The quiet of the early morning

Birds chirping

The beautiful field of high stalks of corn, that makes our backyard seem sheltered and private

The pictures of friends and family, that are attached to ribbons on the wall near my chair.  What a cheery sight!

The many times Dave says, “Ruthie, Ruthie, Ruthie” each day.  It makes me smile every time.

My morning bowl of bananas and yogurt

Being able to think and reason and remember

Text messages from my daughters.  So nice to be able to stay in touch, even when we don’t see each other for a few days

The encouragement from readers of my blog posts telling me to keep writing.

Remembering we can choose how we react to everything, and if we react in an unpleasant or unkind way, we can always choose again.

Wispy clouds in the sky

The beautiful brown-eyed susan daisies that I can see from our bedroom

A photograph of my childhood best friend, Bonnie, and her sister, Carla, and her brother, Doyle, and me playing by the fence that separated our properties.  So many great memories from those days

Seeing my friend, Barb, whom I worked with at the College of Wooster, in the 80s.  I had been looking for her for years.  We were both shopping at the same store Wednesday, and we were so happy to see each other again!

My fun and crazy hospice aides.  They stopped by to check on me, but since I didn’t need anything, they just sat and visited and giggled for awhile.  Always fun when they stop by.

My warm, pink blanket that I received for Christmas, about 6 years ago, from the Dente family.  I love wrapping up in it, because it always reminds me of the great times I had with the Dentes.

Riding in the car with Dave.  I don’t care where we go, it’s just fun to ride with my husband anywhere.

Finding a nearby restaurant that serves Dave’s favorite meal of Lake Erie yellow perch.   Hooray!

Peanuts in the shell.  My dad loved peanuts in the shell.  If we went to a baseball game, or a fair, he would always look for the peanut vendor. I must have inherited his love of peanuts.  I love to shell peanuts and eat them, while we watch the Indians game or a football game on TV. And they’re a protein I can eat and enjoy.  I’m supposed to have a lot of protein, and so many high protein foods don’t taste good to me anymore.  I am grateful for peanuts!

I am grateful for so many wonderful, thoughtful, loving friends!

Watermelon, fresh, crisp, juicy, delicious!

Dave spending time and effort getting our Hyundai ready to sell.

Seeing Kari at work, bustling around, taking care of customers, preparing food.

The beautiful basket of flowers from Dance for Ruth.  I have it in our bedroom, and it brightens every day.  I am reminded of the many kind and loving people who took the time to come to the park that day, and also, of the many dear people who wrote to tell me they wanted to come. I am so blessed!

Photos of so many family members and friends.  Our bedroom is filled with pictures of people I love!

Feeling energized by the wind!

Only 25 days until the Wayne County Fair and all that great fair food!

Only 26 days until our 1st wedding anniversary!

So grateful to be feeling good!

So grateful to be alive!

Believe that life is worth living and your belief will help create the fact.  ~William James

Noticing and appreciating the things that I sometimes take for granted. 

A warm breeze blowing, and creating a humming sound as it blows around the corner of our house

Trees swaying in the wind

Leaves fluttering on the branches

Waves of tall grass, bending and flowing like the ocean

A brilliant blue sky, with wisps and puffs of white clouds

The sweet taste of a banana mingling with the tartness of a fresh peach.

Savoring the aroma and taste of one last Coccia House pizza before the pizza shop closes for a two week vacation.

A new recliner for my husband to enjoy

Savoring the deliciousness of salted dark chocolate

Ginger ale

I am grateful to have had the opportunity to teach so many wonderful, kind and talented students in my homeschool enrichment classes. Each student was a gift.  Many of them were eager participants in the classes.  Others were excellent listeners and observers.  Nearly all of them were always willing to help with setting up the classroom, or cleaning up at the end of class, or doing almost any task I asked them to do.  Each one touched my heart, and taught me many important lessons.  I am so fortunate to know each of those extraordinary students.

The families of these students were also extraordinary.  Knowing these families has enriched my life beyond measure.  They were not only willing to assist in my classes, but also, to help me, personally, when I faced challenges.  They paid bills when I couldn’t.  They brought groceries for my family.  They cared for my daughters when I had obligations that didn’t allow me to bring my daughters with me.  They were the best friends anyone could ever have.  I have been so richly blessed.

I loved making presentations at homeschool events, business events and church events.  On each occasion, I made new friends, and enjoyed great times with old friends.  Attendees shared their personal experiences, their problems, their ideas and helpful resources.  I was able to use all that they shared with me to help others enrich their family learning experiences.  I am grateful for all those opportunities.

Writing my monthly learning newsletter, and compiling all the resources and family events for the newsletter was such a joy.  My readers constantly provided me with positive feedback and encouraged others to subscribe.  They made my newsletter successful!

When I didn’t have money for vacations, the homeschool community provided low-cost opportunities to get away.  Our semi-annual getaways to Buckett Hill/Grand Haven resorts were the most fun, exciting, crazy, fulfilling vacations we could ever have hoped to enjoy. Conversation, campfires, water polo, hikes, picnics, dancing, singing – you name it, we did it.   The Unschoolers Waterpark Gathering at Kalahari resort in Sandusky, was an annual event that provided fun, opportunities to meet people from across the country, and beyond.

I’ve always loved being able to consult families who are unsure of how to homeschool, or who need help with special learning challenges, or who are feeling overwhelmed by choices, curricula or any other learning related problem.  I liked being able to put parents’ minds at ease, and giving them ideas for solutions.  I met so many amazing parents, children and teens through these consultations.

Workshops for parents and workshops for teens were always fun.  My goal was to have everyone leave the workshop in a better, happier, more enthusiastic frame of mind than when they arrived.  It was so gratifying to see faces light up as they applied ideas to the problems they were facing.  They could see light at the end of the tunnel.   That was the greatest reward.

I am grateful for the creative and fun ideas that seemed to always appear, just when I needed them most.  There were many times, I couldn’t figure out how I would convey the lesson for a particular class.  I would stay up half the night trying to find the best approach, and finally go to sleep without having come up with a good idea.  In the morning, I would worry all the way to class, and when I got there, suddenly an idea would pop into my head, and it would turn out to be the perfect solution.  I am grateful for inspiration.

I am grateful for all the wonderful books I read to prepare for literature classes and book discussion groups.  There are so many wonderful books that I will never forget.  There were books that made us think, laugh, cry, scream, left us speechless or made us shrink back in disbelief.  They touched our hearts and enriched our lives.

I loved attending the many social events that homeschoolers have: achievement night, bonfires, formal proms, casual dances, plays, lectures, Shakespeare in the park, Showtime at High Noon, park programs, library programs, concerts, parties…  the list is almost endless.   And I enjoyed every single one of the events I attended.  In fact, I was usually very sad when it was time to go home.

My life was greatly enriched by the hundreds of homeschoolers I have known, and I am so very grateful!

There are so many things I love about our home in the country.  I am grateful to have such a wonderful place to live.

I grew up in a ranch-style home, and always wished I could live in a two-story house, until I did.  Then I began longing for a ranch-style home.  I love having everything on one level.  It’s so convenient!

I love my kitchen.  It’s the largest kitchen I’ve ever had.  Dave thinks that’s funny because he thinks it’s small.  There are so many cupboards, and lots of counter space.  I love baking Christmas Cookies with my daughters, and now we have room to do that!   And cooking a big holiday meal is so much easier, when there is lots of room for pans and dishes and food and all the other holiday meal accessories.

Every room in our house has windows, some that catch the morning light, and some that are filled with afternoon sunshine.  Each room has a lovely view.  I love opening the curtains or blinds each morning, and seeing the sunshine or the rain or the winter snow.

We have one very large room that was a family room, and we used it for entertaining.   I always wanted to have enough space that I could invite my family to our house and know that there was plenty of room for everyone.  Not only did we have enough space, but Dave had a dining room table that had been his grandmother’s.  It opened into a HUGE table that accommodated over 20 people!

I, also, always wanted to be able to have a big party with lots of our friends and family.  When Kari turned 18 and graduated from high school, we had a giant party with more than 80 guests, and there was more than enough room for everyone.  We had tables in our garage, and Grandma’s big table in our family room.  What a wonderful party!

Dave and I had our wedding in the family room.  Kylia, Kari and Kelly decorated it with white flowers, aqua ribbons and aqua and white candles.   It was such a lovely wedding, with 9 guests, and lots of smiles and tears of joy.  We have since turned the family room into our master bedroom/sitting room.  The large aqua bow that was above and behind us when we got married is still there, and now our bed is under that bow.  We love sleeping on the very spot where we said our vows.  We spend a lot of time in this room now, because it is so filled with light and beauty.

I love our lawn!  A big backyard, and a large front yard.  For Kari’s party, we had quite a few outdoor games set up, and people were having fun everywhere.  I can get plenty of exercise walking around our yard.

The basement of our house has 3 rooms and a root cellar!  I had planned to use the root cellar, but I never got around to it.  I still love that we have one.  One of the rooms in the basement is especially large, almost the size of the entire upstairs.  We have exercise equipment in there, and until recently, I used it fairly frequently.

We have a large building behind our house, where Dave used to have his motorcycle store.  Now we use it for storage, and for the UHaul business we operate.  It’s great having a big building where we can keep so many things.  We had music playing there when we had Kari’s party, and the teens (or anyone) could go in there and dance.

We have lots of space for cars.  When we have company, it’s nice to have lots of places for everyone to park.  We have a long driveway and a big parking lot behind our house.  So handy.  The parking lot is also great for “doing donuts” in the winter when it’s snowy and icy…

One of my favorite things about our home is the field that runs along the side and back of our property.  Every other year, the farmer who owns the field plants corn, and this is a corn year.   Right now, our back yard is surrounded by 7 foot high stalks of corn.  It’s like a walled fort.  I love that.  Last year, the farmer planted soybeans which only grow to be about 3 feet high, at the most.  Nice, but not a fort.

“Home is the nicest word there is.” ― Laura Ingalls Wilder

A visit with a dear friend, who presented me with a jar of homemade applesauce (among other yummy things).  It’s delicious!  It brought back memories of when I would help my mom make applesauce.  The smell of the apples cooking was so wonderful!  Thank you, Laura, for visiting, for the wonderful gifts, and for the great memories that you stirred up within me!

Patient friends who waited more than an hour at one of my favorite restaurants, without complaining, because they knew that I was looking forward to eating there.  The service is normally very fast, but last night the restaurant was filled, and there was only one waitress.  She’s very efficient, but with the number of patrons, it still took a long time for everyone to be served.  We never ran out of things to talk about, or to giggle about.  It was a wonderful, relaxing evening.

I am grateful that Kylia talked me into getting sushi at the restaurant last night.  I don’t like fish sushi, but I like the California rolls (made with veggies).  It tasted better to me than anything I’ve eaten in a restaurant in the past month!  Hooray!!!

Seeing Kari’s big smile, with no braces!  Beautiful!

These days, my husband does the laundry more than I do, although sometimes I try to get a load in the washer before he notices, or at least move things from the washer to the dryer.  Regardless of who does the laundry, I love the feeling and the smell of freshly laundered clothes.

The highlight of many days, for me, is when the mail is delivered.  I’ve always liked to see what arrives in the mail, but in the past month or two, nearly every day has brought a card or two, or a package.  It’s so exciting and a real day brightener!  I am grateful for all who have taken the time to send a card or a package.

Looking at the ribbons of pictures on the wall next to my chair, I am reminded of so many good times in my life.  I am grateful for all the interesting, fun, amazing and happy times!  Wow, there were a lot!  And more are happening every day!

I am grateful for Facebook that enables me to keep in touch with so many people I don’t get to see in person.  I love reading what they are doing and seeing pictures of their families, friends, cars, houses, gardens, sports, crops, barns….and everything else.  It’s so nice to reconnect with people that I love, but don’t see often enough (or ever.)

I’m grateful for my insurance company.  They are known for having excellent customer service, and they do.  They are always friendly, kind, helpful and caring.

So glad to get a phone call from my brother, Gary, in North Carolina!  Great to catch up on all the family members in NC, and nice to bring Gary up to date on all that we have been doing, and how I’ve been feeling.   A phone call from my brother always gives me a boost!

The excitement of seeing three former students and their wonderful mother.  Nothing could have been better than an entire evening visiting with them.

A delicious, still warm, homemade peach pie from my friend, Patty!

Fresh blueberries, honeydew melon, and other goodies from Szalay’s Farm, brought by my friend, Kim.

The anticipation of seeing my daughter, Kari, today.  She’s getting her braces off, and I’m so excited to see how great she looks with that wonderful no-braces smile!

Also, looking forward to seeing my daughter, Kylia, today!  She usually works at a store about 30 miles away from us, but today, she is working in a store only 3 miles away, and she’s coming to our house this afternoon!

Enjoying the ribbons of photographs on my wall.  So many pictures of family and friends, some from a long time ago, and some that are more recent.  The photos grab everyone’s attention when they visit, and I always enjoy telling visitors the stories behind some of the pictures.  If you have photo albums filled with photos that no one sees, take some of them out of the albums, tape them to ribbons, and tack the ribbons to the wall, where everyone can enjoy them.

So grateful for the text messages, facebook messages and phone calls from my nieces and nephews.  They’re so caring and loving!

Realizing this morning, that I am a great, great Aunt…  I guess that’s what I am since 3 of my great nieces have had children.  I’ve been researching the correct titles online, but haven’t had any luck so far.  All I’ve learned is that it’s proper to call my great nieces either “great” nieces or “grand” nieces.  No one seems to care what the next generation is called.

Looking forward to a belated birthday celebration tonight with three close friends and my two daughters!  It will be a wild and crazy night of laughter!

I am grateful to everyone who reads my gratitude lists or my blog posts, and especially grateful to those who decide to post their own gratitude lists, either on welovegratitude.com or Facebook or anywhere else!

Gratitude changes your life in a positive way… always.  All you have to do is pay attention!

I may have mentioned these things on past lists, but every day I am grateful for the continued love and kindness of my husband.  He makes it possible for me to get through this with a positive attitude.

The tenderness in my husband’s eyes when he looks at me

The way he held my hand as we drove home from New York, and told me that he plans to hold on tightly for as long as we have

His willingness to do laundry and clean up around the house, never complaining

His loving relationship with my daughters

His kindness to my friends

The way he makes all my everyday tasks easier

His whispered “I love you”

His patience

His compassion

His gentleness

We took a break for our daily routine to refresh our bodies and minds.  It provided us with many things for which to be grateful.

A party for a friend who is leaving soon on a grand adventure in the U.S. Air Force.  And the U. S. Air Force will be lucky to have him!

A happy time spent with so many friends and their families.  Lots of laughter and hugs.

A gift of a movie made by a former student of mine.  I had owned it before, and somehow managed to lose it during a move from one home to another.  I’m so happy to have a new copy of it, so that I can watch and laugh and clap!

Leaving the party early to get started on a road trip to Lake George, NY.  How exciting!

I never really enjoyed travelling on the New York Thruway, so it was grand to learn there is another Interstate highway that is more scenic, and gets us to our destination in the same amount of time (or almost).  The lovely Southern Tier Highway.  What a treat!

Discovering that our hotel in Lake George Village was a beautiful mint green color.  Something about that color made it look so inviting.

Dave taking me for a drive around Lake George, to see the beautiful lake, the beaches, the boats, the cottages, hotels and restaurants, and millions of trees!

Eating lunch at the A&W Root Beer Drive-In, the 2nd (now 3rd) most popular restaurant in Lake George Village.  We were not disappointed.

Took a short day trip to Lake Placid.  I was so surprised to see that it is a thriving little town with lots of shops, eateries and galleries.  There is a lovely spot in the center of town with a lake, places to sit and relax and, also, places to stroll.  The athletic venues from the 1980 Olympics are still there, and still being used.  One of my favorite parts of our trip.

A boat ride on the steamship Minnie-ha-ha was relaxing and interesting.  The steam engines that powered the paddle wheel were so quiet.  The calliope, which only played when we returned to the port, was decidedly louder!  A beautiful, sunset cruise.