The Prose of an Electrate Mind

1. I am grateful that Nicki shared The Best of 2009 Blog Challenge on her blog today.
2. I am grateful that one of the students let me have one of the left-over bagels from his oral thesis proposal defense. (Yes, PhD students try to bribe treat their thesis advisers to food when they defend their proposals.)
3. I am grateful for the delicious hazelnut cappuccino I got this morning as a reward for making it all the way here despite the 48 degree drizzly weather.
4. I am grateful for blankets and hot chocolate.
5. I am grateful for colorful pens.

I either just can’t find a moment to write when I have the inspiration or can’t seem to recall my inspiration when I do finally have the time. So, I suppose I’ll just stick to what works these days — gratitude!

1. I am grateful for the silver-lining on my lunch break (I missed my bus and lost 15 minutes of time with my family, but I got to ride the bus with one of my favorite drivers. She’s such a sweetheart.)
2. I am grateful that it’s not raining today.
3. I am grateful for how smoothly things seemed at home during lunch time.
4. I am grateful that Publix has very good sales this week — as in their sales match up with needs, coupons, and wants.
5. I am grateful that next year’s calendar will feature lovely floral arrangements instead of obscure microscopic images.

1. I am grateful for a good batch of turkey soup.
2. I am grateful that I’m clearly producing the best food for my baby as he’s up to 11lbs, 2.7oz.
3. I am grateful that a very good friend will be coming to visit this weekend.
4. I am grateful for cookie season (I need to devise my plan of action and make a list soon).
5. I am grateful that I’ve clearly figured out what means what in baby language.

1. I am grateful for the big pot of turkey soup.
2. I am grateful that the afternoon sky looks so beautiful.
3. I am grateful for the sound of a snoring cat (something about it just amuses me — probably because it’s cuter when a cat snores than when a human snores).
4. I am grateful to have surpassed 500 hits for November (and I really must consult Nicki about her secret to keeping that glorious number).
5. I am grateful to have an outlet for my writing aspirations.

In my excitement, I haven’t a clue what to write about. You see, the baby’s napping happily in his swing, the two older kids are quietly playing, and I’ve been itching to write something much more substantial than five or so sentences about what I’m grateful for. We have the Christmas tree up and decorated, we have our fancy stockings put up (they were hand-made and aren’t going to be stuffed by Santa as he’d be too scared to break them), and our Christmas wreathe is now gracing the wall. We will need to get up the stuffing stockings and decorate our front door — we’re going to do the same thing that won us a prize last year.

Today is Tim Tebow’s last home game ever as a Florida Gators quarterback. Sure, he’s going to be a Gator for the rest of his life, but he won’t be playing for us at home anymore. It’s been an interesting four years with him playing on our team, and we’ve returned to the days of glory. He’s been an athelete that I feel sets a good example for children in this age of steroids, dog-fighting, and gun-toting. Seriously, most atheletes these days set a poor example for kids (and don’t even get me started on other types of celebrities). Today, we’re sending him out with one last victory against our rivals, Florida State. I do get quite competitive each year when we face them.

With only five weeks left in 2009 — and the 00s, for that matter — I feel compelled to reflect upon this year. Of course, I will save that for a later date because it’s still November. Hurricane season will be ending, cold fronts will be chilling, and cookies will be baking. I’m looking forward to our first Christmas as a completed family of five.

1. I am grateful that the baby is napping happily in his swing.
2. I am grateful that we’ve had cold weather that permits me to wear my flannel pants to bed and my knee-high socks (they are so comfy!).
3. I am grateful for the turkey carcass that will become soup today.
4. I am grateful to see the Christmas decorations put up.
5. I am grateful to be a Florida Gator — we will send Tim Tebow out with one last victory against FSU!

Since today is Thanksgiving, I think I’ll list 10 things I’m grateful for today instead of the usual five. We had a fabulous day for our first Thanksgiving as a complete (human) family (because you can’t have a complete family without a dog or guinea pigs or rabbits or… lots of cuddly creatures). Here’s hoping all of you who celebrate Thanksgiving today had a wonderful time!

1. I am grateful for my family.
2. I am grateful that my husband’s first time cooking a turkey resulted in a juicy, delicious meal.
3. I am grateful that Libby’s pumpkin patch in Illinois had trouble this year because I discovered that making pumpkin pie completely from scratch isn’t all that hard.
4. I am grateful that the weather cleared up enough for us to enjoy some sunlight today.
5. I am grateful for all the left-overs we have that will continue to feed us for the next few days.
6. I am grateful that we had such a long stretch of weather that permitted us to keep the a/c off (nearly two weeks it seems).
7. I am grateful that we live in a nice apartment in a convenient location along a bus route.
8. I am grateful for all of my friends. Some are close by, some are far away; some I’ve met, some I only know through this wonderful thing called the Internet. All are special and important.
9. I am grateful that my boss picked me nearly two years ago. I’ve enjoyed working at my job ever since, and it’s so nice to work with family-oriented people. You also can’t beat the free food now and then.
10. I am grateful that I’m alive and well, capable of realizing so many dreams while still being grounded enough to manage the present.

1. I am grateful that these little gratitude posts are easy to do one-handed and get the urge to write handled.
2. I am grateful for pie pumpkins and encouragement from friends — this year, I’m going to bake a pumpkin pie from scratch (even if it’s prompted by a canned pumpkin shortage).
3. I am grateful for the turkey brining in the fridge.
4. I am grateful that we have enough bread in case we don’t have enough bread flour to make egg bread for french toast (I may not be Jewish, but I can definitely appreciate challah).
5. I am grateful that we found the last boxes of Christmas decorations and gift wrapping items. (It was right in front the whole time!)

I plan to share a picture of the baby at some point, but I don’t seem to get quality two-handed time. He likes to monopolize it, and I tend to be too happy to oblige his cute little bobble-head. They say you can’t spoil a baby — although you can get into habits that will indeed spoil a toddler. 😉

1. I am grateful for the discovery that my husband can bake — he made shortbread cookies last night, and they were excellent.
2. I am grateful that soon I will be able to walk off all these extra holiday calories.
3. I am grateful to have extras to donate to good causes (giving feels just as warm and toasty as getting).
4. I am grateful to see that the baby’s infant acne cleared up (poor thing looked like he jumped right into puberty for a bit there).
5. I am grateful for a luscious nature preserve as a “backyard” (it’s not really a backyard when you’re one the second floor of an apartment, but it’s close enough).

1. I am grateful for the rain this morning. There’s something so relaxing about sleeping during the rain.
2. I am grateful that last night’s batch of brownies baked perfectly — even the edge pieces were great (mine usually get burnt).
3. I am grateful that there was just enough vanilla ice cream left for a caffé affogato.
4. I am grateful that this month’s site statistics could possibly break 500.
5. I am grateful that I’ve netted some regular readers (and awesome readers at that).