The Art of Being Thankful

As you all well know, this past week/weekend was a time of celebration for many. Bobby, Emily, and I celebrated Thanksgiving on different days with both my husband's family and my family. We gobbled delicious treats and way too many carbs, caught up with people we hadn't seen in a while, and enjoyed the sound of children laughing and playing.

And as much as we enjoyed our celebrations, I am reminded that being thankful should be practiced daily. Just like painting, writing, or baking fabulous pastries or cakes; just like public speaking, lace making, or wood carving; just like jam making, singing, or gymnastics, being thankful is an art form. Being thankful doesn't come automatically. Being thankful isn't something people necessarily notice in others, but it is something that we need more of.

Too often we get busy with our day to day jobs, chores, and responsibilities, and we forget to appreciate all the little things. So this year, I made a list of things ten things I am thankful for year round.

1. Family (especially my husband and daughter)

2. My home (that has both heat and air)

3. Plenty to eat (too much actually)

4. Good neighbors (especially the ones who don't complain when our leaves blow into their yard)

5. Well maintained and running vehicles (that have both heat and air)

6. Friends (who rejoice with me when things are going well and pray for me when things aren't)

7. The ability to pursue my passions (like writing, cooking, photography, and volunteering)

8. My three cats (except the other day when I stepped on a hairball that blended in with the rug)

9. The man who invented toilet paper (seriously, I would not be a happy camper if we still had to use the Sears And Roebuck, corncobs, or leaves)

10. And the Good Lord above who made the other nine possible for me when he brought me into existence

I am also thankful for my home town library where every couple of weeks I find a stack of books to bring home and review. This week I particularly enjoyed a book called Night Job by Karen Hesse. A beautiful and simple story that reminds us to think about and appreciate people who work while we sleep to make our world a cleaner and better place. It is the story of a night-time school janitor told from the pov of his son and if you haven't read it, I highly recommend that you do!

Well, that about wraps it up for this week. Join me next week, same crazy time, same crazy channel. Also be sure to drop by my personal website Fun With Aileen where you will find more on reading, writing, and my very own chapter and picture books. And finally, you can find me on twitter if you want an extremely brief glimpse into my days.

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Cold Enough For A Yeti

This past week in Ohio it snowed. It pored freezing rain. And it got really cold. This of course meant lovely fires in the fireplace all weekend.

I also started baking Christmas cookies at least the ones that freeze well. I managed to bake sugar cookies in the shape of trees and chocolate sugar cookies in the shape of snow flakes both of which I will decorate later.

All this cold made Henry And The Yeti a perfect book to snag from my reading pile. Henry believe in Yetis. Henry wants to find a Yeti. So, Henry sets out on a journey to meet a Yeti. Henry has an incredible adventure but the proof of meeting a friendly Yeti was accidentally left behind. Will Henry be mocked for the rest of his life, or will he be able to prove Yetis really exist?

Well, that about wraps it up for this week. Join me next week, same crazy time, same crazy channel. Also be sure to drop by my personal website Fun With Aileen where you will find more on reading, writing, and my very own chapter and picture books. And finally, you can find me on twitter if you want an extremely brief glimpse into my days.

When God Made Light



This past week we felt the repercussions of Daylight Savings Time. It now gets dark at five in the afternoon. I won't bore you with the details of our bodies adjusting to the hours being off or the early darkness. Let's just suffice it to say that we are making the best of winter darkness.

We also received the first snow of the season which required us to enjoy the bounty of wood my husband split a few weeks ago.

So although the weather outside was frightful, inside we were toasty and comfortable which makes a perfect setting for reading. And this week my library stack gave forth a book called When God Made Light. A book told in rhyme that shares creation story of light and dark in a fun and creative way. In addition to enjoying the story and the beautiful artwork, I was thrilled to see that the illustrator was a fellow Ohioan. Oh how the little things in life bring me joy.

Well, that about wraps it up for this week. Join me next week, same crazy time, same crazy channel. Also be sure to drop by my personal website Fun With Aileen where you will find more on reading, writing, and my very own chapter and picture books. And finally, you can find me on twitter if you want an extremely brief glimpse into my days.

Into The 21st Century...

The most amazing thing happened at the Stewart house this past week. Bobby, Emily, and I finally all entered the 21st Century. I traded in my teeny tiny, eight year old phone for a new one that I can actually see, and Bobby and Emily each got their very first cell phone ever. The feeling of an early arriving Christmas permeated our home for several days as we navigated the world of new tech, selfies, and texting.

New Phone Selfie

The fun thing to note about texting is that if the relatives you text don't already have your phone number in their contacts, they have no idea who is talking to them.This happened to both Bobby and me. Bobby's brother said, "Who is this?" in response to Bobby's texting him his phone number and my sister-in-law didn't even respond to my text because she thought it was a text from her family about her cousin Bobby.

I'm sure all you long time cell phone aficionados can imagine the fun we've been having and the new things we've learned in just a few short days. Which reminds me of what Farmer Brown learned in the book Click, Clack, Quack to School, my library read for the week. Farmer Brown is invited to school and is instructed to bring the animals who all become very excited until Farmer Brown weighs them down with all kinds of rules about behaving and being quiet. I don't want to give the ending away, but let's suffice to say that Farmer Brown might have been a bit mistaken and over cautious when he instructed the animals how to behave.

Well, that about wraps it up for this week. Join me next week, same crazy time, same crazy channel. Also be sure to drop by my personal website Fun With Aileen where you will find more on reading, writing, and my very own chapter and picture books. And finally, you can find me on twitter if you want an extremely brief glimpse into my days.