Is it really Thanksgiving time again?! I don’t know about you, but this has been the fastest year of my life, and seeing the stores filled with Halloween and Christmas stuff at the same time a few weeks ago has not only heightened the feeling of time rushing by, but has also … pissed me right off.  I mean, what is this?  We can’t enjoy one holiday at a time anymore?  Often, Thanksgiving ends up being a minor speed bump on the super-highway between Halloween and Christmas, and that’s unfortunate.  Thanksgiving is one of the few institutionalized reminders we have to express gratitude for all the great people, places, and things in our lives.  We wait for this one day to pig-out and expound on the “big things” we should be thankful for, but there’s lots of little things that count too.  Seemingly innocuous things, but it’s not hard to find lots of little things throughout the year for which to thank your lucky stars.  Here are a few of mine.

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I never fully appreciated how hard it is to keep a white floor clean.  We moved this year into a house with white ceramic tile throughout the kitchen, family room, and bathrooms.  It’s bright, it’s cheery, and it also shows every single crumb, spill, smear, and calamity that only my family knows how to dish out.  I have been totally spoiled by the dark red tile in my former home, and fooled into thinking that I and my family are above average in the Clean Department.  We are woefully average in that department and the proof stares at me unflinchingly from my white-white, super-white, white-on-rice ceramic tile.

white tile with dirt image via Tammy J Dalton

And so my gratitude goes to my new house’s previous owners for installing honed light travertine stone tile in the other areas of the house, and wood laminate flooring in the master bedroom- both of which are light to medium-colored in tone.  Just those couple of shades of color makes those floors look pretty clean all the time, no matter how much crap accumulates.

stone tile floor with note image via Tammy J Dalton

I would also like to summarily thank the person or persons responsible for inventing the upright, lightweight steam mop.

Here’s mine, striking a pose next to a houseplant.

steam mop with plant image via Tammy J Dalton

Demure, yet unabashedly proud of itself, this little guy is only about 8 pounds and it actually doesn’t suck to use it.  Thanks to you, Steam-Mop-Inventor, the evidence of my husband’s endeavor to make Vaca Frita was completely erased within ten minutes.

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I also never fully realized that I’m afraid of heights until we needed to make a small roof repair the other day.  After my hubby puffed me up by extolling the virtues of my “cat-like reflexes,” I climbed the ladder- tools and yucky tar-like tube of Whatever in a caulk-gun in hand, took one look at the pitch on my roof, and, like a cat that’s been told what to do, resolutely refused to get on the roof.  I think I may have used the colorful vernacular expression “No F**king Way!”

Roof Pitch with note image via Tammy J Dalton

So, my sincere and undying gratitude goes to my loving husband, for only glaring at me a little, and then hauling his butt up on our roof and completing the patch job, without incident, praise be.

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I am truly thankful for so many tiny, silly little things, but they all add up to Big Gratitude in the larger scheme of things … for my home, my family, and my life.  I’m sure you can think of a few too.  Happy Thanksgiving!

And Big Thanks to you too, JB, for all your support, and letting me do my dog and pony show on this here blog.

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And thanks back to you Tammy; it’s been far too long….  Have a safe and enjoyable (set of) holiday(s) my friend.  Oh and of course to the rest of you too, do you have a little thing you are thankful for?  Would love to hear.  Thanks for reading and happy Thanksgiving all.  Enjoy!  ~jb