What's On Your List?

 You won't be happy with more until you're happy with what you've got.  

         Viki King

I've prepared a nice list of things I am thankful for, just for your reading pleasure.  There's so many things, really, but I narrowed it down so you wouldn't  be overwhelmed.  Yes, you can thank me for that!  ;)

• Hummus.  Have I told you how much I love hummus?  I think I've eaten it almost every day since June and I'm not sick of it yet!  More hummus, please!
• My Cuisinart Food Processor, without which, hummus would be impossible.  It was a Christmas gift from my parents last year - a definite good pick!
• Our new Toyota.  It's so nice to drive.  Smooth and easy, and just a little luxurious with its leather seats and fancy back up camera.  And it's so roomy.  I love it!
• My old Honda.  While I love the Toyota, the Honda is my sweetheart too.  It's tiny and I can park it on a dime, plus it still gets nearly 35 miles per gallon, almost twice the gas mileage of the Toyota.  Also, it's has a manual transmission.  Except in bad traffic, I love driving a stick.  It makes me feel capable, ungirly (if that's a word).  And since it's almost 10 years old, I'm not upset about the little dings I might put on it throughout the course of my day.  I'm a notoriously bad driver.  I told you the story about the Access van and Melon Bank, right?  If I didn't, I will soon!
• Coffee.  Can a person ever express adequate gratitude for coffee?  I don't think so.
• Chia seeds.  Again, no amount of expression is enough.  Love them!
• Insomnia.  How can I possibly be grateful for insomnia?  Well, here's the scoop:  I have never, ever slept well.  I used to get very angry and frustrated, lay in bed and try to force myself to sleep while I fretted over how I was going to function the following day.  It took me 31 years to realize that approach wasn't working.  Like I said on the previous post, I'm not always that quick on the uptake.  Sometime after Andrew was born (it had nothing to do with Andrew.  He has always been a good sleeper.  That's just the time frame when things changed.  I actually think it had something to do with hormones, because a lot of things changed for me in that year after Andrew was born, but I digress...) I changed my approach.  Instead of cursing and fretting, I got out of bed and started using the time in the wee hours of the morning to my advantage.  Greg occasionally gets out of bed early because of insomnia, but not as often as I do.  He's still in the "lay in bed and stew" phase.   Normally, if I get up at 3 or 4, I can count on 3 or 4 hours of peace and quiet to get stuff done.  It is thanks to insomnia that my cupboards and closets are clean and my lists are made.  Actually, that's not true.  The house would be clean regardless of what time I got up, but when I have insomnia, I have a lot more time and feel a lot less stressed (albeit exhausted) about chores.
• Naps - the only way to really combat insomnia.  I used to be the world's most dedicated napper, but with working longer hours and all of Jake's after school obligations, my naps have been significantly cut.  I try to squeeze in a quick nap whenever I can, even if it's only 20 minutes laying half asleep on the couch while Andrew watches a movie.  It's amazing the difference just that little amount of time can do.   And even when I do have time to nap longer, I really try not to.  Anything over 30 minutes and I feel worse.  Even though it's hard as heck to get myself awake after only half an hour, I rarely let myself doze longer.  Hey, I got things to do! 

So that's my list of gratitude for today.  What's on your list?