Mental Mama has nominated me to be the next in the oddly specific gratitude blog hop, which is oddly awesome to me. Some days I still wonder who all is actually reading this drivel.

Here’s what to do:

1. Add to the list with your own oddly specific bits of gratitude. Add as few or as many things as you’d like. Include a picture or two if you’d like… but you certainly don’t have to. Put your name at the top of the list to see where yours started and the next blogger’s begins.

2. Tag the post with the usual pepper tags and oddly specific gratitude.

3. Tag another pepper to add to the list by linking to their About page, but there’s a catch! When you tag the next blogger, be sure to include a bit about why you’re grateful to be in the same blogging world with them.:) (Try not to tag anyone who has already been tagged that way more people get to join in the fun.)

The List of Oddly Specific Gratitude

Nerd in the Brain:

1. the smell of wild onions when I mow the lawn

2. coffee makers (having the coffee already prepared in the mornings is magical)

3. the way my crazy dog barks likes a vicious beast at the horses across the road, but then cowers behind me like a needy wimp whenever a horse actually comes close

4. hearing my husband talk on the phone to the rest of his team at work… it reminds me that he’s not just my silly, sweet, awesome husband… he’s also my competent, responsible, highly skilled husband

5. opening a blank lesson plan book and imagining the possibilities to come

6. sausage balls

7. watching Grace’s enthusiasm for all things musical

8. the way I can hear a smile on Olivia’s face whenever we say hello or goodbye on the phone

9. knitting with really soft, squishy yarn

Not a Punk Rocker

10. Getting a random text when Matthew is in cell-signal range. (“Hi”)

11. Awesome stuff in the mail, including Legos and letters from friends, making me smile when I need it the most at the end of a long day.

12. Cherry chapstick.

13. Somebody found my blog by searching for “deadpool talks about political social issues” yesterday.

14. Skype and chat for keeping me in touch with friends in “real-time” when one or the other of us needs it the most.

15. Finding new blogs to read and follow through this challenge!

JackieP (tobreatheistowrite)

16. Having friends like I do here in the blogging world. You all make my days brighter.

17. My dog Sam. He loves me unconditionally, wish more people could love like that. Plus, he makes me laugh daily.

18. Coffee. Without it the world would be a much sadder and thirsty place. And I would be a much harder person to deal with.

19. All the bright and cheerful colors around. Something about bright colors makes me happy. The gold of the sun, the cerulean blue of the sky, the wonder of a rainbow, they never cease to make me glad I’m alive.

20. Books…… you all know what I mean.

Fish of Gold

21. Spell check. Even though it did just strangely try to correct my horribly botched spelling of “another” to “Antoine.” I don’t even know anyone named Antoine, spell check.

22. I’m grateful to myself for being the sucker who couldn’t walk away from my dog’s cage at the animal rescue. My failure to do so has converted 70 dog pounds into a metric ton of joy and unconditional love.

23. Male’s hilariously failed attempts at sexting.

24. My sense of humor. I wouldn’t have survived this long without it.

25. To the Peppers for continuing my harebrained Nano Poblano Blog Hop Story idea and turning it into something unexpectedly awesome. Go Team Pepper!

26. I also second #18.

Knocked over by a feather

27. My aunts Oreo truffles. They are addictive.

28. Finding my comfy spot in bed.

29. Receiving a spontaneous real hug from my daughter, which rarely happens.

30. Watching stupid TV with my husband.

31. Hearing my mom call me sweetie or something similarly saccharine sweet on the phone

Mental Mama (mental in the midwest)

32. the world’s best tiny mommy

33. Evie and Sissy Cats

34. lithium, depakote, and gabapentin

35. the world’s most amazing support network

36. good dark chocolate, preferably with cherries

37. the jumbo margaritas at Romeo’s – lime, on the rocks, extra salt

Mark Bialczak

38. My dear wife Karen for buying me two season tickets for Syracuse University football six years ago, going to every game with me (but one when she went on a cruise) since and turning home game Saturdays into Happy Happy days win or lose.

39. That Ellie B aka Dogamous Pyle usually looks like this on the end of the living room couch and her specially covered ottoman daily come 10 p.m. after a day of enthusiastically ruling our Syracuse city home we call Little Bitty.

40. That Karen talked me into going to the Paws for the Cause rescue dog event that March day four years ago when we saw Ellie marching around in her orange “Adopt Me” vest.

41. That my daughter Elisabeth was smart enough and confident enough and brave enough to go back to school this fall to get her associate’s degree and New York State certificate to become a physical therapist’s assistant, 2 1/2 years after getting her bachelor’s in biology.

42. That writing every day on markbialczak.com since Oct. 27, 2013 has turned out to be so much fun.

43. That Sheena Not a Punk Rocker talked me into hosting Nano Poblano this year, allowing me to meet so many interesting new bloggers! Wait. I want to add two more exclamation points to this one!!

The List of Oddly Specific Bloggers

Nerd in the Brain

Not a Punk Rocker

To Breath is to Write

Fish of Gold

Knocked Over by a Feather

Mental in the Midwest

I’m nominating Rachel of Could Do Worse because she is one of the first blogs I started following in this wild and crazy WordPress world, way back in the winter of 2013, after she commented on a post I wrote after reading the latest Anne Tyler novel. Her view as a wife and mother in London is always interesting.