My Gratitude List

I'm too busy (or lazy, however you'd like to look at it) this year to do a daily gratitude blog or facebook entry. But I love using November to take daily stock of the things I have to be grateful for. So although I'll be thinking of things that I'm grateful for every day, I'm just going to list a whole bunch on here all at once.

I am thankful for

• A loving Heavenly Father
• A merciful Savior
• The gift of the Holy Ghost
• The freedom to attend church every Sunday
• The health that allows me to be there
• The people who put in so much of their time and effort into making our Sunday meetings spiritual and worthwhile
• Having the ability to read, and having my own personal copy of God's word
• Having the opportunity to learn how to be a better teacher
• Forgiveness
• Family
• My husband's love and faithfulness
• My daughter
• Time spent making good memories
• My husband's job that provides for us
• The beauty that surrounds me
• Answered prayers
• The example of loving and selfless people
• Central heating and air conditioning
• Refrigeration
• Electricity
• Light bulbs
• Having food to eat every day, and having enough to share with others
• Being able to cook
• Being blessed to have been a stay-at-home mom for most of my daughter's life
• Having a close relationship with my daughter
• The way my favorite cat curls up next to me in bed
• Good books
• Understanding many things instinctively, if not always intellectually
• Easy availability of information
• Injuries that remind me to slow down or be more careful
• Healing
• Warm fronts in winter and cold fronts in summer
• Clean water
• Indoor plumbing
• Ways to keep in touch
• Letters and emails from friends and family
• Christmas music
• Slippers
• Hearing
• Eyesight
• Being able to find humor in many things
• Opportunities to serve others
• When daylight savings time ends
• Living in a free country with so many rights and privileges
• The men and women who have fought to preserve our freedoms
• Not having to move within the last 7 years
• Being able to live somewhere that really feels like "home"
• Saturday hikes with my hubby
• Artists
• Cool websites like blogger, pinterest, and even facebook
• Technology
• Having two vehicles
• Energetic squirrels to entertain me as I look at my backyard
• Flowers
• Homegrown fruits and vegetables
• Warm showers
• Washing machines and dryers
• Being able to walk
• Being able to speak
• Those times when I'm wise enough not to speak
• The innocence and faith of children
• The hope of eternal life
• Smiles
• Laughter
• Getting together with good friends
• Getting to know someone better
• Chocolate
• Trees
• Having so many wonderful things that I don't even need a Christmas wish list
• The anticipation of going on a trip
• Being able to visit family
• Coupons
• Usually knowing the difference between wants and needs
• When a recipe turns out perfect the first time
• Mail service
• Sunshine
• Rain
• Green grass
• Modern medicines
• Tolerance
• Viewpoints that make me re-think my own
• Recognizing that being able to listen is a gift, and that not being a "talker" isn't a negative
• Becoming more comfortable with who I am
• People who accept me just the way I am
• Late night chats in bed with my hubby
• Inside jokes
• Curiosity
• Being able to share my list of blessings with you!

What are you most thankful for today?

Adventures in Shopping

Okay, so I haven't had any really great thoughts or insights to share lately. Life seems to be just one ordinary day after another, but I'm not complaining. Because that's truly better than day after day of drama or disaster!
I did have an interesting and fun shopping day on Friday, though. I couldn't believe how many things just fell in place. First, I went to Sam's Club to pick up a printer I had ordered (my old one died. Sad, but I'm not even missing it now that I have a wireless one!!) There was a major mixup on where the printer was, but it was finally located and the manager gave me a voucher for 2 free combos at the snack bar for our wait.
Then, when I went to pick up ground beef, the butcher comes out and tells me he's getting ready to grind some fresh, or... he can reduce what I was already putting in my cart. Since I had already picked some out (and planned to freeze it that day) I went with the discount! Whoohoo!
Next it was off to Kroger to get some free toothpaste and dental floss. They were out of toothpaste but had floss for only $.95 each. I had a coupon for $2.50 off of 2 so the store owed me money!! That was so much fun, I decided to try it at another Kroger and sure enough, they paid me to take home dental floss too! I think it threw the cashiers for a loop because the one lady told me "I've never seen that happen before!" Needless to say, seeing a total savings on my receipt of 131% was really cool!
You would think that this would have been enough fun stuff on one shopping outing, but I still had to hit Walmart. Now, to be clear, I hate Walmart. I rarely shop there, unless they have the absolute best deal or carry something I can't find somewhere else. But... things might change. Walmart doesn't double coupons, but they also don't limit items, and they also pay overages. This was great when I picked up some Tide single use packets for $.97 and used a $2.00 coupon for them. Yep- Walmart paid me to take stuff home, too!
These types of deals don't happen often for me, but when they do, it makes all the time and effort of couponing well worth it!
Oh, and did I mention that my food storage is slowly but steadily growing? I'm finally making progress on that goal!