November 11th - Thankful for Veterans

November 11th (11/11/11) - Lets all be thankful for the Veterans on this Veterans Day!

I'm thankful for the men and women who have served for our country in the past and I'm thankful for those currently serving.  I'm thankful for the wives and children who are here at home while their loved one is risking the ultimate sacrifice for our country.  I'm thankful for the families who will get that horrible news that their loved one didn't make it. 

There is a family in the town I grew up in that comes to mind today.  Nathan sacrificed his life for all of us to continue to live the lives we do each day.  I will be forever thankful to him for that.  And his family will never leave my thoughts.  They have had to sacrifice as much as he did.

I know some girls I went to high school with whose husbands are currently overseas or who have served and are now home.  They have kids close to Lyla's age.  I just can't imagine what they have been through. 

So again, I am thankful for the Veterans and everyone who hopefully someday will be a Veteran and not currently serving.  And I hope that someday soon Veterans Day will be about remembering past wars instead of it bringing to mind that we are at war.  I think we all tend to forget that sometimes.  Its become the new "normal' for us.  And that in itself terrifies me. 

I was 7 years old when the Gulf War started.  I can distinctly remember my mom picking me up that evening from church (either choir practice or youth group) and we were in the car driving home and the President came on the radio to announce we were going to war.  I can remember being a little scared, not really knowing what that meant.  It was a big deal.

I was 18 when 9-11 happen.  I can remember every detail of that day.  That was the September after I graduated high school.  I hadn't started my classes at Penn Commerical yet.  My friend Ashley who is two years younger than me hadn't started back to school yet because of renovations.  I had spent the night at her house and we slept in that morning.  We got up to her dad watching it all on tv.  And everything changed after that. 

Kids today don't know what life is like with your country not at war.  That is such a sad thought.  Gary's little cousin was born September 9th, he had two days of life before the war started.  Its all he has ever known.  Its just so strange when you think about it that way. 

So I think this Veterans Day we need to all stop and just remember all the people who have worked so hard and given so much to try to let all of us live normal lives.  And we need to go back to the times that I remember when I was a kid.  All the Veterans on Veterans Day were old!  I always remember getting the facts about when my grandfather was in the war so I could say I knew a Veteran when I went to school.

The Penn State Scandal

I'm not interested in a big debate.  I just read this article and I think it speaks very well of the truth of the whole situation.  This is not about Joe Paterno.  Its about these poor boys.  It boggles my mind that this went on for as long as it did and that so many adults knew about it and yet nothing was done.  I think that the students starting riots are stupid and selfish and refusing to see the bigger picture.  Anyways, I just agreed wholeheartedly with this article and thought I would share it.

http://espn.go.com/espn/story/_/id/7208581/rick-reilly-penn-state-scandal

Ok, this is an edit because I just read this article that I appreciate so much more!  What ADULT walks in on this happening to a CHILD and turns around and walks away???

http://sports.yahoo.com/top/news?slug=ycn-10399373

November 10th - Thankful for Amazon

November 10th - Today I am thankful for Amazon and all other online shopping sites!

Thanks to online shopping I have totally finished all of my Christmas shopping!  I got my last shipment that I was waiting for this morning.  The only things left to buy are for Lyla because Gary and I wanted to do that together.  I'm pretty excited to not have to worry about buying presents between Thanksgiving and Christmas.  Instead I am going to take that time to watch Christmas movies, bake cookies, look at Christmas lights, go to parties and just relax and enjoy my family and friends!  So thank you Amazon!  :)

November 9th - Thankful for Harry Potter

November 9th - Today I am thankful for Harry Potter!  hehehe

First and foremost, if you have not read the Harry Potter books, you totally should!  I love them and can't wait to have some free time and sit and read them all again.  Which at the rate things are going will probably be when Lyla is old enough to enjoy them and I will just read them to her!  I love the movies too, but when you read the books there is so much more detail and I enjoy them much more!

So this morning we were stuck in traffic.  The car in front of us looked like this:

License Plate:  Voldmrt
Bumper Sticker:  This car is a horcrux.

hahahahahahaha  If you don't do Harry Potter this will not make any sense to you, but if you love Harry Potter like I do then you will understand why this made my day! 

November 8th - Thankful for my voice

November 8th - Today I am thankful for my voice. 

I woke up yesterday and couldn't talk.  It was the strangest thing, I didn't even have a sore throat.  But it made for a very long day struggling to talk!  Today its better, not perfect, but definitely better!  So I am thankful for my voice and being able to talk!  :)

November 7th - Thankful for my job

November 7th - Today I'm thankful for my job.

Its Monday, Monday mornings are always hard to get out of bed.  Especially when its cold out.  Especially when you stayed up until midnight the night before to watch the Steelers lose to the Ravens.  But I try to remind myself that some people, a lot of people, are really suffering without a job to go to right now.  The unemployment rate is unbelievable to me.  So I try to not be too miserable about getting up on a Monday morning to go to work.

Not to mention, I love my job!  I work with some of the funnest people I have ever met!  They are a second family to me and I'm so happy to have them in my life!  Sometimes I feel like this job was made for me. 

November 6th - Thankful for Sundays

November 6th - Today I'm Thankful for Sundays

I love Sundays!  I especially love Sundays that I get to stay home all day.  Today started off getting an extra hour of sleep thanks to turning the clocks back.  Then Gary made us a good breakfast!  We hung around the house until it got warm out then Lyla and I went for a nice walk while Gary mowed the grass.  Then we came home and my friend Ashley came to visit.  While she was here we had tacos for dinner.  Now I am just enjoying some quality time with my little family.  Soon Lyla will go to bed and Gary and I will watch the Steelers game!  I really am thankful for Sundays!  I always feel like if I can have a calm and enjoyable Sunday at  home it sets me up for a good week!  There are weeks when I have things to do on Sunday and don't get to stay home and it never fails that I feel completely flustered going in to the week.  Anywho, I am going to jump off of here so I can enjoy the rest of my evening and take in this perfect view:

Be jealous, my life is pretty perfect at this exact moment!  :)