Sunday Six...Thanks & Giving

This week to be honest was not all fun, some of the time I wasn't feeling very thankful.But as often is the case, flowers grow among the thorns and every rain brings rainbows. So I am focused on the good and found much joy!

1-As I mentioned before I am SO thankful to Chloe for coming and staying a few days! She truly is an angel.Our dinner was fabulous and everything tasted amazing!She did the stuffing, potatoes,jello,and she make a wonderful pumpkin dessert. She did however forget the sugar!!So we told the Greeks she made a "sugar free" dessert just for them. They loved it and felt so touched that she went out of her way. We laughed about it for hours.Steve's turkey was so tender and good and they all commented how happy they were that I was resting and letting them do the work. So even if I'm better, you bet I'm gonna haul the brace out for Christmas dinner : ) But I will shed it to do the dishes because my sweet Tietta did every dish and pan with Chloes help. I am quite sure they went to sleep that night completely exhausted. I will always appreciate having such a loving,giving family!



2-I am reminded how when you face a certain struggle it makes you so much more compassionate for others in the same situation. I will never take for granted feeling healthy and being able to walk up my stairs. And if I ever see someone on crutches I promise to ask if they need any help. It is so much more difficult than I ever imagined. Just putting on those leopard thong panties I wear is such a bummer (gotta find the joy..)

3-I was such a wreck to call in sick at my new store & right on the busiest day of the year! I was adjusting perfectly and they are so darn good to me! The guilt was unbearable. So I stopped by on my way home from the doctor and talked to my boss! He and the bookkeeper came out and completely put my heart at ease,covered all my shifts and sent me off with a big hug and wish to feel better soon. I cant tell you how much their kindness meant to me. Even my new front end manager called the next day and was so precious and sweet! I am most grateful!!

4-Sunday morning I woke up to this on my porch!
My friend Trish dropped it off for me and it was like heaven!My favorite iced coffee and croissant! She and Jamie have also come by twice to walk Brody! Sweet friends are the BEST!! Again I am overwhelmed with thanks for their giving~

5-Chad and Steve went away on a boys trip and are having a BLAST! Steve felt bad for leaving me but I assured them I was going to be on the couch with my leg propped watching movies all weekend. (although once or twice I have thought what was I thinking??) But they have called a lot and every time I hear from them I am so glad they went.Good quality "dad" time is so rare and Steve sounds so happy!

6-Travis spent Thanksgiving with Ashlyns family again this year and even though we miss them I am so glad that his life includes her sweet family and grandparents. New traditions and a whole new group of family who love and embrace him. Her precious grams lovingly makes all the food and Trav said it's amazing! I am thankful that they love their son in law the way I do Ash! They are blessed indeed.

What a great week it has been in spite of some bummers! I have so much to be thankful for and with a Grate-"full" heart I say " Thank you"
Wishing you a wonderful week filled with love, joy and giggles!

First Thanksgiving!

And everyone fell in love with him! Some of my relatives had not met our new baby and he was adorable all day long! I tell ya this dog has the sweetest temperament of anyone I know. And those eyes just smile all day long....

Happy Thanksgiving!

I promise to share the joys of this Thanksgiving soon after the family leaves and the dust settles. But for now I am most thankful for my darling niece who drove out after hearing about my knee injury and has taken over the cooking with Steve. They have been busy since yesterday cooking and cleaning while I sit on the couch barking orders. I feel like she is working in "hells kitchen" and I am Gordon Ramsey (ok maybe not that bad,but I can be kinda bossy and am having a hard time not doing all the usual prep) But I guess the Lord wants me to give up some control and enjoy the day without worrying about every detail. I am just SO thankful for my family's help. I was thinking of ordering out a Mexican feast for dinner. But thanks to many hands pitching in we will be having turkey with all the trimmings. Just like it should be! Wishing you a Beautiful Thanksgiving with your family and time to sit and enjoy the surroundings and conversations. I would blow you kisses but both hands are clutching my crutches to stay upright! That should certainly give me the sympathy vote with the Greeks don't ya think?
With a grateful heart....Blessings to you all!

Sunday Six...

With this being the week of Thanksgiving I find myself extra thankful for all my blessings! I am looking forward to a great holiday with my family. And I am extra thankful that the Greeks are all coming. They get so excited about our gatherings! I'm so happy that I was raised with a family who cherished each holiday and always got together no matter how far they had to travel.
Here are six blessings of my week when I smiled and said thanks....

1-I love social weeks that are filled with fun! First a great lunch with Trish and Rhonda and lots of time to catch up and be together. I'm so thankful that we continue to keep in touch and will always be great friends! Then I had bunco at Carol's on Wednesday and it was amazing. She had the most beautiful table settings and treated us all to a fabulous dinner! Her home is so beautiful and always decorated perfectly. It was a small group and we never even played, but had such a good time just being together! Then last night a fun impromptu dinner with three other couples.The girls played dominoes while the guys shot pool. We made homemade pizza and salad and I made brownies.When you put it all together it was a easy, perfect dinner with friends. It was a great night! Thank you Daigles for putting the plan together.We love you all!

2- One day this week my facebook status was "I am thankful for my new family and that my store feels more and more like home everyday" I am so grateful that my heart feels this way. There are so many great people there and my boss is awesome! Change is never easy but there are new adventures around every corner!

3- CHLOE PASSED HER TEST!!! She had to fly to Seattle for a HUGE test. It was four hours long and most people take it at least twice because it is so extensive. It's for her certification as a child life specialist. But not our girl~ She passed the first time! She is so darn smart and we are so proud of her. She has been getting so many kudos at work and many doctors request her for procedures because she is so great at her job. I am one proud auntie! Chloe hopefully you can hear us cheering for you from here!!

4-Christmas music! I love to listen to the music of this season. There are so many beautiful carols about Christs birth. I find myself singing along in my car with a heart bursting with joy!

5-I love Freebies! And this week my was full of fun free treats. Vistaprint had an offer of 250 free address labels for Christmas. I ordered some,they arrived and are darling! Totally free! Then edible arrangements had a coupon for a box of free dipped fruit. So we had 6 chocolate dipped strawberries that were so yummy! Yesterday we printed coupons for a free lunch at Wahoos because it was their birthday. We shared a soda and left a good tip and only spent 5 bucks! And of course I still love packages in the mail and lots of those came too for free samples and treats. Here are two of my favorite sites for freebies! Visit everyday and get some goodies too.
Free Samples
Free Savings Blog

6-I got lots of shopping done for Christmas! I love to search for the perfect gift for those I love. And when I find things that I know they will like I get so excited! I even wrapped and have things all stacked and ready to go under the tree. It's the most wonderful time of the year!

I wish you all a wonderful Thanksgiving filled with friends, family,love and joy. And a grateful heart for all that we have been given. Like the poem I shared last year reads " I am drinking from my saucer cause my cup has overflowed! This year I can honestly say the same is true !
Blessings and love....Karen~

If you see five ladies in velour jumpsuits run!

I was inspired by my friend Kathy's blog post about book club so I thought I would write about it too! Once again you cant make this stuff up! We decided to go to the Pala buffet because they remodeled and it's much nicer than it was. Frankly I didn't really notice cause once you walk in and see the dessert station, you lose all focus.It's like the "mother ship" calling me home. There must have been at least 50 kinds of desserts and two HUGE chocolate fountains (no we did not toss coins or frolic in it) But before dessert we had to eat dinner. So we decided to crack a little crab! Wow that's a lot of work,and more than once a crab leg was hurled across the room by crazy women who didn't know how to use the crackers! And I am quite sure I may have squirted Kathy in the eye once or twice.So we gave that up and had all kinds of random things instead. Tamales...potstickers...sausage...broccoli ? How did broccoli get on my plate? The regular buffet attendees of our group informed us to order water so you don't get full from any carbonation then you could have room for dessert. We were also told to wear your "turkey eating" pants! Oh good Lord turkey pants? We did pretty good and didn't eat too much.
Until.....
THE DESSERT.....
Then it got ugly! Not only was there cheesecake but it was dipped in chocolate and put on cute lolly pop sticks! And tiramisu in darling little cafe cups, cookies galore,pies, cakes, ice cream,and chocolate everywhere!! And it was all you can eat. Lets just say we did Paula Deen proud! After 30 minutes of complaining how full we were, we thought perhaps pineapple would help dissolve all the sugar so we went back for fresh fruit?? I swear you lose all sense of normalcy when faced with all those choices. We decided if we ever went again we wouldn't go so far as to wear turkey pants but maybe we should buy velour sweat suits(which makes us just one step way from taking the senior shuttle for the early bird specials) All in all it was a great night.Funny ladies, funny conversations and funny sounds coming from my stomach all night long. I text Nancy and said if we have any more book clubs at buffets I will simply have to quit! I'm all for widening my literary knowledge but have no room to widen my girth! Maybe next month we will meet at the coffee shop for just some iced tea? Oh wait,next month is the cookie exchange! OK well come January....

Teeter Totter

Friendships are such an amazing gift from God. Life would be no fun without the right perspective and advice from friends. Last night was our moms dinner which we do once a month. Sometimes it's all laughs and good news and sometimes one of us is hurting and needs support and tender care. And truthfully both nights are just as enriching. Either way it happens to be, you walk away thinking how lucky we are to have each other. Without someone to teeter with, we might be stuck on the ground needing to be lifted up. But with friends the next thing you know you are sailing through the sky with your arms raised up , filled again with joy and the problems of this life don't seem so bad after all.If you are ever sad I sure hope you call me! I will drop everything to come out and play!

Sunday Six...

It's been a while since I shared my Sunday Six and as always I have much to be thankful for! So here are six joys from the past week....

1- A fun sleepover with Travis and Ashlyn. They called and wanted to come home for the weekend and nothing makes us happier than that! We played cards, went out to dinner, took our pups on a long walk and just enjoyed being together! My sweet mom used to always say she was happiest with all her chicks in the coop. I know just what she meant....

2-The work girls met up for dinner.I miss being able to see them every day! We had a great time and even Kirk came by to join in the fun. We are excited to keep our little tradition going of meeting up monthly to chat and catch up! I'm already looking forward to next months dinner


3-We went to a fun party Friday night at our friends house for an outdoor concert. They found a new artist that they love and invited her to come and perform for their friends. Lucky us to be included! It was a great night sitting in lawn chairs, seeing old friends and listening to good music.

4-My sweet husband always makes me feel safe and loved. He just says the kindest things that give me such a feeling of peace and well being. How blessed I am to have a man who I adore! And now I see that same tenderness with Ashlyn. He sure loves his daughter in law and she can do no wrong! He tenderly reminds Travis to always be a sweet and thoughtful husband, but I think he has modeled it more than anything.

5-Today is Kenny's birthday and I am so grateful to have such a GREAT brother! He and Lindsay are such good friends to Steve and I and we never tire of seeing them. We had a chance to celebrate with them this week at his favorite restaurant and I baked him a really ugly birthday cake(It tasted yummy but I failed miserably at the decorating) Kenny you are such a wonderful, kindhearted, funny, loyal man and how lucky I am to have you for a brother! Happy Birthday Honey! (my mom said since I couldn't say my K's when I was little I always just called him honey) You are still my honey and I adore you!
6-I am so thankful for my computer! It eases my load and keeps me connected with friends and family! I pay all my bills online so I am never late, never have to buy stamps and always know whats due. I love being able to keep up with my friends and family with their blogs and facebook.Dave will send me a email pic of something fun or of Sara smiling ear to ear. I love being able to share in those moments even though we are separated by way too many miles.I really love email so you can quickly touch base even if it's late at night and cant call. What a blessing to keep in touch!

I wish you all a great week filled with love joy and giggles. Remember to be always mindful of Gods amazing grace! We have more blessings than I could ever imagine and with all my heart I say "Thank You"

Memory Lane~

One of my all time favorite pictures! My mom would read the kids "Twas the night before Christmas" every single Christmas Eve. Of course she would first give them their new Christmas PJ's. For some reason the look on Chads face just makes me laugh. Little whipper snapper is trying hard to be excited about it.And my mom looks so darn serious,I'm quite sure she was concentrating hard on her best Santa voice! She told the story with so much love and joy! I cherish these memories!