Monday Five Countdown, sadness and gratitude

It's rarely good news when the phone rings at 5am. The hubby's brother called at that time this morning to let us know that the hubby's grandmother, Nana, passed away last night/this morning. So obviously she has been on my mind for most of the day and a lot of what I feel grateful for and am thinking about today is inspired by her.

Five Things I'm Grateful For

1. Nana lived long enough to not only meet Nate, but to see him feeding himself, walking, and saying a few words. She absolutely adored him so I'm glad she had that time with him, even if he's not going to remember her.

2. Baba, my maternal grandmother. She is now the only grandparent between the hubby and I (the only great-grandparent Nate has left). She's a kick-ass eighty-six years old, but those years are catching up with her and I know our time is limited. I am grateful she has lived this long and I have learned so much from her.

3. The day after our first date, I went to the hubby's house (he was then still living with his parents and Nana) and ended up hanging out in the kitchen with his mother and Nana. I immediately felt like family, like they had been welcoming me into their kitchen all my life. To this day, almost six years later, I remember exactly what that felt like and I will forever be grateful for that feeling.

4. Nate continues to acclimate well to daycare. Dropping him off today was almost tear free, almost. For a Monday, that's incredible.

5. The hubby's job is going really well. He's enjoying himself, doing well, and seems to be fitting in. I am a worrier by nature, so I probably won't even fully relax when he's past the three-month probationary period, but all signs point to this job being a good development in our lives.

Four Things I Can't Stop Thinking About

1. Nana. I don't have any details yet on how her last days were or what happened, but I hope she went peacefully. (To be somewhat light about it, though, Nana never went peacefully about anything, so the peace I hope for her is relative, in a way.)

2. Money. We are near the bottom of our reserves and need to get some money coming in just to make ends meet. It's getting very tight because of that lag time between the hubby's last unemployment check and his first paycheck.

3. I want to bake something. I have all sorts of random things around my kitchen - blueberries, apricots, two types of chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, pecans - and I don't know what I want to do with them.

4. Did I mention money?

Three Things I Want To Accomplish This Week

1. Finish a book. Right now I'm reading NurtureShock (and looooving it - I'm even getting my sister to read it) and a student lent me Jay-Z's book, Decoded. The Jay-Z book is definitely outside what I'd normally read, but Oprah said it made her understand the world of hip-hop and rap and that intrigued me. But either way, I want to finish one book this week, at least.

2. Clean the bathroom. (Yes, this is nearly always on the list. Such is the life of a bathroom.)

3. Bake/cook something to bring over to the hubby's family. Cookies? Casserole? Both?

Two Things I Am Working To Be Positive About

1. Hey, did I mention money yet? Daycare ain't cheap, y'all. Seriously. (And the one we go to is actually relatively inexpensive while still being excellent in the care it provides.)

2. This one is more something - well, someone - I am being positive for. Nana was the hubby's maternal grandmother and so his mother is taking this very hard (and this is just after his paternal grandmother passed away just a few months ago). I really love my mother-in-law and I know this time is going to be very hard for her so I am going to do everything I can to bring positive energy.

One Random Thing

1. And by random, I really do mean kind of random for today. It's summer time, so people are wearing lots of wedges and slides (shoes). I can't wear shoes that don't really hug my feet because my feet just slide right out - and if they don't, they end up cramping because I'm scrunching my foot up to hold my shoe on. Anyone else out there with this silly issue?  (I felt like ending on a note of slightly silly.)

So, anyone out there doing the Monday Five today? Let me know. :)