*8 Things: A Gratitude Practice

 Rachelle over at Magpie Girl is up to her lists of *8 Things again - and I've been thinking since last week that I might do my own list of *8 Things. But - Thursday has rolled around again, and once again it's time to list a new *8 Things for which I am grateful. Magpie Girl has been struggling with keeping up with housework in the midst of wanting more time for writing and creativity. While housework is always on the to-do list around here, it's not been the huge stressor it can be, at least this week. That said, I'm in the middle of one of my "is this really what I'm supposed to be doing here?" spats of vocational anxiety. So, with that in the back of my mind, here are my *8 Things, off the top of my head, and in no particular order. I am grateful for:
1. The amazingly tasty West Aftrican Peanut Soup we had for dinner tonight - the first time I've tried this recipe from Sundays at Moosewood. (I DO love all the Moosewood cookbooks. And maybe I'll share the recipe here sometime sooner or later).
2. The fact that even though we share a call and cut our income by half (or more) when we moved here, G and I have - since we moved here -  managed to start an emergency fund and save a little more on top of that over the last three years.
3. For the emergency fund, given that we had a water leak in our crawl space which required a plumber to come to our rescue on Saturday.
4. The Munchkin, who is working so hard to walk (15 steps tonight, without holding on to anything, though the last half were definitely "baby" steps) and is weaning herself.
5. The cleaned-out space in the garage so that at least one of our cars will be parked inside when the snow hits this weekend.
6. My husband who cleaned out said space, and who is so fun to watch be "Daddy" to the Munchkin. They are thick as thieves and she doesn't even talk yet - though the giggle can kill you.
7. The promise of time with family over the holidays. I'm not counting down days yet, but getting out of dodge for a few will feel incredible.
8. Every day in my life is different - there's rarely time to get bored - and while this can make planning a challenge, it also keeps me on my toes.

What are your *8 Things?

*8 Things: Simply Summer

Rachelle over at Magpie Girl posted this *8 Things list back at the beginning of the month. Now that we are definitely into summer here in Bozeman, I've been pondering my own list of things I "simply must do this summer." 1. Plant some flowers and then weed, weed, weed. 2. Read for fun and for education. (Currently reading The Lacuna, by Barbarab Kingsolver, and (Mis)Conceptions, by Naomi Wolf) 3. Get the baby's room ready. (Which means a lot of organizing/purging throughout the whole house to make room for the stuff that's lived in what will be the baby's room...) 4. Take naps. Lots of them. 5. Be a Farmers Market junkie. 6. Camp at least a couple of times. 7. Eat outside. 8. Do what can be done to keep the flavors of summer alive for the winter: make and freeze pesto, make jam, do some canning, dehydrate some fruit...

*8 Things: On My Bedside Table

Magpie Girl put up another *8 Things a few days ago. I'm a little late, though I think the theme for this list, *8 Things: On My Bedside Table seems especially appropriate for Groundhog Day, since Phil's hotel room bedside table figured so prominently in the movie. So, here are 8 things that are just about always on my nightstand: 1. A lamp. It's supposed to take one of those special bulbs with three levels of brightness, but the last bulb I had like that burned out a LONG time ago, so now it's a regular bulb with three clicks of the switch. The lamp gets action almost every night, as I tend to be an in-bed-reader while Grant starts sawing logs. 2. A box of Kleenex. Some for me, some for Grant, some for Indigo the cat who has a perpetual cold. She doesn't exactly like it when I wipe her nose, but then she doesn't have any opposable thumbs to do the job herself. 3. The alarm clock. It's bigger than it needs to be, especially since NPR comes in so fuzzy in our bedroom and lately I've taken to using my cell phone as my primary wake-up device. It also has a cd player (so there's usually a small stack of cds nearby or on top of the clock) and a plug in for an ipod, though my ipod rarely makes it up the stairs to the bedroom. 4. A cheap pearly blue glasses case. My glasses are usually leaned up against it instead of inside. I wear my contacts most days, so the glasses are for bedtime news-watching and first-thing-in- the-morning-I-don't-want to-trip-on-something vision. 5. Foot lotion of one variety or another. Right now it's a tub of Eucerin. No matter the season, my tootsies are prone to drying and cracking and getting progressively more disgusting from there. 6. Matches or a lighter. The candle lives on my dresser - there's typically too much stuff on the nightstand for safe burning, but the matches always land there. 7. Burt's Bees lip balm. Love. That. Stuff. 8. A tipsy stack of books and papers, frequently including at least one Bible, my journal, some library books, notecards for writing, receipts, you name it. What's on YOUR bedside table?

*8 Things I Fell in Love with in 2009

Rachelle at Magpie Girl has another *8 Things list - of things she fell in love with last year. Here's my list of *8 Things I fell in love with in 2009: 1. The baby I lost. 2. The house we now live in. 3. Car camping - who knew? We had a great week on the Olympic Penninsula in August. I highly recommend the Fairholme Campground on Lake Crescent. 4. Our CSA - Cloud Nine Farm. 5. The Bozeman Public Library, and my trusty library card. 6. Writing - National Novel Writing Month and National Blog Posting Month. It hasn't always been pretty, or even readable, but the discipline helped boost my creativity... 7. Having a piano in my house. 8. Thanks to Pandora, English folk musician Kate Rusby.

*8 Things: To Enjoy in the Dark

Rachelle Mee Chapman over on Magpie Girl has a game called *8 Things - she made it up one day to get some focus in the midst of an abundance of thoughts. She says, "*8 Things is a way for me to keep collections of ideas, thought, quotes and quanderies on-hand for later exploration." Her latest list is Winter Solstice related: 8 things to enjoy in the dark. Here's my list: 1. Sleep. Duh. It seems the older I get the better I am at sleeping, which I think is fairly unusual. Of course I was sleep deprived for much of my adolescence and early adulthood. I figure I'm making up for lost time. 2. Read. I've been reading mostly nonfiction lately, though I do have a copy of Barbara Kingsolver's latest book to read at some point during the slow days between Christmas and New Year's. I also made it to the library today, delivering a bag full of magazines to the bins in the lobby (it's a groovy way to re-use magazines before they get recycled), and then checking out 16 more nonfiction books. It makes me glad to have stacks of ideas nearby, even though the chance of making any meaningful headway into them all before they're due January 12th is pretty slim. How I love my library card!! 3. Bake. Grant's the cook in our house, I'm the baker: cookies, cakes, bread (though not enough of that lately). The holidays provide a handy excuse. Sometime between now and Christmas I'm still hoping to get Grandma's krumkake iron out and get to the buttery goodness. 4. Write. Writing might not have made it onto my list if I'd done this last year. But after a winning NaNoWriMo, and a so-far successful December NaBloPoMo, it would be accurate to say I am a writer. I even made it back into my journal today - and it felt good to have a pen in my hand and my hand in a book instead of on the keyboard. 5. Get back in touch. I used to be a much better letter writer than I have been lately, but the long evenings do inspire me to reconnect with folks I've been out of touch with. Facebook helps, but phone calls are better. And when I really get inspired I still put pen to paper and get out the postage stamps. This year's Christmas cards continue to be a work in progress. Good thing I'm a big believer in celebrating all 12 days of Christmas! 6. Needle crafts. Knit, crochet, cross stitch, beading (yes, with a needle) - the winter months usually find me with more than one project going on. At the moment I'm only working on one, though, a Christmas present for my mother-in-law. It's nearly done, I think it will be ready to go into the suitcase in time for the next visit! (I'll try to remember to take and post a picture when it's done). 7. Organize. I am perpetually unorganized, but when the weather gets crazy, night falls early and there's only so much TV I can take and my eyes are tired from reading, it's time to get out the junk drawer and go through it. And then maybe tackle a closet. And the pantry. And the refrigerator (no matter how hard we try to avoid it we usually end up with at least one science experiment going on in there...) Anybody want to come over and play organized? 8. Evaluate and plan. This goes along with the writing, and this year the reading as well, and perhaps also the organizing. This time of year gets me thinking about the year that's nearly over and wondering about the year to come. I am an accomplished maker of lists, and the last couple weeks of December always find me writing not just to do lists and shopping lists, but dream lists, idea lists, book lists, project lists, etc. What are your 8 things to enjoy in the dark?