Grace in Small Things #197 of 365

1. How the internet can make me laugh...

2. This post showing yoga having the same benefit as drinking...

3. This post of Carrie Fisher's about her weight and shape.

4. This post about trying to open plastic packaging

5. Sophia the Beagle's amazing chicken wire climb

Grace in Small Things #196 of 365

1. Laptops with cameras!

2. Punk, supplier of infinite inexpensive entertainment

3. Judge rolling in the grass. Even after spine surgery, he's still got it!

4. Calling Cambo on his new cell phone he got for his FIFTEENTH birthday!

5. This blue lamp which gives me a little bit of joy everyday when it clicks on at 5pm and clicks off at 11.

Grace in Small Things

Grace in Small Things #192 of 365

1. Me and My first best friend

2. This swing on Grandma's front porch (looking through the old parlor windows.

3. This painting Lisa is working on in my studio

4. This dog sitting on the bookshelf at the farm.

5. This glass heart

go to Grace in Small Things

Grace in Small Things #171 of 365

1. This night sky in North Carolina Blue Ridge

2. This ampi-theater where I got to tell my stories on Saturday night

3. Mountain and foothill loot:

4. My loving cousins who loved on my dogs, spic n span'd my refrigerator, organized my studio, all for love. My ten year-old cousin left me her hand-drawn kisses:

5. Welcome home greeting party:

Grace in Small Things #169 of 365

1. creamy goat cheese and pears, cold dry white wine

2. girls at any age sitting around the pool catching up

3. male forearms

4. excellent words whose sounds match their meaning like buzz and zing and sanctimonious

5. bedside tables

Grace in Small Things #144 of 365

1. Blowing Bubbles

2. Kristin's Tomato Pie, Mama's basil:

3. Kate's Wannabee sewn and sculpted all by her lonesome:

4. Backyard blooms despite the heat

5.Punkadoo (click to get a better look.)

Grace in Small Things #139

1. This cashier

with July 4th Hair.

2.

This girl.

3.

These gals.

4. and this studio

5.

These parents.

Grace in Small Things #131: It's Always the Little Things

Grace in Small Things is a place I visit most days to list five things

for which I'm grateful. You can do it, too. Follow the link.

I've made it to #131:

1. This Book in which today I

cracked the spine, burned, spit,

and drew a purpley chair on a page

dripped candle wax on a page

smashed olives between pages

and tonight I'm sleeping with it.

2. This Procrastination thing. Always turns out to be for the best. Now if I could just roll with it!

3. This Magazine. I especially like the "Readers Write" section where readers tell stories on given topics. Real eye into the soul stuff.

4. This Woman who flounced around in Deep Water Aerobics today.

5. This Place where I work.

Where I was so happy to be tonight (and not just because I was procrastinating a deadline!)

Daddio

Grace in Small Things One Hundred Twenty Three

1. The way he called me Laurie when I was a little girl.

2. The way he built a dog "structure" for Tuck, my first dog.

3. The way he is conservative but genuine and open minded and fair.

4. The way he looks after my stepmother.

5. The way he looks after me.

Grace in Small Things #Thirty-Four

So far, I'm still cooking over at Grace in Small Things. There's something about noting five teeny tiny things a day that make you happy. Noting compels you to notice.

1. My shift at the help desk at the y. Assisting others is always upwardly mobile. Even a snippy customer pushes my growth.
2. Juan, the head yard dude, mowing and cutting and mulching and prettifying. I hope I get to keep him.
3. Opening ups packages
4. Co-worker greetings
5. Familiarity, not the "breeds contempt" kind, the loving kind: my bent paged journal, friends familiar with my tics, pets familiar with my habits, etc.

Mulling over others' GiST lists is a' whole 'nother joy. Check it out.

Read more: "Schmutzie.com: Grace In Small Things: A Challenge For All Of Us" -http://www.schmutzie.com/2008/11/grace-in-small-things.html#ixzz0AgHE3JMQ

Grace in Small Things

I just posted my first entry over at Grace in Small Things:

GiST Numero Uno (things I'm grateful for)

1. Judge and Punk, two little heartbeats running around my house making me smile, stamp my feet, crack up, and press on.

2. My brother, whose kindnesses match infinity.

3. Mom, who everyday, strives for a great attitude, and a fresh outlook, and works to buck up and who is always open to love.

4. Daddy, who everyday, finds a practical way to feed, make comfortable and love my stepmother who is classily fading into Alzheimers.

5. The yard dudes who swarm over the lawn like locusts, cutting and sawing, and trimming and leaf blowing. And then swarm out.

I know the above are all big things, especially the yard dudes, but how can you leave out your immediate family, at least on the first day? I'll write about that little guy at the drugstore who helped me clean up the mess I made when I dropped the Lysol bottle on aisle 3 eventually.

I love the idea of writing five things I'm grateful for every day (or, let's face it, most days) in a place reserved for honoring those things. If you'd like to get in the habit of writing down your five things-- here is a great place to do that.

--LoLaSuzanne

Photos: Boston Terrier Judge by LoLaSuzanne

Schipperke-ish Punk by LoLaSuzanne