A Blessed Thanksgiving

I don't know how much I'll be around the next couple of days. HTB decided that he's gone meatless long enough--2 days, to be exact--so we're going out to dinner tonight--yay! And we're going to both houses tomorrow for dinner; before you ask, I'll be doing some pre-emptive ellipticalling, just so I can guiltlessly devour butter beans and stuffing. I hope that everyone has a restful, thankful Thursday.

This is the time of year to stop and think about the blessings of the year, our harvest of life! I am so blessed, mainly in that, most of the time, I get what I want, and not what I deserve. I have a good family, both birth and soon-to-be. I have a warm bed to sleep in, clean clothes to wear, there's usually food in the house, though, arguably, I don't know what to make for dinner when the meat is frozen, bread is too, and all I can lay my hands on are 7 bags of butterscotch morsels (for the record, I don't know why I have that many, it's a sensitive subject) and Rice a Roni, and I go to a job. I'm not sick, I'm not dying, I drive to work every morning and get to see the sun rise. And that is worth being thankful for.

And maybe this Thanksgiving is a bit more joyous, because the year was so hard. I don't know about anyone else, but I've learned the value of a dollar this year. I've stood in Safeway and told HTB that there is not enough difference in taste between store-brand pasta and name brand pasta to warrant spending 25 cents a box more on the name brand. I've learned I don't need new clothes all the time, and having a gym with low rates isn't a bargain if you never use it. And I can see the difference. Cash is a wonderful teaching tool, since I no longer spend thoughtlessly. My credit card balances are dropping--I've HALVED the balance on one of them--since, when you have to pay cash, having the perfect shade of red lipstick or a new outfit once a month isn't that important. They're now the treats they were supposed to be all along, and are appreciated as such. I had an appointment at the dentist yesterday to fix a broken filling and it hurt so bad that I went to CVS and treated myself to a gift set from E.L.F. $2.99 for 4 lipglosses--AWESOME, and I am getting as much pleasure from them as I did from the more expensive ones. So, there is teaching an old dog new tricks.

Enjoy your holiday. Eat plenty of stuffing. Forget that there is butter in the butterbeans. We can exercise in January.

Go Cowboys!