Gratitude Journal, week of 3/18/13

3/18/13

1. I posted a not-straightforward question on a fermentation forum several days ago, and a biology professor happened upon the post today after I gave up hope of getting a helpful answer.  He gave me a lot of useful information.
2. Target had lots of nice toddler toys in its dollar spot today.
3. Michael loves me and gives me kisses randomly.  :-)

3/19/13

1. We have a butterfly garden!  In our backyard there are lots of vibrant purple flowers that attract "beautiful butterflies" (just like the Very Hungry Caterpillar turns into).
2. Michael is getting bold -- he actually insists that I not catch him at the bottom of the slide now and motions for me to move far away when he comes down.
3. Michael "sang" his ABC's with Ben and me today.

3/20/13

1. Water kefir!  Never heard of it?  Neither had I until very recently, within the last year, which is a shame because this stuff is uh-MAY-zing.  It's a probiotic, carbonated beverage that rivals soda.  I actually prefer the taste over soda, because it's not as cloyingly sweet as regular soda and doesn't have a chemical aftertaste like diet soda.  Taste aside, water kefir wins over soda, hands down.  It's cheaper and very healthy.  It ought to be a staple in every household over soda.  
2. My co-op mentor offered to help me with data entry because of my tendonitis, even though it's a lot of extra work and she's stretched thin with co-op duties.
3. I'm grateful for cloud storage, since Michael somehow reset my Kindle Fire to factory conditions even though I could have sworn I put him in the child-safe mode....

3/21/13

1. Someone else -- a BOARD MEMBER of our HOA -- proposed we allow chickens in the CCRs.  We'll be taking a vote on it soon.
2. I found an inexpensive framed print of a painting that Ben and I really like.  We fell in love with it years ago on a religious calendar.  "L'Innocence" by William-Adolphe Bouguereau.  I happened across it at the Dollar Tree!  It's like a treasure hunt there.  My best Dollar Tree find yet.
3. Although I kept wavering on whether to order some raw moo milk for tomorrow, I'm glad I did because one of the goats tonight stepped in her milk and we had to toss it so I ended up with less goat milk than I expected.  :-(
4. Always glad to get to the park and see friends.

3/25/13 -- we went to Houston and I didn't get to record for a few days.

1. Michael slept 7 hours straight on Thursday night in his own bed, and so did Mommy.  For the first time since before Michael was born.
2. Becky gave us free tickets to the Houston Zoo.
3. Becky watched Michael while Ben and I went to mass, possibly for the first time alone since Michael was born?  We never get to sit there and listen anymore.
4. Not only that, but Michael didn't cry while we were gone.
5. Amazon customer service was surprisingly un-difficult and easily gave me a refund on a mistake they made.
6. I finally got to go to Trader Joe's!
7. We got a cheap gardening consult thanks to recommendations from the AP parenting list.
8. Michael got to see his family and really seemed to enjoy himself with his grandparents and cousins.