Sunday, June 26, 2016

Ten Things of Thankful week 158

I have poison ivy on my jaw and shoulder that itches like the...like the...it itches so bad I can't even think of an appropriate simile. And there is a fly that keeps buzzing around me and landing on me, including on my actual eye. Yet I will sit here and shoo the fly and not itch and be thankful for all the good things for which I am grateful this week!

I'm a trooper like that.

1. With Phoenix home and baseball over, my days are so much more wide open. I can stay home and cook dinners and people can actually sit down and eat them together.

2. Seeing my boys walk up to the house when they arrive home from soccer practice each night puts a smile on my face every time. Nothing like 2 hours of seriously hard workouts to bring brothers together. I love sitting with them, despite the sweaty stench, when they get home, just listening to them laugh as they tell stories of what happened at practice.

3. The one thing I sometimes regret about moving to the farm is that our kids don't have the opportunity to ride their bikes to friends' houses or even have people over all that often. But, as Bryan and I talked about yesterday, if we had lived in a neighborhood surrounded by their friends, I doubt our kids would be as good of friends with each other. So, I'm thankful that we had the chance to move out to the middle of nowhere.

4. Bryan and I were able to get together with some of our best friends for dinner on Friday night. In the busyness of life, we rarely take the time to do such things, so it was extra fun to do so.

5. Let's give it up for Willis Carrier, the inventor of air conditioning. With the passing of each 90+ degree day, I love him more.

6. We're getting some produce from our garden and around the property. We've been eating plenty of lettuce and green beans and black raspberry cobbler lately.

7. I went to a funeral this week for one of the kindest people I've ever met. I didn't know her well, but I've known her for over a decade. She is the kind of person who makes you feel special just for having the chance to have met her. I kept looking around the church at all these people that I know, wondering how they knew her. It was quite a diverse group of folks. I've been to lots of funerals, but this one hit me harder than most. Partly because she was the kind of person the world needs right about now, but also because she was only 7 years older than me. Yes, sadly she is gone, but looking around that church, you knew how many lives she touched, how much kindness and joy she spread around, and how all of those people have learned from her and will continue to spread kindness because of her.

8. I have been at a loss for summer shoes. I want sandals, but I don't want a pair that has a piece of plastic between my toes and a skinny piece of what seems to be wood as the only barrier between the ground and my foot. I refuse to buy shoes that aren't comfortable the moment I put them on my feet. I had pretty much given up on having any sandals ever, until that dinner with friends on Friday night, in which one of the ladies was wearing a kind of shoe I'd never seen before.

People, I have found my shoe nirvana.

Yoga slings are the best things to be invented since the air conditioner. The soles are made out of yoga mats for crying out loud! I bought the one and only pair I could find in my size yesterday, but I'm considering buying them in every color online now that I know my size. Seriously. They are Fab. U. Lous.

9. On Friday I took the kids downtown and we rented bikes, individual bikes for the older boys, and a surrey for Buttercup and me to pedal the little boys around. In case you've never been here, Indy has a beautiful area downtown called White River Park. It is where the baseball stadium and several museums and the NCAA headquarters are, but it also has a canal walk that leads to the White River, where there are more walking and biking areas. As the boys say, "It was lit." (For you of the older generation who may not know, that is a good thing.)

10. Saturday was our 22nd wedding anniversary. I don't even know how that is possible, but it's true. The kids were gracious enough to not care that we abandoned them for the afternoon and evening, as we went to test drive minivans and buy some shoes and spend two hours having a leisurely dinner at a new restaurant in a nearby town. It was a lovely evening with my groom.

So, how has your week been? Let me in on the good stuff!

Have a lovely day!


Ten Things of Thankful


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18 comments:

  1. Those sandals look soft and cozy. (I'm a shoe girl - I'll look into them). I'm so sorry about your poison ivy as well as the loss of a person who sounds like a very nice woman who touched lots of people. It is difficult to experience the death of one of our contemporaries - we are on this planet for such a brief time. Happy Anniversary.

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    1. They are! I wore them for the first time today, and they didn't bother my toes at all!

      While I've always had empathy for my parents and grandparents as their friends pass away, this really helped me see what it's really like. Her youngest son is only a year older than Phoenix. It was jarring to say the least. It really puts life choices we make and things we do into perspective.

      Thank you. :)

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  2. Having your children be such good friends with each other is priceless. My grown children live in 3 different states, and yet still regularly talk together, and it makes me happy that they are genuinely good friends.
    I've about resigned myself to the fact that I can't seem to grow raspberries here. Eat an extra piece of cobbler for me, OK?
    I'm so sorry to hear about the passing of such a kind woman.
    You had an opportunity to rent a deuce coupe and you passed it up?! :-)
    Happy anniversary! The years fly by, don't they?

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    1. That is wonderful. Best case is they will want to stay in Indy when they're grown, but if not, I pray they continue to be friends from afar.
      I just ate a great big piece. :) Why don't you plan a visit here next year and have some with me?

      Hahahahaha!! Don't think I didn't think of you when I saw it was an option!! I would have taken a photo and sent it to you if I didn't have 6 kids trying to ride off.

      Thank you! They most certainly do!

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  3. Having your children be such good friends with each other is priceless. My grown children live in 3 different states, and yet still regularly talk together, and it makes me happy that they are genuinely good friends.
    I've about resigned myself to the fact that I can't seem to grow raspberries here. Eat an extra piece of cobbler for me, OK?
    I'm so sorry to hear about the passing of such a kind woman.
    You had an opportunity to rent a deuce coupe and you passed it up?! :-)
    Happy anniversary! The years fly by, don't they?

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  4. First, I'm so sorry about the poison ivy. Yikes. We don't have it here that I know of and if I was around it I wouldn't know what it was and be all over it. Yikes.

    I love your thankful posts.

    I love hearing about your family.

    I love it that you love your air conditioner. I love mine too.

    I love it that you found the greatest pair of shoes ever.

    ♪♪Happy Anniversary to you,♪♪
    ♪♪Happy Anniversary to you,♪♪
    ♪♪Happy Anniversary Dear Bryan and Christine, ♪♪
    ♪♪Happy Anniversary to you.♪♪

    Have a fabulous Sunday. ☺

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    1. I got it when I was weeding the back flower beds. As I was pulling, I even thought, "dang, that looks like poison ivy." I washed my hands soon after, but clearly not soon enough.

      Thank you, Sandee. (And they really are the greatest pair of shoes.)

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  5. Thumbs down to the poison ivy. No fun.
    But a thumbs up to everything else. Happy Anniversary!
    Love green beans, bike rides, and family dinners. I lived kind of in the middle of nowhere when I was growing up too. My siblings are some of my best friends still. Excellent opportunity for lifelong familial bonding.
    Shoe nirvana is a new one, I'll admit, but a comfortable pair of shoes is number one in my books.
    :-)
    I owe everything to Mr. Carrier too.
    Lovely lovely list.

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    1. It isn't fun, but I'm used to it. I get it every year and am just grateful it is a mild case.

      Thank you!

      That's what we're going for. Hopefully the kids will appreciate it when they're older. :)

      Ha! that's what a great pair of shoes does...inspires me to come up with new phrases.

      Thank you. :)

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  6. sorry to hear about the poison ivy hope you heal quickly.

    the bike rides and hanging with people you love is the best -

    hail Mr. Carrier but we haven't gotten to the 90's yet

    happy 22 anniversary -

    i am wearing my yoga slings too - and was going to suggest them to you they are very comfortable i bought mine last year at DSW - the fabric I picked out is a muted multi color - which is out of the ordinary - i don't do a lot of color.

    boys and there stench yet my son makes me laugh so I look forward to our talks too!!!!


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    1. I doubt it will be quick, but it isn't the worst case, so I'll be fine.

      Lucky you! It's been scorching hot here in Indy! Thankfully, a cold front is moving through as I type, so the next few days will be much cooler.

      Thank you!

      You are!?!?! They are the best! Mine are black, but I'm gonna try and get at least the cream ones. I like color, so maybe one with stripes too... :)

      It is a funk made just by teen boys, but I'll suffer through gladly.

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  7. How strange! I read your post then clicked the link for the Yoga slings, now back on your post and all the writing between the header and the bottom pics has disappeared and been replaced with black spots and splodges! :) Maybe I've caught your poison ivy rash lol. I remember you getting that last year, I thought you may have managed to avoid it this time - hope it gets better soon.

    The bike ride with the kids sounds fun - and Happy Anniversary too :)

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    1. Well that's weird! I wonder what happened. But what did you think about the shoes?

      I will never, ever avoid it completely. Thankfully, I am getting better at identifying it, so at least I don't get it as bad.

      It was. :) Thank you!

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    2. I think a gremlin must have got in somewhere, the writing is okay again now.

      The shoes aren't really my type of thing, I can't wear anything that has a bit which goes between the toes as it makes me itch. I do like the Gora Gora and Duette styles though.

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  8. Happy Anniversary.
    Time passes with remarkable ease for the things that mean the most to us.
    #3 prompted me to think a number of semi-witty cracks about arachnids and 3' of snow down the length of a straight but long driveway and then it hit me, again, what a cool thing this blogosphere is. I know stories about people (and their families) that used to be limited to blood relatives and a (relatively limited number of close friends... and it's not just the stories, it's the accumulated continuity.... ("remember the time....")
    cool

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  9. Happy Anniversary, and here's to many more of them for you two. Hope you remembered...second year with no reminder from me, and...I didn't even think about it, which just goes to show.

    The sandals thing is a conundrum. WonderAunty is veeeeeeery specific about what she does and doesn't like in a shoe, so I completely understand you being over the moon finding something that works for you, and HOORAY!

    90+? Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh *yearns*

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  10. Mr. Willis Carrier is my hero today! I am so sorry about the loss of your friend.

    I really feel your pain/itch with that poison ivy. Knock on wood, I've managed to avoid it for years.

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  11. I've never had poison ivy, but I've had poison oak and it was horrid. Feel better.
    My kids went through a phase where they didn't get along AT ALL. They are much better now. My brother and I were never friends and it's important to me that my kids aren't that way. I think y'all are right that your kids are good friends because you live in the boonies.
    My niece has some of the yoga slings and loves them and I was just looking at them online yesterday! I still have my heel injury from last summer and can't stand for anything to touch it, but cheap flip flops make it hurt worse because they're so flat. I have started wearing sandals made by Crocs (don't judge). They look NOTHING like a Croc and are really comfortable, with arch support and everything. And they're cute.
    Happy anniversary! We're just 10 months ahead of you.

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