31 Things I Am Grateful For In August 2020

One of the blogs that I've followed for awhile is Snappy Casual. I actually discovered this blog through her husband's website, Words of Williams. He is a finance guy so of course that's who I found first! But miss Snappy Casual has my heart as well. I look forward to the emails that announce a new blog post so much!  I love that I am not inundated with them since she doesn't post frequently because I find that sometimes, my mental health is struggling to allow joy in so I let it sit unread in my emails for awhile. Lately, that has been happening more often than not but when I do open the email to read the post, I feel joy in my heart. 

One such post that Snappy Casual does each month is a __ Things I am Grateful For. It's simply a post with a list of things she is grateful for based on the number of days in the month. For August, that was 31. And of course, it also comes with fun family photos of her adorable crew.

The joy that I feel after reading these blog posts led me to think about showing more gratitude in my life. I am not very good at this at all - I forget to say thank you more than I care to admit. I think about that after the fact and it makes me so sad! I need to become better at that so starting a list of grateful things seems like a great way to do that!

31 Things I am Grateful for in August 2020

1. two 500 piece Harry Potter puzzles that Leta gave us a year or so ago - Owen has really gotten into them despite them being so small!

2. a big yard that is super dry so it doesn't grow very fast = less mowing :)

3. neighbor kids that are around the boys' ages

4. celebrating my dear baby sister's life with a small funeral and eating all of her favorite foods!

5. Frog Hollow for the amazing care and attention my boys get while mom and dad work

6. flexible work arrangements

7. my renewed interest in StepBet - I've really upped my walking game this month!

8. campfires, hobo dinners, and smores with family

9. finally making those energy balls I've wanted to make for YEARS

10. Michael Connelly books.

11. eating take out and sleeping a ton while the boys visited their grandpa and grandma for a weekend

12. multiple levels in our home

13. washer/dryer on the same levels as our bedrooms

14. picking fresh tomatoes from my potted garden

15. Just Dance

16. The Search by NF - we can all learn a little about the need to take care of ourselves from this song

17. being able to get a new phone quickly when my S7 died randomly during a very meaningful and important few days

18. the new camera on said new phone

19. stunning evening skies

20. living near another high school - love being close to the lights and action of high school sports

21. homemade fruit popsicles - we've used peaches, strawberries, blueberries and an occasional kiwi and banana

22. the Iowa City Community School District administrators and teachers who have continued to care for us deeply while the leaders in this state do not

23. dear friends

24. Tik Tok - I'm OBSESSED

25. my new Harry Potter headbands from Fitness Fox in honor of Leta 

26. the generosity of so many people, between their kind thoughts and words to all of the amazing donations to Leta's GoFundMe page. Zach and Nadia will benefit greatly from this

27. my chiropractor and massage therapist who legit change my life after every visit

28. my boys finding their courage for their very first full chiro workup; Owen LOVED it; Jack not so much but I think we'll get there

29. flexible spending accounts and Gspice's side hustle

30. first tomato canning of 2020 - I realize now I prefer doing smaller batches over the season versus one or two HUGE batches

31. ThredUp to the rescue for used athletic clothes for the colder months

I'd love to hear what others are grateful for during such a rough and tumble year. Feel free to comment some of your thoughts and/or write up your own grateful blog post!