Thankful Thursday | a quick one
I'm short on time this morning, so my contribution will be a little shorter than usual!
This week, I am thankful:
for the fireworks we could see from the river
On the 4th, we paddled down the river to a spot where multiple people set off fireworks from their docks. It's basically a free panoramic fireworks view.
And there's no traffic back-up when you leave, which is an advantage over most fireworks viewing spots.
However, there is some muscle labor involved in getting back home!
that we had temperate 4th of July weather
Sometimes, it's terribly hot on the 4th of July. But this year the weather was fairly mild, as July weather goes.
for air conditioning
It was mild over the 4th of July, but since then, it's gotten very hot.
And that makes me very thankful for air conditioning.
that Sonia's ER visit bill will be small
We met our in-network deductible for the year, which means all in-network care is extremely affordable from now through December. Yay!
that we have Cigna insurance
I am grateful that we have Cigna, which is accepted almost everywhere.
that I'm halfway through paying estimated taxes now
I sent off my July state and federal income tax payments and now I'm halfway done for 2021. Excellent.
Only two more sets of painful payments.
that my friend is coming to visit
Remember the friend we visit in Ohio? She's coming to see us soon!
that storm Elsa isn't going to be too bad
It looks like we are getting out of this with just some rain. Sweet.
that Sonia and Zoe's pet-sitting is done for now
They had four jobs recently, and three happened simultaneously last weekend!
Last summer, there was very little pet-sitting to do because people weren't traveling. So this is a nice sign of normalcy.
that Zoe got a spot in the literature class
She was on a waiting list at the tutorial for the British Literature class, and we just found out she's got a spot.
that this will be a pretty light homeschooling year for me
Sonia will be doing all of her remaining high school credits at the community college, which leaves Zoe as my only student.
Plus, Zoe will be doing some tutorial classes and community college classes this year too.
The main thing I have left is to get her through Algebra 2, and since it'll be my fourth trip through that book, it shouldn't be too challenging for me.
Anyway, I think I should have enough free time to tackle my two anatomy and physiology classes this coming year.
Thankful:
Not too May neighbors went bonkers for fireworks. Very upsetting to my animals!
Beautiful weather for the entire holiday weekend.
My military son FINALLY got all of his belongings after a 4300 mile move!
Seeing dear friends lately
So much to be thankful for right now:
1) That we were able to make a successful & safe road trip (12+ hours each way) to pack our vacation house. It was easier than expected, and we didn't need a trailer
2) For my parents, for keeping our kids for "Nana & Papa Summer Camp" for the next few weeks
3) That we close on the sale of our vacation house today
4) For a light meeting week at work, that's allowing me the head space to tackle some projects on my to do list
5) For a week alone at the house, with just my husband
Let's see:
Thankful that I still have a bunch of vacation time at work. Whether I get to take it or not is another story.
That more people are back in the office. It was really feeling empty and lonely there.
That the weather hasn't been awful but it has been far rainier than I would like (I'm worried about my garden turning to mold)
That my daughter is doing okay at camp so far.
@Battra92, Glad your daughter is enjoying camp! It's hard to send them when they're younger (at least, it was for me : )
@Suz, Yeah, I was really worried about it. She wasn't with her friends (they got put in different groups) but she still gets to see them at lunchtime and before going home. I absolutely **hated** camp as a kid so it's nice that she's enjoying it.
Oh, that's so wonderful that she's having a great time. Yay her!
I can’t believe she’s already big enough for camp!
I am thankful for:
our upcoming camping trip to the mountains. One friend is bringing his huge telescope and will show us the galaxies.
a new part-time job that will allow me to keep my QuickBooks skills fresh.
watching the fireworks at home. I hate the hassle of driving and getting stuck in traffic.
my sister's move to my state after 10 years on the opposite coast.
for the lovely "three birds" tie-dye "painting" I have on loan from the local library. It is really brightening my day.
This week....
1. I am thankful for our garden harvest. I have been very worried about the garden this year as we have had a lot of rain but it seems to have pulled through and is providing some wonderful veggies & herbs for us.
2. I am thankful for canning season. It is a lot of work to put up all the veggies from our garden but I do enjoy it and there is nothing like fresh garden produce in the dead of winter.
3. Thankful that I took the extra time to go to the store with my son and actually try on the uniforms he will need for school instead of ordering online. Everything that I ordered was too small and if I had ordered online it would have been an extra task to get it returned and he wouldn't have had what he needed in time for the start of school.
4. I am thankful that we have the ability to stock our pantry a bit. I have been working to eat down our freezers & storage to make sure we are rotating through everything and not wasting food. I like to be able to get our pantry stocked as sales come in so that we are eating well at the lowest possible prices. This task is also helpful as it is convenient to always have ingredients on hand for meals.
5. Thankful for rest, medicine, a 3 day weekend just when I really needed it, fireworks in our backyard, working AC, and the baby birds that have just hatched in a nest at the end of my driveway.
Thankful for
- Finding a long term care facility that had an opening for Mom
- Anxiety medicine helped our poor dog deal with all the fireworks over the weekend
- Being able to see the fireworks display over the tree tops while we were at home with the dog
- Being able to hire a friend to do lots of outside clean up at our son's house that we're about to put on the market. Much cheaper than hiring a company to do it
- Dinner with my girlfriends tonight
- Air conditioning - it's hot and sticky in Alabama y'all
I'm thankful that Elsa, which came to shore right on top of us, did not do much in our area.
I'm grateful for my kids, who are arranging their schedules to split the task of watching/helping their dad for a future weekend, so I can get away for a couple of days.
I'm thankful that my sister and brother-in-law will happily put me up and feed me for said weekend.
I'm grateful that my husband's first visit with the oral surgeon is today, and his caregiver will drive him to the visit. The doctor's office is located in the town where I work, an hour from my home, which means I can get there from work to meet them in about 15 minutes, instead of taking off half the day to drive home from work, get him, drive back for his appointment, then drive home again. Or taking off the whole day of work (to reduce the amount of driving) just for a 45 minute appointment.
I'm thankful that I can wear contacts. No fogging up, no weight on my nose, plus I have peripheral vision with contacts.
I'm thankful that my dog is not scared of fireworks!
This week I'm thankful:
* that I got to see a missionary friend yesterday! She lives in France, so I don't see her often.
* that my garden is producing! We have started getting zucchini, summer squash, purple green beans, and snow peas all this week.
* that the summer is going so well. I wasn't sure how the transition to having all 3 kiddos at home would go but it's been going really well.
* that this youngest kiddo has been pretty easy to potty train. I might have mentioned this last week, but I'm still super grateful for it!
* that my husband had a 3-day weekend and we got to do lots of fun things between celebrating our daughter's birthday, the 4th of July, going to the beach, and having new friends over for dinner.
One more!
I'm thankful that I remembered to go back and nominate this blog for the award. Whew! I had fully intended to do so, but finished that post first, and then... forgot.
Aww, thank you!
@JD, and Kristen,
Did I miss something? I mean about “the award”.
I mentioned it in this post: https://www.thefrugalgirl.com/if-you-live-outside-the-u-s-id-love-to-hear-from-you/
Thankful for neighbors who invited us over to watch them set off some fireworks. This is the first year we've been here that it hasn't been too dry to do that, and my kids haven't seen fireworks in a few years. They were so excited. And it was a nice distraction for the three kids who were left behind with me when their dad took the middle son to New York to visit family.
For my eldest son, who is competent in so many things. He shot a snake that was in the chicken coop, fixed the fence where the dogs were getting out, made lunch for him and his siblings, catches the horse for me every day so my daughter can ride, and brings the sheep to and from their pasture every morning and night. Plus, he carved me a spoon. 🙂
For the rain that has meant I haven't had to water in weeks. I do not miss dragging the hose around every other day.
I am thankful for utility workers. Several neighbors lost power in the afternoon yesterday. It was restored at 4:30 this morning. It must have been a long and dark night for some workers but they got the job done.
I am grateful that our neighbors are able to hold an engagement party for their daughter and her fiance. They have been engaged for over a year.
I am thankful that some other neighbors were able to travel to Europe to visit his family.
I am grateful that my friend's cats were okay after I cat sat. There is always a bit of worry that something could happen but they came out to see me every day and appreciated my attention.
I am thankful that someone in our neighborhood put on a great fireworks show Sunday evening. We could literally see them from the front porch and a couple sets of neighbors were on our lawn for the vantage point it offered.
I am grateful my husband is happy to have returned to the office. He likes working with people in person and being back in his office.
I am thankful that there are not more shortages at the grocery store. I struck out on finding Berger cookies and canned beets yesterday but was able to get everything else on my list. Neither of those items are necessities.
I am thankful for summer fruit. The cantaloupes have been good, as have the bing cherries, and watermelons.
My parents had a water main burst in front of their house last night, and they had a crew there working overnight too. Thank goodness for people like that!
Thankful that: we finally could visit our sister-in-law over the July 4th weekend, as everyone in both groups is now vaccinated; the holiday is over: we had four nights of loud, illegal fireworks terrifying our dogs; I found deep clearance sales on flannel shirts for my husband and have him fully outfitted for winter; and still using up everything in the fridge making up brown bag lunches.
thankful that:
1. With 24 hours of daylight, there is no point to fireworks, so our anxious pound hound was spared that torment.
2. for a greenhouse that is producing so many cucumbers we are eating them at lunch and dinner, plus I am canning some for the winter.
3. for tuberous begonias that are exploding so my flower baskets are heavy with giant blossoms.
4. for new books from several of my favorite authors.
5. as always, for the husband who has been my best friend for 38 years and I still think he is the best person I have ever known.
I hadn't thought about your daylight and how it affects fireworks. Do people set them off at all during the winter?
@Kristen, They are a big thing on New Year's Eve, although you often watch them from your car since it is sometimes 20 or 30 below zero so only high school kids are standing outside in shorts, being cool until they turn blue.
Oh my word. Shorts in January in Alaska???
@Kristen, When we lived in North Pole, my high-school-aged sister was always trying to go to school with no socks (it was the 80s, and flats with no socks was the trend then) in the winter. My parents had to make a rule that she had to wear socks if it was 10 below zero or colder. At least, I think that was the cutoff temperature. I could be misremembering.
Thankful we made it safely to visit family over the holiday weekend.
Thankful that we were all giving the biggest hugs over the holiday weekend because all of us are vaccinated.
Thankful that we saw our friend along the way to see how he is doing. He is waiting on a kidney and he looked great!
Thankful that we are now with our daughter and her extended family.
Thankful that Elsa passed by our part of Florida and wasn’t too bad down there. Prayers for the rest of hurricane season to be a light one!
Thankful that my daughter has a spot on her kids school PTO board as hospitality director, which is a fun post. This is her first time doing this, and she’s a bit nervous. But I remember it as being fun.
My granddaughter, age 9, who was born with a heart defect, had had mild chest pain during her gymnastics class. A treadmill stress test and echo came back perfect. No pain at all currently.
Thankful that I’ve started Christmas shopping; with six grandkids I always start in July. In addition, I have multiple items in my “save for later” Amazon cart which I will purchase as finances allow. Half the battle is choosing the items! The other half, obviously, is PAYING for them!
Thankful that my newly re-done flower beds are thriving; we’ve had so much rain since May that I’ve hardly had to water.
I have been reading for about a year, but this is my first time commenting.
Thankful for your blog and the “Thankful Thursdays” especially. Having a focus of gratitude helped me through the worst of the lockdown/pandemic.
Thankful to be vaccinated, making it safer to visit with friends, travel and easier to do simple things like shop for groceries.
Thankful for this cooler summer, I know other folks are really suffering through heat waves.
Thankful for summer fruits like strawberries, plums, nectarines and cherries.
Thankful for my community. This past year and a half shrank my world so much, and it made me appreciate my people even more.
Oh, welcome, welcome! I'm so glad you joined us!
Summer produce is so good....peaches, watermelon, cherries, fresh tomatoes. It's all so tasty.
Trying to be thankful that my daughter is done with high school a whole year early. This next year will be taken as a gap year. We would like for her to take some classes at a community college, maybe work some part time.
This week I am thankful:
1. Finally had a good watermelon this week. It's only two of us so we prefer the baby watermelons, but they had been so bland the last two years.
2. We are returning to our office but only part of the week. Although I miss seeing my colleagues in person, there are advantages to working from home. I'll get to do do both now.
3. I am also very grateful I was able to do so, and still had a job through the pandemic. Hubby lost his, but things are looking up for him now.
4. Got free strawberry ice pops from our grocery service. They are yummy too!
5. The store where I get my Asian snacks near work is still in business. Love those shrimp chips and Pocky too!
1. For lots of library books I requested being ready this week for pick up.
2. That my son and I went to see a movie in the theater today for a fun day and it felt so normal.
3. For time spent with family and friends over the July 4th holiday.
4. Music.
5. For the ability to pray about situations where there’s not much else I can do but pray. Many family and friends going through things that I feel helpless about but I can always pray for them.
Thankfuls all surrounding one issue this week. One of our kids got a pretty big and scary medical diagnosis this week. We're still in the information gathering stage and in further testing that's going to take a couple of months, unfortunately. BUT...
1. I'm very grateful for modern medicine and access to it.
2. For insurance
3. That medical personnel have been so very on top of things; I thought I would have to be a mama bear advocate for his needs, but they have been awesome on his care and follow-through.
4. For so very many friends, family members and fellow saints that are keeping in touch, praying, and asking to help. Seeing our pastor coming down the hospital halls brought tears of gratitude.
5. That I know, from past experience, God has planned this and will see him and our family through it, one day at a time, no matter how it turns out. That's a rock in a stormy time.
Thank you for reminding me to remember, Kristen! Needed that today and every day.
@Amanda, sending you and your little guy good thoughts!
@Amanda,
Just want to send you hugs from one mama to another. I have a husband with a medical issue/disability and I so much agree with your #5. God will carry you. Praying for your family.
Another Amanda
@Amanda, So sorry to hear this. Prayers coming your way from New Mexico . . .
Big hugs to you and your family, Amanda.
Thankful to be on a little overnight trip with one of my kids... as much one on one time as possible is one of my top parental priorities. I already took my oldest on a little trip in June, now with my second, next it will be my 3rd (the baby is too little). Thankful for a husband who supports me in this!
My son and dil are making the 1000 mile trip home for a much needed covid delayed wedding reception. Can't wait to see them. This will be the first time we will have seen each other in 1.5 years.
Busted my knees up and SO thankful for grocery pull & pickup.
My produce from my garden is kicking in so fresh tomatoes, cucs, berries and green beans.
A friend gave me 10 puzzles, when I am done with them I am passing them on to others.
Oh, yay for the wedding reception!!
I hope your knees are better soon.
thankful that I have been resting and healing
thankful that I had the energy to accomplish everything on my to do list
thankful for random acts of kindness from colleagues
thankful for a slow, sleepy, sultry summer
thankful for coffee, as always
So glad your surgery recovery is humming along. How long until you are due to be all healed up?
1. The rain from Elsa has been great for the garden I tend in my neighbors yard. I have 17 big green tomatoes. 2. We are going to a rock and mineral show. 3. Got some new clothes at tjmaxx. 4. I am getting cheese puffs in my publix order
5. Mr Ramos cut out an entire backyard full of bamboo by the root and hauled it away. He also had my back porch power washed. And The Junk Hunter hauled junk away. It pays to find help.