Texas Lou

Hey there and welcome to this week’s post of gratitude!  Here’s what I’m especially thankful for today:

1. I’m grateful for my health and the health of my family members.
2. I’m thankful for the fact that we’ve already passed the shortest day of the season and are headed toward longer and sunnier days.
3. I’m grateful for winter.  I’m not a fan of short days and cold temperatures but those two things keep my husband indoors more which means he gets to spend more time with the boys and I instead of working on our house and yard.
4. I’m grateful for the opportunity to watch 2 little boys grow and learn.  Watching them experience new things and learn new concepts is fascinating and I’m sad thinking about the day when they will no longer approach everything with such wonder.
5. I’m thankful for coffee!  I LOVE coffee and I drink a lot of it!  Without it, I’d probably have a much harder time making it through most days without a nap so I’m very grateful for it!

Happy day friends!

Hi friends!

It’s a new year and with a new year, comes the inevitable new years resolutions.  And one of my many resolutions is to practice being grateful more often which includes *attempting* to keep up with my weekly “Thankful Monday (or whatever day it happens to be)” posts.  So here’s my first thankful post of 2016:

1. I’m so grateful for modern medicine!  I hurt my back badly the other day due to a combination of overzealous New Year’s Day workout, slipping and falling at the park, and constant lifting and carrying of a combined 55 pounds of toddler boys.  While I am most certainly not grateful for the injury, I am so thankful for my doctor, my doctor’s office’s ability to get me seen very quickly, steroid/numbing shots, and medication.  Here’s hoping I can be grateful for a quick recovery next week! 😉
2. I’m grateful that thus far, my boys have not caught the stomach virus that Ben and I endured over the holidays.  I’m hoping they both stay healthy!
3. I’m thankful for my family, who spent lots of time and money to travel to Virginia to be with us for my birthday and Christmas.  We had a blast together despite above mentioned stomach virus.
4. I’m thankful for our secure jobs and enough income to not only give our boys a good life but also a very nice Christmas filled with more toys than they could play with in a day.  I’m also thankful for these gifts, the bulk of which came from family.  The boys are blessed as are we!
5. I’m thankful for the opportunity for a fresh start.  Every new year brings with it the chance to reflect on the past and try to improve upon our mistakes and misgivings.  Here’s hoping 2016 will be an amazing and grateful year for us all!

Wishing you all a wonderful year ahead!

Hi friends!  Here’s a dose of gratitude for you!

1. Today, I’m thankful for the sunshine!  I love the warmth, light, and vitamin D!
2. I’m grateful for wonderful friends!  I have so many wonderful friends, and even more wonderful friends that I’ve met through those friends!  I’m looking forward to the next few days filled with those wonderful friends!  I hope they all know how much their friendship means to me.
3. I’m grateful for highly competent, skilled, and helpful coworkers.  I wouldn’t be able to do my job to the best of my ability without the help of the people on my team at work.
4. I’m thankful for the time change.  While I’m not crazy about it getting dark so early, I do enjoy seeing the sun on my way to work again and my boys sure have been sleeping well since we “fell back an hour”.
5. I’m thankful for my husband Ben who works so hard for us.  He takes good care of our house, cleans the kitty litter, saves spiders, squirrels, and other critters by catching them humanely and releasing them back outside, and he built a beautiful greenhouse to hold most of our plants during the winter.  I hope he knows how much I appreciate him.

Happy day friends!

I found another great happiness infographic on lifehack.org and wanted to save it here for future reference.

28 Small Changes That Can Make Your Life Much Happier

Time for a little gratitude!

1. I’m thankful for a wonderful place to work that provides me with flexibility, a part time schedule, and working from home capabilities that all allow me to spend more time with my children.  They also have a wonderful wellness program that has helped me beyond any drug out there and has introduced me to the wonderful world of mindfulness and meditation.  And to top it all off, they have a bi-annual employee appreciation day!  I’m very grateful to work here!
2. I’m grateful for access to therapies for my boys.  Because they were born premature, they’ve been late to walk and talk and we are lucky to have a physical therapist and speech therapist who come to our house to work with us in addition to insurance that pays for it.  Both the boys are walking now and are starting to mimic our words so I’m very grateful for their continued improvements and development!
3. I’m thankful for the good things in life that have been happening for my sister and brother.  Within the past year and a half they have both started new jobs in their preferred career path, begun relationships with very nice significant others, and have found their first real adult homes.  I’m happy to see them happy!
4. I’m grateful for the internet and social media.  It has allowed my extended family to stay connected and plan a future family reunion that has been long overdue!
5. I’m grateful for long walks on autumn days.  My boys and I have been spending lots of time outdoors soaking up the last of the warmth and sunshine before winter comes and it makes me so happy to spend time with them outside.

Happy day friends!

I liked this infographic from happify.com so I wanted to save it here.

Quick reminder to be grateful!

1. I’m thankful for the mindfulness class at work yesterday.  I needed the mindfulness practice and the time to just sit, reflect, and stop trying to go 1000 miles per second!
2. I’m grateful for pay day!  It’s always nice to wake up in the morning and see the email from ADP that my paycheck has been deposited because I always forget these days!
3. I’m thankful for my work schedule.  I’m so lucky to have a job that allows me to work 30 hours a week, much of it from home, so that I may have a flexible schedule and spend more time with my boys.
4. I’m thankful for the benefits I receive through work.  With Open Enrollment just completing, it reminds me to be glad I work somewhere that provides me with health, dental, and life insurance among other helpful benefits.
5. I’m grateful for friends who are there to listen to me vent about problems I am having.  Specifically, my sister from another mister and my mom have helped me through some difficult issues I’ve been having recently by just listening and offering advice.

Happy day friends!

This week, my family and I have a lot to be grateful for:

1. My father-in-law nearly choked to death and my mother-in-law saved his life!  I’m grateful that he is ok and so thankful that my mother-in-law was there and able to save him.  I’m also very thankful for the quick-responding EMTs and hospital staff at Martha Jefferson who took good care of him.
2. I’m thankful for each day that myself and everyone I love wakes up and is healthy.  After what happened this week, I am reminded that every day is a gift for us all.
3. I’m thankful that we live close to my in-laws and were able to be nearby in an emergency.
4. I’m grateful for washing machines!  We’ve had alot of blowouts this week and having a washing machine and dryer sure does make life with toddlers a lot easier!
5. I’m thankful for the week ahead which will be filled with sun, fun, family, and friends!

Love to you all!

Oh wow!  It’s been a while since my last post!  Summer has been busy yall!  I need to remember to be grateful and keep a positive outlook on life so here’s a few nuggets of gratitude!

1. I’m thankful for the opportunity to fly to Texas with Ben and the boys back in July and introduce Carter and Morgan to so many friends and family and the place that I first (and will forever) called home!  They got to meet so many people who are some of the most important people in my life and that makes me so happy!
2. I’m thankful for an amazing summer so far!  We’ve done so much, including but not limited to, graduated from swimming lessons, tried out our first splash park, flew to Texas and back, ate authentic Tex-Mex, went to the Richmond Zoo, met and visited uncles, aunts, and cousins (in both Texas and Virginia), attended 2 beer festivals, went to King Family Polo with awesome friends, had so many awesome play dates, went swimming, visited new wineries and breweries, tried lots of new foods and restaurants, and went on lots of fun walks!  If I have time, I’ll do a detailed recap of the boys’ big summer.  What a blast it has been and I thank my boys and everyone involved for making it so much fun!
3. I’m thankful for a new restaurant in town I’ve discovered, Brazos Tacos.  It is owned and run by Texans, serves authentic Texas-style tacos and awesome salsas and guac, and is totally kid friendly!  I’m so thankful for a little taste of home here in Virginia.
4. I’m grateful for awesome coworkers and cool people I have the opportunity to work with.  I’m lucky to be surrounded by such talent and amazing personalities.
5. I’m grateful for all of the moms in my life…they make being a mom myself so much easier and so much more fun!

Love to you all!

I’m trying to keep positive these days!  Lately, I’m thankful for the following:

1. I’m thankful for fun friends visiting from out of town and a husband who watches our children so I can have a night out!  My friends Cris and Carolyn were in town so a bunch of us spent a great evening at World of Beer!  It was a blast!  Then on Sunday, we had a great lunch at Beer Run!  I got to enjoy awesome people, great food, and two of my favorite beer joints in town!
2. I’m thankful for my hard-working husband who spends most of his free time trying to keep up with the demands of our yard and house!  He is constantly fixing something or mowing the grass or doing some sort of upkeep and I hope he knows how much I appreciate it.
3. I’m thankful I FINALLY get to take my boys to Texas and go to the beach after a 2 year beach-hiatus!
4. I’m grateful for the holiday we have this week!  YAY 4th of July!
5. I’m thankful for electricity.  We had a rough thunderstorm with hail last Thursday and I was afraid we were going to lose power again.  It blinked a couple of times but luckily it came right back on.  After last weekend’s power outage, I am much more grateful for the common comforts electricity provides that we often take for granted!

Happy day friends!