30 Days of Thanksgiving: Days 1-4

So, I've been meaning to start this, but when I go to my blog, I blog about something else and then completely forget about it. Well, I remembered today, so here goes!

I want to participate in the 30 days of Thanksgiving. Obviously, I'm a few days behind. I'm just going to combine my posts for days one through four right here so that I can save time and space!

November 1: I am thankful for my wonderful fiancé. He truly is everything I had hoped for in a mate. He is caring and thoughtful. He loves our four wonderful pups (I came into the relationship with more than just emotional baggage). He took to them as if they had always been his. He's even gentle and understanding with our "special" pup, Jippy (he's not really the brightest dog, but he's definitely full of love and eager to please). He is content. It takes so little to please him. I simply have to be myself. That is a wonderful feeling. He's nerdy and cute. :) He's hardworking and supportive. He is perfect.

November 2: I am thankful for my four beautiful pups. I don't know what I would do without them. They bring joy to my life every day. They are hilarious and cute. They are also loving and attentive (if I cry, all four of them want to give me kisses until I can't help but laugh). They truly care about me. They know when I have a bad day and they are there to make it better. They are so easy to please. They just want attention. Hell, the best present for them is the empty toilet paper roll (seriously, they play with it until it's in shreds on the floor).

They are all different and unique, and I love them all for different reasons. Jack is my buddy. He wants to be everywhere that I am. He loves to cuddle, but he also loves to play. He's the most "human" of the four.

Cody is my protector (as well as the protector of the other three pups). He is the most attentive to my feelings. He will sit with me with his head on my lap and just stare up at me until my heart melts. He is incredibly eager to please. He wants nothing more than for me to be happy (well, and for me to be with him).

Jippy is my "special" child. He is not the smartest pup, but he really does try. He wants to please me, he just gets confused easily. It is absolutely adorable. He is so full of energy and life. He can run for hours, but he still wants my love and affection. He needs me (not every person can handle Jippy's needs; I know from experience -- which is why I am so happy that Philip loves and understands him!). He makes me laugh. :)

Daly is my little girl. She is the most needy of the four. She constantly wants attention. She will shove the other three out of the way to get to my hand. She is silly. She is really sweet though. She will always remind me that she loves me (she makes me feel special because she doesn't love just anyone; she's actually afraid of new people). And, when she's feeling playful, she is CUTE. She can get the other dogs to play so easily. She is my adorable little girl. :)

November 3: I am thankful for my wonderful mother. She is there for me through thick and thin. When I need to vent, she is there to listen to the very end (putting in appropriate sounds to show disgust, of course :)). She may be hundreds of miles away, but she's still there for me. She is always supportive and understanding. She is sensitive just like me so when either one of us is upset, we can cry together and support each other. She spoils my pups rotten and I know that she will be a fantastic grandmother when Philip and I have human children, too. :) And, she makes me laugh. She's one of my best friends in the whole world. I am incredibly lucky to have her as my mother. :)

November 4: I am thankful for my job. I know this post may not seem as meaningful as the first three, but it is important to me (and I wanted to break up the "I'm thankful for my family" posts so that it doesn't just get repetitive -- no worries, family! I will get to the rest of you as well!). I know that I am lucky. Not only do I have a job that more than pays for my bills; I have a job that I really enjoy. My boss is wonderful and funny. My coworkers are hardworking and friendly. My job is not really that difficult, but it is fulfilling. I am fortunate to be able to say (finally!) that I really do love my job. For once, I don't dread going into work every day. I do really look forward to my weekends, but it's because I can't wait to actually see Philip; not because I can't stand the work week! I know that this makes me one of the lucky few.

Heroes + Pro-Life Thoughts

So, I started off naming this post "Heroes + Abortion Thoughts", but then when I thought about it, I thought it might give people the wrong idea ("Tara! You're pregnant?! And you're having an abortion!?" ... Oh, how the rumors would fly.).

Anyway, last night was the return of Heroes after a 2 month long hiatus. I was going nuts! I love HEROES! It was pretty good; I wasn't disappointed. Now I can't wait until Monday to see another new episode! I think that I will probably start going through some of the stuff on NBC's website. The extra heroes stuff. They have online episodes which are different from the ones aired on television. They focus on different characters and such. It sounds cool but I don't know if it could be as cool as the show aired on tv. I mean, it is AWESOME! :)

Also, on a completely different note, the other day I heard people talking on the radio about abortion. There was some excuse about how this woman would have to raise the child on her own and she was having the abortion for the child's sake so that it wouldn't have to grow up like that. It made me think. How many kids do you really think actually sit down and think, "My life sucks. I wish my mom would have had an abortion." ??? I don't think it would be very many.

I mean, my mom was still in high school when she got pregnant with me. She went to her senior prom alone and very pregnant. She graduated VERY pregnant with me. She had morning sickness all throughout her pregnancy with me. She married my dad and moved into a trailer. She must have been miserable and frightened. We were incredibly poor up until I was about high school age. My dad was mean (not a good father or husband) up until I was in high school (long story... it took my mom leaving him to figure out not to take us for granted). But, I have never once thought, "You know, I wouldn't have to be here in these miserable circumstances if my mom would have just had an abortion."

And I worked with underprivileged kids at KMS in Salisbury. A lot of their parents were in jail or were addicts. Some of them were homeless or living in a group home. I can't imagine one of them wishing that their mothers had just aborted them. They were struggling, but still happy to be surviving.

Joe's mother got pregnant with him at the age of 16 (and she had already had one child! And she had 3 more after that. There are at least 3 different fathers for them... no one is exactly sure). She was a drug addict. A lot of pro-choice people would have agreed that it would have been best to abort the fetus. Where would I be now if that were the case? I can't imagine not meeting Joe.

Joe had a hard life growing up. He'll tell you that. While he's a little on the crazy side, does he seem to be any worse off now than most people who grew up in normal homes? I don't think so. I think he is a wonderful human being.

I may have become more liberal during my stay at Catawba, but I will never ever be Pro-Choice. Nothing will ever make me sway from my Pro-Life stance. I don't believe in killing of any kind. Especially not that innocent fetus inside of you with so much potential. No one will ever convince me otherwise.

Irritation...

So, remodeling isn't so bad. My mom and I got a lot accomplished while she was here. That wasn't the irritating part. The irritating part is that the people we are paying to get stuff done are not doing anything. My mom and I work for free and we got more done than what the people we are paying got done. They still haven't finished the stuff that they promised us that they'd have finished by the time my mom arrived. Well, she already LEFT and it's still not finished! It's so frustrating.

The house is painted. The living room looks great in Posh Red. The dining room and the master bedroom look great in Vanilla Bean (It's so creamy!). There was chair railing on the center of the wall in the work-out room, so we switched to a darker blue and just painted below the chair railing and left the top white. It looks awesome. Lowe's gave me the wrong color green for the kitchen. The formula is off, so I had to switch colors. It looks good now though. Mom and I changed the color for the music room. It's called Gray Teal. It's a pretty color and it's brighter. I think it looks more musical. :)

Yesterday, Paul finally put in the glass blocks for the window in the master bathroom. And Buddy finally got started on the tile in the half bathroom. Both of those things were supposed to be finished before my mom got here. They didn't get started on them until after my mom left.

My mom and I got the drywall up in the half bathroom and the drywall up where the door for the bathroom used to be. The plaster didn't dry in time, so I have to finish up finishing the drywall by myself. It's a pain in the butt, but at least now I know how to do it. :)