Gratitude - day 6

1. I'm thankful my youngest sister, Jenilee, moved closer. Yes, it would be nice to still have a free place to stay in Hawaii but I love that I can drive an hour and be at her house. We have had a fun-filled day together (pictures of cupcake pops and ear candles to come...)

2. I'm thankful for progress, change and moving forward - it's a good thing.

3. I'm thankful (as I was last year too) for the cheap but cute WalMart Christmas pajamas. I just bought these tonight. Buy them for the women in your family - it'll be the best $10 you spend this holiday season.

Gratitude - Day 5

Okay is it just sad that this is getting old for me after just five days?

1. I'm thankful for the color red. Seriously, anything red makes me just happy and at times, even a bit giddy. My wallet and laptop are both red and so are the cases for my phone and kindle. I'm always red when I play board games and if I'm not, I spend the entire game moving someone else's red marker. And then there's a certain red mixer...sigh...

2. I'm thankful that I can multitask. The fact that I can do multiple things at once makes me good at my job plus it makes me feel efficient. In my two day meeting this week, I flipped charts during presentations, IM'd with the people who were on the conference call, monitored the conference call website, made sure everything was running smoothly AND texted my friends. Yes it means I'm not always the best relaxer (I instantly fall asleep if I put in a DVD and I'm not doing something else while watching) but doing just one thing at a time is boring.

3. I'm thankful for water. I love water so much and I love that our water where we live is just good and not bad like (sorry) Utah water. I love it just plain but if you need to jazz it up, try raspberry ice crystal light - yum. Drinking a lot of water makes me feel better and I'm very thankful I love it so much.

Gratitude - Day 4

1. I'm grateful for sunsets. Tonight's was amazing -- tons of pink. If I was a better blogger, there'd be a picture here for you to illustrate my point but...sorry. Just trust me, it was awesome.

2. I'm grateful for my ability to carry a tune. I'm no Mariah but I can stay on tune, sing in a choir, that sort of thing. I thought of this one while I was driving home from work, singing at the top of my lungs to the "Joseph" soundtrack. I'm just grateful to be able to sing songs I love without wanting to tell myself "um, you shouldn't be singing out loud."

3. I'm grateful that I was able to exercise a little willpower and give away all of the leftovers from last night's treat-fest/Scentsy party. Okay, I still have a few peanut butter balls that Krysta made (aka bon bins, as we like to call them) but everything else has gone on to someone else's house/stomach/rear end. I miss the apple dip the most...sigh.

Gratitude - Day 3 (aka I barely made it!)

There are 50 minutes left in the day so I'd better get cracking...

1. I'm grateful for the conference edition of The Ensign that arrived today. I can't wait to read, study and read some more.

2. I'm grateful for the blogs in my Google Reader. Even though I accidentally hit "mark all as read" over the weekend (sob) I already have over one hundred new entries to read, all in one tidy little spot. Thank you, good bloggers of the world.

3. I'm grateful for my recipe for caramel apple dip. I made it for tonight's highly successful Scentsy party and if I let myself, I could seriously eat it just plain. Trust me - you will want to make this!

1 8oz pkg cream cheese, softened
1/2 c brown sugar
1/4 c powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 - 2/3 c Heath bits (I used the new chocolate-free bits o'brickle.)

Mix together with a hand mixer, chill then serve with apple slices. I served it with gala & granny smith apples. So. Dang. Good.

Gratitude - Day 2

Okay, so I hope this doesn't get boring...

1. I'm grateful for texting. Texting is just the best. I love that it's a quick and easy way to let someone know you're thinking about them. Texting gives me things to smile about when I'm stuck in day long meetings (i.e. a bad combover by a presenter, complaining about another presenter who would Not...Stop...TALKING!)

2. I'm grateful for pumpkins. I love pumpkin scented anything and pumpking flavored anything. I'm having a Scentsy party tomorrow and the treats are all pumpkin...pumpkin muffins, pumpkin cream cheese bread and pumpkin bars. I have hoarded a pumpkin spice Salt City Candle for about three years now and finally broke it out and have been burning it the last couple of weeks. It's truly the best smell ever. Pumpkins are my favorite part of fall.

3. I'm grateful for sisters. I know everyone has issues with their families. It's just the way it is. No family is perfect. I got upset on Saturday about a family issue and my two youngest sisters came over with all of their kids and totally cheered me up. They understood why I was upset and had a solution to our issue that made all of us happy. I love that they just knew what I was feeling and didn't make fun of me for being the big crybaby of the family. I love my sisters and I'm so thankful for them!!

Let's be grateful - day 1

Many bloggers (Chloe, for one) use November to write a post a day of grateful thoughts so I'm going to give it a try...even on the days when I really don't feel so grateful. Here are my three things for today:

1. I'm grateful for people who say yes. I got a call at 8 PM last night that three people were not going to be able to complete their assignments in Primary this morning. I called one home and that family quickly and graciously agreed to do both the music AND teach Sunbeams (aka the crazy wild 3 year olds.) Seriously, this husband and wife are true angels.

2. I'm grateful to live close to my mom. My computer is mostly fixed and now running Windows 7 but I cannot get my printer to install. I had to finish printing some stuff for my Sharing Time today and when I couldn't get the printer to load, I went to mom's and she helped me create a super fun activity for Senior Primary. My mom is such a great example of service -- she is a wonderful blessing in my life.

3. I'm grateful for eBay. I went to see "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" for the first time ever a week ago and it was so fantastic. (Anthony Fedorov from American Idol was Joseph - he was pretty good.) I came home to try and download a soundtrack but nobody had the version with Donny Osmond as Joseph. So I logged onto eBay and went "old school" and ordered a CD that came in 4 days and with free shipping. You really can find pretty much anything you need on eBay and it's usually cheaper too.

Let's complain about our hair

I am blessed to have a head that's chock full of healthy hair. I feel guilty even wanting to complain for a second about my hair because the alternative (i.e. baldness) would be kind of awful. Tonight, rather than gripe about the fact that my computer is still messed up, I'll instead share a short list of things that bug me about having hair:

1. The fact that there is so much of it in the sink, in my car, in the shower, on the floor. Ick, ick and ICK.
2. The fact that I had to let someone else cut it for me a few weeks ago because my stylist was out for several weeks and I was desperate. You've all seen my haircut. It's pretty basic. This guy (who sits next to my stylist and is as experienced as she is) kind of did an awful job on my bangs. How hard is it to cut bangs (well, if you're trained in cutting hair, anyway?)
3. The fact that I have a lot of gray hair. I'm much too youthful (ahem) to have so much gray hair.
4. The fact that it's EVERYwhere (oh wait, did I say that already?)

My stylist is back and I'm seeing her on Friday. All will be right with the world beginning Saturday. So what bugs you about your hair?