Thankful Thursday

Some of my blogging friends have been putting up posts on Thursdays reflecting on the small things in their lives that make it great. I haven't been joining in. Not because I'm not thankful but because I'm not disciplined enough to keep it up weekly. A personal quirk of mine I know but I don't even start watching TV programs like American Idol or Next Top Model and the like because if I have to miss one episode, and you know that IS going to happen, then I cannot get back 'into' the show for the rest of the season! I respect those with self-discipline.

Today's pictures and post naturally lend themselves to this topic so just for today I'm going to post my thankfulness on Thursday. In the future, it will appear just as randomly as in the past!


My bread recipe makes two loaves. My family takes less than 36 hours to eat two loaves of bread. I'm finding that means I must bake every other evening. Evening? Well that is when I find myself already in the kitchen which has been warmed up by dinner preparations. My recipe calls for a quick roll out with a rolling pin after the first rise. As I turned the dough out onto my counter to roll, I saw this beautiful vignette....

The setting sun streaming in the window and casting lovely contrasts of lights and shadows. In that moment, after the 'quick grab the camera' thought, I started reflecting on many things regarding bread making. I am thankful for the generations of love I feel being reflected back at me in the well floured and aged rolling pin given to me by my Mom after she decided that it would see more use in my hands. I am thankful that I have the option in times of illness, fatigue, and any other number of reasons to make a run to the grocery store for bread. I am thankful for being born in the time and place that I was born. I cannot fathom on a day like yesterday, how my ancestors, without central heat or down outerwear, could milk cows, collect eggs, cook over an open flame let alone make bread daily!! I'm thankful to be born in this time and place where I can enjoy the breads of many cultures. My ancestors ate a daily fare of a quick rise soda bread...daily...no variation...ever. My life is better for the rye, challah, pumpernickel, wheat, totillas, and pita breads that stock the shelves of my local store!

I am thankful for the two completely UNIQUE little beings that are my daughters. One who grabs life too seriously and delves through the depths of every emotion while the other avoids the serious moments of life and stays firmly in the shallows of emotion. One who's temperament predicted a tumultuous puberty with all it's identity crisis and peer relation crisis while the other's temperament promises the opposite. One who has a conflicted relationship with her Guatemalan roots and one who...

is not at all conflicted! One wouldn't 'advertise' her origins because it just might lead to questions about adoption and a sense of being too different while the other flaunts her origins and thrives on being different. One would never wear this jersey to any event other than an adoption reunion while the other wants to wear it at least once a week to school!

I'm thankful for our Thursday Family Night. I'm thankful for the time the cousins have together to build their relationships and memories. I'm thankful to have...

Auntie Peggy to share the time together AND share the cooking duties! 

Only two more days to complete my personal challenge to put up a post a day for a week! I did finish an outfit but there isn't enough natural light coming in my windows to get a photo shoot today...and at 13 degrees with a front porch doubling as a skating rink I'm not going to be going to any extraordinary lengths to get pictures today either!