I had never met Schmutzie before yesterday but I like her style already. While visiting my fairy blogmother I read of Schmutzie's project which Jennifer is also going to do. The whole idea is to slow down enough to center yourself on the blessings in life and count them daily for a year. A gratitude journal, if you will. Of course this isn't a new concept, but it's one that I've never fully embraced without getting sidetracked by the fast pace of being all that is Poopie. This time I'll give it my best effort. The magic number is five, and some days it can be pretty hard to come up with just ONE thing to be grateful for. But you know what? I'm sure going to give it my best shot. Because, you know. It's almost Thanksgiving.

1. Looking forward to some quality time with my adopted daughter Heather this week.

2. Also anticipating ( but by no means counting on ) a visit with a loud mouth guy I haven't seen in way too long.

3. Being knocked in the soft dirt by three loving dogs who fight over which will have the pleasure of greeting me first.

4. Seeing the bullheaded wife of my daily-stop family owned grocery store owner and sharing pecans with her straight from the bags in my back seat to her plastic sack.

5. Scoring leftover biscuits from Mom for the dressing and a ten foot piece of PVP pipe from Daddy to whack those stubborn pecan limbs.

I won't be posting these things necessarily HERE every day, but they will be recorded. When I figure out how to share, I'll let you know.