Thanksgiving Peer Pressure

Will somebody please get that turkey some dressing???!!!??

I'm giving in, and adding to the litany of blogs that have dedicated their Thanksgiving post to counting their many blessings and giving thanks. Although, not an original thought, I'd like to write this the Infidel way. Lest anyone think that I've gotten too perky.

1. I'm grateful for my family. My children are such a joy to be around(most of the time), and contribute much happiness to my life. My Papi is the sexiest nerd Mexicano to ever cross the border, and we share a profound love of chalupas together.

2. Everyone in mi familia is relatively healthy. Although, NOT healthy, wealthy, and wise. We're working on it though.

3. All bloggy friends. You've brought a new perspective, and light into my life that I didn't have a year ago. Thanks for the laughs, the insults, the Marie Osmond obsessed craziness. I love it!

4. Having a roof over our heads, food in our bellies, clothes on our backs, and broadband Internet connection. The really important things in life.

5. The Gospel Restoration and the Church swayed me from following down the path of being a homeless white trash alcoholic. Now, I'm a bonafide non-alcoholic white trash family woman! Seriously, my life changed dramatically after taking the missionary discussions. It's scary for me to think about the way destiny might have unfolded without divine intervention.

6. Not to sound trite, but I'm eternally grateful for indoor plumbing. When I hear my Grandma spin tales of nights out on the family's Indiana farm, stumbling around in blizzard conditions to use the outhouse, it make me want to give a four flush salute to Mr. Crapper himself! With these new water conservation toilets, it usually does take four flushes just to do the job.

7. I have to work tomorrow. Thanksgiving is heavily touted as the biggest newspaper of the year for good reason. We have a behemoth seven part paper in the morning. SEVEN! However much I despise my job, it has provided for our family off and on throughout the years, and allowed me to stay home with our brood. I will keep repeating this mantra throughout the night as I nurse my hands that are cracked and bleeding from the cold, and I try to throw 700 newspapers cheerfully without bitterness in my heart.

8. Having a vehicle to transport us everywhere we want to go. I don't like to wait around, and public transportation would likely cause me to implode with anxiousness. When I want a box of Twinkies, I want them NOW, not when Metro bus lines decides that its convenient for them.

9. My blog. For releasing the inner thoughts and feelings trapped within me for 31 years. It's like Pandora's Box, and now that they're all out and floating freely, you can't stuff them back in. Special thanks to genius, Omar Phillips, who redesigned The Infidel, and made it a much smilier place to be.

10. Did I mention how great my kids are? I've learned to overlook the complete destruction of my house. I've put aside the occasional wicked thought of what my house would look like if they hadn't been born. I've overcome my perfectionistic control freakish ways, to relax enough to love them for who and what they are, little mini human beings going through the life process and learning new things. Just exactly like the rest of us.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYBODY!

Share your blessings here. Mostly, because it satisfies the nosy side of me.