Gratitude Tuesday - the E's!
It's kind of hot here right now (but I know not anything like the West Coast). I haven't turned the AC on yet but I think I'm going to for a little while. And I'm getting really sleepy again and it's only 9:30. I'm torn between 1) being really lazy for half an hour and then going to bed and 2) making some coffee, turning the AC on, moving some furniture and taping my walls and painting at least one of them. I'm really really torn about it. But I'm kind of leaning towards #2. After all, it IS only 9:30 so I have time, and I would be so happy if I got one wall painted. Plus, my mom annoyingly told me the other day that the smell of paint makes her sick and she can't stand it, and I know she can be such a whiner and also has the nose of a fricking bloodhound - and my parents are coming for a visit on August 4th, which is a week from Friday. So I need to do all my painting by the end of the weekend I figure.
Yesterday something happened that was initially so exciting. But then afterward something happened and I felt kind of bothered both last night and for awhile this morning. It's changed something just a little and I don't like it. I want to bring it back to normal, which I think will happen with no problem but I want it to be now. I know this is a little cryptic - I don't want to say too much but I do want to note it.
Hmmm, that's all for now. I forgot to tell about my new-found family relation, but I'm going to wait until tomorrow because now, it's time for Gratitude Tuesday and all the many things that begin with an 'E' that I'm so grateful for!!!! :)
Eating - this is kind of a big thing to be grateful for! I'm so happy that I can eat and swallow and taste all the wonderful things that are out there! When I think of some people who have had surgery go wrong or had a disease and can't actually eat, the thought is just awful.
Eyes - sight is my favorite sense, and I absolutely fucking adore seeing the world, seeing colors, seeing people, seeing trees and the sky and sunsets and clouds and faces and eyes and smiles and animals, and seeing where to go and what to buy at the grocery store and what clothes to put on, and seeing myself in the mirror and seeing my family and seeing my friends. I don't know what I would do without my eyes, and I'm so grateful that mine work so well.
Ears - again an easy thing - I'm so happy to have ears so that I can hear all the wonderful music out there, and sounds of birds chirping and of ocean waves crashing, and friends talking and children singing, and my babies mewing. And also, it would be much more difficult to communicate if I didn't have ears to hear with.
Emma - my sweet baby girl kitten (even though she's 3 years old she's still a kitten to me, as is her little brother James), she has brought so much light into my life! She is pure sweetness and silliness and even if I wake her in the middle of a deep sleep, she will be ready and eager for love and start purring. She has the most expressive little face which I just adore and I think is about the cutest face ever! She always makes me laugh with her silliness, too - when I come home she gets this excited little look on her face and then goes buzzing over to her scratcher and scratches in her little excitement! And whenever I stand up from anywhere, she goes running ahead of me and then crouches down low to the carpet right in front of me so I can scratch her little back, and when I start doing that she raises her little butt in the air because she loves the scratch so much! So silly and cute!!! I call her "my princess Emma" and "my little cuddlebug" and "my sweetest cutest baby cuddle Emma girl" - all the sweet little words get jumbled around but she knows I'm talking about her! Oh and when I feed them, James has his little habits which I'll get into when J gets here, but he goes right for the food while little Emma mews up at me and waits for me to pick her up and set her right by the food (even though she's standing two feet from it), it's our little routine and she is just so incredibly cute and so incredibly sweet and so so so so so perfect, and I could just go on and on with little examples of her cuteness and silliness and sweetness, but I'll stop now - but in short, I am so so so so so so so so so so grateful to have little Emma in my life!
Earning - I'm grateful to be able to earn money to survive and be comfortable, and grateful that even though I should get a new job and should make more money, I'm still happy with what I do make.
Earth - I'm very grateful for this planet we live on and for all the many natural resources that it provides, and for the nutrients that it lets us grow, and the beauty that it provides. I'm extremely grateful for all this!
Easygoing - I'm very grateful for what I see as my easygoing and wonderful nature! :)
Ecstasy - from the dictionary: 1) intense joy or delight; 2) a state of emotion so intense that one is carried beyond thought and self-control. How cool is that definition?! How could I not be grateful for something so fabulous!!!
Editing - now this seems like a silly thing, but I seriously love editing! I love editing my own things and I love editing other people's writing - it lets me be anal and look for mistakes and correct them to make something perfect!
Education - I'm extremely grateful that I had the opportunity and ability to get a wonderful education. I'm grateful for my tiny K-8 school that taught me so much, and I'm grateful for my high school education even though socially high school was pretty hard, and I'm so grateful for my wonderful college education - both the classes that taught me such cool things and also the kind of social education where I learned to be more of an adult but without really having to yet be one. And I'm very grateful also for my law school education, even though I really don't have much interest at all in law. I'm also grateful for the bigger idea of education, because I love learning and I think we can all become better people and hopefully see the bigger picture and improve the world when we understand and know more. But then again, maybe not always - many leaders of great nations today had fabulous educations but still do terrible things - that's another discussion though.
Eggs - I love breakfast on the weekends and even though I'm currently on a sweet breakfast kick of french toast or pancakes, I more often prefer yummy eggs!!! My favorites are frittatas or scrambled eggs with spinach and goat cheese or feta and maybe bacon, tomatos or peppers - oh yummmmmy!!!
Ego - from the dictionary: "the self, especially as distinct from the world and other selves;...appropriate pride in oneself: self-esteem." I'm grateful that we are each distinct beings, I'm grateful that I am myself, and I'm grateful also for my self-esteem.
Elbows - the world wouldn't be as comfortable or nearly as easy if I couldn't use or bend my elbows, so I'm very grateful that I have full use of them! (And before I wrote this one out, I of course tried moving my arms around without bending my elbows, I'm such a dork!)
Electricity - oh how completely different the world was before electricity! And how happy I am that we have it now! Seriously, think about it: no lights, no alarm clocks, no real refrigerators, no coffeemakers, no televisions, no stereos, no computers, no printers, no iPods, no oh so many things!
Elephants - I don't know a ton about elephants, but I know that there's something so sweet and very fascinating about them. And they have incredible memories for how to get to far away places even decades after they last visited those areas. And they have such sweet big eyes and those long eyelashes. I'd like to ride an elephant one day, just so I can experience it once.
Elevators - I'm grateful for elevators because we can have tall, tall buildings now and fun gorgeous downtowns filled with such tall buildings.
Email - oh my gosh, seriously how did we live before email!!? I love email!
Emotions - this is one of the things I'm most grateful for in the whole world. I love emotions, I love the ups and even the downs because they make the ups so much better. I love being emotional and I love feeling so many different things every day. I honestly have real issues with the idea of heaven as it's usually portrayed, because I don't want to just be happy and joyful every single moment - how boring would that be! Instead I absolutely adore the emotional rollercoaster of this world, and that's one of the many reasons that I don't want to die until I'm a very old lady. Please, God, let me live a very long life!!!
Enchantment - isn't this a great word!? I haven't used or heard the words "enchant" or "enchanting" or "enchantment" in so long. But they are fabulous words! Just seeing them written here makes me instantly happy! From the dictionary: "charming, delightful; bewitching, fascinating;...something that charms or delights greatly; great delight or pleasure." I'm going to start using these words much more often as of this moment - it will be just enchanting! :)
Encouragement - I'm so grateful for the encouragement that my friends and family are always willing to give, and often give me even when I don't want it or don't think I deserve it.
Encyclopedias - I love that I can learn more about just about anything in this whole entire world, and thanks to the internet, I can now do it right from my computer!
Ends - I'm grateful that sometimes things end. It sounds a little odd, but I'm glad that everything doesn't just go on forever.
Energy - I have my issues with energy because I don't often have a ton of it, but I'm so grateful for the little I do have, and I'm so extremely grateful when I get my semi-rare bursts of energy!
Engines and Engineers - engines make cars, planes, boats and other such things run, and engineers design engines as well as so many millions of other complex and complicated things in this world. For all that, I'm so grateful.
English - English is the only language that I know either fluently or proficiently, even though I'll add that I'm completely jealous of everyone in Europe since they all know at least two languages and very often more than that. But because I just speak English, I'm very grateful for it and for the wonderful ability it gives me to express myself.
Engorge - I just love this word! It's such a suggestive word and also so funny!
Enough - I have a wonderful life. Not to say that it couldn't get even better, and it definitely will get better. But right now, everything I have is just fabulous, and at this moment, it's enough. And I'm grateful to NetworkChic for writing about this concept of 'enough' sometime recently, because it really got me thinking.
Entertainment - I'm grateful for being able to find entertainment in so many things, large and small.
Enticement - "to attract by offering hope of reward or pleasure; tempt; allure." I like this word and I like the definition of it.
Europe - I love love love Europe! I love England and it's history and it's accents and all that it gave to America in terms of language and culture. I love France because Paris is simply amazing, and I love French food, and I love the French language. I love Germany because my dad's side came entirely from Germany throughout the 1800's, and The German obviously comes from Germany, and a lot of the English language as well as American culture is also indirectly influenced by the German language and culture. I love Spain because I first went topless there, and because when I think of Spain, I think of Hemingway hanging out there in a cafe drinking coffee and meeting interesting people and it makes me want to be there. And then there's Italy - with the intensely magical Venice, the Isle of Capri, the vineyards, the old terra cotta buildings, the everything perfect and quaint and gorgeous, the amazing food, and then there are those amazingly sexy and dark Italian men with their Italian accents, mmmmm! Oh and there's Scotland, Portugal, Belgium, Holland, Ireland, the Scandinavian countries, and all of Eastern Europe that I need to explore more!
Equality - it wasn't so many years ago when women in America had nowhere near the equality that we have today. When I hear my mom talk about working in the early 1970's I'm absolutely shocked by what it was like. I'm so grateful to have been raised in a time when I know I am equal to any man, and in general, American society reflects that knowledge. Not to say that it's like that throughout the world, and in fact in many countries I feel as if it's the dark ages with regard to equality for women. I'm still so grateful though to live where I do and in this age.
Erections - I tend to like these things!
Erogenous zones - our bodies are amazing, and I'm so grateful that along with working so incredibly, they can also give us such enjoyable and intense pleasure!
Eroticism and Erotica - I love my porn, and I love reading erotic stories, and I'm so grateful that I can find anything and everything that I could possibly want and more.
Escape - "a temporary mental release from reality" - I have to admit that I like my little escapes, and I can find escape in almost anything.
Ethics - I'm grateful that there are established rules and norms for the right way to be and do things. I like that, it makes the world much more organized and easy to follow.
Euchre - I don't get to play this card game nearly enough, but it's so fucking fun! I have been known to get the cards out, split up the euchre cards, and just deal the four hands over and over and play them all by myself. :)
Exclamation points - I! Fucking! Love! Exclamation! Points!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Can you tell?!!! I use them all the time!!!! To show my happiness! To show my extreme sadness! To show shock! To show how important something is to me! Or just to really make a point! I'm fucking addicted to them - when I end a sentence with a boring period it just doesn't seem like I fully made my point or expressed exactly what I'm feeling! So hooray to whoever created the wonderful, fabulous, enchanting exclamation point!!!!!!
Exotic - I love anything foreign, it just excites me so!
Experiencing - I love experiencing new things, experiencing everything!
Expressions and expressing - smiles, frowns, anger, excitement, surprise, sadness, happiness, love - I'm so grateful that we can express so much through our faces, and also grateful to have so many emotions to be able to express.
Eyeshadow and eyeliner - I love makeup! I consider myself an artist just because of how I can use makeup on myself. And I love playing up my eyes because I love their cool light green color, and eyeshadow and eyeliner are two of my tools!!! :)
