It’s been a few weeks since I joined up for Lizzi’s Ten Things of Thankful Weekend Hop, but I thought I’d do it again today because I’m at the end of two busy weeks; and the end of Saturday (which I generally just find to be an exhausting day) and I figured it would be uplifting to reflect on the good. I then fully intend to be in bed by 10:00 ’cause I’m wiped. So, by way of quick intro – Lizzi over at Considerings does a Hop each weekend to encourage an “Attitude of Gratitude”. This by definition puts her in the category of “people who are kinder and nicer than me” because I don’t think I could actually find 10 different things to be thankful for EVERY SINGLE WEEK. But she does. I’m forever slightly awed by that magic power.
Number 10
We finally made it out to the pumpkin patch last weekend to choose our Halloween Pumpkins. Yup. Talk about getting in under the wire. Being the forever multi-tasker (that’s code for “Mom who wanted to avoid a shopping trip”) I also managed to pick up a new winter hat for my youngest there. So thankful for good friends to hit the patch with; the kind folks at Miller’s Farm (which, having just checked their website, apparently does snowplowing now that pumpkin season is over…); and a fun day had by all.
Number 9
Thankful for a fun Monday night pumpkin carving with friends.
Number 8 and Number 7
Thankful for a week of Halloween Fun. A work party for the kiddies at my husband’s work; and my brother and sister-in-law who came around to help hand out candy and take our kids trick or treating. I’m also thankful for this fun blog hop I do every Tuesday called Twisted Mixed Tape, which seems to make me see music in everything. So I captioned the gallery below in homage to the wonderful Jen Kehl over at My Skewed View and her fun weekly blog hop. Do let me know if you recognize my musical references 🙂
Number 6
I love the randomness of life. I was coming out of the gym this morning with my two girls and there, in the courtyard, was a wild turkey. I didn’t get a photo – but here’s one from a few years back when a group of them last wandered our ‘hood.
Gobble gobble.
Number 5
I am equally thankful for the fun randomness of the Internet. In the past week on Twitter I’ve been followed an engineer, a comedian, the owner of a knitwear store (my mom knits for craft-fairs – So GO KNITTING!), and a random high school guy from the US (?!?). They all seemed interesting, so I followed back. Bring on the virtual marketplace of ideas! Or random fun cacophony – whichever. As long as it’s entertaining.
On the lower-brow end of the Internet (I realize that means I just tried to argue Twitter was on the other end, but can we just let that one go?) I also found this GEM when looking for the clip of Buffy talking about how beer is “foamy” in the “Beer Bad” episode from Season Four of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It’s been a long week. And I’m enjoying a beer. A foamy beer, in actuality. I am also now enjoying this clip. So I’m sharing:
Number 4
I’m thankful for the extra hour of sleep tonight. Yay daylight savings! As for kids not really understanding there’s an extra hour to sleep? I’m thankful that Sunday is my husband’s turn to get up with the kids. Just saying…
Number 3
My husband went hunting yesterday with his brothers and came home with goose meat to make jerky and some deer steak (not fresh – his brother’s stock) – so we had deer steak for dinner tonight. So I’m thankful for that because it was delicious. My husband has wanted to start hunting more because his two brothers do – so I’m glad he got the chance to go. He also now has a deer tag, so he’s looking forward to going again. And me? I like deer steak, so I’m all for it.
Number 2
I was asked this week to speak on a panel about my volunteer experiences with my university alumni association. It was a fun experience and I’m thankful for the positive experiences I’ve had volunteering generally and with Carleton (my alma mater) specifically. Volunteering – when you find the right organization – is an incredibly rewarding experience.
Number 1
I’m thankful for the imagination and resilience of young children and for the support I have from others as a parent.
My four-year-old is getting bullied on her bus to school. Two older kids will sit behind her and grab her feet under the bench and yank so she falls forward and hits her knees on the floor. They also tripped her once when she was getting off the bus.
The five and seven-year-old who get off at the same stop as her told their father what happened, which is how I found out (they were too scared to help – apparently these kids pick on others too, but have zoned in on my kid). Anyway, my daycare provider (I’m not there at bus pick up) spoke to the bus driver; who said she and the bus monitors (older students) would keep an eye out for it, but that my child sometimes “sits too far back” so she and monitors can’t catch everything (unclear why you can’t just tell a 4-year-old she has to sit at the front and the bullies aren’t allowed to sit behind her, but we’ll get to that in a moment).
That preliminary intervention apparently didn’t work because it happened again on Friday. So my daycare provider will speak to the bus driver again on Monday (bless her!) and I will contact the school to see if they can’t just arrange that those two kids aren’t allowed to sit behind mine (which would seem a reasonably easy fix). I’d of course also like them to talk to the older kids about how it isn’t cool to beat up a four-year-old. But I’m not expecting miracles.
So it’s not a great situation – but here’s what I’m thankful for: a) the two little kids who told their dad; because otherwise, I wouldn’t have known, because my daughter wouldn’t have known how to express it (I knew something was wrong the first time it happened, but wouldn’t have been able to figure it out from what she told me between tears) b) my daycare provider who, as a more experienced parent, stepped right in and talked to the bus driver about how to stop it and talked to me when she suspected that might not be enough.
As for my daughter? We had a good talk about how she and her friend on the bus should stick together; stay away from the older kids who are picking on her where possible; not sit right in front of them; and as soon as they do anything; tell a monitor or the driver. My daughter then informed me that her and her friend have decided to “do magic” on them whenever they are mean to “take care of them.” I am hopeful our interventions make her believe her magic worked and we resolve it soon – but I was thankful that she was able to tell me in enough detail this time that it had happened again so that I can hopefully do something to help. I’m hopeful those in the concrete positions to help, actually do. And I’m hopeful that I will be able to soon post back thankful on this one.
Baby Gates Down 
Sounds like n eventful week. Hope you can speak to the school soon & get the bullies dealt with.
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Thanks for the kind words here – I hope I get it resolved with the school soon too. I just hate the idea of her getting picked on – and especially by older kids where the power dynamic is unfair and I know she doesn’t yet have the words/confidence/strength to stick up for herself. Very challenging as a parent to not wish you can just hop on the bus and give the kids in question a talkin’ to yourself! Grrr.
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Halloween was on Thursday, and you had your pumpkins carved the Monday before? I think our definitions of “getting in under the wire” differ! 🙂 Sound like you had a great time!
Hope the bus situation gets resolved soon.
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I thought three days before was leaving it a bit late – but no? Ah! Good to know I am model parent to be observed favourably by all 😉 Feel free to take notes. Totally kidding. And yes – fun week – but oof! lots on the go.
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Awesome photos and pumpkin art! I hope all of the adults in the bullying situation come to their senses and realize they can change that situation for your kiddo….here’s hoping it all works out soon and that your daughter has some pretty powerful magic!
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There might be more to the bullying thing – but from the outside it just seems like such a straightforward solution: “Hey! 4-year-old, you need to sit up front. It’s a rule!” “Hey! Bullying older kids, you aren’t allowed to sit right behind the 4-year-old. It’s a rule!” Bus monitors watch to ensure people don’t trade seats and everyone lives happily ever after. The end.
Sure, I’d like someone to have a talk to the older kids, but as far as resolving the actual repeating conflict scenario, what am I missing?
Thanks for the kind words on the photos and pumpkins. I think my favourite is still Picasso Pumpkin done by my friends two year old 😉
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That’s loads of lovely things to be thankful for – I really hope those horrid bullies get sorted out though! Blessings, Bia
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Thanks so much!
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This is a great list…lots of Halloween fun! So cute!
And sorry to hear about your daughter being bullied…glad she has a great mama and lots of other supportive friends/family/neighbors/sitters who are helping her work through it.
Have a fabulous, bully-free week!
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Thanks so much for the kind words. As for Halloween – so MUCH fun with little kids 🙂
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Hooray for randomness! I love spontaneity and this list!
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Thanks! Yeah – the random sighting of an ugly bird yesterday kinda brought home that fun aspect of life 😉
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Loads of gorgeous photos. And I’m no better nor kinder nor nicer than anyone else. I’m just more focussed, and I guarantee that if you tried, you’d easily be able to find ten things EACH DAY if you wanted to. Things like “I’m breathing” and “It’s not raining right now” – they’re valid and often on my personal moments of daily thankfulness.
I’m so glad that your daughter has people looking out for her. Crossing my fingers and hoping that ‘her’ magic works soon, because that she has to go through that is awful, and that the bus-driver seems so passive is horrific! Good for you, for your daycare provider, for those two girls and their dad, for getting on top of this situation. I hope it is resolved very, very rapidly.
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Thanks for the kind words re: the who bus issue. As for your being kinder – perhaps that wasn’t the right word choice – I’m just impressed at the ability of certain people – such as yourself – to forever see the half-full. I’m generally positive – but not always to that level. It’s uplifting – and why I like this post idea of yours! Thanks again!
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I’ll let you see (on my second post of the weekend) that I’m not always. Sometimes not even often. I have wonderful, amazing people around me (both IRL and online) who hold me up and drag me out of the mires, who are there for me and give so generously of themselves to help me through the hard days. And there are many of them, believe me, when I get cranky and sulky and ‘glass half empty and don’t want what’s in it anyway’. And they are patient and kind and bear with me.
The Thankfulness idea came about ages ago, not because it was a good one, or an uplifting one, but because it was a necessary one, and I was in such a dark place I needed the discipline of actively seeking the Good, because I was so unable to see it, any of it. And that spawned a hop, because I did this for months on my blog, just by myself, and visitors there showed such interest and seemed to be inspired by the idea, that I thought it seemed like the kind of thing which a blog hop could be centred around. And look! Our biggest week yet!
It’s not about sunshine and happiness at heart (though it’s gorgeous when it can be, and I’m so thankful that for so many, it IS about gorgeousness and Good Things) – it’s about purposefully combatting the darkness and the storms by CHOOSING to focus on the Good, and deliberately recognising that in each day there ARE things to be thankful for. Because there are, and they are powerful weapons against the negatives of life.
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This is pretty beautiful. And I agree wholeheartedly with the sentiment! So glad you do this hop 🙂
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turkeys huh? you realize that, as a species, they are *so* not ever going to get to join the local Mensa club, right?
We get them coming out of the woods on our property every fall and they do this thing where the flock finds food (my wife will put out seed for whatever life form can get to it first) but the thing is, they will fight over one small pile of seeds… 3 feet away from a 50lb sack of turkey food. lol (I know I am being chauvinistic and should not make fun… but I have seen 2 turkeys fighting over food, literally rolling in ‘un-fought-over food piles’.)
betcha there’s some kind of insight there… but I’m contending with the end of Daylight Savings Time today and I just can’t focus.
great TToT this week!
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I figure these ones made it through Thanksgiving (Canada – earlier up here) so they can’t be first in line for the Darwin Awards.. 😉 As for yours, yeah – that’s, well, odd. I’m a day out from Daylight Savings Time and I got nothing.
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Since school officials have been notified that there is a problem on the bus with bullying, it would be a very bad idea for them to sweep this under the rug. Seems the bus driver should make those two kids sit in the front seat, behind him.
Wild turkeys are kind of cool. Ugly, but cool.
I am not very good at Twitter. I try, but I find it difficult to follow, which probably is a product of my advanced age….
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I felt pretty good about the note I got back from the school today – thanking me for making them aware of the situation and letting me know they are on it and will let me know what was done. Very prompt response – which I took as a good sign.
As for the ugly birds? Yup – cool and ugly. I just always think they look so random – so they are almost the perfect symbol for the random wacky that happens in life.
And Twitter – it took me a while to figure it out – but I THINK I’m starting too… I tried a Twitter party once. THAT was disaster. And impossible to follow. I just don’t think that fast…
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Oh man, that is no good about the school bus. I don’t know how I would handle that if/when I have children… Just the thought of it makes me want to repay bullying with bullying. I am clearly not very enlightened over here. I do hope that the school gets this figured out, that’s just not something a 4 year old should have to worry about.
Also: I am not sure I would have a clue what kind of bird it was if a turkey was wandering around outside my gym. I would probably assume I was hallucinating and use this as an excuse to cut back on my fitness.
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Trust me – as far as how to handle bullies – very hard not to feel like you describe and suggest that my kid just whack ’em back (or ask one of the bigger kids from her daycare to do it; or track them down myself… I went through the whole daydreaming range of emotion).
And then I remembered I had to be responsible; model good behaviour; and show her about the type of person we want her to be.
Being an adult sucks sometimes.
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Yeah, that is definitely true– hopefully I will learn to reign that part in before I am entrusted with childrens. I hope things are getting better…
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I love that you and your friends had a pumpkin carving night and those are great photos from the pumpkin patch! Which also reminds me to go over to Jen’s blog. I hate to hear that about your 4 year old. being bullied on the bus. My oldest began middle school this year and my youngest began 2nd. I suppose there are some ups to living in community with the population 400, because all the kids, older and younger, grew up together and there isn’t much bullying. . Last school year in the spring, my oldest and her 5th grade class got to go to the high school and they had a huge play about bullying and what to do, even if you’re just a bystander. The two children that told their father is an example of what they taught the other children to do if they witnessed bullying. I hope it gets better for her. That’s such a young age to be picked on. I’m glad she has a friend to do magic spells with. 🙂
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You know, never having lived in a small town, I never really got the attraction – but I think all the kids growing up together somehow resulting in less bullying is a great bonus. I got a note back from the school today saying they were on it and would take care of it – so hopefully it gets resolved. I just want it fixed before it ruins the bus experience for her.
As for it happening so young – I’m sort of hoping – in a glass half full kind of way – that it helps her learn early on how to stick up for herself/assert herself when she needs to. I’m also hoping she continues to tell me when stuff happens and knows that others want to help her (so hopefully intervening does just that so she see’s the positive result).. Fingers crossed.
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I’m sad that your daughter is being bullied. My daughter is 4, too, and I know I would be very upset. I’m so happy she has a friend to do magic spells with. I hope they work! Maybe she can sit cross-legged on the bus bench so they can’t grab her feet, too. Maybe she needs some monster-off spray. 🙂
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Oooh! Cross-legged is a good tip! I’ve written a note to the school for tomorrow; and my daycare provider is going to speak to the bus driver again (I realize she’s driving, so there’s limits in what she can do), but if it doesn’t resolve based on that and what I’ve told her to date – I’m totally adding that one to the magic arsenal.
I mostly just want it ended soon enough that it doesn’t ruin the bus experience for the whole year/beyond.
Fingers crossed and thanks!
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Excellent, all little girls need a well-equipped magic arsenal. Hope it all works. 🙂
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I am thankful for the TMTT Blog Hop too… I’m just to anal about my lists and it takes me FOREVER to put together my posts and I haven’t had time (or energy) the past couple weeks to put one together. We’ll see how my evening tonight pans out!
Lot of Halloween Fun going on at your house this week!
Praying for your daughter and the bullying situation. That’s too bad. But, great you glean some ‘thankful’ from the situation.
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I find the TMTT posts take forever for me to put together too. Easily spend a few days working on them a) picking the songs b) writing it out then c) making sure it all makes sense. So I hear you! That said, hope to see you on there this week. I finished editing my post earlier tonight so I’m feeling pretty organized ….
Thanks for the kind words re: the bus situation. I’m hoping there will be more thankful soon on that front too.
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