Happy New Year!

I can't believe it's already 2009! I mean, it seems like just yesterday that it was The Millenium, and everyone was freaking out about Y2K...

Much like this year for New Year's, I was sick for that one, too. Can't wait to tell that story later...

"What was I doing when the turn of the century came about, kids? Well, let me tell you. I had a nasty case of the flu. Your father and I weren't married, so I was still living at home with Nana and Papa. I spent the afternoon curled up in my mother's lap in the urgent care clinic (no lie -- I was 22. People stared.), and your dad came over that night. We rang in the New Year in style -- laid out in my bed amongst boxes of Kleenex and magazines, watching the Dick Clark Rockin' New Year's Eve special on Toad's -7-inch television that I only got to put in my room on special occasions like being sick on New Year's, with the door cracked because my parents didn't want me to contaminate their party but were completely opposed to having visitors of the opposite sex secluded in a room alone with me, even if I was on my death bed."

They'll be so excited and grossed out, all at once. :-)

Anyway, I haven't made any resolutions, but as I was logging in tonight, I noticed an update from one of my favorite blogs, http://www.whoorl.com, and I was intrigued, so I had to read it. Apparently, this person (not Whoorl, but another person's blog she reads) is launching this gratitude journal, of sorts, on her blog. I like the idea, so I think I'm going to do it, too.

The point is to post 5 things for which I am grateful every day for a year.

Now, we all know that daily postings aren't my forte. I'm a little scatterbrained at times... Let me give you a recent example.

I ordered a book from Overstock.com for myself for Christmas because 1) I hadn't read it, 2) it was written by Dorothea Benton Frank, one of my favorite authors, and 3) it was on sale, cheap. I was sooo excited when it arrived... and soooo anticipating a good holiday read-fest.

Until I opened it up, two days after Christmas. As I started reading it, I started having a serious sense of deja-vu... it all seemed so familiar... oh wait!

I already read it.

Merry Christmas to me.

Anyway, I think I'm going to try this 365 Days of Grace in Small Things. I might miss a day here or there due to the craziness that is my life, but I'm really going to try. I think it's so easy to get wrapped up in what isn't going right or the latest drama, but I am constantly thinking -- especially with my kids -- how blessed I am.

I also love lists... like, obsessively. I am one of probably 100 listmakers who actually buy and read books like "1,000 Things To Be Happy About" or "500 Questions" (K's personal favorite... he keeps hiding it so I'll stop asking him questions...).

So... here it goes:
1- Laney's great love of jumping out from behind furniture or walls and yelling, "Thu-pwize!" or (my personal favorite) "Happy Birt-day!" when there is no thupwize or birtday to be had...
2- My funny friends. Reading their comments and/or emails make me laugh out loud, which makes me happy...
3- A cold Diet Coke first thing in the morning...
4- Sam's lopsided smile...
5- Ethan's obsessions... like locking the car doors immediately and trying to be sneaky like a ninja...

Here's to all the possibilities of a new year, including me blogging daily... :-)

If you're interested in reading more about this movement, check out http://www.schmutzie.com/2008/11/grace-in-small-things.html. Never mind the odd ad on the sidebar about the suicide note -- it's just an ad... but I wasn't sure what was going on, at first. Just wanted to warn you ahead of time.