 have had the opportunity to experience much gratitude in the realm of friendship. My women friends are coming through for me loud and clear. The depth and breadth of the relationships continues to grow and that gives me such pleasure. I hosted a 50th birthday party at the beginning of December for Y. I love her. She accepts me totally for who I am. You know those emails that go around saying a best friend is someone who loves you when you cry, scream, smile, fart - whatever... well that's Y. She turned 50 first. Phew for me. She seems ok. She is beautiful.
I had dinner with I & J last week. Our annual trek out - although we missed last year. We pick up where we left off. It's that easy. J and I catch up about our kids, grandkids and respective husbands. I regales us with her travelling adventures. The three of us compare aches and pains - that was really funny this time. Thankfully, despite a crappy menopause on my part, J's frightful dance with arthritis, and I's stomach issues, we're all reasonably healthy and happy. That's a lot to be grateful for.
Another thing that has kept showing up for me... is the change in colour as the season changes. I am assuming that the practice of keeping an eye open for things to be grateful for has made the world appear to me in a different way. This practice has kept me noticing. The blue of the late afternoon sky I tell you is different in the winter. The morning pink too. It makes me want to paint.
I can't write about gratitude without mentioning the hard work Honey and I have done in the realm of the couple. We have undertaken a painful process to heal what was amiss in our relationship - and you know what? It works. We are connected, loving, talking, invested, and continue to grow. Yay us.
Gratitude has also sweetened my relationships with my kids, my family. We are having Christmas together for the first time in - well I don't know when the last time was that I celebrated Christmas on the 24th with middle daughter. This year, she will be here with grandson number one, Jakob, my dad will be here, and Honey and myself. On the 25th my son and his girlfriend will be joining us. On the 26th Honey and I are leaving to Canmore to spend 5 days with young daughter and grandson number 2, Levi. I'm overwhelmed with gratitude to tell you the truth. Three days ago I was totally floating away on a cloud of Christmas bliss. I spent too much I'm sure - but I felt it fine because I can do this. I wanted to do this. There are gifts, a bird, a tree... Middle daughter called two days ago, having a pre-Christmas melt down. Then her brother called and said he was having difficulties. Not to be left out, young daughter called and said Boo.. things suck here too. Well... I think there was a time I would have reacted to all this by flipping out myself and then shutting down and letting go and giving up... but that didn't happen this time. I decided Christmas would be what it would be. My family is not perfect but I can accept it with its quirks and all.. and a peace came to me. I found myself grateful despite the drama. And you know what... it all abated. Today, everyone called again, is reasonably ok, excited about the holiday. Everyone is being real.. including me. Everyone is still talking and ok. Call me crazy.... but I'm extremely grateful. I'm full of emotion and joy and peace even though I know things aren't perfect nor will they ever be. They are as they are and that's ok.
Honey and I are cultivating a new friendship with a colleague of mine and her husband. I find myself skittish from time to time, afraid to commit, still feeling a bit raw from the last "failed" friendship which I still don't understand and I guess still haven't got closure on. Regardless, I press on. I insist on taking risks and trying to make contact with new people and creating meaningful relationships. I feel blessed that this new couple is in our lives. It takes a lot of courage to keep marching, keep reaching out, keep connecting. I'm proud of myself and grateful at my capacity to be this way.
I spent a chunk of time with my dad today. I am as always thankful and grateful to the folks who take care of him. Bless you Ginette, Maria, and all the rest of you wonderful people who make sure he is safe and sound. I don't know where he, or I, would be without you.
That's it for now peeps. If anyone ever asks... cultivating gratitude is a good and wonderful thing. Even if you don't happen to write about it every day.Blog Categories: Politics | News | Music | Chow | Do This! | Media | Cinema | Arts and Culture | TV | Fun in General | Sports | Weird Stuff | more categories»
The Tucson Weekly won three awards in the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies' 2010 Altweekly Awards. The results were announced Friday, July 16, at the AAN annual convention.
Weekly art director Adam Kurtz nabbed top honors in the editorial layout category (less than 50,000 circulation) for his print layout of "The Strange Saga of Geronimo's Skull" (June 11, 2009)
Renee Downing nabbed second place honors for political column. She won).
In other news, Tucson Weekly editor Jimmy Boegle was elected to the AAN Board of Directors as the chair of the Diversity Committee.
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Explore art in your neighborhood. Over 110 artists in over 80 locations open their studios to the… MoreMy kiddos thrive and love hands-on learning opportunities. And I love incorporating homeschool STEM in our weekly learning time as well so I was super excited when we were offered the chance to review the Elementary STEM Explorer Pack from Pitsco Education! Let me tell you more about it.
Pitsco Education is a company that was built by educators for educators. Way back in 1971 in the garage of Harvey Dean. Focusing on their mission of “leading education that positively affects learners”, Pitsco Education STEM kits help students learn to get creative in solving problems while working with their hands together.
We received the Elementary STEM Explorer Pack which includes five hands-on kits to make each project. All the materials necessary to complete each activity is included as well in a printed color instruction booklet. The instructions are step-by-step so an older elementary child could work on their own and ask questions or for help when needed while your younger K-2nd grade students might need your help. As I said, the kit comes with five projects that include making a musical instrument, a tilting maze, parachutes, large structures, and a bird feeder. Plus, each of the kits includes extra challenges and activities to complete.
Everything, you need to complete each of the projects is included…yes, you read that right, everything! Down to the string and glue sticks which you probably already have on hand but it’s nice to not have to hunt for supplies when your child is ready to jump in and create.
Inside your shipping box you will find all of your supplies packaged neatly in 5 plastic bags. I really like that the kits are shipped together and that you don’t have to hunt through a box to see what supplies you need.
The Elementary STEM Explorer Pack is geared towards kids in kindergarten through fifth-grade. The whole kit retails for $79.95 but is on sale for $49.95 at the time of this blog post. And if by chance you loose your instructions you can download a new copy off the website. My three youngest have been working with a few of the kits we received in our box.
While Montana is outside of the grade range for this box she did enjoy helping Micah with the Maze and Parachute kits. McKenzie completed her Maze and Parachutes when she returned home from her gymnastics training. Micah and McKenzie have since teamed up to create a bigger maze and have been experimenting with which toys can parachute from the upstairs foyer to the bottom the fastest.
I purposely held off letting them do the bird feeder, musical instruments, and large structures kits because I wanted to save them for when I have to travel in August to take my older girls back to University and their Great Aunt is here with them. It has taken their mind off my travels and given them something fun to look forward to doing each day with her while I am gone.
Hands down, If you are looking for a homeschool STEM project, you'll want to check out Elementary STEM Kit from Pitsco Education. We have used many different STEM kits before and this on takes the cake by far! They also have kits for older kids that would make such great birthday or Christmas gifts. And guess what!? Pitsco Education wants to give everyone a chance to take part in STEM education so they are giving away an Elementary set. Be sure to click HERE to register before August 31st for your chance to win.
But don’t just take my word for it, 42 of my CrewMates reviewed several different sets so be sure to check out what they thought by clicking the banner below.
Are you gearing up for the new school year? Or have you just decided that you will be homeschooling due to the COVID pandemic and are searching for literature curriculum that is Christian based? Our family has always enjoyed the literature guides we have used from Progeny Press and today I am excited to tell you about the two newest guides, Animal Farm Study Guide and