Thankful for Snow Days

I'm thankful for the smell of warm beer bread on a cold night...

Which turned into an amazing breakfast before yesterday's storm, toasted and slathered with honey butter.

I'm thankful for all our firewood (chopped from our old storm toppled trees) in case we lose power.

Today I'm thankful for my husband staying home and safe for the storm.

 I'm thankful for a peaceful household, filled with my two favorite people tonight.

I'm thankful for our outing (five minute walk) last night in the snow storm...

For friends worth shuffling through foot deep snow for.

Thankful for over abundance

Life is chugging along. I can feel my hair getting more grey strand by strand, minute by minute. Life is stressful right now. Some things are moving forward - I'm thisclose to starting a new job, and I have my daughter in a really wonderful new Montessori preschool. One thing that helps is to keep doing small projects around the house that are comforting:

We still have way too many of these to contend with, so tonight we baked one up for sweet bread.

Stirring is her favorite part. She loves all things "pumpkin spiced"

We may have gobbled down a few muffins before I took this photo.

The big stress I can't write about will not be resolved any time soon, if anything it's getting worse before it gets better. But I can be thankful for homemade butternut squash bread and the family I was given to bake things for. I am thankful for the luxury of Too Much Squash. Slowing down and taking the time to make a simple treat like our favorite pumpkin (this time butternut squash) bread forces me to remember what it's really all about, and it forces me to remember that we have it pretty darned good. 

The recipe is adapted from Downeast Maine Pumpkin Bread.

I replaced the can of pumpkin with cooked and puréed butternut squash, and half the flour with whole wheat flour. I reduced the sugar by 1/3. It's kid approved even with my alterations!

I'm linking up with:

Homestead Barn Hop

What I'm thankful for right now

A recurring theme in my life right now is chaos and bad juju that I have absolutely no control over. It's been an entire year's worth of it. But when I step back and take stock... I have it pretty good.

I survived another year and have family who loves me enough to make me a birthday cake. And a thoughtful daughter who encrusts it with rainbow sprinkles. We had a wonderful dinner with my parents and brother and my husband and daughter. I am so lucky.

The other day my baby had a nuclear meltdown and practically had steam pouring out her ears. It got bad enough that I was really worried she was really sick - she was lethargic and burning hot to the touch when she calmed down.

98.2

She was just over tired and needed a nap. My Tasmanian devil child passed out before I could even get a reading on the thermometer. I am so lucky she wasn't really sick.

What I'm thankful for tonight

I'm not naturally a chipper person. My hope is that by slowing down and looking for the good in my life, the faking it 'till I make it thing will make my life better in the long run. Last year was a doozy. That's an understatement. The turmoil that caused last year's grief has no end in sight, but I still have so much to be thankful for. I'm thankful for hand knit socks and husband-made real wood fires. 

I feel like a proud cave woman. "My man make fire. Mmmm, good man, good fire."

I'm thankful for my daughter's creativity, generosity, and hard work.

I'm thankful for the ability to knit, which was taught to me by my late grandmother. I'm thankful for maternal bonds and and family traditions and skills that won't die out any time soon and the soothing, meditative comfort that it provides.

I do feel a sense of calm about things, to my surprise. Do you ever take stock of the positives in your life to change your outlook?