Thankful Thursday

Thankful Thursdays are making me count my blessings! I've been adding things I am thankful for as I have become aware of them through the week ...

1. Brass band ... for providing my girls with free music lessons and great playing experience in a family atmosphere. It is a community band ranging in age from 6 (a little boy who has just started learning cornet) to over 70, and everyone gets on well, with lots of laughing and joking along the way.

2. Hot showers ... how could I ever get going in the morning without them?

3. News that a good friend is expecting a baby next year after a long wait. Yay!!!!!!!

4. A pile of baby toys passed on to Little Cherub by another friend whose children have outgrown them.

5. Tuesday mornings ... Mass followed by a trip for a drink and snack with Angel or Star alternately. We don't manage it every week, but I'm so pleased I started this. This week was Angel's turn, and we both enjoyed hot chocolate with marshmallows and whipped cream at a proper "grown up" coffee bar. Mass and hot chocolate with my growing girl ... that's quality time!

6. Tesco's Creamy Caramella ice cream.

7. Tevye, who took it on himself to give the cooker a long overdue clean. Greater love hath no man! (Of course, I'm thankful for him in many, many other ways, but that cooker was a reproach to me every time I used it. And still I hadn't got round to cleaning it.)

8. Autumn leaves. The colours and the wonderful crunchy feeling.

9. My digital camera. I take so many more pictures than I used to with our old camera, and they come out so much better (thanks to the delete button!)

10. Books. Can't imagine life without them.