Things To Do - Make a Grateful List (November Edition)

Every month I try to make a "grateful list" to remind me of great things/events/moments/stuff/etc. Then if I feel down, I have my list to cheer me up. It's also a good way to remember books, articles, and exhibits I enjoyed. This is November's list. Click here to see past lists.

Arts & Entertainment

1. The Pittsburgh Children's Museum (Pittsburgh, PA) - I love this place, especially the hamster-like climbing structure. And I love how one of their stated goals is to make art accessible to children, everything here is beautiful.
2. Oak Lawn Children's Museum (Chicago, IL suburbs) - The perfect activity when staying at Grandma's house.
3.Tangled - best animated film since Shrek.
4. P's love of the Museum of Science and Industry's (Chicago, IL) Xmas Trees display (she could have spent all day looking at the trees)
5. Fistful of Mercy playing Buckets of Rain at the I Street Synagogue (a great live music experience)
6. "Servant of the State" by Jianying Zha (article on literature in China) in the New Yorker's November 8, 20010 issue.
7. Erica Jong's WSJ article on motherhood
8. Newsweek's article on class and food especially Michael Pollan's summary of the issue,“we have a system where wealthy farmers feed the poor crap and poor farmers feed the wealthy high-quality food.” I love this man.

Food
9. Weekend mornings at the farmer's market (as a family) then feasting on the food when we get home - especially jerky and sausage from Cibola Farms, arugula from Endless Summer Harvest, & feta from Blue Ridge Dairy
10. Sausage & Kale pasta via Washington Times (so so yummy!)
11. Half-priced appetizers on Thursday night at P Brennan's irish pub (Columbia Pike is shaping up)
12. Stuffed nachos at Pepe's (one of the joys of returning to my hometown)
13. Swiss chard chips at my in-law's house (spray a pan with pam and cook the VERY DRY shredded swiss chard at 400 for about 15 minutes, tossing every five minutes) - they're even better than potato chips. seriously.

Moments
14. F's attempt at metaphor - "Mom, you're as pretty as an elephant. [pause]. Oops, I mean this pretty [draws big circle with her arms], you don't actually look like an elephant."
15. T's love of music - he'll dance to anything and he turned all my mom's old tin cans into drums

16. F always making cards for everyone

17. The beautiful red fall foliage from out backyard maple
18. Driving to Chicago for Thanksgiving and reconnecting with old friends in Cleveland and in the Chicago suburbs.
19. The smell of P's strawberry shortcake dolls (wow, nostalgia)
20. My husband telling the girls they could see Lake Erie from our friend's townhouse and F replying "good job, Dad, now you're a nature explorer too."
21. Jessie at Fitness First (best kickboxing instructor EVER)

22. T's love of play kitchens (he makes the best fake food ever)& coloring (he's trying to master the crayon)

23. Nail painting with the girls (unfortunately I only had black polish, which actually ended up looking pretty cool)

24. After a fight P asking F "are we friends again?" and hearing F reply "of course, always." (Regarding the picture above, the girls decided to share the coloring book, P colored one page and F colored the opposite page, which made me smile.)

25. One of P's best-friends, a boy named C, giving her a tierra and earrings for her birthday. Then helping her put them on and telling her how pretty she looked (seriously, it was so adorable).

What are you grateful for this month?

Have a great weekend everyone!!