Gratitude Blog Day 5: Dairy Free Ice Cream

I am grateful for Dairy Free Ice Cream.

As I have gotten older, milk has unfriended me.  This is fine, given all I have heard about the evils of milk.  Whether or not studies about dairy are true, I have to admit that I don't really miss milk - except for ICE CREAM.

Enter dairy free ice cream.

My favorite?

If you are a MILK lover, you won't like it, but maaaaaaan, this one hits the spot for me.  And I will admit to eating the whole container in one sitting. 

Gratitude Blog Day 4: Hubby's cooking

I am grateful for my husband's cooking.

He cooks some yummy food and I love to eat it.

Gratitude Blog Day 3: Time with the hubby

I am grateful for the time with my husband.

Today, we walked to the gym, worked out, and then walked home. Such a simple thing, but I really enjoy the time we get to spend together on quiet weekends.

We also made it to the pool in the afternoon. Woot! Sunny skies!

Gratitude Blog Day 2: an uncluttered house

I am grateful for a clean, uncluttered house.

I admit that my house is not always clean and uncluttered, but when it is, I feel great.  It inspires me to discard (donate) and organize even more.  I appreciate the things that are in my house - the ones that make me smile - or as Marie Kondo says, "spark joy" - framed photos of cherished memories, shells collected at a beach over a decade ago, and a pretty candle.

Today my house is uncluttered and I feel I am better equipped to tackle other projects on my to-do list.  I am grateful for inspirational books and websites that motivate me to get more uncluttered.

Gratitude Blog: Take 2

I thought about my entries for the last few days, but I was busy with family.  So, I'll re-start my pledge to blog for 10 days straight.

Day 1 - Take Two!

I am grateful for the library...and BOOKS

I have always been a library lover.  As a kid, I spent so many days walking down to the local library and checking out a bagful of books: Choose Your Own Adventure, Judy Blume, and a ton of other children and young adult books.  Such great memories.

In high school and college, the library and I separated.  I was too caught up with reading for "work" and other things.

Thankfully, a few years ago, I re-discovered my love of reading for fun and even challenged myself to read 50 books in year.  I haven't quite replicated that number of books in a year, but I have been reading at least a few a year since I made that pledge to "read more books for fun."

And let us be honest.  Books can get expensive and I am cheap.  So, my old friend, the library, and I were reunited - and she has had quite the makeover: online searches, audiobooks, and e-books?  I am in heaven.  To date, I have completed (either read of listened to) 8 books and am in the middle of four other books.  If you're curious as to which books, feel free to look at my Goodreads profile.

https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/5875266-philly

Now, I am off to read or listen to more books. 

Almost two years?

To be honest, I had forgotten I had this blog.  You know how it goes: Life gets busy and we get so caught up that we forget things, even things that had once brought us joy.

Recently, I have been keeping busy with reading books; trying to stay healthy by eating well and working out; and the regular day-to-day stuff of work, kids, and family.  However, I started thinking about blogging again because of one of the books (or blogs) I read focusing on being grateful.  And yes, we have all heard this before - we should show gratitude in order to be more happy - but what resonated with me was the idea of writing about it each and every day.  It doesn't have to be a long blog entry.  It could be short...but make the commitment to do it.

So, I'm going to try to commit to blogging each day for at least 10 days.  Each day will focus on something for which I am grateful. And to make sure I do it?  I'm going to set an alarm on my phone that asks, "Did you write your grateful blog entry today?"

Day 1: Write about something (not a person) you feel grateful for in your life today.

I am grateful for my health.

A few years ago, I made the commitment to change my lifestyle because the doctor had told me, "You have a choice: change your lifestyle or start cholesterol meds."  Given my family's medical history, I knew cholesterol meds were the start down the path to being unwell.  I changed my lifestyle - and that decision transformed me: I lost 25 pounds and felt amazing.

BUT THEN....plot twist.  Early last year, even though I was the "healthiest" I had been in years (even decades), I started feeling horrible.  It wasn't a cold or flu illness that would pass; it was fatigue, exhaustion, and depression that never went away - and it was horrible.  I wanted to sleep all day and struggled to get basic tasks done.  And I couldn't determine the cause.  After struggling through it for a few months, I finally went to the doctor and learned that I had a severe Vitamin D deficiency, which caused the exhaustion and then depression.

So, today?  Today, I am incredibly grateful for my health.  I am grateful that I am excited about waking up in the morning (most mornings....haha).  I am grateful that I have energy to get to the gym, commute in traffic, go to work, and do all the tasks that need to be done.  I am grateful that I have both my physical and mental health.

Summer Update

Every summer, I make a summer fun to-do list.  Or rather, I have my kids pick particular things they would like to do.  None of the items can contain anything to do with sitting in front of a screen - computer, television or similar thing.  I also add a few of my own in there!

This summer, my daughter selected the Charles Schulz Museum, Mrs. Grossman's Sticker Factory, CYO Camp, and the Monterey Bay Aquarium.  My son picked playdate, playdate, and playdate.  And my personal ones included reading more books for fun, volunteering at camp, going to amusement parks, hanging at the pool, and ensuring my plants successfully grow.

I am happy to share that we are almost done with our list - and it's only mid-July.  Considering how the length of summer vacation seems to be shrinking (my kids go back to school in August), I think we are on track.

The Charles Schulz Museum was pretty cool.  As I kid, I loved Snoopy.  I had a ton of snoopy stuffed animals with clothes (jogging suit, pink dress, etc.) and even shoes, I think.  I read the Peanuts comic strip every Sunday.  I would like to go back one day.  It was not super enthralling to my son, so I didn't get to read as many of the comics displayed as I would have liked.  Also, I mis-read the movie listings thinking the show we were going to watch was the one about the red-headed girl, but it was about a girl in a red truck.  A mixture of live action and cartoon about Snoopy's brother (or cousin?) and the live actress he seemed to like was odd.  I loved the 80s, but watching a jazzercize instructor/rollerskating dancer wearing 80s attire scale a rocky mountain while trying to dodge bullets (yes, they were getting shot at) to save this cartoon dog was unbelievably ridiculous.

The Mrs. Grossman's Factory was really cool.  Of course, I loved stickers as a kid - and I still sorta love stickers now.  Learning about how they were made was informative and getting free stickers is
always awesome.  The one downside?  It smelled super bad.  They said it wasn't toxic, but it still felt like it couldn't be good to be breathing in all those chemicals.

We just finished our first week at CYO Camp.  Lexi was at teen camp, so we didn't really see her.  The teen campers stay on what is known to be the more rustic side of camp.  For me, that side is home though.  Back in the day, it was where girls camp resided and those are the same cabins where I stayed.  I heart the Miwok side of camp.   Nicky had a blast as a day camper.  He gets to experience all the camp activities - like canoeing, making friends, doing archery, tie-dying, playing field games, hiking, and swimming - but I pick him up at 5pm and then put him to bed around 8pm, except the one night where he gets to go on an overnight (smores, campfire, cookout, etc.). I'm hoping that next year he will try residential camp for the week.

Prior to this past week at camp, Nicky has been the social butterfly with all his playdates: to Great America, Six Flags Discovery Kingdom, his friends' houses, the pool, etc.  He will also have more scheduled soon!

As for me, I'm doing well at checking off my summer to-do list.  We went to the pool several times in June, especially since Nick was in swim lessons.  We also went to Great America and Six Flags.  Also, I was diligently caring for my plants and making sure they would grow.  While at camp, my husband has agreed to take care of watering them.  Isn't he sweet? Thank goodness.  I would have been super sad to leave my plants to die in the heat.  I'm sure it's work, but he is also enjoying eating fresh tomatoes.  This past week, I volunteered here at camp in the office, but next week I hope to do more projects outside. I like the variety and am up for anything really.  I've also been reading quite a bit of books.  My goal this year is to read 25 books.  This morning, I finished book #15.  Woot!

And that's my summer update.  I figured I should blog at least once a month. HAHA.  Also, I don't have regular access to facebook, so....yea.