Day 3: It's a Test

It has to be a test. Right? As soon as you determine to make a positive change a multitude of trying situations come your way. 

Today was part 2 of the household electrical saga. I won't go into all the details, suffice it to say that we encountered new issues, apparently resolved them, and experienced recurrence of previous issues. Aargh!!

So, to be thankful today??? Here are 3 things for which I can genuinely give thanks:

1. My daughter! She is sweet and thoughtful and fun to be with. I am thankful for the way she tries to encourage me when I am stressed!

2. My son! He loves the computer, gaming, and all such things. I have come to appreciate that we don't like all the same things and that's ok!. I am thankful that he can help me when I have a technology-related problem!

3. My cat- Quincy! He is just so soft, and

cute. He can pretty much always bring a smile to my face. (Except when he's doing something he shouldn't, like stealing ornaments from the Christmas tree!!)

Well, that's it for today, see you tomorrow!

Linda

Day 2: Being Thankful When Things Go Wrong

You know there are those days where it just seems like one thing after another goes wrong, and it's not always easy to give thanks in the midst of unfortunate events. However, there is great benefit in looking for ways to be thankful despite the circumstances.

Recently we have been having some electrical issues in our home; if we would run too many appliances on one circuit the breaker would trip and there were issues with resetting it. A couple of weeks ago my husband replaced the breaker for that circuit and we thought it was all running well. Today, however, I plugged one of our space heaters into my daughter's bedroom to get it warmed up for her. A little while later as we were
sitting in our bonus room we started to smell a fishy odor, we looked everywhere to try to determine where the odor was originating form and just couldn't figure it out. As it continued to get worse I decided to Google the issue to try to figure out what might be causing it. Immediate results showed probable electrical overload or fault, so I figured we should unplug the space heater and see if that resolved the problem.

It seemed like the odor was subsiding and I moved onto other things. Approximately 15 minutes later my son came and told me the power had gone out in that area of the house. We tried flipping the breaker and unplugging everything in the affected rooms, but were unable to restore the power. So, of course this is not convenient and will take some effort and money to fix. All this leads me to my first reason to give thanks today:

• I am thankful that we were able to discover the electrical issue before it started a fire in our home. Although this is one more stress we don't need right now, things could have been tragically worse and I thank God for protecting our family.
• This year I was able to purchase a small Christmas gift for each of my family members back home in Scotland and am thankful that I was able to get them in the mail today so that they can receive them before Christmas.
• I am thankful for my husband who loves me and provides for our family; we have been married for 22 years and I give God thanks for blessing our marriage.

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you can find some reasons to give thanks today!

Linda

Day 1: Developing the Habit of Thanksgiving

This morning in church our pastor shared a message entitled 'Five Ways to Give Thanks' in which he explained that it takes 21 days of repetition to develop a habit. He challenged us to express 3 things each day for which we are thankful and continue the practice for 21 days.

So, here I am, I thought I would post my items here just to give me a consistent place to document my daily thanksgiving.

In the past I posted a series called Thirty Days of Thanksgiving, this will be a bit different because these will be more personal things for which I am thankful. So join me if you like and feel free to share things you are thankful for too.

Today I am thankful for:

1. Today's message in church through which God challenged me to be more thankful.

2. For safety on the icy roads today as my family and I travelled to and from church several times.

3. For a warm fireplace to sit near on this cold day, and a yummy cup of hot chocolate!

See you tomorrow!

Linda

Yummy Quinoa Recipes

Quinoa is definitely a popular ingredient nowadays, and rightly so with the nutritional punch it packs! I have been searching Pinterest lately for new-to-me recipes that are healthful and delicious. A couple that I tried this week turned out so well I decided I'd share the links here also.

The first one is California Quinoa Salad, I didn't include the edamame in the recipe as my hubby didn't want the soy, and I only used the juice of 2 limes because mine were a good size and it tasted good with that quantity. Otherwise I prepared the recipe as described. It was super easy and super good!

Yesterday I made the Quinoa Chili which was also delicious.  I only made a few changes because I was short a couple of ingredients: I only had one can of tomatoes, and a 4oz can of chilies, and one can of kidney beans instead of two. I tasted it before adding the cayenne and decided it didn't need the extra spice (my daughter doesn't like very spicy food). It was really flavorful, definitely will make this recipe again.

I intended to take photos of each recipe but forgot, however mine looked just like the photos on the original blogs so I was happy with the results. You can check those out and I hope you are inspired to try them too!

You are welcome to follow me on Pinterest!

Linda

Homeschool Buyers Co-op Summer Fun Reading Program

The Homeschool Buyer Co-op is a free homeschooling organization for both new and veteran homeschoolers. Co-op membership is free and confidential, and entitles homeschooling families to GroupBuy discounts on high-quality curriculum. On the site you'll find lots of free information, such as databases of free curriculum, field trips, and educational contests and scholarships. Highly recommended. Click here for more information.


I have been a member of Homeschool Buyers Co-op for several years; they have some great deals. Last year I purchased Rosetta Stone- Italian for my son at a great discount and earned Smartpoints which can be redeemed for other curriculum.


Right now they are running their Summer Fun Reading Program which gives your kids the opportunity to log their daily reading and be eligible for the prize drawings; go check it out and sign up - it's free! There's nothing to lose!
Oh, did I mention that the grand prize is an Apple iPad??