Gratitude

Silent gratitude isn't much use to anyone. ~G.B. Stern

God gave you a gift of 86,400 seconds today. Have you used one to say "thank you?" ~William A. Ward

I saw this on someone else’s blog and decided that even if I never ended up posting it on my own blog it would be a good thing to think about, write down and then hopefully share. I encourage anyone reading to at least think of 10 things that you are thankful for. This past weekend was Canadian Thanksgiving and you’d think that it would be real easy for me to think of 10 things that I’m thankful for but here it is almost a week later and I’m still working on my list. I’m hoping that once I actually get started it will just flow. Here they are in no particular order.

1. My dog, Sasha – I know I’m a little bit biased but I really think she is an awesome dog! If I’m having a bad day she can calm me down by letting me pet her or doing something silly and making me laugh. Plus if I didn’t have her I’d probably get absolutely no exercise and would rarely leave the house.


2. My son, Kellan – Again I know I’m a little bit biased but I’m his mom I’m supposed to think he’s wonderful! He’s silly and smart and (usually) quite a joy to be around.


3. My husband, Scott – Some days he makes me so angry but then there’s other days that he makes me wonder at his thoughtfulness. He is my very bestest friend.



4. My computer – I know it seems strange but I am grateful for the opportunities I get to connect with both old and new friends via the internet. Just think – without the computer you would not be reading this!

5. My friends – Both my online friends and the friends that I get to see in real life are awesome. They both provide much support and I can only hope that I return that favor.

6. My Pankhurst family – I posted on Facebook a while back about my sisters being awesome and I know that they must have learned it from my parents. I know that I can ask anything of them and they will do what they can to help.


7. My Shaw family – It is amazing to me that my in-law family can be so loving and such a great example. I learn so much from them. They also will do what they can to help.


8. My car – Eddie Veder the Endeavor is my dream car and there are not words to express how grateful I am to finally have a car that I can trust to get me where I want and need to go.

9. Canada – I am grateful to live in a country where freedom is the norm. I can say pretty much what I want without any fear.

10. And last but certainly not least is my faith – Without faith I don’t think I would bother getting out of bed in the morning. I know that God watches over me and keeps me safe. Every tomorrow has two handles. We can take hold of it by the handle of anxiety, or by the handle of faith. ~Author Unknown

Oatmeal Chip Cookies

Since several people requested the recipe for the cinnamon chip cookies via Facebook I thought the easiest way to share would be to post it on here. Thank you Dianne for the recipe - hope you don't kill me for sharing your family secrets! Our family favorite is to make these with butterscotch chips but when I used the cinnamon chips they were a hit this weekend. For those of you in Canada - you can only purchase cinnamon chips in the US, I've never seen them up here.

Dee's Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Preheat oven to 350 F

Ingredients:
2 c. margarine
1 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar (packed or loose your choice)
1 tbsp Vanilla
5 eggs
2 1/4 tsp salt
2 1/4 tsp Baking Powder
2 1/4 tsp Baking soda
3 cups flour
3 cups oatmeal
2 regular size packages of chocolate chips (any flavor combination you like even peanut butter, butterscotch or toffee bits)
*to make this a chocolate chocolate chip cookie recipe add in 3 tbsps heaping of cocoa YUMMY**

Directions:

Cream shortening and sugars together until smooth then add the vanilla and eggs and combine until no longer clumpy.
Add in the salt, baking powder, and baking soda (and cocoa if desired) and mix well.
Add flour oatmeal and chocolate chips. Mix until all ingredients are combined.
Spoon drops onto a cookie sheet. Will make tons of cookies if smaller drops but they are also very good in large cookies.
Bake 12-15 minutes or until golden brown around the edges. Cool 2 minutes before removing from the pan and enjoy.

Fun in Southern Alberta

Lots of fun stories to share this post. Had the opportunity to go down to Cardston and Grandpa sit while my parents went on a week long Alaskan cruise. My two sisters (Holly & Ada) and Holly’s dog Koona joined Kellan, Scott, Sasha and I. I think a fun time was had by all – even Grandpa!

Kellan loved to crawl up on Grandpa’s lap whenever he was sitting at the table and the two would tap their fingers on the top of the table. Also Kellan loved to steal Grandpa’s walker and go for a run with it and ram into things. Thank goodness he didn’t break anything!

We went into Lethbridge and had a fun picnic with some of our friends who live down in the area. It was perfect weather but there were way too many bees! I think they enjoyed our lunch more than we did!

I think the most fun for Holly, Ada and myself was going down to Great Falls, Montana which is about three hours south of Cardston. I was so excited – I kept shaking Holly to make sure she didn’t fall asleep on the way down, would’ve shaken Ada but she was driving. We got some awesome deals and had fun shopping together, by the time we left Great Falls all of us had sore feet. We did get a little freaked out when a man in the restaurant we were having lunch in came up and asked how we were enjoying shopping and then commented on how he had just been up in Lethbridge a couple weeks back. It took us about 10 minutes to figure out how he knew we were from Canada – Holly was wearing a Lethbridge Community College t-shirt. Ada and Holly and bought some Aleve which isn’t available up here and at the border they had to “surrender” it because the reason it isn’t available is because it’s a controlled substance! Whoops!

Another fun thing we did was Holly and Ada and I went into Lethbridge and Holly and I got our hair done by Lisa Sherlock (Holly’s sister-in-law). I love my new hair and it was great fun to just hang out with the girls and not have to worry about Kellan!

Mom and Dad came home late Wednesday night and we were lucky enough to spend the day as a family on Thursday and then have a family breakfast before Holly and Ada left on Friday. It was too bad that we couldn’t spend more time together with Mom and Dad but hopefully we’ll get the chance soon!