Thirsty Thursday!

Life is all about challenges. Whether you succeed or fail, we set these challenges in front of us all the time. It's the little things, like, "I'm going to get my laundry done today," to bigger things, like, "I'm going to go back to school and get my degree." We set these challenges so that we know where we stand in life, and each success or failure improves us as a person. So I thought I would take today to celebrate the challenges my family and I met this week. Raise a glass, and celebrate Thirsty Thursday!

1. My wife and I had our second parent-teacher conference this year for our son. We came out of it very proud at the progress he's made since starting Pre-K. Not only is he more vocal, he's starting to voice his disagreements more, which is going to be important as he grows up. Overall, he's a very smart, very capable little boy who is growing up way too fast for our tastes. However, I'm looking forward to helping him grow.

2. Two and a half years ago, after the passing of my father-in-law, my wife and I took in her mother and gave over the master bedroom of our house for her to live in. We moved our daughter into my son's room, and my wife and I moved into her room. At the time, it was pink with purple polka dots on the lower half of the wall, plus purple trim. And that is how it stayed for almost two-and-a-half years. Why didn't we change it? Time. Money. Take your pick. Well, this week we finally got fed up enough to do something about it, and over the course of a couple of days, we repainted the room. Three walls are an off-white, while the fourth is a sponged-on dark blue color. It looks awesome, and the room is finally ours.

3. I finished the outline for Book Two and have started the actual process of writing. This is a huge moment for me because this will be the first time I sit down with a book and know exactly how I want it to look from beginning to end. And it should line up so that I won't have to go back and do any major revisions. I'm expecting a few snags along the way, no book project makes it through without them, but overall I'm thrilled to be able to get going on this. I also think people are going to enjoy it immensely, but then I'm biased.

That's it for this week. For me, at least. So tell me, what were your successes this week? What are you raising a glass to?