It’s been another long and bumpy week.
I’m teetering on the edge of that big black hole called ‘nothing ever goes right’. I’m hanging on by my fingernails, trying not to fall in, because I know once I’m there everything really will go to hell in a hand basket. It’s a nasty, evil, vicious cycle.
I need to remember that lots of things have in fact gone right this week, and the things that went wrong, in the scheme of things, aren’t all that terrible. I need to be grateful for all the goodness we have in our lives, all the love, and the good stuff. So I’m bastardising two of my best friend’s Linkys and I’ve given birth to a new one – Things I Know I am Grateful For.
I am grateful for walls.
I know that may sound strange, but after months and months of having parts of our external walls missing or in pieces it has finally stopped raining long enough to put the last of the insulation our external walls and all the new weather-boards on our house. Now maybe, just maybe we might get some internal walls, and a ceiling!
I am grateful for community.
To have friends to vent to when things are crappy. To have twitter to talk to when you feel alone. To have someone to call when you are stuck in traffic and know you won’t make it to school pick up on time. To have lunches with lovely bloggers and PR reps. To have family who come to help nail up weather-boards. To have a school celebrate everyone’s musical efforts no matter how good or bad. To have fabulous teachers, friends and family in my childrens’ lives. All of these things make me happy.
I am grateful for dirt.
I think I have a new motto for life… “If all else fails, go dig in the dirt.”
Seeing things growing in our garden again (apart from weeds), seeing the kids excited over a seed delivery, seeing the Smallest wet and muddy with strawberry juice running down his chin, eating home grown berries till you are sure you will burst…. all these things make the other stuff somehow seem ok.
I am grateful for small people.
It’s those moments when one of them throws their arms around you, shoves their face way too close to yours, breathes their sweet breath on you and tells you they love you… it’s in those moments that you know everything will be ok, that the vicious cycle will end, and you’ll climb out of the hole and keep going.
Are you having one of those weeks?
How do manage to hang on and not fall into the deep dark hole?
How do you manage to still find the good things when you’re dealing with all the crap?
Thanks to my love friends –
Kate from Kate Says Stuff who hosts Thankful Thursdays, and even lets you be thankful on other days!
Shaefrum Yay For Home who is hosting Things I Know for the last time this week.
Pop on over and say hi to both of them!
the little people.. or in my case, just a little person.. help me to get through dark days too :) sometimes, if I’m really down and out, I’ll just go take a nap if I can. When I awake, usually I can see that things aren’t that bad after all ;p
Ah yes, I know those weeks.
But hooray for external walls and I’m so glad you had lots of little things to feel grateful for. They all add up, always. xox
Oooh…yes, it’s been one of THOSE weeks for me too and with Master 6 doing the finale this morning with his God awesome tantrum of the year -just before we head to school no less. But, am thankful that I know it’s the end of the school term and that we are all tired as hell, but glad that we’re all safe, sound and in a way; happy.
I seem to have one of ‘those’ weeks every week though! :/ Thanks for the reminder that we do have a lot to be thankful for. Your little people are gorgeous. Great photos, Kate.
í’ve had one of those busy weeks. Hubby is overseas and all the kids and Chrissy stuff is left to me. Including Yr 6 farewells, presentation days, teacher presents, christmas cards etc on top of work.
It’s all good stuff. It’s all stuff that I am committed to doing because the attention to the important people in my life is important to me. But getting it all done is exhausting.
Today is the last day of school for the kids and me (I’m a teacher). Hubby is home tomorrow. I thought I had made it through when I drive into out garage and the roller door won’t close. What!!!
I call for service and get told It probably can’t be fixed until MOnday. I’m thinking I can’t wait that long. I burst into tears. Tired me didn’t need another thing to take care of.
Within minutes, I get a phone call for the local repairer. He’s five minutes away and will pull in on his way home. 15 minutes later and a beer for the tradie and my garage door was fixed and working better than it had for months.
I had seen this incident as a “Poor Me” , “why does this always happen to me”. But really the universe was smiling on me. I just asked for assistance and the door is fixed.
I must remember that my life is blessed in those difficult moments. The Universe smiles on me.
Oh lovely Kate, I’m grateful for your raw honesty and I think we all overlook the luxury of our walls, we should all be grateful for them.
I hope next week looks up for you.
*a
I am having one of those weeks…. our dryer ventilation system is malfunctioning for some reason, but there has been snow on the roof so no one has been able to get up there to check it out. So we’ve been hanging our clothes on dryer racks to dry, which honestly is fine. No biggie. Better for the environment too. Now, however, there is a sewer smell in our laundry room! Yuck.
We live in a new home, that we just recently purchased, so everything is under warranty which I am thankful for. However, who we have to work with has thus far been very slow to the uptake regarding the issues….
Frustrating…
It’s hard, but these are the times when we really need to count our blessings. Close our eyes, take a deep breath and know that in the grand scheme of things – we are lucky. We have love, family, nourishment, a beautiful house and good friends.
That’s what matters.
But it can be so hard. I know! Hope you have a good weekend Kate.
Hang in there!!! Being grateful is obviously great therapy. Renos, 4 kids, Chrissy prep and the need to be perfect are guaranteed to make life seem tough. You know you are amzing . Love
So much to be grateful for if we just stop and think about it.
Ohhhhh yes, i can relate. gotta laugh! thats what you have to do, even when yr gas hot water system is playing up and you have to run a hose from the laundry sink to the bath just to get clean. Oh and yr air con has cacked it and you have to wait until the insurance company finds time to help you out.
Yes its poor me too, but i know everything works out in the end. Even if we have Christmas lunch outside cause it is cooler than inside the house LOL.
My little people make me laugh, cry and scream most of the time. i just have to remember that they are only little people and some days they have poor me days too!
i can only speak for myself, but I think that’s why I have a blog (and read blogs like Picklebums too!)….to separate the good stuff from the bad and reflect back on my week that things aren’t that bad at all. it’s so easy to get caught up in the day to day chaos and monotony, I feel ALL i do day in and day out is clean up mess, serve food, hang laundry, and yell at my two screamy whiney fighting kids. my blog is my diversion and escape from my immediate surrounds and a reminder of some of the wonderful bits we manage throughout the week.
i do fall into a dark hole at times, and i think re-appreciating ‘the little things’ helps me climb back out. this time of year expectations are raised high of happy family togetherness and cheerful celebrating and i think that combined with tiredness and extra busyness that goes with it creates a recipe for stress and aggrevation!
I can totally relate to your “nothing ever goes right.” right now. My twins are driving me crazy. I look at their baby photos and videos on such week. Those photos and videos just put a smile on my face again.
My (not so small anymore) small people are the light in my dark days too, Kate. I don’t think I could ever be grateful enough for what they’ve brought into my life.
I hope next week is better for you.