Gratitude Sunday 64

Denard!!!

What a week! A wonderful Thanksgiving in Virginia with the in-laws, a dinner out with my best friend, and MICHIGAN BEAT OHIO STATE! Since this is the first time I’ve been able to say that in SEVEN years, please indulge my desire to share some of the players’ post-game quotes.

Quotes on Gratitude for Winning the Game!

“My dream has always been to catch a touchdown in the Michigan/Ohio State game, and I finally did that. It means a lot to me and my family. It was a great play call. I was fortunate to slip inside the d-end, ran to the corner wide open, and Denard [Robinson] found me.” — Senior Tight End Kevin Koger

“I was out there playing for the seniors. I played my heart out, and the guys did too. That is what happened. I was just doing what I had to do. Playing for the seniors and playing for Michigan.” — Junior Quarterback Denard Robinson

“That was one of the best team games we’ve played regardless of the score, regardless of the stats. I… couldn’t be more proud of all the guys, every single player. I can probably speak for Mike [Martin – Senior Defensive Tackle] that we’ve been hoping since we were kids that we’d get the opportunity to win a Michigan-Ohio game and it’d be on our backs… It’s amazing. It’s the greatest feeling in the world.” — Fifth-Year Senior Defensive  End Ryan Van Bergen

Gratitude list for the week ending November 26

1. Did I mention that MICHIGAN BEAT OHIO STATE???  Oh, well, in case you hadn’t heard, MICHIGAN BEAT OHIO STATE!
2. We cooked the best Thanksgiving turkey yet. After two years, I’m now convinced the secret is to cook it breast-side down.
3. It was also my BEST turkey gravy ever, and it is the dish I am famous for – my dad taught me his method years ago.
4. My mother in-law made the best pumpkin pie I’ve ever eaten.
5. I had dinner with my best friend.  As always, it wasn’t enough time but still very much appreciated.
6. The four dogs my mother-in-law watched over the weekend, which helped us miss Rocky just a tiny bit less.
7. Picking Rocky up at the kennel and seeing how excited he was to be home.
8. Em finished Eragon – her first BIG book.  Now I’m reading it!
9. My cousin waited for me to get home this weekend so we could see Breaking Dawn together. Yes, we’re Twitards (and Team Edward).
10. Taking our two kids plus one of their cousins to Great Falls Park on Thanksgiving Day.  It’s so beautiful, and we hadn’t been there in years.

Be sure to come back tomorrow when the lovely Susanna Leonard Hill will participate in the How I Got My Agent series!

What are you grateful for this week?

Run, run as fast as you can. You can't catch me I'm the "shoelace" man!

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Happy Thanksgiving!

 

Giving Thanks

For the hay and the corn and the wheat that is reaped,
For the labor well done, and the barns that are heaped,
For the sun and the dew and the sweet honeycomb,
For the rose and the song and the harvest brought home —
Thanksgiving! Thanksgiving!

For the trade and the skill and the wealth in our land,
For the cunning and strength of the workingman’s hand,
For the good that our artists and poets have taught,
For the friendship that hope and affection have brought —
Thanksgiving! Thanksgiving!

For the homes that with purest affection are blest,
For the season of plenty and well-deserved rest,
For our country extending from sea unto sea;
The land that is known as the “Land of the Free” —
Thanksgiving! Thanksgiving!

~Author Unknown

Happy Thanksgiving to all of my American friends and family, and to everyone else too! 🙂

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Thanksgiving Blogfest: My Entry

Watch the little video for a laugh

Susanna Hill is sponsoring a fun blog challenge with Thanksgiving theme.  Write a story (or poem) in 250 words or less, beginning with the words, “”They were supposed to go to Grandma’s for Thanksgiving, but the blizzard came in fast…”  She allowed those writing in poetry to tweak the beginning a bit to make the meter more consistent.  I did take her up on that, BUT I will have you know my entry is EXACTLY 250 words!!  (However, please don’t check the meter with a fine-tooth comb, as I wrote this very quickly for fun). 🙂

They were set to go to Grandma’s
For their big Thanksgiving feast,
But the blizzard came in fast
Growling, howling like a beast —

Hurled itself around the house
Rattling windows, banging doors.
They laid a fire in the hearth
Against the blizzard’s wicked roars.

They couldn’t roast a turkey.
Electricity went out.
They ate tuna for their meat,
For their veggie – sauerkraut.

They wrapped themselves in blankets
Lit some candles, played some gin.
Dessert was pumpkin out of cans
With some cinnamon stirred in.

They started telling stories
Scary, funny, tried and true
Til the fire turned to embers
And the clock struck half past two.

They stoked the fire to blazing,
Snuggled close and rested heads.
That fire was so darned cozy
That they did not miss their beds.

They formed a sleeping circle
With the dog curled up inside.
Slept so soundly through the night,
They did not hear the storm subside.

They woke up the next morning
To a dazzling, blinding light.
Snow had piled up to the rafters,
And the world was frosted white.

They threw on coats and snowsuits
Raced out straight into the snow.
Threw some snowballs, built a snowman
Came back in with cheeks aglow.

They sat sipping some hot chocolate
When they heard the doorbell ring.
Behind the door was Grandma
With a giant turkey wing!

That Thanksgiving sure was different.
Many folks would call it lame.
But they made the most of family
And were thankful just the same.

The challenge is open through tomorrow (Thanksgiving Day), so join in and add your own entry at http://susannahill.blogspot.com/2011/11/oh-excitement-thanksgiving-contest.html.

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Gratitude Sunday 63

As a lead-in to this week of Thanksgiving, here’s Gratitude Sunday.  The above is a little video of Jay’s Kindergarten class singing a song called Thanks a Lot.  The video is not much to look at, but if the sound of those little voices singing doesn’t melt your heart, I don’t know what will.  I’m sure you can guess which one is Jay…

Quotes on Gratitude

“I cannot believe that the inscrutable universe turns on an axis of suffering; surely the strange beauty of the world must somewhere rest on pure joy!” — Louise Bogan

“Thanksgiving Day comes, by statute, once a year; to the honest man it comes as frequently as the heart of gratitude will allow.” — Edward Sandford Martin

“Thanksgiving comes to us out of the prehistoric dimness, universal to all ages and all faiths.  At whatever straws we must grasp, there is always a time for gratitude and new beginnings.”  — J. Robert Moskin

Gratitude List for the week ending November 19

1. My blogiversary! I was so touched by all of your amazing comments and I’m ever grateful to you for taking your valuable time to read this blog.
2. We had a rough start to the evening, but we took the kids to see The Lion King at the Denver Center for Performing Arts, and they loved it.
3. Visiting Jay to celebrate Thanksgiving with his Kindergarten class on Friday (see video).
4. Meeting with my new in-person picture book critique group for the first time.
5. Watching Em in a musical performance of Pigs Over Colorado, a book written by local author Kerry Lee MacLean.  The new music teacher at the kids’ school has done a fantastic job of revitalizing the music curriculum.
6. Both kids got excellent first trimester report cards.
7. Stacy Jensen, for having me guest post on her blog.
8. The School Food Project hosted a “Make a Rainbow on Your Plate” day at the kids’ school where they eat all the colors of the rainbow off the salad bar.  A great response to the “pizza is a vegetable” debacle our government has inflicted on the school lunch program.
9. I got to read on throughout the entire flight on the way to Virginia because the kids watched a movie.
10. We arrived in Virginia in one piece yesterday and had a fun and relaxing dinner that Phil’s parents had prepared for us.

What are you grateful for this week?

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Gratitude Sunday 36

In a week devoted to thanksgiving, I have much to be grateful for.  Oddly enough, one of the things I’m grateful for is the fact that I took some “offline” time.  After Tuesday, I didn’t blog, Twitter or Facebook.  I’m ready to dive back in now, but it was nice to just live in the physical world for a while.  I’m sure I’ll do that again around Christmas, and maybe for a few days every month just for a “cleanse” so to speak.  With me, the allure of reading blogs, Twitter, etc., while immensely educational in a lot of ways, can also be a bit addictive.  Nice to get some balance back.

Quotes on Gratitude

“Nothing purchased can come close to the renewed sense of gratitude for having family and friends.” — Courtland Milloy

“I do not think of all the misery, but of the glory that remains. Go outside into the fields, nature and the sun, go out and seek happiness in yourself and in God. Think of the beauty that again and again discharges itself within and without you and be happy.” — Anne Frank

“Heap high the board with plenteous cheer and gather to the feast, And toast the sturdy Pilgrim band whose courage never ceased.” — Alice W. Brotherton

Gratitude List for the week ending November 27

1. For our table

2. For our turkey

3. For homemade cranberry sauce, hand-grooved to make it look canned 🙂

4. For my expert turkey-carving husband

5.  For my whole family, near and far

6.  For pumpkin and chocolate pie

7.  Leftovers!

8.  For a quiet weekend of reading and watching movies

9.  For the Harry Potter series – finally finished re-reading the books.  What a joy to get immersed in Rowling’s world again.

10.  A warm dog to snuggle.

What are you grateful for this week?

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Gratitude Sunday 35

With Thanksgiving on Thursday, this is really a gratitude week, is it not? 

Quotes on Gratitude for Thanksgiving

A Few Serious…

“The Pilgrims made seven times more graves than huts.  No Americans have been more impoverished than these who, nevertheless, set aside a day of thanksgiving.” — H.U. Westermayer

“Thanksgiving Day comes, by statute, once a year; to the honest man it comes as frequently as the heart of gratitude will allow.” — Edward Sandford Martin

“Thanksgiving is the holiday of peace, the celebration of work and the simple life… a true folk-festival that speaks the poetry of the turn of the seasons, the beauty of seedtime and harvest, the ripe product of the year – and the deep, deep connection of all these things with God.” — Ray Stannard Baker (David Grayson)

“>A Few Humorous…

“I love Thanksgiving turkey.  It’s the only time in Los Angeles that you see natural breasts.” — Arnold Schwarzenegger

“What we’re really talking about is a wonderful day set aside on the fourth Thursday of November when no one diets.  I mean, why else would they call it Thanksgiving?” — Erma Bombeck

May your stuffing be tasty
May your turkey plump,
May your potatoes and gravy
Have nary a lump.
May your yams be delicious
And your pies take the prize,
And may your Thanksgiving dinner
Stay off your thighs!
— Author Unknown

Gratitude list for the week ending November 20

1. Rocky’s 2nd birthday. That dog sure landed on all four paws didn’t he?
2. Walking in a field with Rocky at dusk, under a full moon
3. Cozy fleece pajamas
4. My friend Karen, for driving Em to and from a Girl Scout event yesterday
5. Em and Jay’s excellent basketball coaches
6. Being the “mystery reader” in Em’s class this week
7. Experiencing the magic of having kids asking me so many questions about my own story, which I read aloud to them – intoxicating and inspiring!
8. Listening to Em read her own story during her class Writer’s celebration
9. Em watching and loving the first Harry Potter movie (we’ve read the book of course)
10. Kids rolling out their sleeping bags to sleep in front of the fire last night

What are you grateful for this week?

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Turkey’s Story, by Em

I know we haven’t posted the next installment of Rocky in the Rocky Mountains, but Em wrote another terrific story (IMO) that I wanted to share with you. This time I corrected the spelling errors because it’s just easier. Here goes:

Want to hear the story of how a turkey made the biggest escape of his life?

Well, if you go beyond the hills away from the clouds over in the field in the bright sun, there lived six turkeys. Five brothers had been gobbled for Thanksgiving dinner, and since those days, turkey had feared Thanksgiving day forever! So when Thanksgiving day came turkey was first choice for supper.

Then an idea popped in his head. On the farm there was a bridge. A very broken bridge. All turkey had to do was cross it. Of course, turkey was heavy from eating, but that’s not what turkey thought when he reached the bridge. He said to himself, “I’m as light as a feather.”

But the truth is he was a really just a rooster named “Turkey.”

Gobble, Gobble

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Happy Thanksgiving!

Giving Thanks
Author Unknown

Giving Thanks
For the hay and the corn and the wheat that is reaped,
For the labor well done, and the barns that are heaped,
For the sun and the dew and the sweet honeycomb,
For the rose and the song and the harvest brought home –
Thanksgiving! Thanksgiving!

For the trade and the skill and the wealth in our land,
For the cunning and strength of the workingman’s hand,
For the good that our artists and poets have taught,
For the friendship that hope and affection have brought –
Thanksgiving! Thanksgiving!

For the homes that with purest affection are blest,
For the season of plenty and well-deserved rest,
For our country extending from sea unto sea;
The land that is known as the “Land of the Free” –
Thanksgiving! Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to all of my American friends and family, and to everyone else too! 🙂

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