Thankful Thursday #14

This week I'm thankful for...

• my blogger friend, Hippie, who bestowed the Stylish Blogger award on Pedals and Pencils.  I've been called a lot of things, but never stylish.  So thanks, Hippie.  And hello, friends of Le Cahier.  Kick off your shoes and stay awhile.


• writing Haikus with my little ones


• dresses with tights and tall boots


• the rainbow that streaked the sky after a day of unrelenting rain


• the rare pleasure of sleeping through the night


• my little one who wrote "Yippee ki yay, Mommy's home!" in his notebook the day after his mom returned from Kuwait.  I couldn't have said it better myself.


• dancing with my favorite five year old.  It doesn't matter that I have no rhythm because all he wanted to do was spin.  Works for me.


• my hubby's prickly stubble against my cheek


• the woman sitting next to me in church during worship who couldn't begin to carry a tune-and didn't care one bit


• days when exercise takes the form of walking by the river with a friend


• the two little girls who were swinging on the playground after school.  It was sprinkling and they were swinging and singing at the top of their lungs having a grand time.

Thankful Thursday #10

This week I'm thankful for...

• the sounds my husband makes in his sleep


• my mom's chocolate chip cookies


• my students who popped by my house Friday afternoon


• Mexican food


• the smell of clothes in the dryer wafting through the air as I walked the neighborhood


• the little boy who stayed a few minutes after school to tell just to tell me how much fun he had at school that day.  We didn't do anything out of the ordinary that day, which made the compliment that much sweeter.


• Monday night Bible study


• dollar movie night with the hubby


• a fresh haircut


• the little girl in my class who came to school with a silver shower curtain ring on her wrist because "anything round can be a bracelet, right?"  I sense a budding fashion designer.

Thankful Thursday #9

This week I'm thankful for...

• the roses Terry brought to my classroom on Friday.  I love "just because" flowers and the man who brings them to me.


• lemongrass soap.


• these tips on revision that make me feel like my wordslugging is worth it.


• when the thermometer hit 70.  A little taste of spring in January has me pining for more.


• skirts and dresses because they're so much more fun to wear than pants.


• reading in the bathroom.


• the bumper sticker I saw that read "Wag more, bark less".


• this awesome LEGO cycling gorilla:

[caption id="attachment_3062" align="aligncenter" width="490" caption="from the brilliant site A LEGO A Day"][/caption]

Thankful Thursday #8

This week I'm thankful for...

• the pink sunset reflecting off the white cap of Mt. Lassen


• bedhead so terrible that I actually jumped at the shadow it cast on the wall.  No joke.  Then I woke Terry with it and scared the pants off of him, too.


• magazines in the mailbox


• walking to church Sunday mornings


• Monday holidays


• Donald Miller's take on gratitude


• when Terry puts gas in my car


• raspberry apple flavored water

Thankful Thursday #7

This week I'm thankful for...

• the beautiful notebook a friend made for me.


• the little boy in my classroom who was so excited about a card I'd put in his mailbox that he hugged my leg extra tight


• Ruby Bridges for inspiring my kids to be brave


• Martin Luther King, Jr. for giving me goosebumps every time I hear his speech


• sheets fresh from the dryer


• cold Saturday mornings perfect for writing in bed


• my Words With Friends friends


• frigid bike rides followed by scalding hot showers


• one of my little girls, who on finding out we were getting yet another new student, said "We are the luckiest class-we always get new friends!",  I've welcomed three new kids into our class within a week.  I'm going to try hard to have the same perspective as the little girl and think about how lucky I am to spend time with these new little ones.


• the little girl in my class who, after writing pages and pages of a story, proclaimed, "Mrs. McCauley, I wrote lots of Golden Lines."  Yes you did, little one, yes you did.


• Terry, always Terry.

Thankful Thursday #6

This week I'm thankful for...

• catching snowflakes on my tongue


• the way Terry jumped over furniture just to get to me and kiss me at midnight on New Year's Eve


• my friend, Abby, who found my ring after I accidentally flung it out the car window-oops!


• fresh pineapple


• game night with friends


• sack lunches in the sunshine


• avocados


• walking my neighborhood at night when the stars are out


• having lots of my "fat clothes" taken in and giving the rest of them away


• time with my students after such a long break


• Terry cooking me vanilla pancakes


• time to write poetry


• my nephew who needed just one more hug and kiss before I left

P.S. If you have a minute, nominate me for a Bloggie here.  Thanks!

P.P.S. Only a couple of more days to post your day in a sentence here.

Thankful Thursday #5

This week I'm thankful...

• for a quiet Christmas morning with Terry


• for time to read good books


• to spend time with friends


• for feeding my littlest nephew a pear for the first time


• to ride with the top down on the MINI and watch the clouds shift against the winter night sky


• for In-N-Out cheeseburgers


• to walk in the sprinkling rain with new friends


• for pedicures


• for dollar night at the movie theater


• for the smell of laundry fresh from the dryer


• for this story of a man who changed his life for the better simply by writing thank you notes

What are you thankful for?

Thankful Thursday On Wednesday

Tomorrow is Festivus meaning I'll be posting the annual Airing of Grievances, but since I've got so much to be thankful for, I bumped it up a day.

This week I'm thankful...

• for parking inside my garage so I don't have to scrape ice off my windshield in the morning


• for the all the pet names Terry calls me


• to stay in my pajamas all day


• to turn my alarm clock off for two weeks


• for poppy-seed dressing


• for that moment when Terry walks through the door from working out of town


• for my step-dad who fixed the broken manger in my grandmother's nativity set


• for zucchini and bell pepper scrambles and leisurely mornings to eat them


• for the lunar eclipse that made the moon red and reminded me of Brandon Heath's song Red Sky

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJECBNpIGZQ

What are you thankful for?

Thankful Thursday #3

This week I'm thankful for...

• the little girl who told me that I have beautiful hair like a movie star.  I didn't ask which one because I thought I'd just better leave well enough alone.


• walking my old neighborhood with my mom


• the jar of peppermint nougat Christmas tree candies my mom gave me


• falling asleep to the sound of rain


• the light of the Christmas tree


• sitting on my couch reading O magazine after a rough day at work


• my student who got a paper cut on her finger and said, "It feels like my finger has a headache."


• the dragonfly necklace my friend made me for Christmas


• the little boy, who moved away earlier this year, and called me this week to tell me all about his new class, his new house, and to tell me about his letter to Santa.  I only told him I missed him 7 times.  And my eyes only watered a little bit when it was time to say goodbye.


• my friend, Abby, who was featured here for the stunning necklaces she creates


• Christmas music on Pandora

What are you thankful for?

Thankful Thursday #2

This week I'm thankful for...

• my grandmother's nativity set.  It's carved from olive trees harvested in Bethlehem.


• playtime with my nephew


• Christmas ornaments from all the places Terry and I have traveled


• Terry's vanilla pancakes on a Sunday morning


• Advent


• Christmas carols during Sunday morning church service


• Knowing I pushed as hard as I could in spin class.


• Sitting by the light of the Christmas tree


• peppermint hot chocolate


• online Christmas shopping


• walking the neighborhood in the misty air

What are you thankful for this week?

Thankful Thursday #1

I just couldn't give up writing down all I have to be thankful for.  So, I'm going to devote Thursdays to posting what I'm thankful for each week.

My friend, Bonnie, who has just started her 30 Days of Thanks, is partnering with me.  So every Thursday you can stop in and read my list and then click on over to her list.

I like to think of it as a double your pleasure, double your fun kind of thing.  Okay, that might be pushing it a little, but you get the point.

Without further ado, this week I'm thankful for...

• the opportunity to learn new things


• technology that facilitates meaningful instruction


• lunch with friends


• being asked to do writing inservice with my colleagues


• wicking gym clothes


• sandwiches


• tomato soup


• the scent of rain on asphalt


• online Christmas shopping


• packages in the mail


• my MacBook.  I just do not understand the mysterious PC.

What are you thankful for?  Share the love in the comments section.  :)