Ten Things of Thankful

My brain is feeling numb from a day of working with The Book Project so I have given myself permission to wander over here and be grateful. How easily can I come up with ten things to be thankful for? It is 6:22 p.m. right now. GO!

1. I am thankful for a weekend off of work. It has given me the freedom to 'write a book' (not really write an entire book - but I do aim high), to be here when my aunt and uncle dropped by, to go for a Sunday drive (tomorrow) and meet up with my sister, brother (and maybe my mom) for lunch at the 'half-way spot' between here and Mom's.
2. I am thankful that I will get a bonus visit with my siblings out of the deal. Considering the miles that separate us, we do a pretty fair job of keeping in touch. But there is nothing quite like a face-to-face, sit down and chat kind of visit. 
3. I am thankful that I have a spare job that helps me meet my financial obligations, exercises my brain, forces me out of the house and helps me to appreciate non-working weekends.
4. I was thankful for the end of my daycare work-week. I'm not sure why, but Friday was hard. It was simply one of those weeks where I ran out of ideas and my 'bag of tricks' was coming up empty. I was running out of kid-coping-skills.
5. I am thankful for a fridge (and freezer and cupboards) that are fully stocked. This means that I didn't have to leave the house today. We have provisions to carry us well into next week. Each and every time I run downstairs or to the cupboard to pull out something that I have stocked up on, I feel a rush of gratitude. Not only do we have enough to eat, we have excess. 
6. I am thankful for our home that is full to overflowing. It is not only full of extra food and household supplies, we have a wealth of family and furry family critters to keep life interesting. Not only are we never lonely in this home of ours ... we have so many bipeds and quadrupeds wandering around here, that one never worries about those things that go 'bump in the night'. It is probably just a cat ...
7. I am thankful that our Senior Cat (who has been doctoring for seven months now) is doing so well. We are still not exactly certain what is causing his breathing difficulties but his low steroid dosage is keeping things at bay. Thank goodness for our vet who diagnosed our kitty with the tools (and our budget) that she had at hand. 
8. I am thankful that we have the ability to pay our bills and still have enough left over at the end of the month (or line of credit or whatever) to 'fix' our cat, buy a TV, go out for supper and anything else that is important to us.
9. I am thankful that my wish list is relatively small. I want for so very little within this full life of mine. Our house-that-is-full and jobs that overflow into the weekend fill me up and empty me out at the same time. 
10. I am thankful for the contrasts of life that remind me to be happy with all of life's little gifts. Good days wouldn't feel so great if bad days didn't precede them. You can't lose something you have never had ... and we have faced many losses. I am grateful for that which I had in the first place.

It is 6:38 and that was not hard at all. In fact I could just keep on going but I want to move onto other things. So I will keep this brief and to the point. 

No matter how bad things feel at the time, I can always find that which I am grateful for in among the ruins. Often even as I am 'living it'. 

I am grateful for my ability to see beyond the moment.

I stumbled across the "Ten Things of Thankful" community and I was eager to link up and join the fun. If you want to read 'more of the same' or link up and join the fun, grab a button and link up here!