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Text of the page (random words):
leaves he texts when he arrives he never gives me reason to worry but i just can t help it he left yesterday knowing that vail pass was closed due to a jack knifed semi and chain law on both vail and the tunnel i worry when roads are dry i m grateful for my network of facebook friends some of whom have college drivers of their own who provide a positive energy prayer and angel network when my boy is on the road i still worry until i get his text but this network brings more comfort than i know how to express the captain of the enterprise tags 365 grateful college driver friends mountain driving support group worry comments leave a comment categories 365 grateful family bleeding music 10 jan i m a lucky mom my son found his passion for music in middle school and that passion has given his life focus he s currently pursuing a double major music education and saxophone performance and has plans to continue on to grad school music is like air to him he absolutely needs it to be himself music saturates his essence i m endlessly grateful for the way he follows his passion i m grateful for the clear and realistic path he has set allowing for flexibility but never losing sight of the music skillful in so many ways zach s golden ticket tags 365 grateful focus lucky mom music music majors passion saxophone comments leave a comment categories 365 grateful family music spiced with love 9 jan everyday home cooking is usually a job for one i am that one she who chops and cooks and makes a mess and then cleans up i don t mind because i love to cook last night michael was in the mood for pizza and joined in the preparation just a simple vegan pizza with a naan bread crust but so much better for the wine shared and the joint effort to create it it reminded me of our dating years when we often made meals together drinking wine and laughing i m grateful for a hubby who is comfortable in the kitchen food made with a loved one always tastes better tags 365 grateful cooking cooking with your spouse naan bread pizza comments leave a comment categories 365 grateful family food memories the colors of january 8 jan spring has tulips and cherry blossoms summer has sunflowers and petunias fall has goldenredburgundy leaves and winter christmasy reds and greens crystalline white snow and crisp blue skies every january i clear my house of the cozy green and red of christmas and replace it with crisp and clean blue and white always displayed on my hutch is the bridal china my mom insisted i have i had my choice of patterns within monetary reason and selected one that sang to my scandinavian side one that my danish great aunt would have loved it s a stoneware rather than china far more practical and definitely used more often because of it made by franciscan the pattern is called denmark i m so grateful for this reminder of mom and my heritage the fresh colors of january tags 365 grateful blue and white bridal china franciscan denmark january wedding china comments leave a comment categories 365 grateful christmas family memories the beginning a bit of green 7 jan it s a cold gray day here in western colorado the kind of day that has me jonesin for the first bit of warmth riding in on the wind that little breath of hope serenaded by meadowlarks and celebrated with little bits of green pushing up from thawing earth on days like this i m grateful for seeds and the plants they become i m grateful they continue to grow inside while the world outside freezes do you remember those childhood science experiments of growing the trash parts of plants like carrots and sweet potatoes and such i m forever trying to grow an avocado tree this time it finally worked a seed suspended in water actually sprouted roots a stem and finally a spray of leaves a bit of green tags 365 grateful avocado growing an avocado longing for spring seeds waiting for spring comments leave a comment categories 365 grateful memories i never knew 6 jan holding someone s hand could feel so inviting so familiar and so new at the same time holding your hand i celebrate it i mark it on calendars anita krizzan i m so grateful for those times i can sit quietly and hold hands with michael there may be distractions of the tv or pookie the cat or the phone ringing but my world is only him and me at those moments a quiet little intimacy tags 365 grateful hand holding holding hands love the importance of a gesture comments leave a comment categories 365 grateful family my eyes wide open 2 jan yesterday on facebook i came across a post about the 365 grateful project the woman who started it posted pictures of things she was grateful for to flickr every day for a year as the year went on she felt happier and more content she noticed little things that her busy life had prevented her from seeing in effect it slowed time allowing her to experience wonder i like the idea of spending more effort on wonder than on stress and worry and guilt but 365 posts my lazy self thinks not i will however keep my eyes wide open to all the perks of my life and make a bigger effort to be thankful that they exist no matter how small and post about them occasionally i have many many things to be grateful for some very big things that influence my life in fabulous ways but today i wanted to start with a small thing something that is no big whoop really but something that makes me smile something that brings a bit of happy to my day when i see it things that glitter sparkle and shine like sun glinting off snowflakes houses lit for christmas sparkly jewelry shiny appliances fairy dust the way a person s eyes shine when they re happy i m so grateful for whoever first decided that the combination of glitter and pine cones was a good thing i m ready to box up my christmas stuff for another year and was looking at these cones this morning as i sipped my coffee they made me smile and i knew i had a gratitude post for today nothing epic nothing life changing but certainly something that makes my life a wee bit happier sometimes even the small things tags 365 grateful glitter gratitude small things wonder comments leave a comment categories 365 grateful christmas long distance mom ing 10 dec being a mom is the most wonderful of all blessings and one of the hardest when your little one is not so little anymore and not even living in the same town i have new found respect for what my mom must have gone through when i was 19 and far away in college back then the only phone was in the hallway of the dorm shared by every girl on the floor how did mom stand the lack of contact was it a good thing to be blissfully unaware and hopeful that all was well i can be in touch with my son via text cell phone or facebook messaging instantaneously i get to have a peek inside his college life as his friends tag him in pictures and posts a comfort to me maybe not so much for him this week is finals week for many college students my son being a music major has finals but also juries solo performances in front of the entire woodwind faculty of the college he is in both the saxophone and oboe studios so is required to present a piece demonstrating his skills for each much of the time spent in lessons for oboe and sax each semester are devoted to polishing the literature he and his teachers have selected many of the hours of practice time are spent going over and over and over the pieces practicing until they become a part of him and then at 3am the morning of the juries he wakes up with a horrible earache imagine having a test that requires controlled and forceful breathing with your ear plugged and screaming at you not good not good a all here comes the long distance mom part he posted his frustration with the situation on facebook allowing me to know as soon as i opened facebook this morning all ready many of his friends had advised he go see a doctor i did as well also asking to be kept in the loop of what came of the doctor visit seems all too easy and matter of fact as i write this but my mom worries kicked in a monstrous desire to be able to instantaneously transport myself to him to give him a hug wrap him in blankets and make chicken soup who doesn t want their mom to come take care of them during times of sickness he s 5 hours away so i had to settle for texting as he filled out forms in the waiting room of the clinic a quick diagnosis resulted in prescribed antibiotics and he was sent on his merry way to determine with input from his instructors on whether juries are a go or not i still haven t heard how that will shake out i feel fortunate that he is someone who is very good at taking care of and advocating for himself it helps me worry a bit less he also has a great network of caring friends people i know will help him with whatever he needs possibly even bringing him chicken soup when will the desire to rush in and make things all better end according to other moms i ve talked to never it s been a long long time since a kiss was able to fix a boo boo my little boy is a man who is quite capable of taking care of himself i ll always be his mom though and can t wait for him to drive those 5 hours to be home this weekend so i can take care of him properly off to the store i go to get the ingredients for chicken noodle soup it s better than sitting here worrying and waiting for the next text or facebook update he ll be fine and things will work out as they should how many times have i heard those words in my mom s voice all those years of what i took as patronizing turn out to be the best you can do when you re long distance mom ing tags college college kids college life music majors parenting parenting challenges sick kids comments leave a comment categories family music the meaning of christmas in my humble opinion 9 dec beware i m up on my soapbox generally i reserve this soapbox for my rants about public education but today i stand up here to stand up for myself and comfort and joy joy to the world and a thrill of hope for the weary world yesterday i wrote a post to remember my mom and her love of all things christmas it focused mainly on decor and sharing good food with good friends this morning i found two pingbacks notification that another blog has linked to your post to the post about mom from a blog devoted to christianity this blog used quite a few excerpts from my post to illustrate a perceived increase in secularism in what the author feels should be a completely bible based event i wrote a comment on his post thanking him for at least citing his source but that i felt that his use of my words belittled how religious and spiritual my mom truly was and that using them in that way completely ignored the whole purpose of my post perhaps i am wrong for not going on about her deeply religious side she was a devout catholic regularly attending church with many religious artifacts displayed in her home not in a shrine like way just incorporated into her surroundings a large framed tin of the virgin of guadalupe for example i feel more importantly that mom always conducted herself in a very christian way helping those who need help listening to someone who just needs to talk taking food to neighbors who were ill she loved her friends and family well aren t those christian ideals who decided that in order to be a proper christian you must adhere strictly to the bible and its many interpretations when did these interpretations of the bible start trumping the sort of life jesus would have approved of when did displaying a christmas tree result in being labeled a heathen yup the blog s author responded to my comment by saying that mom may have been religious but was probably affected by family traditions which caused her to celebrate christmas with all the heathen ornaments what judge not good gravy i don t know about you but when december shows up and pretty lights candles evergreen boughs and even jolly old st nick appears i get all warm inside with a feeling of peace on earth good will toward men isn t that the true meaning of christmas yes it s the day used to celebrate jesus birthday but isn t it more than a birthday party isn t it the encouragement to be the kind of person jesus always tried to be according to the bible that feeling of we can all get along and love each other the impetus to be kind and share joy am i somehow less christian because i have christmas stockings out am i heathen because the trolls mom loved are sitting on my hutch where is the christian tolerance and compassion how does a secular decoration belittle anyone s personal faith faith is faith right one of the few things you can have that can t be taken from you and christmas is a season of joy and loving and caring and holding our loved ones close all very christian things to do in my opinion even if they happen within view of a christmas tree a merry christmas to all of you who celebrate it and happy holidays to the rest may all of the joy of the season bring you warmth and comfort tags christmas compassion joy love peace the meaning of christmas tolerance comments 3 comments categories christmas family rants traditions celebrating christmas celebrating mom 8 dec and it was always said of him that he knew how to keep christmas well if any man alive possessed the knowledge may that be truly said of us and all of us charles dickens a christmas carol to say my mom loved christmas and kept it well was an understatement she baked jillions of cookies decorated multiple trees and hosted a holiday open house with tons of different appetizers cookies scandinavian delicacies and drinks she loved to share her decorated home and culinary skills and particularly loved that people she invited brought others with them and that the parish priest would stay until the very end of the party and take home leftovers she was in the middle of planning her holiday party when her recurring cancer landed her in the hospital she died christmas eve i like to think she went to party with the angels for christmas and they took her at that moment to make christmas extra special for her people ask if this sad moment has ruined christmas for me not at all i m a bit melancholy but mostly i try to decorate cook and entertain in the way mom would have i celebrate christmas and celebrate mom mom had a shed on her new mexico property she called the christmas shed packed to the rafters with all manner of christmas decor i brought a few things home with me a tub marked norwegian tree and a few of her treasured trolls mom s mom was norwegian and mom identified with all thing norwegian the tub had ornaments linens and candlesticks painted as a norwegian man and woman in their traditional finery here s my norwegian tree decorated with mom s ornaments and those she had given me over the years and festooned with strings of norwegian flags just like she would do mom had a huge collection of trolls trolls are beloved by scandinavian people and according to mom these must be complimented on their beauty a...