Today I am Thankful for....My Job

When I was in college, I worked for a coffeehouse for 4 years (three years at It's A Grind, one at Starbucks). By the time I graduated I was done slinging lattes and making coffee. I met some pretty great people and I met some pretty terrible people and it was all a great experience, but I was ready to move on and get a grown up job. After graduation, I started sending out resumes. A lot of resumes. I went on a few interviews that lead to nothing. It seems silly now, but I was worried I wouldn't get a job at all! It was only two months that I was searching, so I was definitely being over dramatic. In July I got called in to an interview with Business Wire. Then I got called into a second interview. Then I got the job. I was so excited. I didn't really have a full grasp on what the company did, but I was happy anyway.

That was almost five and half years ago and I've never looked back. I'm now a Senior Editor for the Global leader in the industry. I work for a company that is owned by the man himself, the Oracle of Omaha, Mr. Warren Buffett.

I am thankful for the flexiblity of my job. My bosses are great and understanding and are willing to work with you to figure out the unexpected or arrange time off when needed. In 2007 I broke my foot and I couldn't drive. My husband (boyfriend at the time) had to drive me to work on his schedule, which was not even close to mine. It was no problem for me to work a different shift.

As a working mom, I am also extremely grateful for the hours I work. We are a 24-hour office, so there is always someone here. I work from 5am to 1:30 pm. The early hours sometimes suck when I want to sleep more, but it is always worth it to get home early enough to spend most of the day with my son. It'll be even better when he is in school because my husband can get him off to school in the morning and I'll be home when he gets out.

I have a job I enjoy, co-workers who are fantastic, and benefits that are hard to beat. We saw the recession in 2008 and we pushed on through. Sometimes the customer service aspect of the job is tough. People can be mean and rude and just angry for no reason at all. This job has definitely made me jaded in respect to how I view other people, but for every cringe-worthy client, there are a handful of great ones and that balances out nicely.

In this unsure time in the financial and job markets, I'm so thankful for my job and my husband's job and that we've never really had to worry about security. And we are doing what we enjoy, which is all the better.

Today I am Thankful for... Health

Today I woke up with a sore throat and a little bit of congestion in my sinuses. I felt pretty yucky most of the day, but that got me thinking. Overall, I have been very lucky when it comes to my health.

I had a pretty severe case of the chicken pox when I was a child (back before there was a vaccine); a Thyroglossal Duct Cyst remnant removed when I was 5; I had shingles and pneumonia when I was 11; I was diagnosed with G.E.R.D. when I was in college. None of that was great, in fact it was pretty awful (not that I remember having Chicken Pox). But when all is said and done, those health issues aren't really issues at all.

My husband is healthy, my son is healthy (I think he's been sick twice since he was born!), and I'm healthy. We have a history of hypo- and hyper-thyroidism, heart disease and cancer on both sides of our family, but it seems like everyone these days has a history of that or something so much worse.

There's the old cliche "At least you have your health." Well, to me, that's a lot. We wake up every morning, breathe easy and live our full and happy days. And I'm thankful for that.

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.