Positivity Challenge: Day 2

It's day two of the Positivity Challenge, and today my 3 positive incidents are:

1. Free yoga classes through our medical insurance
2. A job interview (more to come on that later...)
3. Lunch date with my wonderful husband

Week 2: Bears Win (Barely)

Da Bears won again (but let's not talk about how ugly that game was), and I had three finishes this week!  I completed the "Pretty Pastels" burp cloth and the "Lime Stripes" bib as anticipated, and just for fun I stitched up a dishcloth from the remaining "Pretty Pastels" striped with the remnants of "Strawberry" from an old project.  While I did start the "Lime Stripes" burp cloth, I ran out of yarn halfway through (and will probably have to order it online because I've had no luck finding one more skein at two of the three big craft stores so far...).  This week's project is the matching "Tie Die Stripes" burp cloth to go with the bib I finished before pre-season was over.

June Blessings

June was a busy month despite my lack of employment outside the home. It was also a month that ended with a lot of prayer requests, which helped me realize how blessed I am to have a family in relatively good health. On to the list of blessings:

• To start off the month, Dave and I attended our third Eucharistic Congress together and heard wonderful speakers on out faith, including Dr. Scott Hahn.  There's nothing quite like a spiritual boost to get you feeling more optimistic!
• We celebrated our third anniversary in June. Sometimes it seems like we just got married, and sometimes it seems like we've always been together.  Since our anniversary, I have been driving out to have lunch with Dave once a week, which has been something to look forward to for both of us.
• Dave really *really* REALLY wanted to see Gustav Holst's orchestral suite "The Planets" performed by the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, and with me at home, it's easier to get last minute tickets.  The hassle of getting these tickets was worth it when I got to watch the joy on Dave's face as he saw his favorite symphonic pieces performed. 
• Our townhouse went on the market the first week of the month, and less than three weeks later we were under contract! Closing isn't until the beginning of August, so please say a prayer that things continue to go smoothly.
• Last, but not least, we signed a lease on a cute rental house that will reduce Dave's commute from an hour (one-way) down to around 20 minutes. I don't know which of us is more excited about the shortened commute--Dave because he gets to sleep later in the morning and save a ton on gas, or me because scheduling dinner will be a lot easier and he'll be home more.
 

At the grand opening of the local Steak 'n Shake with friends

May Blessings

Yes, I'm running a week late on this post for May.  I've kinda been busy getting the house ready to sell, so without further ado, here are the blessings I'm counting from last month:

• Mother's Day brunch hosted by my sister Mary and her fiance Paul with lots of enjoyable conversation on the back porch on a beautiful afternoon (plus entertainment provided by one particularly adorable dachshund and her pink racquetball)
• My last day of work (May 17) and the beginning of voluntary unemployment, which for the first two weeks consisted of back-breaking work like painting, yardwork, packing, moving boxes into storage, and cleaning just about everything in our house.
• Girls' Night Out at the Shakespeare Tavern in Atlanta and lots of fun comments about taking Hot Hamlet home in our trunk...
• A pleasant birthday afternoon spent stitching with the ladies at PINS and a birthday date night with my husband to see Star Trek: Into Darkness in 3D on the IMAX screen.  Yes, I am not ashamed to be a Star Trek fan!
• Brunch with my in-laws at Ray's on the River (my first time there) to celebrate the May birthdays of me and my SIL--any excuse to get together with family and to see our three adorable nieces!

Counting My April Blessings

I've learned that I can't keep up with a weekly blog post, so let's try counting my blessings monthly!

• Between the book club for In the Sanctuary of Outcasts, dinner at Spice Brick Oven Kitchen with college friends, and lunch at Mykonos Taverna with old book club friends, I had a lot of great "girls only" time!
• I spent a lot of quality time with my husband as well with a week-long trip to Tennessee, no more overtime at work every night, and only one Sunday working from home.  I've also gotten him addicted to Castle in time for the season finale in May *evil grin*
• Unfortunately, we've learned that Dave's new office is not far enough away to be considered a "hardship," which means we will not be able to rent out the townhouse if it doesn't sell.  The bright side is that home improvements are coming along slowly but surely (and within budget), and our realtor is optimistic that we may be able to sell for more than our appraisal value.
• Less than a month left of work for me!  May 17th is my last day, and then I become full-time housewife with the mission of getting our house on the market and sold as quickly as possible.  After four years working at the same school, I'm ready to graduate!
• After too many months of procrastination, I took my "To Finish" bag of knits to our monthly PINS group and wove in the ends of almost a dozen projects.  Now to motivate myself to hand wash them all...

Counting My Blessings #6

• Our book-less book group met up for our monthly lunch date last weekend.  This month we tried a German place that had a brunch menu worth drooling over.
• I read the first book toward my Pride and Prejudice Bicentenary Challenge goal, Wickham's Diary.  Of course it wasn't a book on my original challenge list, but it's still progress.  Not the greatest P&P spin-off, IMHO.
• I finished two knitting projects this week--detailed post to come later.  Both were supposed to be Christmas presents, but there's always a birthday or next Christmas for finally gifting them!
• One of my co-workers who has been out on medical leave since December will be back part-time next week.  It will be good to have her back--I've missed our morning tea time!
• As March comes to a close, Dave and I can be grateful that we both survived his first quarter project at work that required him to work insanely long hours during the week and every other weekend.  Hopefully by the end of next quarter, we'll be selling our house and preparing to move near his new office!

Georgia Peach and Pecan French Toast...
with whipped cream in a gravy boat!

Counting My Blessings #5

• It's been a long week of obnoxious work hours for Dave, but I am thankful he has a job and his big project at work is almost over.
• Tuesday we were both able to get a day off together.  Our plans?  We slept in, then had a big lunch at Mimi's Cafe!
• We had a contractor look at some of the cracks in our ceiling upstairs to get an estimate, and he advised us to wait till an interested purchaser has an inspection done.  Then he can take care of everything on the "fix list" at once, and the cracks may not even be an issue!
• I sped through the book club choice for March, A Grown Up Kind of Pretty, in three days.  After book club on Wednesday night, I got to stock up on new books for the next few months: In the Sanctuary of Outcasts, The Magician's Assistant, and The Dovekeepers.
• I'm finally healthy enough to be getting back on the treadmill again.  While not the most thrilling thing in the world, I'm just happy to have the energy to work out again and take advantage of that outlet for stress relief.
  

Dave texted me this picture while we were both home on Tuesday...

Counting My Blessings #3

1. Dad taught me how to install light fixtures all by myself without electrocuting myself nor burning down the house!
2. Our vacation to the Eight Gables Inn in Gatlinburg is booked, so now I have something to look forward to next month (besides my last day of work).
3. Wednesday morning, there were occasional snow flurries on the way to work.  It was such a peaceful feeling, like I was inside of a snow globe as I drove.
4. Last night, Dave and I had an impromptu dessert date to spend a little time together since his work hours are getting more insane closer to the end of their project.  We shared fried cheesecake at Buffalo's Cafe... nom nom nom!
5. In light of the current "Sede Vacante" in Rome, this AWESOME video taught me a few new things and made me giggle more than once:

Being Thankful

It's almost Thanksgiving time again!  The decorations went up at home this past weekend, and I've been counting down since October...

My Top 10 Reasons to be Thankful

1. My wonderful husband who loves me and supports me unconditionally (even when my logic doesn't make sense to him)
2. The strong faith Dave and I share and our wonderful church community
3. Our parents who are great models for us with their combined 70+ years of marriage
4. The proximity of our siblings and their families so we can get together regularly
5. Two best friends who would do anything for me and who have helped me through life's up and downs
6. Jobs that allow us to live relatively debt free and to save for our future
7. A home of our own with a brand new roof to keep us warm and dry (even though the HOA sometimes drives me crazy)
8. Plenty of food in the pantry and clothes in our closet
9. Sweet Skeeter who can make everything better by curling up in my lap and purring
10. All of the small things that make me smile: the yarn aisle at the hobby store, cheesecake, Sharpies and Post-its, a hot cup of tea, adorable baby animals, ice cream, etc.

I am truly blessed!

Truth

Friday Funny

Dedicated to my geeky husband who introduced me to The Fifth Element

Baseball Season

Happy first day of the baseball season to my Braves fan friends
and my Cubbie fan husband!

Friday Funnies

It's cold outside, and I think I'm in the mood for pizza...

A bonus funny because it reminds me of Dave when I order veggie pizza!

Loot

Friday at work was one big countdown till HistoryDiva and I would be walking through the doors of the new local Michael's. Since it was the "soft opening," there was no big to-do at the store, but there was quite a crowd at the checkout. I was actually pretty good--I bought a pound of red yarn (to knit a few Special Olympics scarves at Dave's request), a mini 2011 calendar for work (with pictures of cupcakes!), and a purse-sized polka-dotted 2-year planner to replace my 2009-2010 calendar that is almost obsolete.


I also bought this adorable pair of puzzles for Dave's two nieces, one who will be 2 in December, and the other will be 4 in February. One puzzle has a magnetic net that pulls out magnetized bug puzzle pieces, and the other has a magnetic fishing pole that pulls out magnetized sea creatures. I thought that the girls would love them, especially since they have several wooden puzzle sets at home. Dave wasn't impressed. I'll give them to the girls for Christmas anyway since he doesn't know how to wrap a present to save his life!

Friday Funny

Hopefully Dave doesn't hear this any time soon because of his brand new car...

The End

Since the day Dave and I got married (June 12, United States v. England), the World Cup has occupied a good chunk of our married life. I can't say I'll be sad to see the final game over and the droning of the vuvuzelas silenced... at least until our four year anniversary.

Suite Seats

Dave scored some suite tickets to the Braves v. Nationals game on Monday night. I took a bunch of gratuitous Chipper pics for my BFF Heather since she is far away in California.

Sweet seats? Definitely!

No Such Luck

Dave and I adopted some ducks for the Special Olympics Georgia Duck Derby which took place last Friday. Unfortunately we didn't win any of the cool prizes, but the adoption fee goes toward a good cause and the ducks are super cute!

Blowing Glass

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Dumb Ants

Yesterday morning, I had planned to sort everything for the yard sale Dave and I are having next weekend. Unfortunately, the ants that have been a nuisance lately had discovered both my baking cabinet and my tea cabinet overnight.

So instead of pricing all of the extra furniture and duplicate small appliances from when we combined our stuff back in December, I was carrying several cabinets' worth of food and storage items out to the already over-cluttered dining room. While I'm working up the motivation to climb up on my counters to scrub the cabinet shelves with vinegar water, I have a mountain on top of my dining room table... *sigh*

Stupid ants!

And yes, those are freshly-baked lemon poppy seed muffins on the table! Why else would I have been in my baking cabinet to find my unwelcome visitors on a Saturday morning? Luckily I have learned to seal up pretty much everything from past ant invasions, but it's still a pain to clear everything out and squish all of the stubborn insects.