thankful

These last few months have been tough for our family, even though we have a lot of good ahead of us.  We just moved across the country and that has been difficult for all of us - emotionally and financially.  I keep finding myself getting caught up in focusing on what's wrong in my life.  It's really easy to do.  Much easier to do than working on a solution. 

A couple weeks ago, I saw this quote and it keeps surfacing with me:

"Let us rise up and be thankful, for if we didn't learn a lot today, at least we learned a little, and if we didn't learn a little, at least we didn't get sick, and if we got sick, at least we didn't die; So, let us all be thankful."  - Buddha

Besides being impressed with how ridiculously long that sentence is, it really is something good to think about.  Even in the worst of everything, there are still reasons to be thankful.  

So today, I am thankful that I have my health.  Since September of 2007, I have been gluten-free and finally feel healthy.  I'm thankful for my family and my friends who always let me know I'm loved.  I'm thankful for a place to live, and being in this great little town.  I'm thankful for the future and possibilities.  I'm thankful that we have a new president, who has begun to renew my broken faith for good in this country. 

I have to take my gratitude list and keep it going in my head, rather than on this blog because now I have to shower and go to a lovely dinner hosted by one of our new friends in town.  I'm thankful for new friends.  

What are you thankful for?  It doesn't have to be something big.  It could be something as simple as gel roller pens or liquid eyeliner.  Tell me, what is on your gratitude list? 

serenity now

I am not kidding you when I say that Julian narrowly avoided being sold to gypsies yesterday.  He has been such a piece of work for the last few days that I really don't know what to do with him, besides taking away everything he loves and putting him in the most boring part of the house, which we call the "Think Chair".  It's like he wakes up on some days and asks himself, "What can I do to piss with my mom all day?  What can I do that is most destructive?"  So on those days, it takes everything in me not to hand him over to circus folk who will teach him awesome contortionist tricks and tightrope walking.  As I'm typing this, that boy is so close to becoming a carnie.  Sometimes I feel like Frank Costanza, yelling "Serenity NOW!"

What's been keeping me from chewing the inside of my lip into a bloody pile of sloppy joe filler lately is listening to this U2 album.  Oh, Bono.  I have such a ridiculous lifelong crush on that man.  You probably do too, even if you don't want to admit it.  It's kind of like the Kinsey Scale, which suggests that everybody has some level of homosexual tendencies, even the extremely hetero folks.  Even those who find U2 unappealing and too mainstream have to respect Bono for being an ambassador of peace, amnesty, and trying to ending world poverty.  He's basically a superhero.  So we're all gay, and we all love Bono.  Just come to terms with it already.  

Julian

Julian at Hanging Rock Park, originally uploaded by allisonthemeep.

Pictures of him like this remind me of what a great kid he is. I have to look at them on days like today, when, at 11:00 AM, he has already written on the couch and pillows with a ballpoint pen and locked our cat in a cage. Right now, he's crying because I told him he won't be going to Toys R Us to look at Star Wars stuff today due to his bad choices. Still, he's a really wonderful kid and I love him to pieces.

We woke up this morning at 4:00 to go outside and play in the first snow of the season. Not much snow at all - about half an inch, if that. But besides this being the first snow of the season, it's our first snow as L.A. transplants in North Carolina.

In a bit, Julian will be free from his think time in his room and we will go to the store to pick up the ingredients needed to make a pumpkin cheesecake. I'm going to buy some gluten-free ginger snaps to use for the crust, but I'd really like to make my own when I'm not so pressed for time. The cheesecake is a trial run for Thanksgiving so we don't show up to our host's house with a dish that could potentially taste like feet. I'm sure it will turn out great though.

What's your favorite dish for Thanksgiving? Are there any that you've been wanting to try, but haven't yet?

The First One

So this is the beginning of a documentation of the hilarious things Julian says, our family adventures, my crafty projects, and adventures in gluten-free cooking and baking.  

This is my way of (or at least an attempt at) staying focused and connected.  I've got some serious life goals, and in order to accomplish them, I need to be doing something every day.  Even if that something is just doing research on the dietician programs at universities, at least the ball is rolling.  And a rolling ball is good, unlike a rolling stone - because we all know that they don't gather moss.  Or maybe not gathering moss would be a good thing.  I still can't figure that out. 

I wanted to post a picture, but blogger is being lame on my very first post, and the unbelievably cute photo of Julian won't show up, even though I got a message confirming the upload.  Feh.  I've gotta learn how to work out these kinks.