Half Full

Anyone who knows me knows that I always try to be a glass-is-half-full kind of girl. If there's a bright side, I'll find it. And I'll hold on to it as long as possible. It's all about being thankful for what you have. Especially on a day like today, the Thanksgiving holiday.

Like, for example, if it's been 2 weeks since my last post, I'll just tell you that it's because I've been saving up something really good. And that life had been busy with all kinds of great distractions. It's not necessarily because I can't seem to find a half hour to sit at the computer and just idly write away to my heart's content.

It's all about staying optimistic. Noticing how green your own grass is so you stop checking out the nieghbors' yards.

Although yesterday I was certain that the glass was half empty. In fact it was entirely empty if you had asked me. It all started with my husband having what we thought was a bout of food poisoning late Tuesday night. But then yesterday afternoon both my daughters started having upset stomachs.

So I was thankful that on the way home from the movies I didn't stop at a store as I had planned, and I came straight home. Because the second after we walked in the door my oldest ran to the bathroom and lost her popcorn. After I wiped down every surface with Clorox (to hell with the all natural cleaners when there's a stomach bug in the house), I was hoping that would be the end of it.

Then, a couple of short moaning and groaning hours later, my younger daughter lost her popcorn too. All over our bed. Yes, that's our bed, not hers. Pillows, comforter, and all. After that it was hard to be thankful. And even harder to use clorox to clean.

Of course during this time my son had a pee-pee accident, which really seemed more like cleaning up a glass of water after all of those other bodily fluids that I'd been up against. Did I mention that he's now potty trained? We've taken advantage of the strong interest he was showing and over the last couple of weeks we've been putting him in his "big boy undies" more and more. Usually it was just a couple of hours, because that's as long as we were ever home to work on it. Then it was official this week when Monday morning he went off to school in underwear. Only one accident that morning, and the occasional one here and there since. Of course he timed one of them to be in the middle of all the barfing. Way to go, son. In this case, I was thankful I still had the Clorox wipes handy.

But all the wiping and laundry loads didn't end there. Shortly after putting her to bed, my youngest daughter was sick again in her bed. Off went more sheets and pillows to the laundry room.

By this time I was convinced that I was going to be praying to the porcelain god come morning time. I had lost all optimism and had become convinced that Thanksgiving dinner wasn't going to happen. And what's worse, I was convinced that my son would get it too. Which would mean a lot more laundry and carpet cleaning, since he would never be able to control when and where it happened.

We woke up this morning and my husband and I said "let's wait until everyone gets up" before we decide if we were making the turkey that sat waiting a better fate in the refrigerator. But low and behold, everyone got up and everyone was fine. Including me. And our son.

I started making the apple pie and that glass was half full once again. Right then and there I put on a happy face and was thankful.

Thankful that the flu bug was short-lived and the vomiting was kept to a minimum.

Thankful that I escaped it's evil grasp.

Thankful that my kids are healthy enough, on any given day, to be running around our house, making noise, spouting their opinions, and leaving plentiful messes behind. Even if two out of the three didn't eat a bite of the dinner that took me all day to make.

Thankful that we didn't have more company coming over for dinner, and it was just an intimate gathering.

Thankful that my belly, and those of my family, is full. Even if some of them are full of chicken nuggets instead of roast turkey and homemade gravy.

And thankful that my glass - of wine - was always half full tonight.

Girl of 100 Lists

Do you remember that Go-Go's song, "Girl of 100 Lists"? Lately I hear that song in my head quite frequently. It pops into my mind whenever I come across one of my oldest daughter's lists.

She's really into making lists right now.

Considering that I have a shopping list on the fridge, a to-do list on the kitchen counter, not to mention post-its multiplying by the dozens on my desk, I'm not too surprised this trait has popped up recently.

One of the first ones I noticed a few months back was a list she made for her sleepover at her grandmother's house. She numbered everything and even put checkboxes on the list so she knew when the item was packed. It was full of all kinds of essentials like "P.J.'s, underwear, clothes for tommorow, tooth brush, tooth paste, a pair of socks, head band, a book, a pair of flip flops, floser, pic of mom". That last one is one of my favorites. She's taken to keeping me with her at all times by having a photo of me in her backpack that she takes to school, and now I've even made the list for sleepovers. That one makes my heart smile.

On this list she even took it a step farther and had a section for the details of all of those items, so she knew exactly which pajamas and tooth brush and book were coming with her.

Then a few weeks later, she wrote a "To Do List". Apparently one day she felt like she had a lot going on and she needed to keep it straight. Fortunately for her, her To Do list looks much different than mine. In hers, it's all about what she's actually doing that day. I guess that'd be more of a schedule, but she's still fine-tuning her list skills. This one had the following items listed on it:

1. Piano lessons from 4:00-4:30.

2. Do my homwork around 2:55.

3. Jump on the tramp from 3:15-3:40.

4. Bring Bunny for sharing.

5. Friend's mom to pick me up from school.

6. Wear sparkly peace shirt.

Her day was very organized and orderly, even if the actual list was out of order.

She's also been making lists of all the birthday parties she's invited to, so she can keep track of all the good times headed her way.

Then there is the "favorite songs" list, which has gotten quite long lately.

And of course she's been making a list of who she will be inviting to her upcoming birthday party.

One of my favorites was her shopping list that she wrote out for me last week, on my actual list that was on the fridge. It went a little something like this.

Tootsi rolls

Gummi bears

Jelli bellis

Fruit by the foot

Pears

Bananas

Donuts

She wrote it out and then came over and told me she put down 2 healthy things for me to buy at the store. After my "good job!", she gave me a sly smile and said she might have put some other things on there too.

She also left my husband a note on his pillow around that same time. It said "Buy Milke way Mid-night Carmel Fudge". That's it. No please. No title.

I guess that one was really more of a command. But a cute one. And one motivated by her recent Halloween loot I imagine.

Can't you just hear that song going over and over in my head as I collect these lists that she leaves lying around the house?

"I am the girl of 100 lists
From what shall I wear
To who I have kissed
Check items off
Let nothing be missed
Sing I to myself and my 100 lists"

But there better not be any kisses on her lists.

Or we'll be coming up with a whole other list of things to be talking about.