November 2nd: I missed this yesterday, so I'll post two things:
1. Thankful that we survived the storm relatively unscathed other than some water marks on the ceiling of our study.
2. That we live in such a giving community. SO many people offered their homes to people coming in from NJ and NY for Shabbos, that our help wasn't even needed. Sad that we don't get to participate, but still thankful that the reason is due to living in such a wonderful neighborhood of kind and giving people.
Hurricane Sandy was expected to hit the DC area pretty hard, but our neighborhood was okay. We prepared for a major power loss and didn't lose power at all! However, Sandy wasn't so kind to NY and NJ residents. Our community set up a program to get buses from various towns in NJ and NY to come out here for a Shabbos. We offered to host dinner and share our guest room, but there was such an outpouring of hosts that we weren't needed after all.
November 3rd: Thankful that tonight we "Fall Back" because that means after this week, we get our Saturday nights back to go out on dates again.
In the months between Spring Ahead and Fall Back, we have very long Shabbats which extend well into Saturday evening, making a date night nearly impossible by the time it's over. So when we get our evenings back, it's time to go out on dates again!
November 4th: I am thankful that my daughter is napping now so I can be productive for a little while. :)
My daughter is walking and talking and demands attention at all times. Needless to say, if she's awake, nothing gets done.
November 5th: I am thankful to E.S. for giving birth to her daughter 8 years ago today, which inspired me to want a baby and produced my son, as a result, 10 months later. :)
As soon as I held my friend's daughter, I knew I wanted a baby and got cracking on that. :) My son is who he is because of when he was born. I do feel that birthdays and birth signs affect personality. If I had waited longer, he might have been a different person and I might have also waited longer to have my other kids, affecting their personalities, as well.
Oddly enough, as soon as another friend held my son, she started trying for a baby and had her son a year later!
November 6th: I am thankful for the suffragist movement that allows women to vote. I can't even imagine being denied such a right and am proud of the suffragettes who fought for all of us women to have it.
November 7th: I think it's pretty obvious what I'm thankful for today, given my earlier posts. That's all I have to say. :)
This refers to my candidate choice winning the US Presidential election. :)
November 8th: I am thankful that Glee is back after being away for a month. I've been going through withdrawal...
Glee was getting annoying for a while, but now with a new crop of students and getting to see what former students are doing nowadays, it's getting more interesting and I'm enjoying it again. I like the character of Marley. She's very down-to-earth and a great singer. I also am enjoying the eye candy that Rachel is hanging out with (and I don't mean Kurt)!
November 9th: I'm thankful it's Friday and I know that's sounds cliche, but it's been a LONG week!
The week just seemed to drag and it was also intense towards the beginning with all the election stuff. Then there was the post-election upheaval of negativity against our current and still future President. It was enough to make me physically ill at times. Plus, my four year-old son broke our piano, I found a roaster chicken in my trunk on Thursday that should have gone into the freezer on Sunday and I managed to burn a kugel the night before. The same four year-old who broke the piano has been having tantrums galore. So I told my husband to put a bottle of wine in the fridge to chill in time for Shabbos, which is also a mad rush now that it starts before 5 pm.
November 10th: I'm thankful that I got a nap in today, even though Shabbat was short. :)
It made the day go much faster, even though I lost track of time and almost made my husband late to mincha.
November 11th: I am thankful to everyone who has fought to protect our country. I've heard about all the horrible things that veterans go through physically and emotionally and it's truly heartbreaking. If you want a fictionalized account of some real situations, check out Home Front by Kristin Hannah.
Kristin Hannah's novel really opened my eyes up to what veterans go through. Here's my review of Home Front along with links to help veterans.
November 12th: Thankful, as always, for all the readers and authors I've met since I started Chick Lit Central in 2010. We have such a great community and I've made some wonderful new friends as a result!
It's been an amazing two and a half years. We reached 900 followers recently and also got to be one of the hosts for International Chick Lit Month. I've connected with some new authors this year and got to review some incredible novels. The highlight was having Jennifer Weiner call me by name in front of everyone at Sixth and I Synagogue in July (where she had her book signing). At that same event, I found out that a girl from my community has the same taste in books and we've become better friends since then (instead of just people who say hi in passing.)
November 13th: Thankful that I know some shortcuts to get around annoying, rainy-day traffic. (Just wish I could teleport to work on days like this!)
November 14th: I'm thankful for the amazing advances in technology that have allowed my children to hear so well.
My son is having a great year in school so far and my daughter is starting to talk more. I can even understand some of what she says!
November 15th: Thankful that our closest friends living in Israel are okay.
Lots of awful stuff going on in Israel right now in regards to Gaza. I'm not going to say anything more as I have trouble explaining all of it and don't like getting political on my blog (and I know I will if I continue). I just hope friends and extended family in Israel will always be safe and that Israel as a whole will be protected from future violence.
November 16th: I'm thankful for having such wonderful friends. Some I've known for many, many years and some I just met over the past few years.
Friendship is so important to me! If you've been wonderful enough to still be a part of my life at this point in time, then you're one of the friends I am thankful to have!
November 17th: Thankful for Big Bang Theory marathons.
I talked about how much I love BBT a while ago and since then, Mayim Bialik started appearing on the show as Amy Farrah Fowler, exponentially increasing the laughs! At the point where I said this, we had one episode left of season four.
November 18th: Thankful that Micah slept in his bed all night because we got to bed super late from watching BBT marathon.
He's been having sleeping issues involving fear of monsters. He said they were in his mirror, so I covered it with a sheet and that seemed to help.
November 19th: Thankful that close friends of ours brought a baby boy into the world yesterday and we can't wait to meet him!
Our community is rather prolific and we have some great friends here who have had babies recently. However, we were extra excited over the birth of this little guy, as these friends are like family to us.
November 20th: Thankful to my mother-in-law, who brought the most amazing man into the world 35 years ago today!
I even got to take my husband out (without the kids) to celebrate. :) And I actually get along really well with my mother-in-law, which is a rarity in this day and age. :)
November 21st: I am thankful for the safety and freedom we take for granted by living in the USA. My heart goes out to everyone living in Israel, especially the targeted areas. Praying for peace...
November 22nd: Thankful for my wonderful husband and three amazing children.
November 23rd: Thankful that we get to spend Shabbos with my brother-in-law and his family.
It was a long weekend and having my brother-in-law, sister-in-law, nieces and nephews here made it go by fast. It was nice spending time with everyone. I was also glad that they liked the food since my sister-in-law is an amazing cook. The compliments over our meal meant a lot coming from them. They even liked the pie referenced on my post for 11/24. My BIL and his family are more observant than we are. We've learned a lot from them without feeling pressured to do more than we're comfortable with. I go to my BIL all the time for questions about Judaism that I don't have answers to.
After I posted this, I got all these comments on Facebook that were trying to be metaphorical for human beauty. I know beauty is found from within, but aren't I allowed to have presentable looking food? Not like I'm entering a pie baking contest, but still....
November 25th: Thankful that I will get out of the house for a while today. Aside from going to shul yesterday, I've been indoors the whole weekend.
This is a fact. I spent most of the weekend cooking or entertaining the kids. I left the house for two minutes to bring a Thanksgiving meal to our friends who had the baby. Then I stayed in all of Friday and only went out to go to shul on Saturday. Sunday was busy, as we had our friends' son's bris in the morning and then went to see Wreck It Ralph, which was so clever and entertaining.
November 26th: Thankful that I work for an organization that not only sends monetary support to Israel, but that our CEO visits to give comfort and support during one of the worst weeks they've ever experienced.
November 27th: Thankful that not EVERY radio station is playing Christmas music so I can still enjoy commercial-free country Tuesday on my local country station. :)
What can I say? I like country music! They do play some Christmas songs on that station, but only maybe once during my drive to work. There's only one station that is playing Christmas music 24/7 and I skip it. I hope the other stations stick to their normal repertoire.
November 28th: Thankful that my daughter is not only 21 months old today, but also really communicating with us now! We can understand what she says too!
She's been singing the songs she learns at school and I actually can hear most of the words. She also asks for what she wants and points to things and says what they are. She's come such a far way with speech therapy and I'm so proud of her!
November 29th: Thankful for the woman who gave me life.
This was in honor of my mom's birthday. Despite how we don't always see eye-to-eye, she's a fabulous mom and I love her. We do have a lot of things to bond over and she's a terrific grandma to my kids.
November 30th: I am thankful to Hashem for giving me all these reasons (and more) to be thankful for everything else.
Enough said.
Hope you find something to be thankful for every day. This was definitely a challenging exercise at times, but put things in perspective too.
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