Thankful Thursday (I like this)

Today (and everyday) I am thankful for my boys, who "made" me go outside to play football, frisbee, bean bag toss (well actually a game Ammon and I invented for him to practice math) and show off my excellent jump roping skills. I bet you did not know that I was on a jump rope team in elementary school, did you? Needless to say I impressed the boys with my jump roping tricks. Now I need to find a speed rope to show them double unders, forwards AND backwards. I wonder if I can still do a triple under? Yup. I still got it.

I am also thankful for shovels. They are very handy, especially when ridding the backyard of dog poop piles. I have never had to do this in my adult life. I have always been fortunate enough to live near the woods...which is where my dog would go to take a, well you know. The best part was my Eli telling me where the poop piles where. He's a funny kid.

Last, I am thankful for library books and pop art. This was EXACTLY the answer to help me with my book addiction. Just borrow them and THEN buy them if you really like it...plus most of the books I like are way out of my price range right now. Why do art books have to be so expensive? Anyway, I checked out an Andy Warhol book (I do love pop art) and had a totally different reaction to his art than I have had previously. I have seen his work in person at two different shows now, one focusing on his portraits of Jewish people and the other sort of a retrospective or "greatest hits" of sorts. I have to say that the portraits of Jackie O are so powerful...they give me chills. The last show I saw had all of the Jackie O portraits (both before and after his death) in a room with the JFK ones as well as part of Warhol's Death and Disaster series. Seeing art in person is so much more meaningful than looking at it in a book. I really feel like the viewer does not get the pleasure of having an emotional reaction to it or interacting with it face to face when you just look at it in a book...not that books are bad, though ;) I also rediscovered an old favorite of mine that I had somehow forgotten about...the portraits of Ethel Scull. LOVE IT! I love the photo booth idea for generating silkscreens and I love the big blocks of color. And, of course, there's the Cow Wallpaper. Oh how I love the Cow Wallpaper! I remember one Warhol show had the Cow Wallpaper right as you entered the exhibit, in all its magenta and yellow glory. My husband went with me to that show and simply smiled when I squealed and yelled, "Look, honey! It's the Cow Wallpaper!" As you can tell, I can go on and on and on about art.

The other reason why I am thankful for library books is that my mother, who is also addicted to books and a librarian, just ordered "A is for Apron" for her library because she thought I would like to look at it. Thanks, Mom!

And now, I am thankful for my fat cat who sleeps on my feet and my fluffy, warm down comforter.

What are you thankful for?