25) I am, oh, so thankful for a four-day Thanksgiving Break!
26) I am equally thankful for beautiful driving weather so that I could spend that break with family.
27) Even though I haven't always acted thankful for him, I am glad that my brother Warren was born on November 29th.
28) I am thankful that, in the midst of the craziness that was Black Friday, I was able to find the one thing I really wanted: a Downton Abby hat!
29) I am very thankful that, during that break, I was able to be in the temple as my dad was sealed to his late parents.
30) I am also very thankful that my newest sister-in-law was willing to proxy-up with my brother during that sealing. My grandma threatened to haunt anyone who dared do her temple work, and now she will have to split her haunting time between four of us!
18) ... My sister's food blog. She posts her weekly menu and links to the recipes she uses. It rescued me from a dinner rut and is the source of some of my new favorite meals.
19) ... the opportunity I had to feed the sister missionaries last week.(I made the sweet balsamic glazed pork roast from Jenny's blog!)
20) I am thankful I was able to serve as a sister missionary. (I learned so much!)
21) And I am especially thankful for the people I met and was able to learn from.
22) And I am oh, so very thankful to have served in Canada!
23) I am thankful that Brianna and Spencer are having a baby! I am extra thankful that they are having a girl because I had the BEST niblet nickname picked out for a little girl from upstate NY : Buffy (the Buffalo Baby!)
24) I am also super stinkin' glad that my older sister was born thirty-something years ago. Happy Birthday Jenny!
6. I am thankful for General Conference. I learned a lot when I watched in October, but I am learning even more now that my conference Ensign has arrived. For the past few weeks, I have been reading and studying conference talks during my 30 minute lunch break (instead of reading and pondering CNN.com). The result of my mid-day conference break has been a much more zen attitude during my afternoon classes.
In related news, the kidlets in my afternoon classes are also EXTREMELY thankful that I am reading general conference talks at lunch. They like conference-zen Miss H much better than cranky, news-consuming Miss H.
#7. I am thankful that I got to spend the weekend playing with every single one of my niblets when our family invaded Jenny and John's home.
#8. And I am extremely thankful for the reason we all invaded Jenny and John's house: Bentley's 12th birthday and ordination to the Aaronic Priesthood.
#9. I am all kinds of thankful that my New York brother and his super hero wife are going to have a baby this spring. I was very excited when Spence called to tell me that they are having a girl...which makes my nicknaming responsibility very easy: She shall be called Buffy, the Buffalo Baby.
#10. I am so very thankful for my FHE group. This week we had an early Thanksgiving dinner and a wonderful lesson on gratitude.
#10. I am thankful for my friend Valerie and her family.
...and not just because she left a jug of her hubby's home-pressed cider on my desk this afternoon. I am also very grateful that Val does all sorts of nice things for me... like watching Downton Abby with me, and going to craft fairs with me, and listening to me complain on the days I read CNN.com at lunch instead of general conference talks.
#11. I am Thankful for adventurous and persistent kidlets. When I started spouting nonsense about having an adjective beauty pageant, they could have rolled their eyes and waited for me to lose interest. Instead, they made sure I followed through by doing things like this...
#12. And thanks to the creativity and perseverance of those kidlets, I am now also thankful for Adjective Beauty Pageants.
#13. And (even though I am still cranky that it has taken so long)I am very thankful that there will be three new episodes of Sherlock this January.
I realized the other day that, in all my years of blogging, I have never done one of those Thankful blog thread thingies.
You know, the kind where you post one thing you are thankful for each day in November? I've never done it. Not even once. Probably because I have commitment issues. Posting EVERY DAY for a month wasn't something I could commit to. I mean, EVERY DAY? Really? I just couldn't do that.
And I still can't.
Because I STILL have commitment issues.
So I am going to do a mutant version of the Thankful Blog Thread Thingy where I post a couple of things every couple of days.
Today is the 5th day of November, so here are the first five things for which I am thankful.
1. I am thankful for every single one of these whack-a-doodles.
2. I am also thankful for this mini-doodle who was still baking when the above photo was taken. I didn't want her to feel left out [just in case she ends up being my rich niblet ;-)].
3. I am thankful for Kidlets who spent the summer becoming dedicated fans of Doctor Who. The best summer homework assignment ever!
4. And I am very thankful for so many strong and faithful former kidlets who have spent the week teaching me about covenant-keeping by living up to the covenant they made to mourn with those who mourn and to comfort those who stand in need of comfort.
5. And I am also thankful for the Smartboard in my classroom. It not only allows me to kickstart the kidlet's writing processes by project ginormous photos like this ...
...it also allows me to doodle on those same ginormous pictures so I don't get too bored while the kidlets complete that writing process.
Coming soon....
I am thankful for a bunch of other things! Like adjective beauty pageants and new episodes of Sherlock.
