Off-Beat Things I'm Forever Grateful For...

Of course, I'm grateful for salvation through Jesus Christ, God's only Son, God Himself, my family, friends and the privilege to live in America!!! DUH!!! That's a no brainer!!!
But I'm also incredibly grateful for...

• My navigation system (The Tom-Tom could still be tweaked a little more, but for now, it's one of the best things invented since sliced bread!)

I would be landlocked at home with nowhere to go because I'm clueless when it comes to deciphering the Thomas Guide! And hello, MapQuest is about as reliable as the weatherman.  I am forever directionally impaired (it's a miracle I can find my way to church and the ice rink for Krista's skating lessons!) and am convinced God created the person that invented the navigation system...just. for.  me.

• Hallmark gift wrap with grid lines printed on the back

This genius concept now leaves us with zero excuses to cut gift wrap crookedly.  Goodbye, jagged edges!

• The fact I no longer have to participate in P.E. class

Jocks will never understand why it is such a HUGE relief to no longer be forced to flaunt my nonathletic abilities!!! To me, organized sports should be something like "Duck, Duck, Goose," "Red Rover," or even "Red Light Green Light." 

I did love soccer but I didn't like all the running expected from the forwards (thankfully, I was rarely in this position).  In fact, I preferred staying back to keep the goalie company (my interpretation of the fullback's position) and chatting about non-essential school stuff.  I also didn't mind playing midfield but I royally stank as a goalie (probably because of my innate tendency to duck and scream when approached by people running with a fast moving ball towards me).

I remember dreading softball season! When forced to play softball in PE, I reluctantly volunteered to play outfield (again, it was a great way to get in some good girl-to-girl talk time while praying desperately that no one would hit the ball out to me) .  Unfortunately, we all had to play different positions.  I can say with all honesty that once again, I royally stank when playing in any softball position.  The only time I was partially decent at batting was when my friend Wayne Smith gave me some helpful advice -"keep your eye on the ball."  Prior to that, I was either shutting my eyes (praying I wouldn't be clobbered by the ball), ducking (my reflexes naturally do this when there's a flying object coming towards me at the speed of light) or just swinging wildly without looking (trying to get out in order to end my misery of being human bait ball).

My shining moment in basketball was when I was a sub with my best friend Gaylynn Gorden.  Her boyfriend wanted her to have a chance to play in the game, too, so I assured him I would do what it took to get a foul.  Cathy Gebhart was an amazing athlete in our school.  She was a really great person and I knew she was the best scorer for her team.  So when she jumped up to make a shot, I grabbed her hoodie and pulled.  hard. The whistle blew and I proudly left the court trading places with my best friend.  We all had a good laugh about it later!


I won't go on into all the other P.E. classes I had to endure (Aerobics should be renamed "Sheer Torture") but there were a few I didn't mind.  I did enjoy rope climbing, racing with those scooter like things and Lacrosse (it's too bad we never played it as much as some of the other sports).

The fact I survived P.E. is proof that there's a God in Heaven who has plans for us.  Plans not to harm us but to give us a future and a hope (check it out in Jeremiah 29:11)! And, I know God's given us all different gifts.  My gifts are in the area of sideline cheering instead of out-in-the-field participating :o)

• The ice machine and the filtered water dispenser

In some countries, there's no such thing as ice, so yes, I'm very grateful we have the option of crushed or cubes! And I know Jacob is glad he doesn't have to lug all those big water dispenser thingys from Costco anymore.

•   $5 Rotisserie chicken from Costco

I have a confession to make.  Yes, I admit I have never cooked a turkey before.  So, what do we have at Thanksgiving you might ask?  Well, I've tried making ham before.  Unfortunately, I didn't know that ham is vacuum sealed in TWO layers of plastic.  There's an outer layer AND an inner layer that is not visible to the human eye until it's baked with the ham.  Apparently, I'm the only one who's blind to this detail and have experienced a severe loss of brain cells because this happened to me not just once, but TWICE! Both times, after baste-ting continuously on a slippery ham (I wondered why all the marinade kept forming a pool under the ham), I was shocked to find a plastic ring around the ham (did you know that ham shrinks in the oven?!?) after baking it for the allotted time. 

Which is why I'm grateful we can buy Rotisserie chicken from Costco for our Thanksgiving poultry dish. 


Let me be one of the first on Thanksgiving Day (it's now 1:02am) to wish you a Happy Thanksgiving!!!

P.S.  Yay! I finished The Trophy Wives Club last night and have started reading the next book in the series Back to Life by Kristin Billerbeck (I'm grateful for authors like her who make me laugh!).

Psalm 100 is such an expression of praise to me...

^"4Enter into His gates with thanksgiving and a thank offering and into His courts with praise! Be thankful and say so to Him, bless and affectionately praise His name!
    ⁵For the Lord is good; His mercy and loving-kindness are everlasting, His faithfulness and truth endure to all generations."

10:17am PST THANKSGIVING MID MORNING...

I have to say this, because I don't say it often enough, but I'm grateful for...

• A husband who watches the Food Network channel and can duplicate what he sees on there!!!

Unlike me.  I watch the Food Network channel and quickly forgot what cooking technique Alton Brown teaches! Perhaps it's because I'm more into watching Cupcake Wars on occasion...