iProcrastinate also tells me that I need to make my Christmas 2011 playlist (I listened to my 2010 playlist today), use two of my Groupons, and submit a time sheet by Sunday. Let’s see how many of those things get done. :p

Have a good weekend!

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