A Few Thanks

The cloud I was sitting on this week has seeped out from under my butt and has rearranged itself around my head like Pigpens dirt cloud, I guess Thanksgiving is officially over. So I thought I'd give you a few highlights of last week.

I'm thankful for a house that allows for twenty-one of my favorite people to come spend the week with me.

I'm thankful for a brother who was not only able to come for Thanksgiving with my niece, but who called me this week and said that he had the most awesome time and that his favorite part was cooking for a big group of people, and would like to help me plan what we could cook next year.

I'm thankful for sisters-in-law who brought me three (count 'em) THREE chocolate cinnamon sheet cakes, which we ate, and which I tried desperately to finish, but took the last one to the Band Booster Pot luck this week and scored points with.

I'm thankful for a mother-in-law who tried to wash every single dish and piece of silverware by hand and who I found scrubbing the grill of my stove, in her spare time.

I'm thankful for gift cards that helped me feed twenty-one people and for those who took turns making the Walmart runs at their own expense.

I'm thankful to the man at Whirlpool corporation who replaced my washer last year. The washer that allowed me to wash towels for twenty-one people for a week.

I'm thankful for the Guardian Spray Bark Control Collar that not only rendered my Chihuahua speechless, it keeps her smelling Lemony Fresh.

I'm thankful for getting waxed at Bananagrams and Scrabble Slam.

I'm thankful for brothers-in-law who are tolerant of being held around the ankles by small children who harass them for hours on end.

I'm thankful for neighbors that did not call the Sheriff's department when the crowd started singing Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen around the bonfire, somewhere near 1 a.m. Tuesday morning.

I'm thankful that no one was injured while using the new propane blow-torch Charlie bought for starting the bonfires.

I'm thankful for Cinnamon Crunch Bagles by Panera Bread, that were brought by request from Houston.

I'm thankful that no one got sick over the holiday. And by that, I mean, I'm thankful that none of my kids spewed while we had company.

I'm thankful for the honorary brother-in-law who spoils my kids with thoughtful gifts.

I'm thankful for the brother-in-law who likes to make pancakes. (p.s., I'm investing in a griddle or a waffle maker (your choice) before next Thanksgiving and assigning you a couple of mornings.)

I'm thankful for neices and nephews who are, at once, too old and too young to want to hang out with Aunts and Uncles, but come from long distances to do it anyway.

I'm thankful for my mother and aunt, who came over on Monday after all my company left, and helped me clean house from top to bottom and redecorated to boot. (And when I say "helped me", I mean they cleaned and redecorated while I put all the random things away that they didn't know where to put.

And that's what I mean when I say I'm thankful for family. I'm not sure what it means when Ace says it...