Day 30 NaBloPoMo

Today's (final) NaBloMoPo prompt:  What has been the hardest part about blogging daily?

My desire to blog goes in fits and starts, depending on my mood and on what's going on in my life and in my head, so the hardest part about blogging daily is thinking of something I'd like to write about every day.  (The second hardest part: finding the TIME to blog daily, particularly on the weekends; on weekdays, I always have my lunch hour.)

I have also found it challenging at times to think of something for which I am grateful each day to post about. I feel as though I do often pause to be grateful for the many, many good things in my life, and yet, when pressed to find just one to post about, at times I have struggled.  Once I get beyond the obvious--my sons, my husband, my family, my friends, my healthy, my job--I have to really think to come up with things.

Two things I have not yet posted about being grateful for are two things that have been really important to me for as long as I can remember: books and music.  I literally cannot recall the time in my life before I learned to read--I was reading on my own before kindergarten--and I have been an avid reader my entire life.  I remember my parents getting special permission in elementary school for me to take home more than the two-books-per-week maximum our school library allowed because I could easily read both books the first day I brought them home.  I couldn't even begin to list all the books and authors I've read (and enjoyed) over the course of my life.  Having limited time (and mental energy) to read has been one of the hard things for me about my transition into parenthood.

As for music, I can remember my parents playing various kinds for us even as a small child.  My mom taught me to play the accordion when I was 6, and I later learned to play the clarinet (my main instrument), the saxophone, the oboe, the xylophone, the guitar and (most recently) the piano.  I sang in the church choir throughout my childhood.  I love many kinds of music.

When someone poses the hypothetical question of whether I would rather lose my sight or my hearing, I am never able to choose because both would be such a huge loss.  (Although I suppose if I went blind, I could learn to read in Braille eventually.)

I am grateful to have the eyesight and ability to read, even if I don't always have the time to do it as much as I'd like, and I am grateful for music and the ability to hear and enjoy it.

One last note for my "Buy Nothing New" month. . . I posted about slipping and buying a rubber ducky a few weeks ago.  I also slipped on Thanksgiving and bought some items from both Gap and Gymb.oree online.  (The sale prices were so good, they lured me in!)  Apart from those purchases, though, I actually got through the entire month without buying anything new except food, medicine, gas and the Christmas gifts I had already planned to buy, and I did cut back on lunches out during the week.  I must say that, after the first couple of weeks, it wasn't as hard as I thought it would be.

My next challenge for myself is to buy no clothing for my sons. . . not even used.  Between my MOMs consignment sale and a few other sources of gently used (adorable!) clothing, they now have more than enough clothes to last through their third birthday, apart from shoes, socks and maybe pajamas.  It is so fun to shop for them, and really hard for me to resist when I see a bargain (like a new Janie & Jack shirt that is now 10% of its original price, for example). . . but I don't want to go to excess.  (MM would say that's already happened, LOL.)

Happy last day of November!