Sleeping with Bread: Burnt Toast

Okay, I am the kind of person who likes to rearrange her furniture twice a year. I get bored with the same thing month on end. So, to embrace my fickle, changeable side, I am dispensing with the Sleeping with Bread logo today. Don't you think this little piece of French bread is cute? Besides, the toasty look goes with the past week California has been having.

I haven't heard all the latest, but I know in our area, most--if not all--of the evacuees have been allowed to return home and the freeways are open. In California, you just pretty much can't survive without your freeways.

I wrote a lot this week about personal stuff this week... Marley and the Meltdown, Politics and Loathing in the Blog'verse. I kind of got a lot of my reflection out of the way. But, at the risk of being repetitive, I will go with a gratitude theme this week. It is almost Thanksgiving after all.

So...

In the last week, what have I been most grateful for?

Emily and her thoughtful response to me at her blog
Encouraging emails and comments I received
Shari for sharing her journey with me
Marley for working through some hard, third grader stuff
Paul for not running away from me (!!)
Colin for getting a B average and being pretty much self-sustaining
Marley's teachers--over and over again
My assessments are done!!!! I still have to write a ginormous case study for this class, but the assessments are done!!!
Dr. KBA--the behind-the-scenes, knows what needs to be done professor in my dept.
Life on Mars... love, love, love that show (I'm beginning to gush about it. It's embarassing.)
I figured out how to get rid of the "Friends You May Know" recommendations on Facebook.

In the last week, what have I been least grateful for?

Fires, fires, fires
Uncivil discourse
Migraines
Ill-considered trusts and wills
I have a lot of Ts to cross and Is to dot before the semester ends
Laundry
Dishes
Dirty bathrooms
Star Trek doesn't come out until May

And with a new twist...

What perspective has this introspection brought to you?

I think it is clear that I have more on my "to be grateful for" list than my "not grateful for" list.

Thank you, Lord. Seriously.


C'mon over to the Sleeping with Bread site and read some more post by other SWB'ers.

17 down, 13 to go

Insta-Post, part 2

Here are a few more pictures from yesterday and today. The fires still burn. Hundreds of people have been evacuated. So far, it looks like Marley's school will be open tomorrow. However, schools in several neighborhoods will be closed tomorrow.

16 down, 14 to go

(I would still try to post something more substantial, but I'm a little migraine-y, yesterday and today.)

Insta-Post Recipe

Ingredients:

1 local brush fire

1 camera

Combine ingredients and voila!

This picture was taken from the top of a hill about two miles from our house.  This is a fire in Brea... there are also fires in Yorba Linda and Corona.  While the L.A. fires are fairly far away, this one is not.  You can see all the brown grasses and brush on the hillside and understand how this situation is dangerous.  We have also been sorely lacking in rainfall for the last couple of years.

I just read on Facebook that a friend of ours had to evacuate her house in Yorba Linda. Hopefully it will still be there when she gets back.