thankful

I was thinking this weekend. Thinking that I feel I've been a little bit whiny and complainy around here lately. I've been in a super funky up and down mood for much of the last month and I'm kind of tired of it. I've decided that this week with the holiday coming up, I need to practice a little bit more of this thing called thanks giving. I know I am blessed in so many ways, more than I can even comprehend. I know this, and I hope that you know that I know this, even when I do let myself complain about my kids or my husband or my loneliness or funky moods.

So.
I've decided I'm taking this week out from my normal here's the random stuff I was up to today and my here's the random stuff I'm thinking about today and my here's the random stuff I'm whining about today, and I want to instead be intentional about being thankful for these things that make up my life. I want to take a few days to focus on my gratitude for the blessings we have in our life, as a reminder to myself to not take those things for granted.

And bear with me as I start out a little superficially. I know at first glance it may seem materialistic, but really I think it's important to acknowledge all the "things" we have in our lives. So first on my list this week is this:
I'm thankful for comfort.
I'm thankful that we have two cars that have treated us so well and we are still in love with (even though they are getting on in years), and that I don't have to be stuck at home without a car.
I'm thankful for my laptop; I know I would feel much more alone through these two moves this past year if I didn't have email and blogs and internet so conveniently at my fingertips.
I'm thankful for my camera; that I get to experience and keep so much joy from capturing so many moments with friends and family and especially of my kids.
I'm thankful for the luxuries we have in every day things like dvd players and dishwashers and crockpots.

Most predominantly in my mind this year is my thankfulness for my home. Two years ago, with the four of us in our cramped two bedroom teeny tiny townhouse in Salem, I was merely dreaming of the day when we might actually have a backyard or a garage or have our kids running around with the neighbor kids. That seemed a very far off dream at that point. I wouldn't have believed that now here we would be with a house bigger than we need, with more than enough room for out of town guests, space to host big dinners and parties, and not to mention the fact that we are slowly accumulating real actual coordinating furniture! Not a day goes by when I don't walk through my house and think how lucky we are. To not simply have a utilitarian roof over our heads, but to own it for ourselves and to have it be a place that we are so happy to be in and excited to share with our friends and family.

I guess since I'm on the subject anyway (and I'm also extremely thankful for my new dining room table), this would be as good a place as any to throw those pictures on here. It's finally all coming together in there; we switched out that lovely chandelier and got the table last week.



Here's the move-in pic if you want a refresher:
(complete with the lovely nineties valance, the crystal/mirror chandelier, and the mismatched table and chairs. The bouncy zebra is just an added touch)
















and now here's the current room:

















I love this table! Remember when I got the cabinet? Well we never thought we'd go with all black furniture, but since that room is doubling as my craft room, that cabinet was a must have for me. So then we had to search high and low (and cheap!) for a black dining table. All black is not so easy to come by. And most of what we found, even in custom order and expensive sets, didn't get very big. We wanted a table that would seat a big group of at least 10. Then I just happened across this one, which just happens to be from the same line as my cabinet, and it has not one, but two built in leaves so while it is plenty big already, it expands to seat 10-12 people.

We went with only four chairs, as I'm not a huge fan of fabric seats and little kids. And chairs are so expensive!! So four chairs fits the four of us, or if we're having a nice dinner sans kids with another couple. I think we've decided we're going to get six of these chairs from Ikea. They are quite affordable, and although they obviously don't match exactly, will work well to pull out for big gatherings.

Also, decor wise, I'm getting these for either side of the big window.
And for the big empty wall I'm planning on ordering 'come gather at our table' similar to this (you'll have to scroll down a tad to see the picture I'm referring to) in vinyl letters to put on the wall from Uppercase Living.
I'm hoping to be able to get these couple of things done by our big New Years dinner party.

Oh, and also, tell me what you think of this idea. I have a lot of cookbooks and no where to put them. I have absolutely no place for them in my kitchen. I thought of covering them (you know, like we used to cover high school text books) with scrapbook or wrapping paper in coordinating prints and solids (probably reds and blacks and along those lines) and stacking them in piles across the top of my cabinet like this:









Weird or no?






Heck, why don't I just go ahead and make this post even longer and put those IOU pictures up from way back when we got SJ's room done...

And here's the kids' bathroom (also guest bathroom for now)...

the color's all wonky from, well, from it being a camera in a small bathroom and probably used the flash, but the color is the same bright apple green as in my kitchen. Despite what these pictures may try to tell you, I think it's a good color in there. It's fun.




























Did I mention I am so thankful for my home???

If you've stuck with me this far, congratulations.
Now tell me, what is the one comfort item you're most thankful for?