U is for…

Count your blessings, name them one by one…

DSCN0245 SIGN

I’m using Thursday posts to focus on thankfulness — and instead of counting blessings, I’m challenging myself to come up with them alphabetically.  (You can find the rest of the posts in this series here.)

Welcome to week!

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U is for Umbrella

DSCN2386 umbrella

A number of years ago (and I write that phrase because I cannot remember the number) my dear husband purchased this lovely umbrella for me. Impressionist art? Check! My favorite flower? Check!

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U is also for UFO…

quilt squares, J&J quilt

This is an example of an UnFinished Object.  I happen to have a lot of them in every type of creative outlet that catches my eye — including beading, blogging, and quilting. 

We come in peace UFO

Retreat Theme: “UFOs… We Come in Piece”

It’s not that I love having unfinished projects, but I am grateful for the opportunity to create. Did I mention I’m going on a quilting retreat at the end of the month?  Our retreat theme this year is — you guessed it — UFOs.

I have plenty of UFOs in my house.

Right now I have a lot of fabric that needs cutting and stacking before next weekend’s big quilting retreat.  Yes, there are projects to organize… and complete!  I am thankful for the opportunity to turn those UFOs into something beautiful.

Some of them might even become Christmas presents.

FINISHED PROJECT last December:   The Lovebirds with their new quilt (top folded over so you can see the back)

FINISHED PROJECT last December: The Lovebirds with their new quilt (top folded over so you can see the back)

And finally for this week, U is for Understanding…

Normally, I try to post these gratitude pieces on Thursdays — after all, I do categorize them as “Thankful Thursday” — but that obviously didn’t happen this week.  However, I know that my readers are pretty understanding , even when they don’t know that I put in a long day at work then rushed off to a game to watch my son in one of his final gigs as a drum major.  So thank you for being understanding! This morning, I got up with the kids to get them off to school, then went back to bed and stayed there until nearly one o’clock (dreaming about time travel of all things). After my husband woke me up for the second time, I had some tea and protein and headed back to the office to finish what absolutely had to be done this week.  I’ve easily put in an extra day of work this week. Technically, I’m only supposed to be there for 6.5 hours on Tuesday and on Thursday. Either I am a perfectionist (guilty) or still struggling with the learning curve (somewhat), or there is much more to the job than there are paid hours available in which to accomplish those tasks (true).  I need to establish better boundaries. I’m working on it.

The good news is that I’ve paved the way to a much easier week NEXT week, and the information needed to get things done is all there.  The announcements are already written (sadly, mostly by me — see above comments about perfectionism and boundaries), and  I won’t need to chase down bits and pieces of the worship service since the person preaching is our part-time pastor. He’s actually already given me a printed copy of what he wants done.  It’s nice to look forward to an easier work week, even though I know other tasks will be coming my way.

I think I’ll go to bed early tonight.

How has your week been? Do you have plans for the weekend? Any gratitude points you’d care to share?