Thing 3 is Thankful

Bah! I meant to post this on Thanksgiving, and I forgot. Thing 3 brought home a paper from his nursery class at church two weeks ago, with the classic painted hand print turned into a turkey. On the side, they had asked him what he was thankful for and wrote down his answers. I think it's a pretty good list for a three year old:

My family
My body
All three blankies
My grandma and grandpa
Jesus
My friends
Grant
All the colors

I love that he's thankful for his friends... and Grant. It makes it sound like Grant isn't his friend, but really what's going on is his relationship with Grant is beyond friendship. Grant is five, and Thing 3 thinks that everything Grant says or does is genius. He worships Grant.

I also love "all three blankies" and "all the colors." I know my son, and those are two things that he really is thankful for.

"When all words fail, she speaks, Her mix tapes are masterpiece" - Ben Folds

I love making mix tapes/CDs/playlists. I've made one for almost every major trip I've taken since college. They're all have names like "Reno 1998" or "San Onofre 2000." I even have a Shingletown 2002. You get bonus points if you know where Shingletown is. I have others that are named after an occasion, like "Viking Fest." Some just have stupid names like "Songs I Really Like" or "Fun Songs."

It all started in 10th grade. My best friend and I made our first mix tape - we called it "Hector and Lee's Hot Picks." ( I was the only one who called her Hector, and it would take way too long to explain why I did.) I found the tape case two days ago when I was going through my music. I thought I would post the playlist here for laughs.

Hector and Lee's Hot Picks:

The Glory of Love - Peter Cetera
In Your Eyes - Peter Gabriel
Forever Young - Alphaville
Stayin' Alive - The Bee Gees
Don't Stop Believin' - Journey
Faithfully - Journey
Just Like Heaven - The Cure
What Have I Done to Deserve this? - Pet Shop Boys
Where the Streets Have No Name (I Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You) - Pet Shop Boys
Sweet Home Alabama - Lynyrd Skynyrd
Free Fallin' - Tom Petty
Who'll Stop The Rain - CCR
Who Can It Be Now - Men At Work
I Can See It In Your Eyes - Men At Work
Down Under - Men At Work
Never My Love - The Association
Cherish - The Association
Stay - ? I don't even know what song this is.
On Bended Knee - Boyz II Men


Apparently this was made when we were going through a classic rock phase, after my pure 80's days but before I started wearing flannel shirts and cut off jeans to school everyday, listening to "Smells Like Teen Spirit" about a hundred times with my friends, trying to decifer the words but still proclaiming Kurt Cobain to be a genius. I look at this list and cringe. Boyz II Men? And what was I thinking putting songs by the same group next to each other on the playlist? Rookie mistake. And I threw up in my mouth a little when I saw The Association on there.

So anyway, this week I've made four mix CD's to give out as presents. Three of them are mixes of Christmas music for some awesome ladies that I work with at church, and one is for my brother's birthday, just some music that I think he'll like. (My family rarely reads my blog, so no worries about anyone blowing the surprise!) Now we get to the reason for this post. Are these lame gifts? I'm afraid it's too high school. I love getting mixes from people - it's personal, they took time to do it, and sometimes it introduces me to something new. It's how I got hooked on Ben Folds, this generation's piano man. But maybe someone else will think it's dumb. I'm not trying to be cheap - usually I'll just build up a bunch of songs that I think a certain person would like, and when I get enough, I make a CD and give it to them. So, what are your thoughts? Give me some feedback.