As with most Sundays, Nick and I spent a lot of time in the kitchen. I am thankful for all the things that make my time in the kitchen a little more convenient and a little less stressful. There are so many things, I could fill up the entire month doing only kitchen gadgets and appliances, but what fun is that? I’ll do a brief summary. I’m sorry to all of the things I forget to mention. It doesn’t mean I love them any less.

Appliances are fantastic. Dishwashers, refrigerators (sometimes two), freezers (sometimes two), etc. These are all fantastic things. I know you’re thinking, really, Jill? You’re thankful for your fridge? Yes, yes I am. We recently replaced our fridge. Do you know what it’s like to have an ice maker after not having an ice maker after having an ice maker? It’s a slice of heaven. But even more pleasing than the new ice maker is the new sink. For years our sink has been a piece of shit. There was a fine line between ice cold and molten lava hot with no in between, the sprayer didn’t work, and the faucet leaked. I’m pleased to say all the ducks are in order now, and it makes me hate doing dishes that much less.

Small appliances also rock. I love my Keurig coffee pot. I also love our new food processor. Look at what it did to this onion in about 3 seconds!

Crock pots, the pressure cooker, mixer, blender, etc. Then there’s all the small gadgets. I bought a microplane grater that I rarely use, but whenever I need one I’m glad I have it. Knives, bowls, shears, pots, pans—the list never ends.

Here are some pics from the past couple weekends because… well, why not?

Wine. I love me some red wine. In fact, I love it so much that if I could only drink one kind of alcohol for the rest of my life, that’s what I would choose.

Wine drunk is the best kind of drunk. It makes me all warm and fuzzy and numbish but not numb like hard liquor does. And happy. Verry happy. My favorite is a mild, sweet red, like Pinot noir or Lambrusco.

All this talk about wine makes me want some. Maybe I’ll have a glass tonight.

As the official first day of not being on the Whole Life Challenge, I’d like to express my thanks for all the delicious things I haven’t been allowed to eat for the past eight weeks: dairy, grains, starches, corn, sugar and sweeteners, alcohol and soda, and artificial ingredients that make food oh-so-delicious.

With that being said, I’m also thankful for not eating those things for the past eight weeks, because I learned a) I don’t need them; b) how easy it was not to eat them; c) my body feels better without them; and d) they are much more enjoyable when I don’t eat them all the time.

So here’s to you, delicious things. May you always be enjoyed in moderation.

I am thankful for audiobooks. They are awesome, especially while in the car. I usually “read” more during the summer because I drive to Blog Cabin almost every weekend, but I still manage to get a few squeezed in during the winter, 20 minutes at a time.

I have a long, and I mean long, list of books on my to read list. It’s overwhelming, and to make matters worse, I’m a slow reader. It’s nice to be able to listen while I’m doing other things. It’s like… something about murdering birds with rocks or something.

Today I’m thankful for calculators.

Don’t get me wrong. I love math. Algebra? I do it for fun. Calculus? Where do I sign up? Give me a complicated equation. Throw some Xs and Ys in there, it’s all good. I’m good at figuring stuff out. It just makes sense to me. It’s the basic math I struggle with. Multiplication tables? Anything over 5 x 5 makes me take pause. What is 7 x 9? Fuck if I know! I mean, I know it’s more than 2. I know it’s less than 1,000. Wait, there’s a finger trick for this one, isn’t there?

Nick laughs at me whenever I pay at a restaurant. I have no problem figuring out the tip. No, my struggle is adding the tip to the total. I finally quit trying to round my total to a whole number because it caused me too much stress.

So thank you, calculator, for making my life that much easier.