Thankful Thursday | from joy to joy
A quote from James Clear, a best-selling author:
"Some people get addicted to chain-smoking their problems. They spend all day going from sorrow to sorrow. It doesn't have to be that way. You can live each day going from joy to joy—like a sunflower that turns to face the sun as it moves across the sky.
It's not about having a problem-free life, but about focusing on the light. Sunflowers still have shadows, but they are always behind them."
I think this is a beautiful way to describe what it's like to focus on the good, although I think it is slightly inaccurate.
I think of it more like a ping-pong from one to the other....going from joy to joy to sorrow to joy to sorrow to sorrow back to joy again.
Authenticity acknowledges the sorrows, but it does not buy the lie that says, "Your life is only sorrows, all the time."
That lie is what gets us into trouble, I think; when do not lift our eyes from the sorrows long enough to notice the joys that are sprinkled in.
And I maintain that those joys (maybe just tiny ones sometimes) are there for the observing, even in the hardest of times.
This week, I am thankful:
that I'm finally making some progress toward getting my CNA
I want to get a student nursing job by the end of this semester, mainly so that I can get some more hands-on practice.
But I need to get my CNA license to work at the hospital I want to work at, and there are multiple hoops to jump through to get that. Yesterday I got the background check hoop jumped through, so now I'm one step closer!
that one more test is done
By the time you probably read this, I'll be done with exam 4 in Med Surg.
Sooo, that means I have two more Med Surg exams left (one regular, one final) and in my women/newborn class, I have one regular exam and one final left.
Only four more exams to get through. Yay!
(Wait. I take that back. I have an ATI practice exam and an ATI proctored exam as well. ATI is a nursing education testing company, so these tests are not school-specific. So...I guess six more exams.)
that the string of rainy days is nearly over
Sometimes checking the forecast cheers me up, but this past weekend, it made me feel rather womp-womp because there was a long string of days with a rain graphic.
But mercifully, after today, we have a string of sunny, dry days coming up. Woohoo!
that the basement here does not flood
We had some torrential rain the last few days, and the basement is totally dry. This never fails to impress me because my house is set in kind of a dip, at the bottom of a hill.
Whoever set up the drainage systems here did a good job, because we have never had basement leaks in the whole time we've lived here.
(which is almost two years. WHOA.)
for cat snuggles
From Miss Shelley:
And Chiquita.
She was watching immunological disorder videos with me. 😉
If only she could help me with my exam!
for friends to study with
I got together with four other nursing students yesterday to do some exam review, which is both helpful and fun.
I know I say this all the time, but I love my fellow students so much.
that the waves are often small these days
You all are familiar with my metaphor for processing the hurt I've been through...that I envision these episodes as waves. They are so much less frequent now, and when they do appear, I feel like they are usually faster to move through.
(as compared to when I first left my marriage)
Last night I was driving to a meeting, and one popped up. I felt indignant and angry, tears sprang to my eyes, and then in less than five minutes, the wave had passed.
I appreciate that these waves are less exhausting than they used to be, and I think that is a sign that I am growing and healing.
a new Hawaii sticker
Lisey did a little island-hopping to visit Big Island, and she mailed me a sticker from her travels.
She can catch a flight from island to island for free because of her job, which is a pretty sweet deal!
I am happy for you that you can tick off some CNA requirements!
As usual I so enjoy your pictures Kristen. I do not take pictures very frequently, however I do have mental shots of some beautiful sights. Yesterday evening when I was driving, the sun came through the clowds and illuminated the upper storeys of a row of pretty old town houses. It was as if the houses were turning their faces to the evening sunlight and I felt like I was turning up my face to the sun as well.
This week's thankfuls
For a week full of get togethers with friends and family before and during Easter
For feeling physically stronger than last year this time
For slowly getting used to daily savings time,which takes me several weeks normally
For beautiful tulips in my garden, the bulbs were a gift from a friend
For the first bees
For not having a stone marten in our attic (protected species) but just several very noisy nestling thrushes below the roof. I love how the thrushes look and they are less destructive and smelly. Plus they have a lovely song.
Still very chilly, but spring is on its way!
Your pictures illustrate your joy point perfectly.
Right now I am thankful:
*that I didn't wake up to rain again. We are supposed to get some again later today, but for now, I can see fog in the valleys, the sun has not yet risen over the hills, and the sky is visible between pink clouds.
*that the stomach bug my sons had/have seems fairly minor. I hope nobody else gets it.
*that I made granola last night. Thank you, past me, for not being as lazy as you wanted to be. Today me appreciates not having to make breakfast.
*that son #2 and I made significant progress this week on his post-high school plans.
*for son #3's smile. The braces are gone, so I see the teeth now. Man, he's got a smile that lights up his face!
*for those little inside jokes in our family. Lately we've been getting a lot of mileage about jokes centered around my daughter's health textbook.
Two years does seem unbelievable. I'm glad that your hops lately are mostly to joys and from sorrows, and not the other way around.
Thankfuls: Easter Edition
--For the absolutely lovely flowers on our altar. The arrangement I got from the florist was an unknown, because all I did was give her an idea of dimensions and some of flowers I wanted in it, and she did the rest. It was perfect for our altar. I did all the other arrangements with Walmart cut flowers, and I was just so, so happy with how it all turned out. It really made it feel (and smell!) like Easter for me at Mass this year. Since so many of you seemed interested in this, here's the link to the post with all the photos
https://going-country.blogspot.com/2024/03/snapshots-alleluia.html
--That my sister was able to be here for the weekend. She is very much a "hostess" type person, so she does things like provide mimosas at breakfast. I'm too practical to think of things like that (also usually too busy . . .), but I did enjoy my mimosa. 🙂
--For our new priest. We were at a lot of services last week, and he does a good job with all of them. He has featured a lot here this past year, but that's because I really am truly thankful for him.
--For my remarkable children. My sister brought a friend with her, and said friend is not comfortable with children. I was apprehensive about this--since, you know, I have a lot of children--but they were great with him, talking to him, taking him on a horse ride, expressing interest in his photography (he's a photojournalist), and generally making him feel at ease. He loosened up a lot with them while he was here, and I was so thankful to have such friendly, well-behaved, and well-adjusted children.
--For a faith that makes Easter something much more than just a day for chocolate bunnies and plastic eggs.
@kristin @ going country, I echo your last thankful! And your flowers are beautiful, which didn't surprise me. (What did surprise me was the fact that you've only been out there @ 6 years, since your mastery of snake-shooting, tough rooster-stewing, long-distance-driving life makes me forget you haven't been out there forever.)
@kristin @ going country, again I tried to post at your blog but it kept saying an error happened. So I post here to say your church looked beautiful.
I love your last sentence. After a long time since Covid really attendance has been down in my church. Slowly people are coming back. But at Easter we were packed. Front to back added extra chairs.
Made we happy all day just thinking about it. While harvesting at the church's community garden yesterday one woman said when she walked into church and saw all those people she wanted to cry. I understood.
The flowers are beautiful, but you have to be careful when using daffodils in mixed arrangements--their sap kills other flowers.
@Rose, Yes, I know. I used them anyway, because daffodils are the quintessential flower of spring for me.
@karen, That's so great about your Easter service. I hope they keep coming and you continue to need extra chairs every week.
@Suz, Well, it's not as if I moved here cold from a city. There were a lot of years of country living before these; it's just that this is a more extreme kind of country. 🙂 And in the interests of honesty: I don't shoot anything. I leave that to my husband and sons.
@kristin @ going country,
The flowers were beautiful and such a pretty church! I also love the smell of lilies.
@kristin @ going country, that's some impressive boating by your kids.
@Rose, good to know—thanks!
@kristin @ going country, you went all out as a bona fide Church Lady—excellent work! Your children are remarkable, and I wholeheartedly echo your last thankful.
@kristin @ going country,
Those flower arrangements, and your church, look beautiful! Great job! And kudos to your kids for welcoming your sister's friend, and making him feel at ease. That's a result of great parenting, in my opinion. 🙂
Don’t chain smoke your problems… my new mantra!
It is so great to see how far you are progressing in your program!
My thankful things:
-I’ve been trying some new craft classes and it’s been so fun learning something new!
-like Kristin, happy this looonnggg stretch of Mid-Atlantic rain is breaking
-my little was sick earlier this week but made a quick recovery and back to running around causing wonderful chaos
-there is a mourning dove nesting on my porch and I am just so delighted watching them nesting and can’t wait for the babies to appear
@AFVirginia, I have mourning doves in my yard and something about their calls is comforting to me.
Kristen, your rising spirits have been evident in most of your recent posts, but never more so than in this one. I'm so glad for you.
I'm thankful this week, first, for how well things went on Easter Day with my next-door neighbor's (NDN's) nephew and niece-in-law. As noted earlier, NDN's other close friend and I are going to need a good working relationship with these folks in the future, and I think we've begun one.
And I'm very thankful that JASNA BFF will be here tomorrow afternoon (if the weather gods don't delay her train, that is). Looking forward to watching videos together, exchanging lots of Jane Austen talk and JASNA gossip, and sharing eclipse-related excitement!
@A. Marie, I am glad you were able to begin that relationship. So many older people have no close family to watch out for them.
@A. Marie, wow your neighbor never realized how lucky she was going to be when she bought that house.
Think about all the neighborhoods where the people don't even know each other's names.
Life is but a day at most,
Sprung from night, in darkness lost;
Day, how rapid in its flight--
Day, how few must see the night;
Hope not sunshine every hour,
Fear not clouds will always lower.
Happiness is but a name,
Make content and ease thy aim.
Contentments:
Puppy love. Although he keeps waking me up trying to catch rats. Yes, we still have them.
Improving weather! Easter was beautiful here but it's rained every day since and gale force winds here.
Flowers. Arranging flowers. Watching Star Trek and Twilight Zone with my son. Hanging pictures. Lighting candles.
Hope. Just hope. Not hoping for anything in particular, just hope.
@Rose, Thank you for the verses.
@Rose, nice, just truly nice to read all this. Thank you!
@Central Calif. Artist Jana, My son came downstairs and Rescue Pup let off a very long howl, but kinda squeaky and puppyish. So cute. Son: "What did you say to me?" Me: "He's just saying what we're all thinking."
I totally agree about acknowledging the sorrows. Otherwise they seem to revisit more often - just so you will notice them. Better to sit with it a bit, then move on. This week I am thankful for:
*my calm clean oasis of a home that provides me with security. So much different than the home I grew up in! And starting this weekend, I'm having some repairs and painting done.
*the money to pay my taxes this year - it was the most I have ever paid and I am still in a bit of sticker shock. But next year it should go back to some sort of normal.
*Son #3 got a new job that he is excited about. He's earning more money, working at something more interesting, has a foot in the door that may lead to bigger things.
*My job, which provides friendships and structure to my week. I love my days off, yes, but I also love having a purposeful job that earns me so much more than money.
Spring is starting out on promising notes!
Apologies for tying an English translation of Burns above. I remember the poem was "Fear not clouds will always lour" and now I'm annoyed I posted it as "lower."
@Rose, thanks for saying whose words those are, and I doubt if anyone here would have known what "lour" means.
@Rose,
I was unaware it was a Burns verse....I really enjoyed it. And in my head, I pronounced "lower" to rhyme with "sour". Heh.
@Liz B., It really does rhyme with hour! I love Burns.
Excellent post, as always! Cheering with you for your thankful list, love the Joe Cool sticker, and glad your emotion waves feel like they are becoming less knock-you-over.
I wanted to share a thankful/frugal thought/practice that keeps presenting itself recently. When I do something with a friend that involves money (a meal, coffee, activity), I always go prepared to pay. I also have generous friends who sometimes decide they want to pay for me too. I always let them know that I'm happy and prepared to pay for mine. If they say no, at a restaurant, I offer to pay the tip. If they still say no thanks, I say THANK YOU and DROP IT. I have been around so many uncomfortable interactions when people want to pay for someone else, and I never want to create that situation. By creating tension, it steals joy from both the giver and the recipient. So I realized that by accepting their generosity, I am both receiving the gift and also giving back by allowing the friend to care for me in that way. It supports my frugality while strengthening my connections with friends. WIN WIN <3
Excellent post, as always! Cheering with you for your thankful list, love the Joe Cool sticker, and glad your emotion waves feel like they are becoming less knock-you-over.
I wanted to share a thankful/frugal thought/practice that keeps presenting itself recently. When I do something with a friend that involves money (a meal, coffee, activity), I always go prepared to pay. I also have generous friends who sometimes decide they want to pay for me too. I always let them know that I'm happy and prepared to pay for mine. If they say no, at a restaurant, I offer to pay the tip. If they still say no thanks, I say THANK YOU and DROP IT. I have been around so many uncomfortable interactions when people want to pay for someone else, and I never want to create that situation. By creating tension, it steals joy from both the giver and the recipient. So I realized that by accepting their generosity, I am both receiving the gift and also giving back by allowing the friend to care for me in that way. It supports my frugality while strengthening my connections with friends. WIN WIN <3
school/work/busyness can sometimes be a blessing to help us keep moving forward from those hard waves and focusing on other things. I tend to find during times of trial, focusing on the every day of continuing to work helps me to feel somewhat normal and keep putting one foot in front of the other. In some ways, though extremely challenging, nursing school can be a blessing to help with this. Cheering you on from afar as you tackle school one day at a time!!!
@holly, So true! More time focusing on the future = less time wallowing in the past.
Yes, wallowing in the past is not particularly helpful in my experience!
Processing it, on the other hand, has been extremely helpful to me, and has helped to keep me from wallowing.
I feel like I am standing in the present, doing two things at once: processing the past, so that I can let it go, while also looking to the future and working toward my goals.
And I say this out only because sometimes I think my culture (the evangelical culture) is so pressed about forgiveness and not being bitter (both good things), that it can lead us to bypass the processing part. So that's why I think it's a both/and thing.
@Kristen, yes about the evangelical culture. What has helped me is a clarification of forgiveness as "letting go of the need or desire for revenge" rather than inviting the dog that bit you back into your lap without consequences because "all is forgiven." I wonder why forgiveness isn't taught in this more practical and realistic way.
For sure; that's another big problem. Forgiveness is not the same as reconciliation!
@Central Calif. Artist Jana, Because that is a different definition of forgiveness to most of us.
I know I'm an idiot because I'm autistic, but the definition of forgiveness and the difference between "wallowing in the past" and "processing" it just....I still don't get it, sorry. "Feel your feelings!" OK--if I didn't feel them, they wouldn't be feelings?
Brb, moving to Vulcan now.
I know it could be different for everyone, but NOT bypassing my feelings looks like this for me: when I feel the sadness or the anger coming up, I don't try to shove it down or distract myself out of feeling that way. I don't try to tell myself that I should be happy or peaceful. I accept the sadness or the anger, I don't fight it, and I let it move through on its own pace.
Perhaps you have never tried to distract yourself out of a feeling or talk yourself out of a feeling, and if so, that's great! But I spent a great many years absorbing repeated hurts, and I shoved my feelings down, trying to tell myself that I wasn't as unhappy or hurt as I really truly was. So for me, this step of processing is a necessary and healing one.
Does that help explain it at all?
@Kristen, yes it does. I've never tried to distract myself out of a feeling, etc. I didn't know you could do that. For me, bad feelings are like a thunderstorm moving in or sunshine and warmth for good feelings. A force of nature and nothing I can control.
@Central Calif. Artist Jana,
I was not raised in the evangelical culture, and don't know a lot about it - but this just blew my mind. Your definition of forgiveness is an epiphany for me. Thank you!
I love the quote from James Clear. Thanks for sharing it with us.
This week’s thankful list
- that my 90-year-old MIL was able to join us for Easter dinner. I think she enjoyed getting out of the nursing home and especially enjoyed holding her great-grandson.
- that our very energetic dog did fairly well on Easter with all the guests. It was her first time meeting our grandson and she stayed pretty calm and didn't make any of us nervous with her behavior.
- that I was able to work from home for a few days this week. The HVAC is still broken in our lab and it was 58 degrees in there yesterday, even with a space heater running. I can only stand a couple of hours in that environment. Thankful I have a nice office at HQ that I can go back to so I can thaw out.
- for my DH. He is my rock, and he rolls with all my crazy ideas. Yesterday I sent him a lot for sale near us and jokingly asked him to buy it for us and build us a house since we have not found anything we like in over a year of house hunting. He went at lunch to check out the lot and report back to me about it.
- that the severe weather earlier this week totally missed us. We didn't even rain. Some of my coworkers saw the tornado go over their houses.
This was a bright and cheerful post!
I'm thankful...
1. That Daughter #1 got to go on a field trip today with her own Daughter #1 to St. Augustine, which seems to be the tradition around here for fourth-graders. She's been busy at work, but she was able to get the day off to go. Also, that enough parents were able to go that my daughter only has to serve as chaperone for her own daughter.
2. That my sister who was very recently widowed got some good news - because her late husband was rated 100% service-connected disabled not long before he died, she is entitled to a lifetime VA benefit as his widow. Since they were both retired and living on a fixed income, this will be a big help to her, having lost her husband's income.
3. I'm also thankful for the VSO who suggested they look into getting approved for 100% disability for B-I-L's Parkinson's. They had not had any idea my B-I-L would be included in the newly amended class.
4. That although the azalea blooms are mostly gone, the mock orange and St. Joseph's lily (amaryllis) have just bloomed in the yard. My mother-in-law planted both of them before I even met her, and she died in 1982, four years after I married her son. I am so pleased that they still bloom yearly. The mock orange is more spectacular and huge this year, after all it has been through this past year, than I've ever seen it. Such a profusion of blooms!
5. That the phlebotomist who drew my blood for my quarterly blood tests yesterday hit the vein successfully on the first try. The last few years, no matter where my blood is drawn, and I've had blood work done at a number of places, the staff has had to make multiple attempts, and usually end up trying both arms, my wrists, and sometimes my hands. One time they even had to give up on those and go to my ankle. So I wanted to jump up and hug this woman when she hit pay dirt the first time, but of course, I didn't. I made sure to tell her she was great and that I appreciated her skill.
@JD, I'm glad about your #2; I'm sure that the VA benefit for your sister will be welcome. And I feel for you on your #5; I've had enough ham-handed phlebotomists that I too always appreciate a good one.
@JD,
My amaryllis have been beautiful this year. I dug my bulbs up from my MIL’s yard after she passed because my husband loved them.
Yippee for a good phlebotomist . Pre-covid there used to be an older woman at the lab who had been a phlebotomist for 40 years. She had the gentlest touch. Unfortunately, given her age, she retired during Covid. Now I actually go to my doctor’s office and pay a convenience fee to have my blood drawn there. There is never the same phlebotomist at the lab and I was tired of feeling like a pin cushion.
@JD,
Sigh, not that it matters to anyone here, but my M-i-L died in 1985, not '82. I had been married five years, not four. I had it wrong all around. Sheesh. I think I need caffeine.
A.Marie and Bee,
Having someone poke the needle in and miss the vein but just keep digging around different directions with the needle still in my arm, trying to find a vein, is the thing that gets me the most. I finally learned to quickly say, "Don't do that, please," if they start digging.
Kristen/other nurses, I'd love to hear the professional opinion on drawing blood. I trust you folks.
Know something weird? We do not learn to draw blood in nursing school! It's a separate training.
I hang IV meds, do finger sticks for blood glucose, and give injections, but no blood draws. So odd.
@JD, May I suggest you write a short note to the good phlebotomist's boss, saying how impressed you are with their skill? It could result in them getting a raise or bonus or other perk at work, and I bet they don't get much recognition for what they do.
@JD, I, too, give phlebotomists fits, with repeated unsuccessful pokes. Often they have called over other people to try. Finally our lab got a vein finder and now they use that for patients like me. Sometimes newer employees don't know or forget about the device, so I remind them. It has made having blood drawn much easier for me and the poor phlebotomist. Perhaps your lab has such a device?
I have seen a patient have a failed IV placement even WITH the doppler vein finder, and the provider was someone from the blood team (as in, an expert!) Some people are just really, really hard to poke successfully, especially if they have had tons of procedures (or if one of their arms is out of commission, like if they have a fistula for dialysis).
I do not envy phlebotomists!
@Fru-gal Lisa,
If only I'd gotten her name! They don't wear name tags and they all have on masks, so I couldn't even be sure to point her out again.
Lindsey, apparently, they don't have such a device, because they normally call in other people to try if they don't get it. I used to give blood, before I developed autoimmune diseases, and the Bloodmobile staff used to love how easy my veins were to find. It's not that way now for sure.
Kristen, they don't? I assumed they did, huh. I'll have to ask the retired nurses in our family if they used to learn it years ago. DH used to see a doctor locally, and when he had to give blood to check his A1C, he always walked through a connecting door to the pediatrician's office to get the pediatric nurse to draw his blood, because he knew she could do it first time, every time, painlessly, and no one in his doctor's office could do that. She was an RN. The doctors were not in a common practice, but their office staffs learned to accept that this was how my DH was going to get his blood drawn and they just laughed as walked through.
@JD, Being well hydrated first and foremost is key in drawing blood. Even if you are "fasting" you can still drink water.
@JD, my dad is "tough" to get blood from. He only allows a poke or two before he is quite firm in "get someone else in here". Thankfully he's had long term staff where he gets his drawn. But if memory serves, the phlebotomist has used what is essentially a heating pad to assist in the draw. A good phlebotomist is hard to find. Dad's veins are deep, mine are not. Yet most of the time I end up with bruises - one time a nasty large one. I ask for the "sticker" to use the smallest needle s/he can. All to often, the "sticker" goes deeper than necessary.
@JD, it's a physical skill that must be learned. And like any physical skill, the more you do it, the better you are at it. In my opinion the best phlebotomists are those who work in labs who do it all day long. If you work in a doctor's office and only do two or three a day. you are not as skilled. Just my opinion. YMMV
I'm loving your photography from your walks, Kristen! I enjoy photographing those little moments, too.
We got back yesterday from visiting my son at college (this week is spring break for my daughter). Thankful that he doesn't have classes on Tuesday, which allowed us a nice block of time for togetherness. His university is in Michigan's upper peninsula (yes, we are the oddballs who go north for spring break!) and we had mostly nice weather; the weather up there is often wintry at this time of year, so that was a blessing. Even though the weather turned nasty Tuesday night and Wednesday, we were still able to travel safely (which included the bridge connecting the two peninsulas being open--it was closed to pickup trucks with a topper on Tuesday evening, so we were very grateful that we could go across, albeit at a greatly reduced speed, on Wednesday morning). We were able to do an eight mile hike on Tuesday--it was gorgeous weather and hiking is a favorite family activity. We don't often get the chance to hike together as a family and I am very grateful for any opportunity to do so. Lastly, grateful to my friend who works for an outdoor outfitter company and got me (included fitting me!) new hiking boots for 65% off--my boots were so much comfier on my feet than my old ones, and anyone who likes to hike understands the importance of a good fitting boot!
@Kris, the Mackinaw bridge that connect lower Michigan (mitten) to upper peninsula (UP). Is is scary driving across bridge in that kind of weather. MDOT has a bridge camera on Mackinac city & St
Ignace with a few cameras in UP if interested in viewing from comfort of home or elsewhere.
@Regina, ah, you are familiar with the Mighty Mac. It can be unnerving to drive across it in good weather! I assume you know that you can get texts from the Bridge Authority on the status of the bridge? It can be a very helpful thing if you are planning a trip. We have noticed that there seems to be more closures in the spring, sometimes due to falling ice, sometimes due to wind. We Michiganders are a hardy lot!
I love the quote from James Clear, “It is about focusing on the light.”
Today is a beautiful spring day after the storm moved through. This week my heart is full and I feel especially thankful for many things:
I was thankful that I was able to roll out of bed at 5:00am on Easter Sunday and head down to the beach for Sunrise Service. Both the service and the sunrise were beautiful. I have celebrated nearly every Easter Sunday that way since I was a child. In 2020 during Covid, the service was cancelled. I snuck down to the beach to watch the sunrise on Easter morning and hid in the sand dunes because the beach was being patrolled by police. So I no longer take this simple but poignant tradition for granted.
I am thankful for my wonderful son, my DIL and grandchildren. They make my life more joyous and include DH and I in their lives. My eldest grandchild who is 20 months old understood the concept of hunting for eggs this year and had fun doing it. However, he didn’t want to keep the eggs for himself. He put them in other children’s baskets. Generous at heart!
I am thankful that my BIL has married a lovely, wonderful and truly kind women. My sister died in 2007 after a battle with cancer and my BIL remarried in 2021. His new wife also had lost her husband to cancer and understood the impact this can have on a family. She has embraced all of us especially my niece and nephew. She put together a joyous Easter Sunday celebration for all of us. Dinner for 30!
I am thankful that pollen season is nearly finished. I am breathing easier.
Wishing all peace, good health and prosperity!
@Bee,
I love the one about your brother-in-law's new wife. My husband's oldest sister died after 50+ years of marriage, and her husband married again to a woman who was very warm and welcoming to our family. DH and I didn't know how to refer to the new wife's position in the family, so we ended up calling her our step-sister-in-law as a sort of joke, and it stuck.
It's always such a good thing when families blend well.
@Bee, After my brother died, my Dad made a conscientious point to include my sister-in-law and my nephew in our family events. When she remarried, we were included at the wedding and her husband is as much a part of our family as my brother was. I still refer to her as my sister-in-law.
Really lovely read, thank you Kristen. I will be keeping my focus on living in joys today.
My 5 Thankful Things
1). Much of the work of shoring up my 81 year old mother's previously out of control financial situation is now behind us. This week we are having fun selling a bunch of her inherited jewelry, and putting the profits into her money market account to actively work for her going forward. In the process I've discovered that my mom is a wicked good negotiator- much better than me!
2). Like Kristen, a string of beautiful sunny days after more rain than this native California gal has ever experienced. We've been soaking up the sun as we walk to the beach and back, and napping under it as well out in our backyard.
3). That my husband and I continue to prioritize being active as we enter our 60's (me) and depart them (him). We were with non-active friends last night that are in our same age range, and we could see them struggling to move around comfortably, a result of combining a sedentary lifestyle with a focus on high calorie dine outs. We returned home equally committed that that not be our future. Plus we get genuine joy from our high mileage walks, hikes, and bikes. I wish I could convince our friends that being active is actually a lifestyle enhancer, not some awful chore.
4). For my SIL being such an amazing cook. For Easter Sunday he made apple pancakes topped with bacon butter, honey infused ricotta cheese, and bourbon maple syrup. Another reason my husband and I commit to doing all those miles, lol!
5). For the amazing bloom occurring all around us now as a result of our crazy big winter rains. Here that displays itself in masses of purple (lupin), orange (poppies), and yellow (colt's foot). So, so beautiful, and yet so fleeting, so I'm trying to take it all iin while I can.
@Tamara R, Congrats on powering through your mom's financial paperwork! That's huge. I think we'll be needing to work on moving along some jewelry too, so I'm curious - how did you choose a place to sell to (or did you sell online)?
@Tamara R, keep moving while you can, because weird stuff can crop up and mess with your body (stupid neuropathy!) And I'm with you in soaking up all the green and wildflowers while they are here in California, trying to not feel sad knowing the beauty is fleeting.
I agree so much about being active; the payoffs as you age are so very wonderful.
I think of those waves - or any kind of waves, down to and including infantile tantrums - as having five factors: trigger, frequency, intensity, duration, and recovery.
Progress along any of these axes is progress. So maybe you're having the waves as often as ever, but they're less intense and have a faster recovery (or as I think of it, a shorter "hangover.")
Thanks you for continuing to do Thankful Thursday. It doesn't help me much but I appreciate the experience.
@WilliamB, Thank you for posting the five factors! That is actually a super helpful way for me to think of it! SO true!!! 🙂
Love your new Hawaii stickers, your exam progress,& your reminders to focus on the light.
1) Thankful for good friends. Met a friend for an early hike yesterday, and was reminded of how wonderful it is to catch up, have someone to share joys & sorrows with, and just someone who listens.
2) We've had a bunch of great weather. It's turning to rain, and I'm heading to Portland this weekend for more rain, but we did have a bunch of nice weather that I took advantage of, and did lots & lots & LOTS of yard work.
3) I'll get to see my family this weekend (despite lots of expected rain), on our final college tour. The ultimate choice is, of course, DS18's, but it would be wonderful if he fell in love with this college, as it's very close to my parents & sister.
4) Grateful for our massage gun. I have scoliosis & my back hurts pretty regularly. DH can use the massage gun on my back before bed & it helps so tremendously. It's also super helpful for running aches & pains, weight lifting tight muscles, etc.
5) Thankful for the quiet neighborhood we live in. It's very peaceful here.
Kristen, If you think that Chiquita isn’t helping you with the exams, she and I beg to differ. She is a big part of your self-care program ha ha.
This week I’m very grateful for slow-but-continuing good health after a months-long siege. And for all the people, medical and otherwise, who helped.
I’m super thankful for our almost five-year-old granddaughter who said in a FaceTime last night, when we were all saying good-bye, "I want more minutes!"
@Erika JS, Chiquita actually wants Kristen to become an allergy specialist, so that more people will be able to own cats. (Aren't allergies a sort of "immunological disorder"?)
I am thankful for a lovely dinner with a friend from work!
Thankful to be going home for a visit.
Thankful that I'm registered to finish Danish classes.
Thankful that I have leftovers to heat up for dinner tonight and I don't have to cook!
I am reading a magazine about gut health and trying to remember the body parts involved, I am finding it quite difficult. I am definitely in awe of you Kristen with your nursing studies and Everything that you have to remember, you rock!
Thankfuls:
My cat was limping so I panicked and took her to the vet. Plus she was due for her Rabies shot. I keep forgetting that she is now considered a senior cat (she will be 15 this year); after the examination, blood work, and x-ray of her foot the vet told me that for a senior cat she is in remarkably good condition, for which I am ecstatically happy. No broken foot. The cost was an ouch: $1388.16, I was not expecting that, I almost had a coronary. But well worth it to know kitty is doing so well.
As I know very well, it always snows around this time; the reason being is that it is my birthday tomorrow, and it ALWAYS snows on my birthday (we are expecting some snow), excepting for maybe one or two years in the past; and then go figure the temperature will be up to 15C for the weekend and the week following.
Getting to see my (twin) sister and my niece tomorrow: I haven't seen my niece in a few years and I'm very excited to be seeing her as she is possibly the nicest and kindest person I know.
The eclipse on Monday: we are in a good position to be almost directly in the path of the eclipse. HB and I do not have "eclipse glasses", so we will be doing the Pinhole Projector technique.
Had a lovely Easter at my HB's family; they are such a lovely bunch of people, I totally adore his 3 nieces, they are such fun to be around.
Were you watching Osmosis? I feel like I know that font anywhere! They're so great.
This week I am thankful for:
An easy overnight shift on Tuesday night
Enjoying my toddler's toddler-ness so much! People warned me about the "terrible twos" but I love this stage. She's so funny; we were playing hide-and-seek with my mom and my daughter kept calling out where we were.
Having supportive parents nearby. My mom comes over one evening a week and we go to my parents' on an afternoon every weekend. It's a huge help.
Working from home. I'm on a fairly easy rotation right now and it's helping me recover from a brutal few months.
Oddly enough, I’m thankful I woke up with a sore throat. Next week at this time I will be getting ready to leave for a week long work trip and if I woke up feeling like this next week it would be a rough start to a very long week. Better to get this now when I can actually rest and take care of myself properly.
Our new house backs up to woods and I am thankful each time I look out our windows.
My husband and I were able to sneak in a weekend away together last weekend. Life has been so incredibly busy for us that we hadn’t been connecting but this trip was just what we needed.
First, some questions for Kristen (because I always want to know things):
1. Do you have a room that serves as a home office or do you study all around the house?
2. What is the purpose of the ATI exam since you are already in nursing school?
Thankful for:
1. My friend’s husband followed through w/VA for rehab (now waiting for VA to instruct with the next step)
2. A friend brought me a fabulous floral bouquet for Easter
3. I did a longer bike ride than normal and didn’t die —only walked once, because I had to stop for a bunch of cars (switching from walking to bike riding because of neuropathy)
4. The orange blossoms are our down the hill, which is the best smell in the entire world!!
5. Rain again today. . . so opposite of Kristen's world, because here every drop is needed.
I do have an extra bedroom here at this house that serves as my office! I do a lot of studying there. But sometimes I'm at my kitchen table too.
The ATI exams are basically practice for the NCLEX, which is the licensing exam that we all have to pass to get our RNs after we graduate. It's kind of a supplemental test, and something of a predictor of who will pass the NCLEX on their first try.
Thank you for that beautiful sunflower quote and your even more beautiful devotional/life lesson.
I want to forward the sunflower quote to the special ed teacher I used to work with; her very favorite flower is the sunflower and she decorated her classroom with sunflowers everywhere -- sunflower prints on curtains, tablecloths on her desk and work table, and sunflower motifs on the bulletin boards. She will love it.
And your observation about joys and sorrows is some wisdom I can really use! So true!
Very happy to hear you are making good progress in your schooling with all the tests, and here's hoping you get a fabulous CNA job this summer.
My thankfuls:
1. I had a coworker from the store accompany me to the Easter Vigil service on Saturday night.
2. I have 5 days' worth of substitute jobs at school this week. And four next week.
3. There will be a school holiday for the eclipse this Monday and I was able to pick up someone's hours at the store, so I will earn some money after all on that day.
4. That my allergies are easing up enough so that I could work in the yard yesterday evening, sacking up piles of live oak leaves and pollen tassles. That was thanks to the Covid-era face masks I still have around the house, and wore while outdoors.
5. The bluebonnets are in full bloom, along with a smattering of other wildflowers. So pretty! Wish they'd last all year long.
@Fru-gal Lisa,
Man was made for Joy & Woe
And when this we rightly know
Thro the World we safely go
Joy & Woe are woven fine
A Clothing for the soul divine
Under every grief & pine
Runs a joy with silken twine
Sorry for all the poetry today folks. For some reason these comments are reminding me of some of my favorite bits.
@Rose,
This one seems especially fitting for this post....love it.
@Liz B., That's William Blake, probably my second favorite poet behind TS Eliot.
Also I have "Under every grief & pine / Runs a joy with silken twine" on a pretty important piece of embroidery.
@Rose, April is poetry month so you've got perfect timing. It's also William Shakespeare's birth & death month but I bet that you know that.
@Rose,
How lovely! Thanks for sharing...
@Rose, Please keep sharing bits of poetry, it’s divine.
I am extra tired this week after a long (but really great) Easter weekend. Being tired often tips me into a bad mood, and I have a hard time seeing all the things for which I am thankful. But in truth, there are so many, including:
-My health insurance deductible is paid. So when my doctors want this test or that test or whatever, I don't have to think "will this be in the hundreds or thousands???"
-I am surviving breast cancer. I mean, really, that is all that matters.
-I have no medical appointments today. It is lunch time, and I am still in my pajamas. That is all I needed today.
-I've got a bunch of pieces of gum in my bag of double bubble left. Sometimes it's the little things.
-The birds are singing and the grass is popping.
@Amanda in VA,
I 100% agree about having met your deductible. I had my total knee replacement last year after we had met ours, and it made a big difference in how much out of pocket expenses we owed.
Surviving breast cancer is a HUGE one. Continued wishes for good health to you.
wonderful photos! Your surroundings are so different than mine...
Thankful for:
1. How often Clobber Paws makes me laugh. He is so large that when he wants to sit down, he frequently just sits in a chair. He loves my husband's recliner and my wheelchair but yesterday I walked in on him sitting on the toilet. He sees us sitting on them, so I guess he thinks they are just weird chairs.
2. Electricity. Ours went out for a few hours and it reminded me how I take it for granted and, really, it is sort of a miracle.
3. The northern lights have been out night after night. So gorgeous.
4. A new book from one of my favorite authors is out.
5. the husband, always the husband.
@Lindsey, now if you could only teach Clobber Paws to USE the toilet...
@Lindsey, who is this favorite author?
@Lindsey,
I envy you seeing those Northern Lights!
Love your stickers! As a fellow Snoopy/peanuts fan I love to see your stickers, wondering where you got your laptop one from?
So glad to hear your waves are less. Hoping you have more movement going forward. 🙂
Thankful for having stocked pantry & freezer. With prices (of everything) continously increasing (& reported that more are coming in weeks & months) I am glad I stock up when on sale (& have $$ to).
Thankful that I am able to grow more food this year with additional raised garden beds & in pots (less flowers in pots). I am looking forward to newest raised garden bed that I am (attempting) to put archway along whole bed to grow pumpkins & watermelons. Buying my blueberry bushes & apple trees ASAP, even though not much fruit this year.
Thankful that I waited to call garbage service back because there was a price decrease in bringing me another garbage can (since last one stolen). $50 is better than $100. Unfortunately only do delivery once month of garbage cans.
Thankful that I was able to get my oil changed in my vehicle this morning after calling yesterday to make appointment. Did not expect so quickly, but so glad. 🙂 They even topped off my antifreeze.
Thankful I'm keeping in mind the bigger expenses coming up & have not purchased anything extra. I am really proud of myself for not buying ahead (except graduation supplies on sale). Hoping to keep up the same behavior/choices.
Have a good day!
The Snoopy one is from a shop we went to in Hawaii when Zoe and I were visiting.
Thankful for a house to live in, with walls and doors and windows and a roof, electricity, and running water, that is nowhere near any of the rapidly proliferating number of war zones.
Thankful for a lovely morning walk with the dog, free from sniper fire and drone attacks.
Thankful for food to eat that, as far as I know, did not necessitate the death of anyone involved in its production or transportation.
Thankful for a functioning healthcare system that, while far from perfect, is so So SO much better than … none at all.
Thankful for this weekly prompt to count my blessings.
@JDinNM, those are huge things that we rarely contemplate or even notice. Thank you for the reminders of all these incredible blessings.
@Central Calif. Artist Jana, Here's my motto: "Any day you don't wake up in a Syrian refugee camp is a good day."
@JDinNM, Don't forget the Houthis in Yemen. sigh.
Kristen, I am celebrating your steps towards getting your CNA! At my hospital, they pay 100% tuition for CNA's to continue their education. I went that route, too. So smart.
Spring has sprung here in the PNW, rain showers bring sweet flowers, even pretty weeds are flowering blues, pinks, purples, yellows and orange. The neighbor commented that I should really mow the orchard and garden...too many sweet flowers! Even if I have to weed whack before getting the tractor in there, it will have been worth it.
Thankful that my wicked case of vertigo only lasted 1 day, but it was a doozy.
Neighbor with a fancy zero turn mower asked to mow my yards (about 1 acre) to play on his machine. Um, yesss please!
Another friend delivered me a unit of barkdust that he receives as a perk from his job, I give him fresh produce all year long and he said it was a great barter.
For the mating pair of American Kestrels who took up house keeping in my newest nesting box and platform.
Oooh, I don't know if this hospital offers that benefit, but I will look into it!
@Kristen, just don't sell your soul for 100% tuition - it may be tempting. Remember there is no such thing as a free lunch. Saying is attributed to many but the meaning is still the same.
I'm thankful
*that the new job I started on Monday seems to be going well. So far, no red flags!
*for my husband who has stepped in as I adjust to the new job routine this week
*for my health. I need to nurture this body a little more though. Eat better, move more, stretch...needs to move up on the priority list
*that my younger kiddo has a class full (classful?) of good kids. Academics matter at school but I think who the kids are around all day matters just as much.
*that while my new gig is remote, when I do have to go in to the office, it's a very short commute (vs. my last job where the drive was over an hour each way).
*for clean water and for the access to it in abundance
I love your Snoopy sticker. It looks great on your laptop.
My 5 Thankful
1) I like that it’s been lighter out in the morning since daylight savings. Makes waking up and getting the girls ready during the school days nicer.
2) Family to spend Easter together with. It’s good when we can get together.
3) Our library. So many fun free events we’ve gone to or will go to this month like cookie decorating, painting, puzzle competition, learning about the solar eclipse.
4) Our church for the friendly people and fun events they hold too.
5) For these 2 sweet kind older ladies at church. Can’t help but smile and give them a hug when I see them.
Do you have to take a CNA course to get the CNA license, or will your student nurse training suffice? I'm sure the exam to get certified will be easy for you.
Grief is like ripples in a pond when you throw in a stone. The waves get smaller and farther apart as time passes. It's great that you can recognize your healing.
Yep, my nursing school training so far is what will qualify me, along with the fact that I am CPR certified (which was required to start nursing school anyway!)
- lunch with two good friends in honor of one's birthday
- some sunshine!
- a morning dry enough for a walk with my neighbor
- the body work is done on our car
- all 4 of us will be home for dinner together
Late to Thanksgiving today as even my home time this week has been a lot like working nights. Thankful though for the good sleep in prep for work tonight.
Thankful for the rain we had this week and having the coffers filled. I thought once about turning my rain barrel over to fill it, but I always need to replace the washer around the faucet and just didn't get it done. I always leave the tap open during the winter to keep it from freezing and have started many a season just running water through the barrel because I've forgotten to close it.
Thankful for the sump pump in this old house. Not thankful that the float sticks sometimes.
Thankful for the pansies and violas on the porch. Also the Virginia bluebells scattered over the lawn and the thoughtful predecessor that planted them. Thankful for the bees that are visiting the dandelions and henbit.
Thankful that the city did get the "brush pile" and the barberry bush picked up. It's amazing how the bush's absence from the east front room window allows in the light! Also thankful for the yellow climbing rose that has arrived to take it's place.
Thankful for Miss Molly. Also thankful that the glucosamine chondroitin seems to have really upped her energy level. She actually had a few seconds of zoomies on Tuesday, which I haven't seen in a while!
Thankful for-
My 2 week never ending cold is starting to let up.
That the portion of the xway that I drive is not closing until 2025 and I doubt I will be working then. There is only 1 easy way to work, the expressway.
That my youngest asked hubs to come on a fishing trip with them, although hubs won't go cuz he would have to fly it is very nice he asked. He even tried to find non stop flights for him.
Being able to see some green on shrubs!
Hoping our trip to see the eclipse works out, my oldest lives in Columbus OH with my luck it will be cloudy ha ha.
That we started a puzzle club at work- what fun! A number of my co-workers are hard core puzzlers.
As I don't think your home is that old, you can thank building codes. We occasionally have a water issue - not flooding per se yet still an annoyance. If it were not for state building codes, I shudder at what might have been built in my county.
Chiquita be thinking those images look like morsels of food - but what kind lol.
So glad to get the moisture (rain then snow which melted fast) but glad we're seasoned enough to know when to call it a night and see what tomorrow brings. And for a handy husband - and one that knows his wheelhouse. In other words, his male ego does not drive his actions and decisions.
I battle depression so every morning I have to make the decision to seek happiness. If I don't gloom slips in. Your blog always lifts my mood!
I wrote down that James Clear quote, too!
so glad you are healing. my son Noah has his Bar Mitzvah in a few weeks. he has been practicing with the Cantor for a year. he does his work without complaints and i am so proud of him. and so grateful that when i was bat mitzvah age they didn't have the ceremony for girls. i would never have survived. my daughter had her bat mitzvah three years ago and "she knocked it out of the park" as the rabbi likes to say.
i have a milestone birthday this year. i am now 20 years older than my mother was when she passed. i never in my wildest dreams thought i would be this old. it is kinda scary. i want a nice trip instead of a party. disney or universal would fit the bill. or Dollywood and Graceland. we have done so many road trips in recent years. we don't own a car so road trips are super fun.