Today I am thankful for my mom... she's been on my mind a lot lately....
Well, she's always on my mind all the time actually.. there are just a few times of the year that it's more so.. Those times are the anniversary of her death which falls around Mother's day, Mother's day, and Autumn/fall to the new year... are usually the hardest..
The first two aren't hard to image why they are hard  but why Autumn/fall to the new year.. Well because she loved Autumn/fall to the New Year.
She loved the changing of the leaves with all the colors, the crisp air, hot chocolate, bonfires and warm cozy sweaters with comfortable pants along with slippers.
Also it's soon to be her birthday again which is two days before mine... we would celebrate our birthday's on the day in between when I got older.. so much fun and so many memories.. 
Plus there's the festivities of Halloween.. followed by Thanksgiving and Christmas joys plus all the fun stuff in between from pie baking to Christmas cookie baking to decorating and her  most favorite time --spending time with her family..
She loved her family with her whole heart... so hopefully I am making her proud.. today I could have used her advise which isn't something I will get... and believe me we didn't always see eye to eye but if I am half the woman and mother she was then I did something close to being right in life...
So today I am thankful for the wonderful woman and mother that raised me.. she was my first best friend.. and the only one that knew me best.. and I miss her ...

Today I am thankful for heat-- baseboard heat (basement), gas heat/central and portable oil heaters to fill in where the heater doesn't quite reach ... also thankful for fire places and fire pits for fall/winter enjoyment..
I am thankful my family will stay warm over the coming months of cold weather which appears to have started a bit early.. with a slight increase of warmth coming mid-week and rolling back out be the following week.. also thankful for moments in front of our fire pit or fire place ..
I know there are many that aren't able to enjoy this necessary aspect in life or the other joys that are optional. Heat in a home shouldn't be something that anyone should be without...
So today, I am thankful my family has the benefit of heat in our home etc..

Today I am thankful for time-- time to catch up on homework, CNS Exam Studying, winterizing the house (adding electric heaters with thermostats in the basement because it has no heat vents down there--fingers crossed it will help this winter) along with getting yard work completed such as mowing the grass, weeding, planting or transplanting plants that need it etc... 
So thankful for time ... time spent with my family, friends and being able to get things done... time to experience different things and to live not always be working etc..
Time is precious and short in the grand scheme of things...
So today I am thankful for time..

Today I am thankful for the bounty coming from our garden even through I am also saddened that it will be coming to an end..
Today we made chili in the crock pot with homemade gluten free corn bread for dinner and we were able to use tomatoes, peppers, fresh herbs, carrots etc all from our garden. It was refreshing and fun because we can walk out our back door and into the garden. It's something that we have been able to do with our daughter all season, showing her the fundamentals of gardening and experiencing what it's like to have fresh garden foods...
We are by no means advanced gardener's which shows but we have a love for growing fresh foods and look forward to it every year...

Today, I am thankful for coming off a medicine that was not helping but giving me side effects that were making me very uncomfortable. 
Sometimes we have to advocate for ourselves... just because a medicine is suppose to be helpful for an illness or an ailment etc., doesn't always mean it's the right choice for our bodies... 
Now that I am off that medicine I am starting to feel better ... and so for the new medicine is working so much better than that other popular one... fingers crossed it will continue to be helpful without side effects that make me feel soooo much worse.. 
Western medicine has a purpose in healing but it doesn't have to be the be the only aspect to our healing.. some times looking outside the box we can find things that can help and sometimes those things outside the box aren't the only way to heal either.. 
We have to remember to balance both inside the box (Western Medicine) and outside the box (Eastern or Alternative Medicines)... to figure out what our unique bodies need to heal.. 
So I am thankful I noticed what was going on and spoke up... because the last 3 weeks were hard with weaning off to get me to at least back to before taking the medicine..  
​Thankful I am feeling so much better..  and have the ability to work towards a balance that works for my body inside and out....