love

DianaK

Appreciations 1/26-2/5: spilt milk, support, staying, silliness, and Scrabble!

Laughing over spilt milk… especially when Sarah, Ida, and I take turns, each spilling spectacularly once, in the same place, during the course of one weekend. Hahaha!

Spill Gremlins….the ones we’ve determined are responsible for the milk (and subsequent vegetable) spills. What a funny house we live in! 😆

Delicious dinner of fish and chips. Thank you for the treat, Sarah!

Ida dancing around the living room to the Ultimate Family Dance Party station while Sarah and I do some couch dancing. 🤗

My new yard sign and my neighborhood’s commitment to supporting ALL of its residents.

stand-with-our-neighbors

Ida’s new addition to the “Nana upstairs, too?” request. Now when I’m about to leave to go back upstairs she says, “Nana, stay!” Oh, how I love that kid!! 💜

This most awesome card from my cousin Debb. She is so thoughtful and funny!

i-need-a-crown

Antibiotics that do their job quickly and well. Plus the cessation of continual coughing! 😆

Dinner with the Terri, Ellis, Sara, Rochelle and all the kiddos. What bliss.

Playing Scrabble with my mom! 💜

Terry Pratchett, Neil Gaiman, Eva Ibbotson, E.L. Konigsburg, and Cornelia Funke, all of whom brighten my life with their words!

 

DianaK

Appreciations 11/11/16

I so so so appreciate the wonderful people who’ve been showing up on Friday nights to talk about race. I am incredibly grateful for this space to talk about race and racism and privilege. I’m so clunky about it and I know that I can sink back into the comfortable bubble of privilege so easily.

It feels important to talk about this and about other challenging issues…even – or maybe especially – with people whose views are different from mine. Can I find a way to connect, to listen with curiosity to other people’s experiences and ideas, to build on common ground? I feel so fortunate to be part of a group of people who want to do that. It gives me hope.

I also super appreciate the massive kid group hugs I got tonight! I was a walking tower of affection! What fun to have little ones I love all crowding in for hugs. Breathing is a secondary concern in that situation. 😉

Awesome license plates and kids who know to send me pix of them. 💜

123-go-license-plate
DianaK

Looking for goodness today

If you are happy about the election, then I am happy for you. I’m not happy about some of it, and I’m not interested in changing your mind or trying to convince you that I’m “right”.

I AM interested in us finding connections and common ground, and in doing all the good that we can for all the people we can.

To that end I want you to know that in my search for joy and hope this morning, I’ve connected with so many lovely people who brighten my life. You brighten my life. ❤️❤️❤️

Sending you hope, solace, congratulations, comfort, care, and love in whatever quantities you need. Thank you for making my life better by being part of it.

DianaK

Year 5 Appreciations…Sept/Oct 2016 😄

Here are a few of the things that have made my life beautiful during the past few weeks…

Gorgeous weather, wind, sunlight filtered through leaves, rain on the roof at night, thunder, the colors and smell of fall leaves, and sycamore trees.

Snuggle time and play time with Ida.

luna-faceplant-10-13-16Luna’s face-plant nap.

The excellent effects of using my light box in the morning.

Walks with Jeff & Tom, Sarah and Ida, Katie and Cina.

Yummy dinners with Debb, the Duncans, the Delaneys, the girls.

bullet-journal-oct-2016My evolving, fun, and oh-so-helpful bullet journal!

The return of my internet after a day without it!

Enlightening and helpful therapy, conversations with friends, dreams.

Apple picking with the Duncans, Katie, and Cina – complete with comfortable temperatures and apples as big as Ida’s head!😉 We picked 16 lbs of apples!

dennis-waterfall-painting-oct-9-2016Reconnecting with cousins at Dennis’ memorial. The chance to celebrate and remember this wonderful, sweet, funny, talented man.

Getting projects like the side steps, backyard path, and raspberry pruning done (with help from my brothers, my dad, and Mckenzie).

Getting some big work projects done.

Ingrid Michaelson concert with the girls!  So. Much. Fun!

rainbow-socksConnecting with Terri & Ellis, Sara & Rochelle, Sarah & Ida at our Friday race meeting. What a wonderful connection we made discussing our thoughts, feelings, and ideas about this complicated issue. ❤️

RAINBOW SOCKS!

DianaK

Appreciations 4.229

Time for a little visit with Debb before she had to go to work today. 🙂

Nice little visit with Jeff this afternoon. 🙂

Katie and Cina whose energy, humor, love, understanding, silliness, and helpfulness have made these past few weeks so much better than they might have been. ❤❤❤

DianaK

Appreciations 4.221 – all the love

Cards and toysThe stunning and funny cards and gifts that have been appearing in my mailbox. I feel so loved and supported. Thank you!

Yesterday’s team of chauffeurs, Cina and Laura, and today’s driver, Alison. I am so fortunate to have willing and able drivers who are terrific company to boot. 😀

gf df pot pie from SarahThe beautiful, tasty gluten- and dairy-free pot pie Sarah made for us. It had a heart in the middle!! ❤

DianaK

Appreciations 4.217

Tin man 2016My new Tin Man and his awesome heart. 😀 Thank you for the funny, sweet gift, Debb. It made me giggle. I love him!

Unbelievable love, comfort, and support from the kids last night when a dizzy spell that felt like the beginning of a faint (which is how last week’s events began) triggered my first ever panic attack. It is a strange and scary thing to have your body doing fight or flight things even after you’ve calmed your thoughts. We got my dizziness, chills and violent shaking under control after about an hour or so, thanks to their good suggestions and all the blankets and all the pillows and all the heating pads. Since I’d never experienced anything like this, even after everything settled down, I was a little scared of having another one… so we decided to play catch with a cat toy that was nearby as a way to keep me distracted…and both of the cats joined in. Everybody was helping me! For any of you who deal with this kind of thing on a regular basis, I am sending you so much love. So much love.

Monet Mar 2016Getting my Monet poster framed and hung at last. I love it so much.

DianaK

Appreciations 4.111

The wonder of both an appreciation practice and spreadsheets. It’s an amazing thing to sit down to write the day’s appreciations and to be treated to whatever was wonderful about the same day last year. 💗💗💗

Listening to my kids sing and make music. One of the sweetest sounds on the planet.

The fascinating way that life is sprinkled with challenges, opportunities for growth, beauty, fun, and love all at the same time. It really is all there, all the time. Hmmm.

DianaK

Appreciation Year Three: Day 331

I am continually amazed at how lucky I am to know the people I know. Today was no exception. So much support and sweetness came in unexpected ways. ❤

A wonderful visit with Suz and Debb – plus coffee!

Then more visiting with Suz while we picked out some flowers for my garden. She is really good at tolerating the heat! Hahahaha!

A nice little visit with Mom and Dad.

Delicious dinner and good visit with David.

#blessed

DianaK

Appreciations Year Three: Day 327

A job flexible enough to allow me time to drive down to Rochester with the Cheezgirls for a couple hours of catching up with wonderful women.

Cheezgirls afternoon! How lucky I am to be friends with such funny, bright, lovable, smart, fascinating women – and to have been friends with them for decades! 🙂

Being surprised and overwhelmed by new levels of sneaky generosity demonstrated by these women. All I can say is that I am truly humbled by my great good fortune to have a life filled with people like this. ❤