I'm Such A Slacker!

Another Thursday has passed without me doing my Thankful for Three Things Thursday post. Since it was also Friday when I got around to last week's "thankful" post, I might as well call it Thankful for Three Things Friday but that just doesn't have the same ring to it. So call me a slacker! But really, I'm not. Yesterday, I was able to get a ton of things done while Reiss was at preschool. Then after picking him up and as our afternoon passed, things around here just continued to get progressively more eventful.

Last night I went to a monthly women's learning and prayer group. Before leaving the kids with my husband and mother-in-law, "those" people (the contractors who did our home remodel) showed up to tie up some loose ends. The plan was for them to get here at six o'clock, do some business, and leave. These are people who did this project and have done work for us on a few other previous occasions. They have never been on time. And when I say "never" I mean that when my husband told me they were going to be here at six, I laughed.....out loud. So you can imagine my surprise when, at around ten 'til six, we were sitting down to have dinner - at our makeshift toddler table turned dinner table since I gave the much-too-large-for-our-kitchen in-law's family heirloom table the boot - and they showed up early! Holy cow! We finished dinner and I made an insincere effort to clean up the kitchen a little bit and then I left.

When I arrived home again nearly three hours later, "those" people were still here! Honest, I did not use any expletives when pulling into our neighbors' driveway to park since I could not park in my own because of all "those" people's vehicles, but I did let out something along the lines of "You have GOT to be kidding me!" It was right then that I knew that none of the things that would normally have been done while I was gone would not be done and that my husband and I would have to do them after "those" people left and after all that, I would be so beat that another Thursday would go by without me declaring my thankfulness to all the world...or at least, the few people who read this.

So see, I'm not a slacker and I really am thankful and with any luck, next week I will be able to let everyone know on Thursday about all the things for which I am thankful. Until then, here is what I have been thankful for this week:

1. Stretch denim. Since having dear little Milla, I have gained around ten pounds or so. And I stress the "or so" because I have no idea how much I've gained. The same jeans I wore as I strutted out of the hospital with my baby girl still fit me today but I know I've gained because I can just feel it. Stretch denim is a miraculous invention. My weight loss and gain can teeter around the same 8-10 pounds in a typical pair of 100% cotton jeans but in stretch denim, that loss and gain factor increases to about 15 pounds. That little three percent of stretchy stuff they weave into the cotton makes all the difference in the world. My diet plan keeps getting put on the back burner and moved to next week on the planner - every week. Hopefully, next week will actually be NEXT week.

2. Thank God for the ingenius soul who thought of facebook. Now that may sound goofy and shallow and perhaps a tad juvenile but facebook is not My...that other site. After hearing so many stories of child predators preying on children, husbands engaging in online cheating on wives, wives engaging in online cheating on husbands, kids "hooking up" online with much older kids, and other horror stories about that other site, I was quite hesitant to sign up for facebook. However, a mothers group I belong to thought it would be a good idea to have all the members join facebook as a way to stay connected and post group dates and activities. I was still hesitant but joined anyway. Because of facebook, I am able to stay connected with friends without having to worry about losing email addresses. I can post events I plan to attend and invite others to do so as well. I can post websites that interest me for my friends to check out...The list of networking capabilities is endless. In only two months of being on facebook, I have...found a distant cousin I lost contact with more than twenty years ago...reconnected with a foreign exchange student who stayed with my family when I was in high school (I'm not even saying how long ago that was!)...hashed things out with my sister with whom I have a pretty rocky relationship...and the list is endless. And the best part is, there always seem to be at least one of my friends online at the same time I am and we can have a realtime chat - even if it's at midnight and I don't want to wake the kiddos.

3. And lastly, I am thankful for "those" people finally being out of our house. Believe me, I am very grateful for the work they did but I am so glad they are gone. I am glad we can get our lives back to normal and not worry about keeping the kids contained to a very small area of our home or playing outside for hours on end. Fresh air and playing are great but it gets old real quick when you have to be outside supervising children in just-above-freezing temperatures for hours and several days in a row. I am glad I can have people over without being embarassed. Now I know that sounds vain and shallow and I hate to admit to having any vain or shallow characteristics within me, but what was definitely more embarassing than that was when someone would show up and instead of sitting down to a comfortable conversation with a friend, I was praying that the light would shine at just the right angle so that my guests wouldn't see this stain or that one on the carpet or trip head over heels on the section of carpet that was separating from the hideous pink and gray tile or putrid brown vinyl flooring because it apparently never occured to the previous owners to finish the flooring with thresholds in the doorways. It really is amazing how much the decor - or lack of taste in decor - can affect a person's mood. Our "before" pictures just bring me down so much but now I can sit in my kitchen each morning drinking my coffee and admire a home that used to depress me beyond belief. Our remodel project came out so magnificently beautiful that I can't help but sit in the living room, dining room (our playroom) or kitchen and think that just two weeks ago I was thinking we would never in a million years be able to get what we paid for this house if we were to try to sell, that is, if we could sell at all since the market is so bad. Now I sit and don't mind the thought of living and growing and raising kids right here in this house. It's absolutely gorgeous and I love living here now.

Once we get the aftermath cleaned up from "those" people, I will take some "after" photos and post them.