“Autumn is a second spring where every leaf is a flower” Albert Camus

I'm thankful for Autumn.

(Note:  This is not my house.  I just like the way the trees framed this one.)

 

I LOVE FALL!

The colors are beautiful.  I find the weather lovely.  The clothes are my favorite.  I'm a sweater lover and it's kind of hard to wear those in the summer.  Just sayin'.

The earth seems more peaceful and divine when the leaves turn a different color and the air becomes cool.  Everything is quite and calm for a moment.  It somehow masks that Thanksgiving is soon approaching and Christmas is right around the corner.  With it, bringing the mass hysteria of gift shopping.  And even when that comes rushing back to memory, all you have to do is look outside and immerse yourself into the depths of the beauty nature has gracefully gifted to us again this year.

Bringing up the topic of holidays, isn't it wonderful that two of the greatest ones are sitting perfectly in the midst of this season?  Try and think of these celebrations occurring during a different time of year and I'll gather you'll be disappointed.  Thanksgiving in particular wouldn't be the same if the colors where an array of pastels.  Sure, if we didn't know any better, we probably would notice.  However, I, for one, am glad we do.

While on my walk yesterday, taking pictures of the trail, I wanted to take a few more to show the loveliness of what I see during this season.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hurrah for Fall!

I'm so thankful for Autumn because it makes the world beautiful and peaceful.

What's your favorite part of the Fall?

Walking the Trails

Today I'm thankful for Walking Paths.

I love that I have one so very close to our house.  It's wonderful to just walk down the street and be right there on a marked trail that I know is safe, clean, and friendly.  Granted, I don't plan on doing any walking at night.  

I'm thankful that our city and surrounding area have these in place so that we (1) have a safe place to exercise and (2) can enjoy nature without having to make our own paths.

Here's a few pictures I took of the path I go on now.

It's absolutely beautiful!

I love being outside and I love these paths.

Do you have a favorite place to go walking?

"Families are like fudge - mostly sweet with a few nuts."

While making this list of things I'm thankful for, it was inevitable that I should, again, choose something from last year.

That being said,

Today I'm thankful for Family.

This may be cheating a little bit, but since I'm the one who came up with the concept to do this posting every day thing anyway, I get to make up all the cockamamie rules I want.

Since I did such a lovely job last year when I wrote it, I'll refer you back to that post.  It's still a good read after all and it's all still true.

To view that post, click here.

“Spiritual strength frequently comes through selfless service.” Thomas S. Monson

Today, I'm thankful for Service.

I'm not talking about cellphone service or customer service.

I mean the acts of kindness that people have bestowed upon our family when we truly have needed it.

Remember when we moved?  We were pretty worried that that no one would come.  We had made the decision so quickly and there wasn't a lot of notice given to our ward.  Luckily, our bishop at them time came to our rescue and recruited as many as he could get ahold of.  We'll forever sing his praises.

It never ceases to amaze Ty and I just how truly blessed we have been by the Service of those we come in contact with.

I hope that we can, in return, share that gift with others that we see are in need or are prompted to help.

Service knows no bounds, race, age, or situation in life.

I'm thankful for the Service that so many have given to our family.

I'm thankful for the Service our immediate families have provided us with.  I really don't know how most people get through a move without them and their trucks and trailers.

I'm thankful for the Service Ty gives me on a constant basis.  As if marrying me wasn't enough, he actually goes out of his way to love me and shows that to me by helping me in our home.

I sure do love him!

What's the greatest service someone has given to you?

“We don't stop laughing because we grow old; We grow old because we stop laughing” Michael Pritchard

Today, I'm thankful for Laughing.  

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And anything that makes me laugh.  

Or SMILE.

I'll take it all.

This is a great segue (which is a word that totally makes me smile and chuckle) from Sense of Humor.

Laughing brightens the moment and life just doesn't seem so bleak when we laugh.  Have you ever just randomly laughed at something out of nowhere?  Weren't you so happy you did?  I think we are happiest when we are laughing.

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And we all laugh different too.  Which ends up making us laugh in return as well.  Some people have some pretty funny laughs.  One of my brother's friends growing up had this kind of high-pitched laugh that made it difficult not to laugh when he did.

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I'm thankful for Laughing because it makes me happy.

Because I feel good inside and all over when I do.

I never want to stop being easily amused and laughing at some great things.

Tell me a funny joke that you know.
C'mon.  It'll make both of us laugh.

"A sense of humor... is needed armor. "

(Quote Continued.)

"Joy in one's heart and some laughter on one's lips is a sign that the person down deep has a pretty good grasp of life."

Hugh Sidey

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I'm thankful for my sense of humor and I fully agree with this quote.

I don't know that I could really explain my sense of humor very well, except to say that I delight in little things.  Play on words is a favorite.  Movies with Don Knotts always give me a good crack up.  I don't appreciate vulgar references or crude language and I tend to stay away from those who would use them.  Little children are my favorite though.  They say the best stuff.

For instance, I asked my niece, Sammy, (a constant for comedic relief) what I should be for Halloween.  Without skipping a beat, her response was, "Beautiful, like me."  Tell me that doesn't give you the inside giggles.

Sometimes, people don't understand my humor and think I'm weird, and that's okay.  I like it just fine and it makes me happy.  : )  To be fair I am weird.

What would the world be like without a sense of humor?

I dare not even think it.

I'm thankful for my sense of humor because it keeps me sane (well sorta).

I'm thankful for my sense of humor because it makes me happy.

I'm thankful that my husband gets my sense of humor.

This is a big one.  I think Ty was the first guy I ever dated that understood and accepted my humor.  What that says about me, I'm not sure, but I'm happy!

“The entire Earth would be in bake mode.” William Bottke

I'm thankful for baking.

Some (okay, most) of my favorite things to eat are baked items.

I can get pretty excited to eat them.  Why, I just recently baked Robbins Cookies (YUM!) and Pizza crust.  Today, I'm made my first ever Apple Pie and it ended up upside-down, but it will fantastic!

 This is what it's supposed to look like.  Don't judge me.  At least I still get yummy pie.

(Click on picture to take you to recipe.  NOTE:  I'm not using pecans, cuz hubby and I think they are yucky.)

 Baking is sort of relaxing for me.  Sometimes, however, I get really crazy ideas and go nuts and bake the Cake To Rule Them All for my husband's birthday and I'm not so relaxed.

You'd think that after that I'd be done, but enough time has past that I've digressed back to the blissfully naive thing I was before baking this cake and plan to do it again for MY birthday.  Only I'm going to try it with hazelnut butter instead of peanut butter.  Who's with me?!  Anybody?  Hello.......?

I'm pretty sure my cute husband likes when I bake too.  We could probably do without the repercussions it takes on our weight and body image, but that's okay because it's still YUMMY!  Sound logic, huh?

Now that it's the Holiday Season, I'm hoping to get quite a bit baking done.  Which probably means I'll need to get a lot of exercising done as well.  So every time I eat a piece of a pie, I'll be standing while I do it.  I try to lead a balanced life.

What is your favorite thing(s) to bake?

I love making Lebkuchen (or "affectionately" known by cute husband as La-poofy) with my mom at Christmas time.  YUM!

Farmer's Market

I'm thankful for the Farmer's Market.

When we first moved to our new home, one of the very first things I wanted to check out was the local farmer's market.  It was love at first sight.  I enjoyed it so much and am really sad that it doesn't continue all year round.

For some reason or another, the one here isn't held at a park or a specific place designated for just the market.  Instead it's held within a parking lot that is blocked off during the time the market is open.  The parking lot is aptly named The Parkway.   The creativity is really quite astonishing.  ; )

The first time I usually go to a farmer's market, I like to slowly cruise along, checking out each vendor.  Seeing what they are selling, for how much, if it's organic, what the quality of it looks like.  Then, I turn around and go back to the vendors that sold the quality of food at a price I liked and purchase some yummy veggies.

I load up my big yellow bag (I really want to invest in one of those scrapbooking boxes on wheels from Costco.) and head home to enjoy my purchases.

This was just one of my visits.

I know it doesn't look like much, but we're still working on being thankful for all manner of vegetables in our house.  Besides there are only two of us.  I, also, bought green peppers, green beans, carrots, our Halloween pumpkin and my mommy got me some pretty flowers when she came to visit.  And you can't forget about Kettle Corn!

I'm thankful for the Farmer's Market because I love getting healthy, delicious, and organic foods from local farmers.   It's nice to know I'm helping out my community by shopping at this yearly market.

I'm thankful that there are three Farmer's Markets in our area and that most of the vendors are usually at all of them.  So if I miss one, I can try another.

Do you have a farmer's market you go to? 

Craigslist

Today I'm thankful for Craigslist.

I LOVE CRAIGSLIST!

It brings much joy and happiness to me.  It's one of the best internet tools.  If you don't know what Craigslist is, you must be living under a rock.

I just found a nightstand a few weeks ago thanks to this site.  We also found our temporary replacement TV on there.  We found our wonderful new home on Craigslist.  In fact, that's how we found the last apartment we were in.  I've found garage sales too.

Craigslist is so great, Weird Al even wrote a song about it

Craigslist was started by Craig Newman in 1995 in the San Fransisco area and started to expand in 2000.
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I'm thankful for Craigslist because it's helped me find really great items for dirt cheap.

I'm thankful for Craigslist because it helped us find a suitable home within our price range.

If you love Craigslist, as much or more than I do, you should check out SearchTempest.com.

It's a site that helps you search through more than one Craigslist, Ebay, and Amazon.  Yeah, AWESOME.

What's your favorite thing that you've ever found on Craisglist?

First Thankful of November

'Tis the beginning of the season of being thankful.  Last year I did a series of Thankful Posts and quite enjoyed it.  I decided to repeat the practice since it worked out so well.

Today I'm REALLY thankful for leftover Halloween Candy.

Can I get an AMEN?

We received a few trick-r-treaters.  By the way, when did it become okay to let middle-schoolers skip around from house to house asking for candy with the puppy-dog eyes like the little munchkins they're trying to imitate?  A few of them decided to test their luck and grab handfuls or one or two on their way out.  Regardless, we still ended up with a fine amount of leftovers.  I'm grateful because now they're all mine.  And a little bit Ty's.  But mostly mine.  I'm very generous in our marriage.

What candy do you usually buy for Halloween?
I think it can go without saying (even though I'm gonna go ahead and do it anyway) that we get to munch on what wasn't taken, so you want to get things that you will eat.  Unless you're just mean and get the itty-bitty yucky candies.