Good morning!

Hello to all, old friends and new!

I seem to have acquired some new readers--hi there (yes, you and you)! And I DO read all of your comments, and thank you so much for responding. Don't think I am ignoring you, I am just sort of surprised that you are out there, reading MY thoughts.

When I started this blog, 7 years ago, I was grossly pregnant and living far away from both my family and my husband's. The intention was to keep from repeating the same stories over and over, as well as provide them with a steady stream of cute baby photos.

As time has marched on, I have had less and less free time so updates have become sparse. Right now my children are entertaining themselves by measuring things with a 16 foot tape measure and making monster noises.

We are gearing up for Halloween. The children have costumes (store bought, and totally cop-out I know), and I just discovered I no longer FIT in my costume. (I knew all that chocolate would catch up with me) So this week I am mixing & matching & sewing something new. The best part of making my own costume is that I can make alterations with safety pins and it doesn't matter because I won't be wearing it but once. I am not so much on hidden seams and perfection, which makes my Grandma sad because she is a seamstress of the First Order.

Now, a complete change of subject.

I decided that in this year of "more, better", I was going to be more expressive of my gratitude. To that end, I have started composing thank you letters to people who have inspired me. I don't expect letters in return, but I figured that they would never know that their actions have caused good things if nobody tells them.

Your mission for this week: Go out and tell somebody you appreciate them.