Thanks to you...

I have spent a month of sharing things I give thanks for, and one BIG thing I haven't shared is you. I give thanks to all my readers, for with out all of you, my blog would be unread and pointless.
Thank You!

The time has come...

With November coming to an end and December right around the corner, the time has come to wrap up my month of Thanks.  To do, I figure I should say why giving thanks is important.When one is grateful for what the have, they learn not to take if for granted. I work with children, and there are so many kids I see with the top technology and the latest top toys. On the other side of the spectrum, I see kids who wear hand-me-downs, and share toys with their brothers and sisters.  Watching those children, you can see a difference in who really is thankful for what they have. Although most kids are at that point in their life where they don't notice, the adults around them do.  The kids that are the most grateful, are the ones who share their toys with all the other children, whether the toy be a mechanical doll or an old stuffed bunny. Those kids help remind me, why I should give thanks everyday. What helps remind you?
Ciao,

Pinteresting Sunday's-Laughs

Just because Thanksgiving is over, doesn't mean that giving thanks for the month of November is over.  What I feel most people need right now are laughs. Today I'm thankful for laughs. And to show just how thankful, here are some pins form my funny board.

Oh songs of the 80's

Me and my sister

and one more for some giggles

 I will do this one day..when I'm at Walmart and my husband isn't looking. 

Well, have fun giggling.

Family time

As many of you know, Thanksgiving is time for family. I spent the last few days with my Husband visiting my family. Seeing my brothers and sister, playing with my dog and my family dog, was in a word...wonderful. At times. All siblings argue and try to get under each other's skin, at those time...not so nice. But looking beyond that, spending time with my loved ones, and being able to just chill and hang with them was just what I needed. And is the biggest thing that I am thankful for this weekend.
Ciao,

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving!
 On a day of thanks, it's great and wonderful to be with family. I'm on my way with my husband right now to go and visit my family. Winston is all packed up, same with me and the car is getting loaded.  Today, I am just thankful for everything I have listed this month and more. Today I hope that no one gets hurt during the "black" Thursday shopping and Black Friday shopping.  But most importantly, today is a day of thanks.


 I don't usually do this, but I'm giving a book review. I have recently read the book  A Dog's Purpose  by  W. Bruce Cameron.  For more information on the book please click here.

 This book made me cry. I finished it in one day because, the book was that compelling. It kept me reading. I think anyone with a dog should read this book. Which leads me into my one plug, be thankful for your pets. Be thankful for your dogs. Love them because they love you. Winston is my Forever dog.  Which comes from these pins

Days 19 and 20

Once again I will separate my days and make on big post about everything I'm thankful for.

Day 19,
 I'm thankful for my religion. I'm thankful my parents brought me up with a faith. I'm glad that God is in my life. I know he answers my prayers when I have them and he is always their watching me. I know their are times where it seems that God may not be with us, or listen, but he does. And he answers our prayers when we need him to.

Day 20
 With that, I'm thankful for my Church. I'm so happy the church that we(my husband nad I) go to has an "adopt a student" program. The program is set up so a family of the church can adopt a college student. The family hangs out with the student, has them over for dinner and just, well, treats the student like they are family. I was very lucky to have been adopted by a wonderful women. My adoptive mother is great. I'm so thankful that she is in my life. I  don't know what I would have done the past few years with out having someone to watch over me while I was in school.

Come back for the rest of the week.
Ciao,

Pinteresting Sunday-books

Today, I'm thankful for books. I'm glad I can read. It is the best feeling in the world to be able to pick up a book and get lost in it.  Some books to try reading can come from this pin

Other books can come from this pin

Whether it be books from the pin I provided, or books under my book page, I feel that most people should read and enjoy it.  Now for some memes about why reading is so awesome:

(I didn't pin this one- I found it on facebook. When I find the site it's from I will pin it)

 I agree with the quote I have posted below. I plan to do this to my house one day (It is slowly starting with my apartment. My husband just doesn't understand my love for books)

Well, enjoy reading and be thankful that you can read.
Ciao,

Friday and Saturday

Friday was a busy day for me. But being busy is just what I want to be thankful for. I'm glad I have something to be able to do. I'm glad I can fill my time with work and other projects so I'm not too bored.

Today I went to an art fair and hung out with some wonderful ladies. I'm thankful for that. I'm thankful to have people who care about me, and to care about other people. I'm glad that I'm not alone in the city my husband and I live in.

Days 12 , 13, 14 and 15

Day 12
 I'm thankful for my Friends. They are some of the best people in the world. I am so happy to have been able to meet them and to have them involved with my life. I love how some of my friends and I are able to communicate with each other with out always speaking. I Love how we are able to talk about things such as our future, hopes and dreams.

Day 13

 I'm thankful for Brothers and Sisters. They were a hue part of my life growing up and they are a great part of my life right now. 

Day 14

I'm thankful for the sun that has been out for the past few days. It is amazing to be able to feel the sun on my face and skin.

Day 15

I'm thankful for a job. I'm thankful I can make money and support my self, husband and Winston.

Ciao,

Pinteresting Sunday's

Today I am thankful for all the veterans. For all the men and women who have served in the United States Military and have kept me and my family safe. I know a few different restaurants that are letting acting service men and women as well as all veterans eat a free meal. I feel that is great, but I think we as a nation need to do more to show support for our veterans.

As for Pinterest, Today I want to share just a few pins that are a pit on the patriotic side (just click the picture and it will take you to where you need to go)

ciao, 

Thankfulness day 10

Today I am thankful for the availability for food. Where I live food is greatly available  If we forget how lucky we are we will take things for granted. And one thing that many people do take for granted is the access to food we have.  We are lucky enough to be able to buy food in bulk and freeze it. That's just what my husband and I did today. We made a bunch of slow cooker meals. We chopped up all the fresh veggie and meat, put it all in a freezer bag and stored it, in the freezer. I feel it's a great idea to help us out. We have enough food between the fridge and the freezer to to last us about 2 weeks. What we are doing right now is a trail experiment. If this works out, my wonderful husband and I will be making about a months worth of freezer meals. This can help us save money, and make sure we always have food in the apartment. Something, which we are super lucky to have.

Almond banana cake

It's fall and the time to be thankful With so many things I have to give thanks for, one of them is my passions. Today I'm going to talk about how I'm thankful to have interests and passions and I'm sharing a recipe.  After making banana bread with my kiddos at work, I was craving something for home. Since I already had left over banana bread, and left over bananas, I was thinking I could make something with the bananas. Searching through my baking supplies, I found a bunch of almonds(Yum) and then decided to have a relaxing Friday and bake a cake.

Almond Banana Cake:

• 1&1/2 Cups of flour
• 2/3 C of sugar
• 3 small bananas (or 2 big ones)
• 1 &1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 &1/2 teaspoon Cinnamon
• 1 egg
• 1/2 C of softened butter
• 1/4 C of milk
• 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
• 1/2 Cup of Chocolate chips
• 1/2 Cup of sliced almonds
• Glaze (see below)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
1. Mash bananas
2. Cream Butter and sugar together. Add banana, extracts, lemon juice, egg and milk. Cream that together.
3. Add all the dry ingredients, chocolate chips and almonds. Mix until blended. (a few lumps are okay)
4. Pour into a 9 in circular cake pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes  When done take out of the oven and cool. Add glaze when completely cooled.

Almond glaze

• 1/2 cup of heavy whipping cream
• 1/2 cup of powdered sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon of vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon of almond extract
• 1 teaspoon of melted butter

Mix all the ingredients together until think and sugar is dissolved  pour on top of cake. Cover with sliced almonds. Enjoy. 

Tips

• When cooling cake set in freezer for 10 to 15 minutes. 
• When setting glaze on cake, pour it evenly all over cake
• Can use raisins instead of chocolate chips. 
• When done, keep cake in fridge. 

Well readers. I provided something I'm thankful for (my love of baking) and a recipe. Come back tomorrow for more. 

Ciao,

Winston!

Today is Winston's Birthday! So of course I have to make my post about him. I'm Thankful for him, my wonderful adorable puppy. He loves me unconditionally, always wants to play or give cuddles and is very protective.  He is a blast to be with, and very funny. He is my first forever dog. I really do hope to have him for the rest of his life and hope to make that life great.

Thankfulness day 6 and 7

For day 6 and 7 I want to combine my thankfulness.  For day 6 I was thankful for America. For the opportunity to be able vote. To have a right to exercise a choice. To have freedoms. All of which we wouldn't have if it weren't for the men and women who serve. I'm thankful for the soldiers, firefighters  and police. They risk their lives to keep us safe.  This leads straight into day 7.

After the election results, many people well, posted some not nice tings on Facebook from both sides. I'm thankful for all my friends who didn't post stuff like that. Who were mature and handled winning or losing with grace.  Lastly, I'm thankful to be able to be friends with a unique diverse population. I'm thankful that my friends and I don't have to agree on things like politics and religion, but we still respect each other.
Ciao,

Thankfulness day 5

Family. Today, I want to talk about being thankful for family. I love my family. My family is great and wonderful. It is only fitting for me to be thankful for them

Day 4 and Pinteresting Sundays

With doing 30 day's of Thanks, I have decided to not do my usual "let's talk Fridays". But, since Pinterest is a pretty great site Why not share some pins and explain about how I can be thankful.
Mainly, everything in my baking board.

My mom taught me to bake, so the board, can represent my thankfulness for my mother. She is a great mom, wonderful and in fact I couldn't have asked for a better mom. She has been supportive of me for everything, and I know I can count on here.  I love her, and am super thankful to have her as my mom.

My Husband

I am thankful for my husband. He is, well, the best, and I feel so lucky to have him in my life.  I am thankful that I found him at the age I did and I am thankful that he has always been supportive of me. He supports my dreams and all the little projects and ideas I come up with. He takes care of me when I'm not feeling well, and lets me take care of him when he is under the weather. He is my rock. I love home and am very thankful to have him in my life.

Day 2

Today, I'm thankful to have power. Millions of people on the East Coast are with out power. It is very bad over there right now. I am thankful to know that some of my family are okay, and will hoping, that the family I haven't heard from yet are fine too. I'm thankful to be safe, and have a warm place to sleep.

November

November is here. The month of Thankfulness. 30 days to show thanks  I feel that we should show thanks all the time. But, with the start of the Christmas season upon us, why not take some time to show thankfulness.

Each Day I will post what I'm thankful for. Today, I'm thankful for my life. I'm thankful that I am able to wake up each morning and get out of bed.  I'm thankful for each day.

What are you Thankful for today?