Thankful week 3

For the sake of it being 130am, I'm going to jump right in.

15-I'm thankful that it's almost Christmas time. I love Christmas music, I start listening to it in October, sometimes earlier. I love the decorations, the season, what it means.
16-Can you be thankful for an awesome hairdresser? I mean, I am. She makes my hair look great and I get to spend 4 hours kid free while she does it. I always leave feeling beautiful so that counts for something, right?
17-I'm thankful to be another year younger! I turned 31 today and spent the day shopping with my favorite 18 month old. I'm thankful that he tolerated trying on boots and jeans so his 31 year old fashion forward momma could sport the latest trends successfully. We wouldn't want to get arrested by the fashion police, now would we?
18-I am thankful for our SUPER soft bed. Getting that bed was a fiasico. It's a good story really. It's Feburary 2008, Jason's home on R&R and we are out to blow some money (that what R&R really means). This time we are blowing it on things that we REALLY need. A front loading washer, dryer and a new bed to replace the one that's OVER 20 years old and we've been sleeping on for the last 5. We go to Sears. We purchase the washer, dryer and a top of the line Stearns and Foster mattress. We were told to hold no bars when it comes to bedding, sleep is PRICELESS! So, we set up delivery and day after day ticked by and it was always SOMETHING wrong, no drivers, wrong address, wrong products. It was a bit ridiculous and the DAY before Jason left we really got serious and later that day, they showed up with the washer, dryer and 2, yes 2 boxed springs. Yep, kinda hard to sleep on that. So, after so much confusion, I went to cancel the order and reorder the mattress. A few days after the cancellation, a delivery guy calls and says they have it ready to deliver. They set it up and it's wonderful. Then, a few more days later, I get a message that says they will be delivering my mattress later today. Well, sure enough, later that day, a Sears delivery guy pulls up with ANOTHER mattress. I'm way too honest and I told him, "you know they've already delivered this mattress to me right?" and he says, "Ma'am, I just deliver what I'm told, please sign here." I waited a few days to see if they would want it back and that was all I ever heard from that. We ended up with not one but 2 fabulous mattresses. All for the low low price of NOT having your husband sleep in it with you for nearly 6 months. Poor Jason, I had this fabulous bed that he paid for and he still slept on a cot. Ahh, yes, I like my bed!
19-I'm thankful for coffee. Mostly I love it on mornings when sleep had eluded me for some reason or another but sometimes I just love it for it's sweet, creamy, warming qualities. I'm speaking of the coffee in my cup. It's more of a kahaki coffee with lots of cream and some sort of flavored creamer. I like to mix it up but coconut cream and peppermint mocha are my tried and true favorites. It's like a little piece of heaven right there in my hand. It's like the calgon of the morning. It's one big starbucks mug of HAPPINESS in the rush, rush of morning routine.
20a-I'm thankful that Jen and I successfully ran 10 miles today. It was a TOUGH trail race and my knees and ankles curse me for ever making that decision. Today, I am one step closer to running a half marathon and at the 9 mile marker, when I turned my ankle one last time and nearly cried, I decided, I'd RATHER run 13 than tourture myself with another long trail run so Nashville Marathon, here I come!
20b-I'm SO thankful for my neighborhood girlfriends. Most of them know and feel the same way but I don't know where I'd be without this neighborhood of Army wives/SAHM's that I've befriended over the past 7 years. Some of us have come and gone but each of them has play a special role in my life, in raising my children and in enduring some of the hardest trials of my life. There have been more playdates, walks, jogs, and dinners than I could possibly count and it seems they always know just when you need them. I don't know if I'll ever find this kind of circle again. It's a rare gem, but I love the wives of Northridge Plantation. (hey, that's catchy, maybe we should start reality show!)
21-12 hours DONE! Drive to ALABAMA, DONE! It was a terribly long and boring ride. It always is but it's DONE and I'm finally in Alabama. I'm enjoying Mama, full time daycare and chicken stew. And tomorrow, I'm going to enjoy the freedom to sleep late since I chose to stay up until 2am and hopefully entertain you with this longwinded blog.