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!
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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