Thankful Friday?

So...yesterday I was working on my Thankful Thursday post wheeeeeeeen.... I totally fell asleep. hahaha  I think between using every spare second to paint my bathroom, covering the daycare, visiting with my SIL and three wonderful nieces and trying to keep the regular we're-starting-to-get-on-top-of-our-house housework done, oh yeah, and being SICK.... I just had it!  hahaha

Don't worry -there were no children in the house when I dozed off.  Well, except my own. She was watching Sesame Street.  And she didn't let me sleep long because the show ended and I got smacked in the face with an exclamation of "AGAIN! Sessmeeee Sweeet again, pwease, Mom!"

Yeah, that'll wake you up.

Anyway, so I missed my few minutes of blogging time and did NOT get Thankful Thursday posted.

So let's just pretend today isn't Friday (except I'm SO excited it is! HUZZAH end of the week!) aaaand:

THANKFUL THURSDAY  

the "spare time" edition
(yes, that's right, I went with a bit of a theme this week - things I'm grateful for having during my spare time. I know, I know, it's pure awesomeness.)

1) BOOKS

(from: http://www.artsjournal.com/bookdaddy/2008/07/)

I LOVE me some books.  LOVE them.  Which, I know, isn't an anomaly or even all that defining but man oh man do I love to read.  I've read 12 books so far this year - my thirteenth is going a little slower, I think, with the drive to get the bathroom painted aaaaand a lot of times, when I'm sick, I curl up on the couch in front of the TV (yay Netflix!) and zone out...and I've been sick this week.  hahaha Anyway, lately I've been through a book or two a week, depending on the length, my interest, and whatever all else. 

But enough about my reading habits! This is THANKFUL "Thursday".  I'm THANKFUL for books.  I've never been much of one for tearing stories apart looking for themes, lessons, what-is-the-author-trying-to-say kinda' garbage (have you seen Finding Forrester with Sean Connery? LOVE it! He plays this author who wrote "The Great American Novel" and then never writes another book because he's so P.O.ed with everyone for ANALYZING the thing to death! He's like, WHY the heck did it have to mean anything more than what it says?!?!  LOVE LOVE LOVE it! hahaha) but all that aside...

...I love getting lost in a book. I love the creative license left in the medium for my brain to be totally enraptured in its own understanding of the story. I love being able to read the words, picture it, and FEEL like it's happening to me. 

I spend so much time reading I can't imagine life BEFORE books! Isn't that a horrid thought? That only the richest of the rich and elitest of the elite COULD even read? And then were very selective about what books who got when? Geeeeeeeze.....  can you imagine not being ALLOWED to have a copy of the Bible, even? Goodness forbid anyone be able to use their own mind and understand things. 

THANK you, Gutenberg! Thanks world, for evolving to a place where I CAN read, anything I want to, whenever I want to.  Sometimes I read classics (Austen, Mark Twain, Dickens, Bronte), sometimes I read YA (Twilight, Blue Bloods, The Hunger Games), sometimes chick lit (Sophie Kinsella, anyone?), sometimes the latest craze (The DaVinci Code, The Host, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo)....

Thanks for writing and thanks for letting me read.

2) NAPS

(from: http://ashleysfunnyfarm.blogspot.com/2011/02/everything-is-bigger-in-texas.html)

Do I really need to say much more than this, especially the day I'm writing Thursday's post LATE BECAUSE of an accidental nap?

Naps are one of my most favourite things. 

Aaaaaaaaaand I couldn't take them without lots of help.  USUALLY by one, poor, nap-deprived Mr. Man (alTHOUGH, he doesn't LOVE naps as much as I do - sometimes when we BOTH have opportunity to nap and I dive right into bed he paces around and then lands on the computer playing video games.... which is TOTALLY fine, but makes me feel a little extra justified in the I-take-advantage-of-him-and-nap-on-the-weekends-more-than-he-does bit of our marriage).

Proper naps, on a bed, with snuggly blankets everywhere and a fantastic pillow..... blisssssss

(from: http://www.zazzle.ca/consciousness_that_annoying_time_between_naps_tshirt-235748040862746940)

3) SPORTS

(from: http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2006/06/soccer/soccer-text.html)

I think maybe in one of my classes in school it was (? memory, where art thou?) where I (we) was (were) asked to identify the MOST FUN THING EVER. Like, what is the one thing that you do that you'd rather do any time than anything else, that is just the best.  And I thought and thought and thought about what is invariably the GREATEST thing.

And I decided, for me, it's sports. 

I have more fun playing sports, running around, laughing, exerting and competing with friends than just about anything else.  That doesn't mean I DON'T LOVE OTHER THINGS or other people or that I can't have fun playing Blockus with my family (if you've played board/card/any games with me, you KNOW I have fun!) but SPORTS, for me, are invariably, my favourite most fun thing to do. 

If there's a pickup game going on somewhere, of ANYTHING, I want in.  If there's a chance for a regular game of anything? I want in. 

And as much as I enjoy individual sporting - running, swimming, cycling, etc. - where the only real competition is with myself, there's that added oomph about being with and playing with friends that brings extra awesomeness to the whole thing.

How lucky am I that my parents saw that I was a sporty kid and let me follow my childhood best friend around the soccer leagues growing up. That I was supported in swimming, in 6am hockey practice in high school, in my high school wrestling stint (I made it to OFSAA, the provincial competition! ....hahahahaaaaa yeah, that's a story in itself), that I was driven to soccer games in and outside of town, allowed to participate on the select league teams and travel to tournaments.  That we had some sport activities at church where we got to get together with a totally different group of people and have fun with in volleyball and basketball tournaments.  That I have been permitted to understand and define myself and my femininity on my own terms, without the bars of illegal female activity.  That I had an awesome highschool PE program and got to try and fall in love with sports like broomball, curling, squash, floor hockey, badminton, tennis....

Thanks, world, for giving me sports.

4) MOVIES

(from: http://www.peoplejam.com/blog/7591/why-america-needs-its-superheroes)

Okay, so in addition to reading, sleeping, and exercising...I'm a movie person. hahaha  A little while ago Mr. Man and I were getting some advice on togetherness from a wonderful guy who said that he and his wife watch a movie together every single night. And we were like, wait, WHAT?  'Cause we just couldn't SWING that!  He then went on to explain that they put on a movie, sit together, and pay half attention to the movie, half to the newspaper or magazine they're reading, and are just...TOGETHER. 

Which is SO great, I'm SO glad that works!  But Mr. Man and I got out of the conversation and were like, yeaaaaah.... no.  hahaha

Movies, on the couch or at the cinema, movies are EVENTS!  They are planned for and around, and EXPERIENCED.  (Often with popcorn!  hahaha)

At least that's how it is for me.  And Mr. Man, I think, too.

So why am I grateful for movies?  Well, it's an adoration that Mr. Man and I both share, so it goes a surprisingly long way in our "similarities" checklist in our happily-married column. ;) We even like a lot of the same TYPES of movies - can I just say how through-the-roof excited we both were when we first saw this trailer? YEEEEEEEHaaaaw does that look like a great time or WHAT??

And THAT is why I'm grateful for movies. We ENJOY them. It's fun to borrow someone ELSE's vision for a couple of hours and escape into whatever reality is operating to make the movie plausible.  It's the escapism of my books with less effort with bird's eye view.  'Cause lemme tell ya', as great as my imagination may be, I don't think in a million years I could have dreamed up anything similar to what James Cameron had going on in his head with Avatar. Or Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland. Aaaaaaand although we've always been Batman fans (hello, Adam West, anyone?) our undying devotion to the greatest "super"hero ever was definitely sealed by Christopher Nolan's brilliant Batman Begins, which is absolutely (for the moment) my favourite movie of all time. (Joss Whedon doesn't like it and is AGAIN rebooting the series? Really?  Should be interesting 'cause.... I generally really like Whedon's stuff.... hmmmm....)

5) BABYSITTERS

(from: http://welcometomysoapbox.blogspot.com/2010/06/how-much-should-i-pay-my-babysitter.html)

AND, as I mentioned, briefly, in NAPS, where on EARTH would any of these wonderful spare moments even COME from if it weren't for people OTHER than me lending a hand and keeping their eyes on my kid for a few minutes. 

I couldn't read books at night while Little Miss is getting ready for bed.

I couldn't take naps on Sunday afternoons after a too long week or a too late Saturday.

I couldn't go out and  play sports without a team of willing friends on the sidelines watching until Mr. Man makes it from work, or Mr. Man already taking that one for me so I can leave for a bit.

I can't go to the movies with Mr. Man without someone watching the kid. My parents, his mom, our friends... SOMEONE takes that kid!  Unless it's a kid movie (she LOVED Tangled, as did we) then she comes with us... :-)

I can't go to the movies with FRIENDS unless Mr. Man can be home and is willing to be in charge for the evening. 

Babysitters. I am SO lucky to practically have an ARMY of ready, willing, able, and cost-effective O:-) friends and family to turn to so I CAN enjoy my spare-time activities.  And that's huge. 

Thanks, babysitters!

Okay, time to make lunch. :-)