This time of year I start thinking. Around here, most of the people say, "Uh oh, she's thinking" and it probably means another To Do list is about to be shared with them. But there's something about the change from Daylight Savings Time to Standard Time that means that I slow down a bit. I have more time to think and to ponder because of that. I go slower.
I am already thinking about next year, but I am also thinking about this year and what has happened for us at Miss Babs, and what has happened in our personal lives.
It's been a busy and eventful year. There are 9 of us now at the studio and 2 part timers as well. We are a close group and we share the good times as well as the bad. Among us and our extended families, we have experienced and shared a marriage, a family death, a couple of car accidents, a surgery or two, beginnings and endings of relationships, poor health, training new employees, travel, sleeping in tight quarters, insomnia, loss of a pet, anger, frustration, lots and lots of laughter, and lots of music.
We are kindred souls when it comes to work and doing a good job, and we care for each other. This very real group of women that I work with is what I am grateful for this year on a personal level, plus my understanding husband and family.
This foundation of good people has allowed Miss Babs (the business) to grow and continue to do creative things this year. We built an addition to the studio that has given us a drying space and a place to store a good part of our inventory, and create a second dyeing space.
Under construction!!
Dottie, our redneck dog, during construction
And here is the Studio today with snow coming down. We have some things left to do outside to decks and railings, but it is wonderful inside!
In tribute to Thanksgiving, please share a thought or two about what you are grateful for this Thanksgiving season. We will do a drawing using a random number generator on ... and we'll be giving away a skein of Ephemeral, with a pair of HiyaHiya circular needles, and Heidi Kirrmaier's Windward pattern.
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I am thankful that I have come through the dark times in life with the help of God and my loving family. I have a caring, hard working, supportive husband, two amazing daughters and my prayers were answered this year with the birth of my adorable first grandchild. I have been fortunate enough to be able to retire early, began my lifelong dream of spinning this year and have an incredible stash of yarn, fiber and knitting books, patterns and tools. I am especially thankful that we still have my mom and mom-in-law despite some health issues.
I am thankful for family, for friends, for having good health at 65 that enables me to do all the things that both challenge and inspire. I am thankful that I have never lost my curiosity about the world and my passion to keep learning and stretching my imagination.
For thirty-two years I have been the Thanksgiving Day cook. We have our meal in the middle of the day, so I have always found myself alone, at 5 in the morning, in the kitchen, just the turkey and me. For some of those years — a chunk of them, to be honest — I bore a little resentment towards those who were able to sleep in late, wake at their leisure, prepare and present themselves in their pulled together, fine clothing for the comfort-food meal of the year.
Several years ago, with my mind wandering a few moments at work, a little tired and mentally planning what I needed to do to get the holiday meal going at home, I looked around me and it dawned on me that, tired maybe, stressed a little, I wasn’t seeing my blessings. I work in a real prison, not a kitchen prison. I looked around at my students (I am an academic teacher) and thought about them. They’re not going home. They would like to see family. Many would probably give anything to stand in a kitchen at 5 AM.
I decided to follow the advice I give to the offenders I work with: Focus on what I have and can do, not what I don’t have and can’t do. I have a lot. I have reasonably good health — I’m healthy enough to stand in a kitchen for several hours, several times a year. I have a warm home and can afford to offer meals to those who come to me. I have people who make plans to come to me. I have a place for those who live too far from their own families, or for single family members who live alone. I’m thankful for the interesting people who I met for the first time in my kitchen on Thanksgiving Day (we were a military family). And I’m thankful for leftovers (;)
I am grateful that our son survived major surgery and is doing somewhat better, and that all three of us (and the cats) will be here at home together for Thanksgiving. We may not be able to travel to see relatives yet, but home is wherever we all are.
This year has been a pretty rough year, we lost my wonderful Grandpa in October. But I have lots to be thankful for too. I’m so proud of and thankful for my sister, she bought her first house! :-) And as a single mother of four daughters, I think that’s quite an achievement. I’m also thankful for my wonderful husband, my gorgeous nieces and that I had the opportunity to be with my beloved Grandpa the final two weeks of his life. Thanks for doing this giveaway, it made me sit and really think of all that I have in life. Happy Thanksgiving. :-D