Today I'm Thankful for.... Dirty Dishes

Dirty Dishes? What the...?? :0) I found this sign on Pinterest and I'm going to let it do the talking...

Today I am Thankful... to live in America

On this day, The Marine Corps' birthday, I think it is appropriate to say how much I am thankful that I live in this country. We experience great freedoms that we take for granted everyday. The fact that people can protest the very thing that allows them to protest is a testament to that. We have the freedom to live how we want, believe in what we want, say what we want. As F.D.R. once said, the Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Religion, Freedom from Want and Freedom from Fear.

Not everyone in the world can say that:

- 79 per cent of the indigenous people in Peru are poor, and more than half live in extreme poverty.
- Some 250 million children between the ages of 5 and 14 are currently working, according to the International Labour Office (ILO). Of this total, some 120 million children are working full-time. Some 61% of child workers (153 million) are found in Asia; 32% in Africa and 7% in Latin America.
- 2 million girls each year are at risk of genital mutilation - approximately 6,000 per day.
- Many people in many countries live under the extreme control of their government. The government controls everything from the news they hear to the shows they watch on television.
- Dirty water kills 5000 children a day in sub-Saharan Africa. According to The Guardian, "Many sub-Saharan Africans get less than 20 litres of water a day and two-thirds have no proper toilets. By contrast, the average Briton uses 150 litres a day while Americans are the world's most profligate, using 600 litres a day. Phoenix, Arizona, uses 1,000 litres per person on average - 100 times as much as Mozambique."

We have it more than great here in the good Ol' USA and I hope that, no matter how much that is taken for granted, it is something that is never forgotten.

Today I am Thankful for... My House

This is an easy one. I am so thankful for my house. I have roof over my head, a place I call home. I have no delusions about the fact that not many people my age in Los Angeles own a home. The market is tough, so I am so grateful that we have been able to have this house.

I am also thankful that we are really starting to make it our own home. We have been here for 3 years now and we are slowly but surely changing things into what we want. I am thankful that we are able to do that and really put our touches on it.

This is going to be the house our children grow up in. Maybe even the house our grandkids come to visit. Sometimes all the work gets me down and I wish we had bought something a bit more finished, but I actually love getting creative and turning something "alright" into something GREAT. I can't wait to make a lifetime of memories in this house. We've already got a pretty good start.

Today I am Thankful for.... Dakota

Yep, that's my puppy! He is crazy. We are talking insane. Devil dog. Drives me up a wall. He definitely has no idea he was the runt of his litter. (He holds his own with my parents' big ol' labs!)

We got him right after we got married. He was 3 when we got him and pretty well trained. His owner got prostate cancer and was unable to take care of him. We brought him into our home and he quickly made it his own. When JJ was born, he was the ultimate protector. A great big brother.
As much as he drives us up the wall with his craziness sometimes, we love him. That much was evident last year when we almost lost him. Just before Christmas, we noticed he was not being crazy. In fact, he wasn't doing much of anything. He was having trouble going down the porch steps, he was slipping on the tiles and wood floor. He wasn't eating. Something was wrong. We took him to the vet and found out he had Pancreatitis. That was the easy fix. We also found out he was having problems with his eyes. We had to take him to a veterinary ophthalmologist (I didn't even know that exisited!) They had to do a number of tests and he was on some meds for a while, but $1000 (just before Christmas??) later, he was back to normal. I didn't know what we were going to do if he didn't get better. We honestly couldn't afford anymore tests, so I am thankful that we didn't need them, but to be faced with the choice of what to do with a beloved pet who is pretty much a member of the family, that's tough. I'm so thankful that we didn't have to make any drastic decisions. We did learn that Husky's are prone to eye problems, so that is something we can keep an eye on (no pun intended) in the future. And we met a great Veterinary Opthalmologist!

Dakota is nutso, but he reminds me of innocence and love and fun and I am so thankful he came into our lives.

Today I am Thankful for.... Daddy and JJ time

(I missed a day, so you get two today :0) )

I have the best husband, but that Thankful post will come later. He is such a great dad. He loves our son and will do anything for him. My favorite, though, is on nights like tonight, when they play together and he gets JJ going into fits of giggles.

Today I am Thankful for.... Cooking Abilities

There aren't really too many things I will admit to be very good at. I'm sure I'm good at things, I just don't like to say so because I'm afraid people will think I'm bragging. Or worse, people will ask me to do something and it won't be as good as I said it was.

I don't feel this way about cooking. I love food. Everything about food from the way it smells to the taste to the way it makes you feel. Food brings people together. Food is universal. What you eat may differ from region to region, country to country, but the idea behind food, the emotions, the familial table, that is universal.

I love cooking and baking and I'm good at it. I can create my own recipes when I want and 90% of the time, they turn out really yummy. I'm thankful I was blessed with this ability (and I'm sure my husband is too!). I love that I can create something that brings people together. I'm thankful that when I am craving Chinese food, I can rummage my cupboards and throw something together. Most of all, I'm thankful for the food and other cooking items in my cupboards. Kitchens are the new heart of the home and I definitely feel blessed to have my heart in my kitchen.

Today I am Thankful for... Waffles and Cartoons

My husband and I spent this morning having a yummy homemade waffle breakfast and watching Disney Jr. with our son. JJ loves Mickey Mouse, Handy Manny, and Jake and the Neverland Pirates, so he was a happy boy and that makes this mamma very happy too. It was a wonderful morning; one I wish we could do every morning :0)