Thankful Thursday
New here? Thankful Thursday is something we've been doing in these COVID times; an exercise to help us hunt the good that is in our lives and in the world, even in the midst of a pandemic.
This week I am thankful:
for a kid who drives.
Yesterday I realized we were out of both peanut butter and milk, and Lisey volunteered to run to the store for me while I was cooking dinner. Yay!
that my parents have a pool
I am thankful for this most years, but I am particularly thankful this year since public swimming options are a little limited.
that Mr. FG could finally get his braces off
He was due to get his Invisalign buttons removed (and move on to a retainer) jusssst after everything closed down. So, he's been patiently waiting months for the orthodontist office to open and then work through their backlog of more pressing patients before getting to him.
Yesterday was the day! The buttons are off and the retainer is ordered.
for air conditioning
I put this in last week's list, but it's here again.
We've had consistent days in the 90s here, with high humidity, and I am so grateful I do not have to get through this without climate control. 🙂
for the stuffed animals sitting on my couch
When I walked into the living room and found the bear sitting next to the enormous chick, I had to laugh.
I love the funny things my kids do!
(The huge chick is Lisey's, and she named him Pachick...you know, like Patrick except Pachick, since he's a chick. Pachick sometimes goes on road trips with Lisey, sitting in the passenger seat of her car, and he even got patted down at customs when she went to Canada.)
that my PT was able to find some things that are wrong
I'm not exactly happy things are messed up in my neck/shoulder, but I am very pleased that she was able to locate some problems at my evaluation.
That's so much better than hearing, "Hmmm, I really don't know why you are in pain."
A located problem is more fixable than a mystery problem!
that no more estimated taxes are due until September
I've got 2/4 payments knocked out now.
The first two end up being in pretty close succession, but the last two are spread out more; September and January are the next two due dates.
our local health stats are holding steady
Our positivity rate is good, and our hospital numbers are slowly getting better. Here's hoping this continues!
Oh so many things -- many of which you covered, esp. AC! For our kids, and their families, and that our daughter has a pool! (Not that I would get in a bathing suit . . . )
I am grateful for recovery from health scares. I am grateful for all the people who do their jobs making life blessed for us.
I am glad for The Gospel Coalition. com that always has an article or podcast that helps me reform my thinking.
I am grateful for an outdoor prayer meeting we will attend tonight Lord willing to ask for God's guidance, help and strength in these uncertain times.
I am glad to be on the right side of the sod this morning . . . 😉
Might you be the same Barbara Smith from Maryland with a daughter named Holly?
The humor in your post sure sound like the Barbara Smith I knew years ago. Holly a friend of my daughter Kelly F.
I'm thankful that my daughter has progressed to a second interview and it's looking like she may have a job when she finishes her practicum next week. And I'm extra thankful that she was able to do the practicum at all.
I'm continually grateful for the neighborhood cats that come to visit--now there are three. My husband is allergic to cats so I can't have one of my own.
I'm thankful that we've gone two weeks without any new virus cases.
I'm very thankful that I've been able to keep working for the last several months and since I already work at home it wasn't a challenge.
I'm grateful for this weekly reminder to count my blessings because sometimes I forget!
I am thankful that me and mine do not have any COVID symptoms.
I am thankful for my first ever summer with central air! ( born in 1971)! Scorched earth hot!!!
I am thankful that my herb garden is doing awesome.
I am thankful that our PAINT THE ENTIRE BASEMENT project is more than half done.
Stay well!!❤️
This has been A Week, so I am currently thankful for the existence of shows on the Internet, specifically "Survivor Man" and "The Berenstain Bears," because they've been on rotation in our house of illness this week.
Also thankful that none of us have the symptoms of The Virus, instead just dealing with a common cold for me and the children and, apparently for my husband, gout. Getting older seems to expand one's knowledge of various illnesses rather quickly.
The dill that I gave up on (two months ago) actually sprouted. I had planted basil in that containter, so now I have two herbs in there.
I picked the first green beans this morning.
In the absence of air conditioning, I am extremely grateful to have ice. And, right now at least, seltzer. After cooking, eating, and doing dishes in an 85-degree kitchen, escaping to my bedroom and sitting under the fan with an iced seltzer feels like heaven.
Oh, that sounds rough! I hope you guys are all healthy soon.
Ouch! I never thought much about gout and then got it once--so painful I could not stand a sheet on my toe! Hope he gets over it soon; at least there are decent meds that can stop it in its tracks if it threatens to come back after this episode.
I have a friend who suffers from gout. He swears by drinking tart cherry juice to stop his symptoms in their tracks. There's something in tart cherries that binds to the uric acid in the gout, or some such.
My co-worker got a big promotion as an Army Reservist (Command Sergeant Major, for whose who follow these things).
That I could afford a new router when the old one broke, and that my roommate could install it that day.
That my new work group seems to be nice group of people to work with and be around. (Public-to-the-group thanks when I've had to work late, not boggling when I move my hours around to accommodate other needs, and my Team Lead may be the most validating person I've met.) I'll say "so far" because a good beginning does not necessarily mean a good ending.
Some of the seeds I planted are growing. Spring lasted about 3 days around here so trying to grow from seed was a known crap shoot. Two lettuces, one cuke, and 3 tomato plants from the supermarket. Some of the shell peas from the farmers' market sprouted so I'll try those as well because why not?
That I can still telework.
So glad you are getting answers about your neck and shoulder problems, Kristen! Not having full use of them is more debilitating than you realize.
Our entire family does goofy things with the stuffed animals in our home--glad to see we aren't alone and am thankful for a continued sense of humor with my family.
Thankful for outdoor seating at restaurants--I've taken advantage of this twice in the past week and it was SO GOOD to do something fun and "normal". One occasion involved meeting up with my niece for a girl's lunch out and the second time was me taking my kids out for lunch and to a local museum. There's a tourist town nearby which is where we went--I was super pleased to see how well people complied with wearing masks and distancing and all the other measures that need to be done.
SUPER thankful that when we went to visit my mom in assisted living for a window visit, the sprinklers were on so the facility made an exception and let us visit her outdoors on the front porch with our masks on. She was ecstatic to see the kids in person. It was well shaded with a light breeze--all in all, a perfect visit, and that is no small thing these days.
So thankful you got to visit your mom. My parents have told me how hard it is to visit a friend with Alzheimer's without being able to hug her or get close, really. I frequently run and drive by a few assisted living facilities, and it breaks my heart that they have been cut off from everyone for so long. Do you have any ideas how I can serve them without jeapordizing their health?
Kaitlin, how kind of you! Maybe you could contact a facility and ask if you could send cards to those who don't get much contact from loved ones. We did that as a family this spring for my mom's facility (we made the cards) and it seemed to be received well. It was fun for us to do together, so, win-win.
It has been hard to be separated from her. I never realized how much of a blessing seeing her in person was until I couldn't do it anymore.
1. For the pool in our backyard. I've only been in once, but everyone else in the family enjoys it.
2. That my piano is not getting out of tune any faster. We won't be scheduling a tuning any time soon.
3. That we were able to sell the pool cover reel that was left by the previous owners. It was not wide enough for the cover we had, then the cover disintegrated, so the big eyesore is gone and we have a few dollars in our pockets.
4. My son has finished his exile in the basement after getting back from their long-planned post graduation trip. (Thankfully, it was to a house on a lake and their only outing was to the grocery store.) He's fine and we can hug again. 🙂
5. I'm working on a 2nd bachelor's degree and planned to use the summer to do my big capstone project. Very thankful that my university will mail me the books they have and that online access to documents and books has been loosened a lot this summer.
Hi Kate! I am also a second bachelor's student! 🙂 What are you studying? I'm doing a double major in History and Art History with a focus on medieval Europe at Portland State in Oregon.
Cool! My first was in history and this one is in music with a vocal concentration at the (relatively) small state university where my husband teaches math.
I am similarly thankful for an eval. Our four year old had been evaluated by the school system for speech development issues way back in January. Their findings didn't completely jive with our experiences at home, but it was the best we had at the time. Today we finally got in for an eval at a private practice that specializes in childhood developmental problems. The clinician seemed to immediately get it and could even describe in detail what we were experiencing at home. It feels like an important first step in our little girl's education.
I am thankful for the New York Times COVID coverage. I have never been a regular reader of the NYT, but their COVID coverage has been excellent. What I have learned has helped me emotionally come to terms with what is going on right now. Like so many people I am frustrated with my fellow Americans who seem to value "getting back to normal" over saving lives and who refuse to wear a mask. But I remind myself that it was difficult emotional work for me to wrap my head around the fact that life right now really is just like an apocalyptic movie. I'm no psychologist, but I think if a person can't process bad news they won't react rationally to it. Not everyone has chosen to or can process what is happening right now. My extending them grace is not excusing their bad behavior, but it at least keeps me from hating them, which is good for my own mental health.
I am so, so thankful that my work allows me to focus on our kids' education in the fall, in whatever form we have it. We made the difficult decision to send the youngest two kids back to daycare over the summer so I can get ahead in my writing. Then I will research and write as a can in the fall knowing that I banked my work over the summer.
What a wonderful way to look at people who don't comply with mask wearing and social distancing! I just want to clobber them and have to will myself not to hope they get the virus and end up on a ventilator. I am going to try and adopt your attitude of grace. Thank you. I don't like my anxiety morphing into anger and vengefulness.
You have great perspective! What are you writing?
Thank you for this great comment! I really appreciate your words about everything. I was going to get upset at someone else's comment on here because it showed a near-complete misunderstanding of everything that's going on, and you have encouraged me to have grace and understanding about it.
Me, too; I’m grateful that this forum doesn’t go that direction! Sometimes I want to make certain comments but I respect the sort of unwritten boundaries. It’s a place of peaceful frugality and kindness.
Check out this link:
https://swprs.org/a-swiss-doctor-on-covid-19/
Ingrid,
Thank you for a rational perspective.
M
-Grateful I can/am still working from home.
-Grateful for the Central air-its hot and humid last few days. (did break down two weeks ago, but we have a friend and he came right over, it was an easy fix, would not take any money, We sent him a gift card to take is wife out to eat as a thank you!)
-grateful that my son will be able to an in person 8th Grade graduation tonight, its going to be hot. but so glad about the in person graduation. The kids lost out on so much, at least they will have this memory...
I pray for the kids whom people stole everything from. My daughter is too young that she probably won't remember all the stupidity of 2020 but for many kids their whole worlds were destroyed. The best it can be compared to is what kids going through a war went through.
I enjoy your comments, Battra92, but I have to respond to this one because I'm not sure which war you are referring too, but sitting at home and playing video games instead of having normal school can not be compared to bring sent to a Nazi death camp. My kids have had the disappointments of school and celebrations but I'm extremely thankful they are comfortable and cared for. I'm also thankful they have come through stronger and with more understanding and compassion.
We certainly are not in a land war with battles and occupations. The horrors of concentration camps should never be downplayed or forgotten.
We are, though, in a situation that can be compared to the Home Front of a war. Disruption, shortages, sacrifices, battle-language, heroes, deaths, wounds, community campaigns, mistrust, unpredictability, uncertainty, guilt-- I typed out a huge list I won't put here. We are on the fringes of things even adults struggle with.
I am thankful for: my husband signing paperwork for new job today, strawberries on my plants, nights that cool off, the beach nearby, daughters who cook dinner!
Congrats to your husband on the new job!
Thankful that: 1. we are getting all of our vegetables from the garden right now, with extra for freezing.
2. The new shed is now painted.
3. Our local paper is still managing to publish when other small town papers are going under. Who else would help keep our elected officials' feet to the fire, or care that the fire department needs a new piece of equipment, or that the pool for the elderly and disabled could be shut down while other less useful things get funded?
4. That we are losing about five minutes of daylight per day. We have 24 hours of daylight this time of year and I detest it. It feels like someone is hammering at my brain to never have nighttime. So every year I long for June 20/21, when we start losing a minute a day and by August we actually have night. I love winter for many reasons, and having only about three hours of daylight is one of the main ones. (Ice not so much.)
5. That my husband had to go to Costco and came home with a treat for me: European butter. Sinfully rich, horribly expensive and I never buy it. I would rather get it than chocolate for a gift. One year he actually carved a little moose out of the butter and gave it to me in my Easter basket, so the husband knows me pretty well.
I love your butter moose story! My husband and I have always had an affinity for moose, starting when one ambled through our wedding reception.
Wow! Your Lisey has grown up to be a beauty!
I am so thankful for having a job and for getting a small bit of retroactive pay. Also for a vege garden.
1. I am thankful this this blog. Both for your posts, which cover such a wide range of subjects, and for the comments that follow. You have such a lovely blog.
2. Once again, I'm with you on air conditioning.
3. Outdoor yoga, which I attended for the first time this week. The instructor had been trained on how to conduct the class safely and it was wonderful to be among others.
4. Friends to keep in touch with and visit with at appropriate physical dintances.
5. that masks are required in public indoor spaces in MD and people seem to be heeding the mandate. It makes me feel like it is relatively safe to go into the store.
6. That I am healthy in my 60s and able to keep fit and have access to healthy food.
7. The internet and texting. I think most of us have a love/hate relationship but it is helpful during this pandemic war. I love access to news from various sites and the ability to connect with so many others.
8. That I have other ideas but will save them for another time.
1. Ordered big publix delivery. Including large watermelon. Will share in yard with neighbors. 2. Got tax extension so not anxious. Cant find my tax paperwork right now. 3. Paying neighbor to mow. Her work is so good. 4. Drawing pictures for man who is going to build me a new front screened in porch. 5. Digging up and moving tons of day lilies...the yellows.whites.rhubarb colors blend with 100 antique bricks I bought online 1.11 each 75.00 to deliver...still cheaper and prettier than lowes cement stones. Making walkway path thru garden
Love your barter system!
Let's see ...
I'm thankful that I'm still working in the office like normal. Outside of seeing fewer people in the office I'm still getting work done and still plugging away at normal stuff.
That I still don't know anyone who is/was sick with COVID. One person was supposedly asymptomatic but she never even had so much as the sniffles or a temperature about 98.6.
I'm thankful that the death tolls continues to fall even in areas where cases are rising (due to expanded testing and increased counting and probably not a spread) and that either the virus is weakening, our treatments are better or that maybe it wasn't as bad as they thought it was.
That John Adams is finally getting a long overdue federal monument.
The garden is expanding and growing quite well. It's been a good year for growing despite lower than average rainfall (so a lot of manual watering.) We're supposed to get more rain soon.
Had a week off from work and was able to get away from the craziness of my area. It was nice to be away from the Chicken Littles and the Karens.
A local church is still going to have a festival, albeit scaled down. We really only go to buy food so we can just do a pickup order and then go visit my family for the day.
Going back to church in person again and it's nice to see people again and talk with them. Online church via Zoom was pointless for me
Our crepe myrtle is blooming. It was in bad shape when we moved to this house 5ish years and I thought I may have killed it by over-prunning, but each year since its near-death experience it's been more beautiful than the previous year.
Allergy medicine. I didn't realize how bad the outdoors were bothering me until after the third dose of allergy medicine, and I feel so.much.better. I even enjoyed my run for the first time in 6-7 weeks.
That I could buy Tea in a Box from our local Afternoon Tea venue and share it with my daughter and grand-daughters at a proper social distance..It was such fun.
That we could pay for a grandchild to paint our porch rockers and help her finances and our porch !
Also SO thankful for air conditioning and air conditioning in the car.
That I can get some of the preventative medical care appointments done finally, as the offices open up again.
That my family is very aware of the risks to me of this virus and thus we are all wearing masks
and being careful. So many people seem to feel that masks are optional---- NO they are NOT
optional !
1. Good neighbors. Nobody on my street is in anyone else's business, but they sure are a pleasant group of people. I know not everyone is in that situation so I'm grateful.
2. The ability to go back to work soon. I'm one of those strange people who enjoys working, and my part-time job will be starting back up again shortly.
3. My family's good health. We have bumps along the road but there are no major illnesses, and that's a huge blessing.
4. YouTube. This can be a good and bad thing, since I can spend waaayy too much time on it, but funny videos have been a comfort to me during these last few months.
1. Funny you mentioned PT as I just had my last session this week for my back. I am even more thankful it could all be done via virtual sessions so I didn't have to wait long to get started. My therapist was wonderful! She helped me develop an exercise plan to continue on my own and I feel so much better.
2. Definitely air conditioning! Humidity makes me very cranky and I'm already a bit stressed due to it being my busy season at work, but at least I don't have to travel to the office in this weather yet.
3. Grateful to still have a job. My husband lost his but since he just worked part-time and we live simply we are able to manage and still donate a bit to others when we can.
4. It's corn on the cob season! Bust out the cornholders and the butter!
5. Friends and family who call, write, text, Skype, etc... It really warms my heart when someone says, "I just wanted to see how you were doing..." It's like a virtual hug.
Today I am thankful for people who are kind and who care for others.
And for shared laughter.
And air conditioning, but that kind of goes without saying if you know me in person at all.
* I'm thankful that my husband is so talented and can do so much with our house.
* I'm thankful that my kids tolerate masks way better than I expected. My 3yo is happy to wear his, my 6yo tolerates it, and my just-turned-2yo can even handle one for around 20 minutes.
* I'm thankful for air conditioning, too! We turned ours off from 2-6 this afternoon to get another credit towards our bill and it was so good to turn it back on after dinner!
* I'm thankful for the awesome selection of books our church has added to its library for kids this year!
* I'm thankful for my church life group and how we're staying connected even when we can't all be together.
* I'm thankful that my mom's cancelled travel plans for this summer mean that she can help me with the kids more (when they have dentist appts and such) since my normal childcare option is gone.
* I'm thankful for children's books. I love children's books! I love ones that are just for fun and ones that teach and spark good conversations. When my kids are grown I'll have to find other kids to read to. 🙂
My pool, it’s small but dipping in it is so refreshing and relaxing.
Grocery pickup which I tried for the first time this week.
Spending time with my twin grandsons.
Technology that keeps all the family connected, especially while travel is restricted.
My cool and comfortable home.
1. I’m really thankful for our pool. There have been multiple kids here everyday for these last couple of weeks. The pool has kept them all entertained for hours racecourse
2. I’m thankful for the nice warm weather that has let us enjoy that the pool.
3. I’m thankful that I made it on time for my doctor’s appointment and didn’t have to reschedule the appointment. My husband and I were heading to my doctor’s appointment for my routine colonoscopy when I had a tire start to come apart. Thankfully it didn’t blow out and I made it in time for the procedure. I would have hated to have had to do the prep for it a second time.
4. I’m thankful that the results were good and I don’t need another one for 10 years.
5, My grandson worked odd jobs to buy his girlfriend a little Pygmy goat. I’m thankful for family that gave him jobs to help him meet this goal. It was a good life lesson.