With A Grateful Heart - Day 12

DAY 12

Today, I am grateful for the little things, and to be fair, I'm highlighting one little thing in particular.  I love when products are created that simply make life easier!  It has become so commonplace for everyone and everything to experience life "the hard way."  There's always more time to contribute, more money to donate, more hours in the day to give up  - there are increasingly more efforts to rob you of your precious time.  That is why I think it is important to give a round of applause to things that are counter-intuitive to that routine.

Today, I am grateful for these little plastic genius covers!

I was really anxious to try them because of the obvious fear of burning our house down, but that, friends, is my kitchen....my countertop...my crock pot!  I made my award-winning chili and the best part about this seemingly simple bag/cover thingy is that clean up consisted of me......wait for it.......gathering up the bag and tossing it in the trash.

Stop it.

It really was that easy. I have used two of the four bags that came in the box and I am in love.  I love the fact that I can start a meal for Dusty and I, let it cook while we both work, serve him a home-cooked, nutritious meal, and then clean-up takes two seconds.  It is something as simple as this that allows what little time we get to spend together in the evenings quality time.  You cannot put a price tag on that!

So, today, I am grateful for Reynolds and their Slow Cooker Liners!  Y'all rock my world!
Ribs

With A Grateful Heart - Day 11

DAY 11

Today, I am so very grateful for the men and women of our armed forces - our military.  Since today is, in fact, Veterans Day, I am humbled to remember every person who has served our country.  I am saddened and honored to think of all the people who laid their lives down so you and I could be free.

I am grateful for their families, who have had to sacrifice along with them, and share their loved ones with the rest of us.  I am grateful that they have been strong enough to carry on without that key part of their home so that others might be able to enjoy freedom and liberty.

If you are a veteran or are currently serving in our military - THANK YOU.  From the bottom of our hearts, THANK YOU!

This world would not be the same without you.  You have made all the difference.  You are heroes and you are worthy of recognition.  Thank you for choosing this path so that many of us might enjoy life that much more.  You seriously rock the most!

Today, I am thankful for our veterans and our current members of the US Armed Forces!  May God bless you and your families!

Ribs

With A Grateful Heart - Day 10

DAY 10

Today, I am thankful for God's word.  Sometimes, I take for granted the fact that the answers to pretty much every question I could ever have can be found in one single place.

I forget that God grants us direction, guidance, reminders of His love and sacrifice for us, and overall inspiration for how to live our lives in the Bible.

I love how every single church message has the PERFECT scripture to back it up and how the Bible is still so very relevant to our lives, regardless of how much the world has changed.  Most of the teachings of God's word are so simple, but still so poignant.

I adore and revel in the fact that we all have access to pure love - all we have to do is open this book and there it is!

I am humbled when I get lost in it.  I need to make more time for it.  I need to lean on it more than I do.  But regardless of the fact that I am and always will be a work in progress, God's word reminds me that I am redeemed, I am loved, I am His.

Ribs

With A Grateful Heart - Day 9

DAY 9

Today, I am grateful for my amazing family!  I am really one of the luckiest girls ever on that front!  My family is absolutely hysterical.

Have you ever heard the expression "My family tree is full of nuts?"

Whoever wrote that apparently knew us.

Today, in particular, I am grateful for my family because they do something that many families don't do anymore - they still meet to have reunions!

Photo Credit: Cousin Cindy Mae

My stepdad, Wirt, my mom, and my sister! Photo Credit: Cousin Cindy Mae

Today, we met at my cousins' house and had a fall family stew for my mom's side of the family!  It was a bit chilly and windy, but it was a BEAUTIFUL day!  Everyone brought a dessert (YUM!), and the stew was absolutely delicious!  It was awesome just getting to see everyone and hear about their lives and what they'd been up to!

Photo Credit: Cousin Cindy Mae

We even got to see one of my cousins who has been traveling A LOT in the past few years (like, seriously....Antarctica, and the like).  That was a huge surprise and so much fun!  It was great to meet new spouses of my cousins, and of course to see my grandma's siblings doing so well! 

Photo Credit: Cousin Cindy Mae

Seriously, are they not the CUTEST?!?!?!  My grandma is the first one in the top row if you start from the left!  They are a generation of great people who birthed generations of great people and I'm lucky enough to be one of them!  Today, I am grateful for my family!
Ribs

With A Grateful Heart - Day 8

DAY 8

Today, I am grateful for the tiny little cat that is slowly but surely turning this dog-woman into a wee bit of a cat lady!

Little Cat Deeley is the spunkiest, most mischievous feline on the planet, but she can also be super loving when she wants to be.

My favorite times with her are first thing in the morning, when I go to get her from her room.  As soon as she hears the front door shut from me letting the pups out, she starts meowing very loudly as if to say, "Don't forget about me, mom!"

I open her door, and she comes out and is just 100% purrs - she wants all of my love and attention and she is just so incredibly happy to get it!

She is a pretty little thing, and I love her coloring and her bright blue eyes!  She's always on the lookout for adventures, and it's been funny to see her test her own limits as she's growing - how high can I jump, how fast can I run, how quietly can I stalk the dogs, will I ever catch my tail?

She is a love at night time too, although she is much more of a Daddy's girl than a Mommy's girl.  She loves to get right in Dusty's face at night and wants to purr and cuddle him.  He is not as open to that as I am, but she has made her choice - she'll pick annoying him over loving on me any night!  (It's only fair - I do have both the dogs at night).

I love the way she "talks" to bugs when she's chasing them! It doesn't even matter that they're outside our house - if she sees them through the window, it's game on!  She also is very aggressive with her affection.  For example, if she wants to be picked up and you're in the middle of doing something, she has absolutely no qualms about going Spiderman on you - she literally runs at you, jumps, and sticks to your pants with her claws and proceeds to climb up you until you love on her. Whether or not you end up bleeding is of little consequence to her - she doesn't have time to consider such trivial things when she's on the quest for attention.

She gets a little slap-happy most mornings and that typically results in me or MuChi in pain, but she always seems sorry.  :)  In fact, she absolutely LOVES MuChi and I think that's why she picks on him.  While she'll always choose him to tackle or jump on, she also chooses him to cuddle up with when she's tired.  So here's to our little purr-box, Little Cat Deeley!  We love you, babe, and we're glad you're in our family!

Ribs

With A Grateful Heart - Day 7

DAY 7

If you're just joining us over at {DUSTYRibs}, we are currently in a series about gratitude and thankfulness, where I share one thing every day that I'm grateful for!  Glad you stopped by and feel free to join in sharing!

Today, I am thankful for my adorable and hilarious son, MuChi.  For those who don't know how to properly pronounce his name it is MOO-CHEE.  

My little Mooch is one of the most expressive dogs in the history of ever!  From his eyes that don't really hide anything to his actual vocal abilities, Mr. Mooch is for sure one of a kind!

For starters, he has no idea he's tiny. I love when he runs outside every morning to go potty and he goes bounding out the door ready to take on any large animal that's out there.  If, by chance, Bentley is outside (our neighbor's chocolate lab), MuChi chases him off (even though I highly doubt Bentley is intimidated).

One of my favorite things about my boy is how loving he is.  He has to be with me all the time!  This little guy literally sleeps with me on my pillow every single night. Tucked in. Under the covers.  Don't believe me?

He gets SO excited every time we come home with plastic shopping bags because he just knows that there HAS TO BE something in there for him (even though there isn't when we go grocery shopping).  He gets so excited at Christmas, and wants to check his stocking every single day from when we hang it up until Christmas morning.  Whenever we bring a new toy into the house (especially one with a squeaker), he loses his mind!

He is so weird about musical greeting cards, he gets mildly freaked out when it snows, and he has constant love-hate run-ins with our cat.  He is a Momma's Boy and he isn't afraid to show it!  He begs for food by crying his most pitiful cry, and when Dusty and I come home from really anywhere, he legitimately starts SCREAMING (not barking, not crying, but all out screaming) from the time it takes us to get from our car to the front door to see him.  I am fairly confident our neighbors think someone in our home is trying to kill him based on those noises.  

That's just how he is - he loves his people.  He thinks he is a person - I love how at family dinners, he'll wait patiently for someone to get up from the table and then he promptly takes their seat.  He doesn't go after the food.  He's just offended that no one pulled up a chair for him.  On this day, here's to my little MuChi man!  We love you, tiny boy!  Thank you for making us so happy!

Ribs

With A Grateful Heart - Day 6

DAY 6

Today, I am grateful for one of the cutest little darlings to ever grace this earth.  Today, I am grateful for my fur-daughter, CiCi!

She is the most beautiful eight-year-old Pomeranian princess you have ever had the opportunity to lay eyes on, and she is truly the apple of my eye.

I love her sweet disposition and playful personality - she genuinely has brought me pure, unprecedented joy every single day since she came into my life (when she was so tiny and looked like a teddy bear)!

From her constant prancing around the house, to sitting with her paws crossed (ever so daintily), to her incessant need to formally announce any and every visitor to our home with her "ferocious" dog-in-charge bark, she is so sweet and makes me laugh.

CiCi is the kind of dog that knows how to get what she wants, and I love that about her!  She's smart as a tack, and she really has perfected the "CiCi Stare-Down."  This will make you laugh so hard you get abs, y'all! 

She knows the words for all of her toys and for her treats - she even knows when we spell those, so she's clearly smarter than Dusty or me.  Sometimes, she'll hound you and bark at you, and you'll survey the usual suspects - Food? Check. Water? Check. Been outside? Check.  When all three of those options have been exhausted, it can only be one thing.  She wants you to make her little brother, MuChi, play with her.

She snores, runs when she dreams, and overall makes our lives so full and entertaining!  So, here's to our little Ci-girl!  We love you, baby!!!

Ribs

With A Grateful Heart - Day 5

DAY 5

Today, I am grateful for the election.  And that it's finally over.  And for the right to vote.

Done and done!

Ribs

With A Grateful Heart - Day 4

DAY 4

Ahh, Mondays.  Sometimes, in the daily grind of life, it is really hard to be grateful on Mondays.  If anyone can admit that, it's me.  If you work in the corporate world like I do, Mondays usually include learning what fires came up over the weekend and need to be put out, and you have to plan your whole week.  You answer emails and phone calls.  You schedule meetings and reschedule meetings.  Sometimes, it's hard to even be optimistic on Mondays.

This Monday, however, I am grateful that I have a job where I get paid time off for vacation and sick days.  Why, you ask?  Because I got hit with something yesterday that I did not see coming.  I came down with a sore throat, body aches, and a fever out of NOWHERE and it rendered me pretty much useless and contagious in one foul swoop.  Due to not wanting to share this little gem, my doctor and I made the decision for me to stay home, and I am so glad that I am in a position to do that and my company still pays me.  That is such a blessing and so many people in this world do not receive this type of privilege (my wonderful husband included).

Today, I am grateful for my job and the awesome benefits that come with it!  {Prayers for wellness would be much appreciated!}

What are YOU grateful for on this Monday?
Ribs

With A Grateful Heart - Day 3

Day 3

Today, I am so grateful for my Sundays.  Sunday is definitely one of my favorite days of the week.  

Dusty and I start our morning with 9am church service.  From the moment we pull into the parking lot, we are welcomed with huge smiles and open arms.  I get my coffee, we head to our seats somewhere in the sanctuary where our family has gathered, and we start praising and worshiping our great and glorious Heavenly Father!

The act of going to church together feeds my soul, and it really helps me to get my week started.  I love that the message always seems applicable to my life and I adore the new and deeper levels our church takes us in our relationship with Jesus.

I love the carefree, Sabbath-nature of Sunday.  If we want to nap, we nap.  If we want to grab lunch somewhere, we do it.  If we want to spend the afternoon with family or friends just hanging out and playing football (Dusty) or crafting (Ribs), we can do just that.  We watch football when it's on and root on our teams. Dusty watches NASCAR on TV, while I cuddle with our puppies and our kitten, which usually causes me to nap against my will. We catch up on chores, and we usually end our Sunday with cooking and sharing a meal together.

Sundays are GLORIOUS, and I am so grateful for them!

What are YOU grateful for today?

Ribs

With A Grateful Heart - Day 2

Day 2

Today, I am grateful for Saturdays.  For me, I typically don't have to work on Saturdays, and therefore, Saturdays symbolize a time for family, friends, and getting stuff done that I need to around the house.

This wasn't always the case for me - for several years, I worked 6-7 days a week between three jobs to make ends meet.  It was a challenging and exciting time in my life, but it definitely left me worn slap out.  I am grateful that I no longer have to spread myself so thin in order to just keep surviving.

This Saturday, in particular, I am helping some dear friends of mine in the final stages of planning their wedding next month.  Another particularly exciting thing about this Saturday is that two of the three nephews that Dusty and I have that play little league football WON their CHAMPIONSHIP GAME!!!!!  YEAH!!!!!

So, the challenge has started - What are YOU grateful for?

 Ribs

With A Grateful Heart - Day 1

DAY 1

Today, I am starting a new blog series entitled "With A Grateful Heart," where I will take time every single day this month to celebrate at least one thing I'm grateful for.

I think it's important to remember all that you have to be thankful for and this time of year always brings that out of me.  I guess it's because, to me, fall is cozy....you can rock your old comfy sweatshirt, cuddle up beside a fire, drink a cup of hot chocolate or coffee...life is just good.

So, without further ado, here are some sentiments from my grateful heart.

On this first day of November, I am thankful for the seasons.  God is so creative and quite the artist.  The changing leaves that we are so blessed to have in our area are alive and vibrant right now! Shades of yellow, red, orange, burgundy, and green all mingle together and make every minute outside feel like a party!

In addition, since I am NOT a morning person typically, I usually never get to experience the beautiful sunrises that this world has to offer.  With fall, I get to see them sometimes!

Take yesterday's gorgeous picture, for example:

Now that is how you start the day!  Today, I am grateful for fall!

Ribs