I'm thankful for...banana slugs...

Yep, you read that right!  I'm thankful for banana slugs!  Let me tell you why, but first a nod to the inspiration for this post.  Meghan at The Tuckers Take Tennessee put up a post called "One Thousand Gifts" this morning, and my friend, Sheri, regularly posts 5 things she's thankful for and 5 things she's excited about on Facebook.  Both of them remind me fairly regularly to count my blessings, and to view even the small things in my life as gifts.  I commented on Meghan's post by saying that these reminders, and seeing the gifts in our lives can turn around a bad day, and even at the worst of times, we all have gifts and blessings in our lives.

So, why am I thankful for banana slugs???  I actually haven't thought about banana slugs in a long time, but then Corinna at The Frog Bag mentioned them in a post recently, and I began to think about banana slugs a lot!  After I read her mention of the creatures, I was thrown back to my childhood in the Pacific Northwest, southern Washington to be exact.

I remembered the story my dad and his best friend told all the kids during their softball tournament weekends at the coast - Steve and his wife had a beach house at the coats, and the house had a low deck, but there was enough room that a kid could easily squeeze under it.   Well, the whole softball team plus wives and children hung out at this beach house on softball tournament weekends, and several kids wanted to crawl under the deck - although I don't recall if any of us ever actually did...?  My dad and Steve concocted a story to keep us out of there...they told us that a giant banana slug named Samantha lived under the deck, and she loved to eat children!  Ok, so banana slugs aren't exactly scary, but the story was convincing enough, and banana slugs are slimey enough that I don't think any of us ever crawled under the deck after being told about Samantha! :)

What's Up Slugs? print by Bishop Lennon on Etsy

After Corinna's post, and then thinking about Samantha, softball weekends, and time with my dad, I got to thinking more and more about banana slugs.  Weird, I know!  I ended up researching them a bit, and wrote a post about them for my other blog, Life of This Kind.  While writing the blog post, I looked around for good banana slug coloring pages...and found almost none.  That got me thinking about drawing...which led me to actually draw...which then led me to figure out how to upload printable drawing pages to my blog...which led me to draw a banana slug coloring page...which led me to think, what else could I draw?...which led me to drawing a sloth...which led me to consider what else I could draw...which has me thinking and drawing A LOT...which led me to reattempt to create printable items for my Etsy shop...which led me to be determined to figure that out when I couldn't get it to work previously...which led me to...  I could go on and on!

Anyhow, my point in all of this is that I am THANKFUL and counting the GIFTS and BLESSINGS in my life today.  I am thankful for reminders of good memories, even if they involve banana slugs. I am thankful for inspiring people in my life, whether I know them "in real life" such as my friend Sheri, or only in the virtual world of the internet, like Corinna and Meghan.  I am thankful for my son, as always.  I am thankful for the inspiration to use my old skills for new things, and to try out new things to learn new skills.  I am thankful for the ability to take past errors or problems, and to learn to fix or overcome them, whether large or small.  I am thankful for the ability to share with all of you.

And, although I've posted them to my Life of This Kind blog, I'm going to share my banana slug and sloth coloring pages here too.  And, if you want to see the printables I figured out how to put in my Etsy shop, just click HERE.  It has taken me nearly a year to get the printables in the right format, and get them to email properly...but, I DID IT, and I am proud of that accomplishment!

Please note, you can print these coloring page for your personal use, but please don't distribute them beyond family and close friends.  Thanks!  I put a lot of work into them...

Banana slug

Sloth Coloring Page