ohh the weather outside is frightful

[little minnie’s 1st snow 2009]

i’m not really into the cold. actually, i’m pretty anti-cold. christmas is over, and this game maybe isn’t so cute to me anymore [well, today’s snow flurries were actually pretty cute]. but! as it turns out, the frosty air does bring to mind a few things that i’m grateful for. and ohh boy! i just love expressing gratitude!

my chilly thankfuls:

• not being on the titanic. i mean, i think cold air is bad.. but freezing in the water like that.. i just can’t imagine. it would be unbearable. [although, my dear maggie has recently informed me that a pomeranian did, in fact, survive the sinking of the ship! yaaayy, go yittle minniefluffs!]
• minnie. i drove home tonight with her warm, fluff-covered 15 lbs of body weight heating my lap as much as the little thing could! which is not a ton, but much better than having an empty lap.
• my bed warmer! aka steven. he basically turns from human to furnace once he falls asleep at night. it’s great for this arctic climate! andaaand if i wait til after he’s really asleep i can stick my freezing cold feet on his legs and he doesn’t even notice. teeeeheeheeheeee.
• our garage. we are not just homeowners. we are garage owners, which is huge! i can get in my car on a january morning without scraping frost off the windshield first or turning into a frozen zombie for half the drive.
• snow days. we didn’t really get a ton of them back in k-12, but the ones we did get.. best feeling ever! checking the news channels to see if school is closed.. hoping and praying.. ohh, i remember it exactly.
• christmas. i was so not ready to lose my cheerful friend, mr. christmas. but.. since it’s about -567 degrees out and our tree is still up, i’m still feeling a little bit holidayish!
• our fence. really, this is a big one. we used to argue over who would stand out in the cold with minnie while trying to persuade her to do her business quickly.. and with a 1 year old fluffball, this was still a pretty frequent occurrence. it was miserable, but precious little fencey was born in march. he changed our lives.
• the summer. i don’t take one single second of the summer for granted. i squeeze out every tiny droplet of hot, sunshiny enjoyment as long as the months will let me. i relish. i bask. i bake. i love the summer. but how could i love summer so passionately if i didn’t have to endure the harsh winter conditions?

sooooo, yes. a happy thank you to mother nature for the little boosts of patience and appreciation! i sure have a lot to be thankful for.