Rants, Recipes, and Running

Today I am thankful for our house. We are so blessed to have gotten this place! Here are a few reasons why I love this the steal we got!: 1) It happens to be in a neighborhood in the part of town I've drove to to run the trails for the past year! Now I don't have to drive 10 minutes to go for a gorgeous run, as it's right outside my back yard! 2) It backs into a golf course. Some people (our realtor) would say that's not a good thing. I disagree. AZ doesn't have a lot of green grass...and that's what we look at every day, and we don't have to maintain it either! (maintaining grass in this state is a headache ...) We are located in a spot where very few balls end up in our yard too, so it works out. 3) It's a very friendly neighborhood. (but not too friendly..so it's a nice balance. No annoying neighbors!) -- The weekend we closed, our neighbor came over with a plate of cookies to welcome us. It warmed my heart. And people are already working on

Today I am focusing my giving of thanks to my Mom & Dad, Marlys & Paul.   (this is a photo of us @ the reheasal dinner before our wedding)   I never knew how much I'd miss them before we moved to Tucson. Growing up I took for granted how lucky I was to have such loving and wise parents. They taught me so much about God, family, work ethic, and so many valuable life lessons. They demonstrate the meaning of a marriage centered on love and commitment. They run a business together and raised 5 children together. It is sometimes easy to get sad when I realize we only see them a few times each year. But, then I must remember I am so very blessed that I get to see them. And I talk more than once/week. In fact, I text my Mom almost daily!  I am so happy to have them in my life. AND I get to see them in just a few short months as we're making a short trip home for New Years -- which is a TOTAL surprise since I didn't think we'd get home at all this year!!

Remember last week when I said "I'm going to think about trying to do a thankful post daily" ? Well, I thought about it!And that is as far as I got..... Can I just say that I'm really sick of packing. Every day I've had off for the past 1 1/2 weeks, I've spent the entire day packing boxes, taking them to the house, unloading them and placing items in appropriate places, take empty boxes back to the old house, repeat. Also, life has been a tad chaotic lately. We are living between 2 homes. So when one says "Do you know where my ______ is?"...I now just laugh. But the official "moving day" will be here this weekend! I am SO excited! Okay, now to thankfulness..... Today I am blessing my thankfulness on wellness . By wellness I mean a variety of things. 1) I am thankful that we both have our health. It is sometimes easy to forget how truly blessed one is to have their health (mental & physical) 2) I am thankful that we are