Owens kids, circa 1994
There’s no place like home.
What a most beautiful sky that welcomed us.
To be tan,
And to live ten feet from the beach,
And to never have to wear a coat,
Or pants very often,
To have salty hair,
To have sand between the sheets,
And to get loss of sunshine.
I miss all of that.
I always will.
But,
I am happy to be home.
I always will be.
Sunday.
Tis the last of my daily gratitude posts.
I’m grateful for this great blog journal and blessing to record and remember and share my thoughts and experiences.
Today at church I was sustained as the new Young Women president for our ward. How exciting and happy. :) I’ve been serving in YW since I got home in May, and it’s so great to have a purpose of helping the girls. This is going to be great.
Chris and I also had tithing settlement with our bishop and talked about our temple recommends so we can be sealed in December. I am grateful for tithing and for the blessing to give fast offerings. Giving is great. I’m grateful for our bishop’s words and guidance and the inspiration of the spirit. Oh! And I’m grateful we were on time to church today. We’ve been doing good yay.
This evening, Chris’s friend Richard came over. I’m grateful to have him in our lives. I went over to my mama’s house and helped her move stuff. I’m so glad she lives so close, and my dad and sister too. It’s so nice to have family around. I stopped at my sister’s too and that’s always pretty good. She always has snacks for me to eat hehe.
When I got home, the elders called and asked if I could go on a visit with them. I’m grateful I said yes because it was such a great and rejuvenating visit! Yes yes yes.
Here’s one of my only pictures from the day. Chris took it as I was sleeping, apparently with the cat on my head. haha. 
I am grateful for my life and for who and how I am. I always have more progressing I want to do in many areas, but I feel like I’m on a great path in many aspects of my life. And I’m grateful for the people and forces who have helped me on my journey thus far. I’m grateful for my testimony and that I know God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit love me and want me to have joy. I’m grateful for the promptings and guidance I receive to help bring me that joy and allow me to share it with others. So grateful to have the family I do. They’re the best for me.
I’m grateful Christopher is feeling a little better each day! Today he actually came on a little walk and we cut down our Christmas tree! :) There are so many wonderful things about our life. Though Chris hasn’t been feeling well lately, our down time together has been memorable and good.
We cut our little tree down with a kitchen knife. We liked the blue and green tones on this gem! And that’s why we brought her into our home. Turns out she was much smaller than I expected when we brought her inside. But we made it work. :) I went to Ulmers and got a little strand of lights, and we strung some plastic pearls around her, and then we put a bunch of sand dollar ornaments on (this sweet lady in our ward gave them to us when we got married last year). Our tree is still a work in progress, but it makes us happy.
We ended the night by watching Netflix (S.H.I.E.L.D!) and I eventually came across Dinosaurs! Joy.
I’m grateful for warm showers, and when the bathroom isn’t very freezing when I get out of the shower.
I’m grateful for the great trail by our house and the Christmas tree hunting I’ve been doing.
And I’m grateful for our delightful evening. Tonight Chris and I have had some great Christmas celebrations with Christmas movies and paper snowflakes and pumpkin pie and thanksgiving leftovers. Really really good and simple memories.
THANKSGIVING! Complete with hand crafted fruit turkey.
I am grateful Chris was feeling good enough today to go for a drive and eat some food! I am grateful for the abundance we have in our lives and the delicious feast we were able to partake of with some wonderful friends and family, including Chris’s good friend Richard, the Joneses, Bowdens, elders, and my lovely mother. And omg, Carolee’s coconut cream pie… so good. As well as my mashed potatoes and Richard’s corn and Shona’s stuffing and Carolee’s rolls and the Jones’ salad. Yum, makes me want some right meow.
I am really grateful for the seasons, and that it’s chilly out, and for the beautiful walks we Palmers go on. 
I’m grateful Chris is feeling better than before! He’s still not moving around much, but he didn’t throw up all day! Maybe because of these delicious ginger candies I found at saveumore! jk. The apple ginger ones are good though. 
Okay, so here in Homer we have Safeway (formerly called Eagle), Kachemak Wholesale, and Saveumore. Can I tell you what, I am grateful for saveumore. It’s sort of like a mini costco, but more expensive of course, but they just have so many cool things there and some really good ethnic food aisles. Lots of great stuff. Their produce sometimes isn’t as good as Safeway’s, but it’s still a good place to go. Really with grocery shopping here, you gotta hit up both places, and in the summer, the farmers market is a must. What I plan for next year, is a little bit of gardening and growing some of our own food. Nothing better than that homies.
Anyway, I am grateful for truck drivers, and stores, and so many many people along the food production process that get potatoes (or bananas or chocolate or squash or bread) from the ground (tree or field or wherever) to the store and to my house. Ideally I’d like us to be able to be as self sufficient as possible with our food, but I am grateful for those who help provide so that I can make a nice lovely meal at home for me and my dear.
At safeway today, I am grateful that I saw my favorite and previous neighbor Kate, Mom, Alan, Jason, and Daniel at the store. How nice it is to live here, and to have a variety of things to buy. Oh!! I am also very very grateful that we have monies to buy things with! Chris does a good job working hard and making monies. We also use a budget/track spending program and app called YNAB. It’s cool and useful to us. Apps are great.
Especially the sims freeplay app. :) Here’s one of my few pictures from the day.
FUNNY picture of Bel
Scary day today. Chris woke up with like a vertigo attack (probably not just because we watched Interstellar last night ;)) and he just kept throwing up and feeling horrible and weak and his eyes were going kooky. He was diagnosed with MS when he was 17 but today was his first ever episode.
I am grateful for good health and for healing. I am grateful for a great physical body that moves wonderfully and feels good. I am grateful for helpful people with such genuine concern. I’m grateful for priesthood blessings, because they always make things so much better and hopeful.
I’m grateful that we can make good decisions, and that we can communicate with good people who offer guidance and love. Aside from our families, Chris and I feel very thankful for our friends Glen and Shona today because they really went out of their way to offer us any sort of help they thought we might need.
On a lighter note, I’m grateful for our neato blankets, and that we have a good couch for laying on, and for falling asleep to movies on (Cool Runnings today, such a classic).
I’m especially grateful to have my Christ honey lover sweet mancub and for the blessing it is to serve each other. Chris has a wonderful family and I do too, and that is very nice indeed. I’m so very really grateful we are together. And I’m grateful for bedtime and the recap at the end of everyday and that Chris is feeling slightly better.
My walk this morning was extra lovely. I’m thankful that our loving creators made this beautiful world for us, full of diversity.
Holly and I helped Mom move today, and that was very nice too. It is very good to serve.
I’m grateful for this sight I saw today!!!! A guy cruising around with a cat on his shoulders!!
I’m grateful for our food. We had pita pizzas tonight before going to watch Interstellar. They were pretty grand. The movie was good too. Kinda cuckoo to wrap your mind around all the three hours of black holes and time warps, but twas good indeed.
We got a glow in the dark chuck it ball for Edel. It is so funny playing with it with her in the dark! First this glowing ball soars off into the distance, and then Edel books it, puts it in her mouth, and the glowing orb comes bouncing along back at us. So funny.
As always, I love the end of the day, praying and talking with my honey husband.
I love sundays. The day has a general feeling of loveliness.
Today I am grateful for the time I took to prepare for my sunday lesson. Also, our sacrament meeting today was super! The musical number was fantastic. It was awe-some. And the speakers were inspired too and I’m grateful when people take the time to share their thoughts and experiences with others. Church is great for me.
I’m thankful that Chris and I have funny animals that make us chuckle everyday.
I’m thankful that my sister and her family live so close. We went over there tonight and I played sims with the girls. :) And I had some goat and deer. It’s very nice having healthy meat around. And then Chris and I went to the Bowden’s house and tried some homemade granola. Yum. And piña coladas. Food is quite nice.
So pumpkin pie is reeeeal good to me these days. I’m grateful for a loving mother who brought some pumpkin pie over for us. Sharing is caring. :) I’m also grateful she brought us mouse traps… because we killed the mouse who has been living under our stove. It was kind of traumatic, but I think it’ll be better than adding a mouse to our house.
ALSO, the song Glorious by David Archuleta from Meet the Mormons is one of my new favorites.
It is lovely to live so close to the beach! We need to go more. It’s just a walk away! I’m grateful we went to the beach this morning, and that there was a really nice lady who took a picture of Chris and Edel and I!
I’m grateful for Homer’s delicious food. Maura’s, the Bagel Shop, Finn’s Pizza, Fat Olives… Chris and I love the Bagel Shop. I do desire more yummy food around here though. This summer Chris and I ate out a lot (lots of good pizza), but now that I’m not cleaning boats at night, evenings are free for cooking and making delicious food of our own!
I’m grateful for savemore’s Christmas festivity too. Yahoo wamu.
Happy 11 month anniversary. <3
Today has been a good day. I loved being a Chapman school. Loved it and I’m so grateful for that. The past two days I’ve overheard some funny quotes.
I’m grateful for our car, that has no car payment (because I think that’s silly). It faithfully gets us from here to there. And it’s nice and comfy and a perfect size and the gas mileage is decent. We don’t really call our car by name, but at the beginning I thought maybe we could call her Blanca, but it hasn’t stuck, in case you were wondering.
I’m grateful for the Boxcar Children Movie and blog time in front of the heater. :):) I like cartoons. Apparently Edel likes them too. 
I’m grateful the we live so close to family.
Grateful for the yummy dinner we had a fat olives with Mama tonight. I haven’t been there in forever. Good eats, and I’m so glad Mom was there with us. And we even saw my brother in law and nieces and their friend there too. Funny.
I’m grateful for warm showers, and a world full of people. 
Thankful Thursday and today I am most grateful that Chris made me go to volleyball! Note to smelf: I love playing volleyball. GO PLAY.
Today I subbed as a librarian/intervention teacher at Chapman School. LOVED IT. It was really good and I’m so glad I said yes to the job. It’s like a twenty minute drive to Anchor Point. I went to Chapman for kindergarten, first, and second, and it was great being out there and with the kids and staff. What a great school.
I’m grateful for my school days. What great experiences. In elementary I was in quest with Mrs. Ladd, and I did lots of library stuff with her. I loved my time with her. Anyway, my library days came in handy today as I labeled a bunch of books and organized the library. It was a really good and valuable school day for me. So grateful for how it’s working out. Say yes.
I’m grateful I followed the spirit and went to the sign language class at the church. Good to learn and good fellowshipping and a good time with beloved people. I felt like I should go, and after trying to talk myself out of it, I just went. And it was good.
Our kitty Bel pooped on the living room floor. LAME. I was playing piano and smelled poo, and then I saw it. My honey husband came and cleaned it right up like a champ. And that motivated me to clean the kitchen and unload the dishwasher after three days. :) I love our life, kitty poop and all, and I’m grateful for the life Heavenly Father has blessed us with.
I am grateful for my beautiful morning. Edel girl and I went out for our walk, and just decided to head all the way down the beach. Being the end of November, the sun rises pretty late in the morning, so fortunately I’m usually awake during sunrise, which is one of my very most favorite times of day.
I’m grateful for the bagel shop and their heavenly bagels and schmears. We had a girls lunch there today and it was quite nice. Than I went back to my sista’s house, where her cat Spike gave her a hug, where she gave my dad a haircut (but absolutlely no beard trimming), and then I said cheers to my pops since he’s headed back to the slope for work work. 
I am so so grateful for my nieces and our adventures together. They fill me with life and love. I picked them up from the bus stop and then we went to safeway (formerly Eagle:)) and got some things to make pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. When we first walked in the store, there’s all the flowers. And the girls were like, “Can we get Mom some flowers?”
And they really wanted to get her some flowers. So we did. And it was splendid. We decided on tulips, but they couldn’t decide on a color together. So I’m grateful for the florist working there, because she offered some help and made a half pink and half orange bouquet of tulips. Then the girls wrote a little note on those little flower cards for their wonderful mother. So precious.
A buch of us peeps got together for dinner at a friends house, where I partook of half a burger of a real, wild cow. It was good. Grateful I liked it. :) I’m not a burger eater, but with all the yummy burger fixings, and an opportunity at healthy meat, I’m grateful I said yes.
I felt really grateful to be a mutual too. We prepared thanksgiving food baskets tonight for some needier families. I’m so grateful for the faithful relief society sisters who came to help. And I’m grateful for the words and conversation we all shared. I’m grateful to serve in the YW presidency with Katie and Brittany (and Tammy), and for their wonderful lessons and their love for the Lord, his gospel, his church, and his children.
I am so grateful to come home to my sweetest sweet, and our animals (or our petting zoo as my silly sally sister Stacy calls it). 
(Amelia kitty not pictured, since she was out and about doing who knows what. Cats are funny.)
Today was a hard day. Lots of crying.
As much as I like free play time, it’s really good and really important to work. The past month I haven’t really been working. Somedays I go a little cuckoo and don’t know what to do with myself and the time I’m given. At other times I really really enjoy the time I have to make quality food, play piano, blog, go on walks, make smoothies, keep the house clean, make our home more lovely. I’ve been able to do some lovely things and I’m grateful for that freedom.
I’m substitute teaching now and I still have freedom, but I also have the blessing to do quality work and to make some monies. I’m reeeeal grateful for that. It’s working out well.
Anyway, today I was struggling with useless thoughts of purposelessness and purposeless thoughts of usefulness. It was hard. But our loyal furry creatures and my lovely caring husband and family made me feel much better. I’m so grateful for these souls.
FOTOS. At the end of my day, I decided to go read with the girls, since they are full of light and love that rubs on me. :) I took the Little Prince to read with them. Katy fell asleep, and so Natalie and I just kept reading and talking on the top bunk. It was so good and happy. We talked about baobabs and all sorts of other things. Also, pictures of my precious nephew that come to my phone throughout the day make me happy and grateful. I love my family peeps.
Monday. FHE – noite familiar.
Everyday, I feel so grateful for our home. I love it. Chris bought it shortly after we met two and a half years ago. What a good choice he made for a first home! I love it so. I love that it’s ours (I mean the mortgage company’s, and a small part of it is ours – I’d choose the wall in the kitchen and the natural wood doors and trim, and the black door knobs, and the two huge windows in the living room).
I’m grateful our house is nice and clean (right meow) and that we have a washer!
I’m grateful for this family nap moment that I saw at my sista’s house. 
Here’s a picture of Chris’s yellow breakfast. Grateful for our foods. Thank you farmers and so many other people along the way that help bring food into my home!!
I’m grateful that instead of saying “no”, I said “yes” and did a puzzle with little Natalie girl!
I’m grateful for a foot rub from my honey boy. I’m grateful for clean sheets. I’m grateful for our kitchen table and chairs, and our other furniture too. I love our home.
I’m grateful that my dad is funny. 
Today, I am most grateful for Empty Nesters FHE. Chris and I hosted it at the Palmer Palace tonight and the empty nesters in the ward and the missionaries came over. It was great! Yummy sourdough waffles, and a super good veggie quiche with basil in it. I’m really picky with eggs, but these were goooood. And I’m grateful for that. I want to like eggs. :)
It was soooooooo good getting to know everyone better. I love the conversation space in our home. It is so good to sit around and talk.
Shabbat Shalom.
Okay, Christopher Robin is very very helpful with mostly anything technological. It’s super nice and useful he’s so handy that way to everyone. At church, it was Chris’s job to set up for the stake conference broadcast (we watch broadcasted since we live an hour and half from the stake center). Well we were going to leave our house at 9:30 to allow enough time for set up and stuff. Well… we woke up at 9:33. Eek! the Cat!
It was so funny, and we were up and out the door in like ten minutes (miracle) and everything got all set up in time! With a couple minutes to spare even. Wowie. I’m grateful for that little miracle. And I’m grateful for the many days that I don’t need an alarm clock.
I’m so grateful for PIANO and that I’ve been playing a lot more. I love it soooo much. So grateful that I’ve been blessed with that gift.
I’m so grateful to have my parents and oldest sister and her family around. Here’s a mediocre picture of great people doing normal things — Holly highlighting her own hair, Natalie drinking, or pretending to drink, pickle juice, Katy eating sweet potato pudding, and Mama listening to her.
The girls and I played outside for a while today and it was so nice and fun. Katy and Natalie put their swimsuits on to jump into their little pond. They put their feet in it. And they enjoyed being in their swimsuits, as well as using their new umbrellas from Grammy. We worked on building a fort too and it reminded me so much of when I was a kid. We had so many forts. I loved it. And the air tonight was so clean and cool and refreshing. I love being an aunty.
Chris and I have been watching a movie like every night. Usually I whip out a couple of snowflakes while we’re doing that. I do love all my paper snowflakes! :) Grateful for them. 
