Thankful Thursday

Nadia did this with pastels.

 1. Al, Millie, and Paul's dad were able to join us for Thanksgiving Day. 

2. I got quite a few things for free at CVS last week, and I got some good Black Friday online bargains at Walmart, Target, Shutterfly, and Chewy. I also made a lot of progress with my Christmas shopping on Amazon. I think I just need to buy Christmas gifts for three more people at this point. I have our Christmas cards. I just need to address and mail them. One of my bargains was that I paid less than $2 total for a Shutterfly order that contained 23 thank you cards. 

3. I bought a pair of pants at a thrift store for myself in September and really liked them. I was hoping to get a couple more pairs-different colors but the same manufacturer and style. They were on sale on Black Friday, and I used credit card points to pay for them so they didn't really cost any money. I don't buy myself clothes very often. I wore one of the new pants yesterday. It does feel nice to have something new to wear every now and then. 

4. Nadia's skills with puzzles have really improved this year! She's put together more than 7,000 pieces in about 2.5 weeks.

5. We're thankful for audiobooks! Some favorites recently have included Small Acts of Amazing Courage by Gloria Whelan, Paint the Wind by Pam Munoz Ryan, Alice's Farm: A rabbit's tale by Maryrose Wood, Small Steps: The year I got polio by Peg Kehret, Riding Freedom by Pam Munoz Ryan, and A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park. We listened to 71 books over the past five months!

6. I ordered a collage frame for each of the kids. Nadia's is up on her wall with 4 of the 5 openings filled with some of her recent art work. Two of Ian's openings are filled. I envision we will switch out what is in the frame from time to time over the years to come. 

7. The library system I've been using the past couple of months is still fully open. I had still been using the Union County system some, but last week I decided to cancel all my requests because #1 the "new" library is much closer to our home and #2 it's very complicated to figure out when to request books due to the way they are doing things during the pandemic. I'm not saying I will never use that library again, but I think my trips there will be very few and far between. To me getting books at the library is in the essential category along with getting food at the grocery store. As long as the library stays open I'll be going there. 

8. The Steelers are 11-0! 

9. We're continuing to enjoy (especially Nadia) our membership with Creating a Masterpiece.

10. We've enjoyed watching a few movies together as a family including Gifted Hands (about Ben Carson), Around the World in 80 Days, and Swiss Family Robinson. The boys wanted to see Home Alone again. Nadia opted to watch something else. We were shocked to learn that it was the first time Paul had seen any Home Alone movie! Next up will be Night at the Museum. 

11. I had a lengthy conversation with my friend, Cheri, on Monday and my friend, Carol, on Tuesday. I was thankful to hear that her husband's brothers helped her out with some projects around the house after her husband passed away. 

12. The church isn't allowing small groups to meet on campus right now due to COVID. Thankfully Bible Bowl can meet at someone's home, and one of the parents drove Nadia and two other kids from the home to the church for youth group, as the youth group is still meeting at church on Wednesday nights from 6:30-8:00. I realize they might stop the youth group from meeting again at some point due to COVID, but I'm thankful that for now Nadia can still attend youth group on Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Wednesday night. 

13. The kids and I enjoyed having 5 days off of school. 

14. I'm very thankful that the pain in my arm has gone away and I've regained my full range of  motion. I'm also thankful I had extra bucks that Paul could use to pay for the Aleve and sling. I had planned to use those for cereal for the kids, soda for Paul, etc., but it was nice to get what I needed for free at CVS through extra bucks. We take so much for granted - our sight, hearing, ability to walk, etc. I am very, very thankful to have regained the use of two arms and hands. Cooking and getting dressed were particularly challenging and painful. 

15. Target accidentally included four pairs of little girls' pants in a package that was sent to our house. I called Target, and they said that they didn't want them back. I gave two two a neighbor who has a kindergartener and the other two to a neighbor who has a preschooler. It was nice to be able bless others with free, brand new clothes. 

16. I told Nadia she had to finish the level of piano music that she had been in for what seemed like forever before her voice lessons were over. She accomplished it in the nick of time yesterday as her last lesson was today. Ian had asked me to get him a book of Christmas music. Nadia actually was playing the piano today - the new Christmas book as well as a book of Disney music. So maybe she isn't totally done playing the piano? At the moment I only have one piano student - Ian. Thankfully he really enjoys playing the piano.

17. I placed an online grocery order with Walmart because they were having a great sale on boneless skinless chicken breast (75 cents a pound!!!!). Unfortunately shortly before I left to go to Walmart on Tuesday I received an email saying they were out of chicken. I had ordered two different types (the other was $1/ pound which is also an unheard of price). I was disappointed because the whole reason I placed an order was to get the chicken. To add insult to injury, Oliver and I had to wait for 45 minutes in the parking lot for them to bring out our order. In texting my neighbor I found out she has had to wait many times - sometimes as long as 2 hours!!! I'm thankful that usually I've had almost no wait when I've gotten our groceries there, and I'm thankful there are other places I can get my groceries as I don't plan on returning there any time in the near future. 

18.I'm thankful that thus far Nadia doesn't have any symptoms of COVID-19. She was in close contact with a girl in the youth group on Sunday night as they decorated the sanctuary for Christmas, and that girl tested positive this week. The youth pastor at that church (not our church) called me today to tell me that Nadia needs to quarantine. The current CDC guidelines are to quarantine for 7 days if you have a negative test or 10 days if you aren't tested and don't have any symptoms. Since we didn't find out until four days after they had contact, she will only be quarantining for six more days. She's bummed that she won't be allowed to attend church this coming Sunday morning. This other church cancelled the youth group for next Sunday night because of this positive test. 

19.  I probably won't make it again because Ian and I were the only ones who liked it, but I really, really loved the German Apple Pancake I made for dinner tonight. Yum! I am thankful that I inherited a cast iron skillet from Maurice. I had never owned one prior to his passing, and I'm amazed at how many times I've used it.

20. Ken called us tonight. When he was here two weeks ago he was forgetting that last week was Thanksgiving. He's planning to install our new toilet tomorrow afternoon and work on the shower and other projects next week. 

21. Ian has really enjoyed reading the Calvin and Hobbes book I got him from the library. The next one will be Garfield. Our kids don't have experience with reading comic strips as we've never subscribed to a newspaper during the 12+ years we've lived in this house. 

22. Even though it's been cold, Oliver has still been playing outside. I never used to allow them to play outside after dark, but I've been letting Oliver (and sometimes Ian) play manhunt outside with them from time to time lately partially because it gets dark so early. I'm thankful he has friends to play with!