Thankful Thursday | I just like...days!
This week, I am thankful:
that I like all of my days
I didn't have a hospital shift on Monday, and I texted a friend to say, "Ohh, I love my days off."
Then a moment later, I followed it with, "But actually, I also love my work days. Maybe I just love...days!"
And I think that's a testament to the fact that I like the life I have now. Work days, off days...they are all good. 🙂
for the variety of things I do at the hospital
Obviously, there are some repetitive tasks; I give insulin shots almost every shift, I listen to heartbeats and lung sounds every shift, I do pain assessments every shift, and so on.
But in general, no two days are the same, and I kind of love that.
An example: on a recent shift, a patient was really being driven crazy by her untrimmed bangs (one of those straw-that-broke-the-camel's-back things), and she asked me to help. I had time, so with the permission of my charge nurse, I gave her a little haircut and then braided her hair.
I've cut (and braided) lots of hair for my own girls, and I've also been trimming my bangs for years, so when she asked, I thought, "I've been training for this day basically my whole life." Ha. You never know when those skills will come in handy. 😉
What a funny job nursing is; you just never know what tasks you will do in a day!
for a little dusting of snow
It was brief, but I appreciated it nonetheless.
(And now this weekend it looks like we may get more than a dusting!)
that we are almost up to 10 hours of daylight
On Sunday, my weather app says that in my zip code, we will have exactly 10 hours of daylight. Woohoo!
This is up from our solstice low of 9 hours and 24 minutes.
And by mid-February, we will be at 10 hours and 45 minutes. More light is coming, and soon!
(Unless you live in the southern hemisphere, obviously.)
for my good health
I'm grateful my body is healthy enough to do all of the things I do.
that my new class seems not as bad as the last
I say this cautiously, but...I looked it over, and it seems more manageable.
Here's hoping it's a less crash-out-inducing experience than my most recent BSN class. Hehe.
1. I am thankful for books. It's very cold outside, and I am having a rough patch in life, and reading is something I can do while the weather is cold and it helps my mental health.
2. I am grateful for good friends, who hold me accountable to show up for yoga every week.
3. Lucky enough to have a husband who makes us dinner every night. He's retired and I am not. It's sweet to come home to a nice meal, made with love.
4. Also grateful that my husband is handy. Our stove recently went out and so did our washer. He ordered parts and fixed both saving us money and hassle.
5. I am a librarian, and a patron who I am chummy with sought me out to give me a book recommendation. Kind of cool to be on the receiving in instead of the giving!
Being a nurse is kind of like being a mom, so yeah, all kinds of random skills could come into play. I remember my mom saying when I was in high school that I should be able to figure out a way to use my extraordinary ability to remember songs in some kind of career. Turns out, it was extremely useful as a mother, because I could entertain my kids anywhere with just my voice. A particular half hour of sitting stuck in traffic in the French Quarter with my baby and 2-year-old niece comes to mind, when I sang every kids' song I knew. 🙂
Thankfuls:
--That my kids are back to in-person school in their brand-new school facility. They love the new school, even if they still don't love school itself.
--For a school administration that has been very accommodating with all of our kids. I kind of hate that public schools are expected to be a la carte now and cater so much to everyone lest they lose kids to homeschooling, so I try not be unreasonable in asking for anything special for my own children. However, anytime we have asked about dual credit classes, early graduation possibilities, help for the one kid with a math issue, etc., they have been very open to working things out. They don't make it feel like an imposition, either.
--For our good stack of firewood. It's not my favorite firewood ever--every time I touch it, I get sap all over my hands, and it seems to make way more ash than other varieties--but we have some serious cold coming and I feel better about that with a lot of wood on hand.
--That I found the cheaper whole-milk asadero cheese (my mozzarella substitute) when we happened to be in town this week. It was out of stock last time my husband was there, when he got the $8/pound skim-milk kind I was not impressed with. But they had the bigger blocks of whole milk asadero this time, which are just under $5/pound. Much better. Now I have ten pounds of it to shred and put in the freezer, thus ensuring full-fat pizza in the future. 🙂
--That I was able to play Ultimate Frisbee with my daughter's First Communion class and mostly keep up. There is a lot of running in Ultimate Frisbee, so I was pleased I could play with a bunch of hyper 9-year-old boys. They've been playing for fifteen minutes or so before starting their class, to give the kids a chance to run after school and before sitting for another hour. It's not something I would typically do, but there wouldn't have been even teams otherwise. Especially because our priest, who teaches the class, always plays, so there needed to be another adult on the other team to make it more fair. He is VERY athletic, and a lot younger than I am, so it wasn't an even match-up there, but my team still won. HA. (Does some lingering competitiveness from my sports days still surface occasionally? Apparently.)
I am thankful we have time to prepare for the upcoming winter storm. I will grab a few groceries early today. DH will get the snow blower out of the shed tomorrow and make sure it is ready.
I am thankful for continued good health. I have, so far, avoided the nasty viruses going around. I am grateful that my long time yoga studio now offers two Pilates classes each week. The teacher is excellent and her class gives me a much better workout than what I do by myself at home. I am thankful I can afford to attend classes and support a locally owned and operated studio.
I am thankful there is a lot of good news on the health/medical front this week for friends, family members, and myself.
So happy for the good parts about public school for your family! You're right about all the layers to it with requirements, a la carte options, just such an "interesting" landscape in education these days.
Skim milk cheese no thank you! Glad you're restocked with the good stuff.
K D, I share your gratitude for prep time for the oncoming storm (I'm off to Wegmans as soon as I've done my a.m. check-in with NDN1). And while here in Central NY we're more or less "Oh, @#$!!, here comes another one," it may be a much bigger deal for those of you who may get ice instead of snow. Everybody be careful out there!
And I too am thankful to have kept staying healthy this winter. Flu or COVID on top of snow, I don't need.
*I continue to be so grateful for my husband's job. I mentioned it in a previous post.
*Thankful for a warm house.
*For local libraries-I always have books to read, plus they offer much more.
*For working out yesterday. I didn't want go, but I went to the gym. It felt good to be in there.
*For our animals who bring such joy.
Have a wonderful day, Kristen!
This week I’m thankful:
1. That my son’s dog will be with us for the next couple of days while my DIL helps out a friend. I love this dog and she’s getting older with some health issues, so I’m glad to spend time with her.
2. That my partner is a willing and able snow-remover. There’s lots of snow predicted this weekend, and we have longish paths to the house and no garage, so lots of snow removal will need to be done. We have a system and work well together.
3. That I am not panicked about the cost of our upcoming electrical project, as I would have been in past years.
4. That I made a big batch of chili yesterday afternoon that turned out tasty and will be an easy dinner after a long day today.
5. For my job, that is a 90% good fit for me and my life—and 90% is probably as good as it gets!
I'm thankful:
- To have had Monday off, even though I can't believe today still isn't Friday yet haha.
- That we live in an era that can provide us pretty good predictions about the weather. People in eras before would just wake up and still have to milk the cows and make their bread, but in an unexpected snowstorm. I can prepare and plan for this weekend accordingly.
- For my coworker friend sharing leftovers with me that nobody wanted from a family event. The main feature is a venison stew! And now we have a couple days with a good excuse to sit and talk and eat lunch together.
- For my classes this semester. This might show up weekly but I'm just so grateful to have the students I do in the arrangement we were given. The questions and issues arise generally at a rate I can handle. These dears don't even fall apart when I need an extra beat to consider something, reread something, pause to deal with an issue, or all the ways I just can't be "on" as much as I wish to be. Here's to a low-crashout semester for us all!
Heather, I share your thankfulness for modern weather forecasting (which, however we may grumble about the occasional misses, has a lot more hits than misses). And send me some virtual venison stew!
I'm glad you are enjoying your days!! Confirmation that your hard work has paid off...in all aspects!
I am thankful for good health as well. There's a lot of sickness going around, and I just read a caring bridge post from a friend who is battling cancer.
I am thankful for more daylight, for sure! This dreary winter darkness has me a bit off my game. Perhaps a touch of SAD?
I am thankful for the ability to work from home if we all plan ahead. This weekend looks like a doozy of a storm coming here too.
Related to that...I'm also thankful for my employer who gave us the day off on Monday this past week, when the icy roads caught us by surprise!
Off I go to work now...I'm thankful it's above freezing today and my walks to get the mail will be more comfortable! 😀
I'm thankful for commenter Lindsay. She has cool comments about life in Alaska, her pets, her trip of a lifetime ( I loved the story of the dance on the ship on the way home most) and her health challenges. She shared a difficult prognosis this week, which couldn't have been easy, but it gives us in the FG comment section a chance to send her our thoughts and prayers.
My other thankful- besides indoor plumbing and fuzzy, plush cats- is that something I've been praying for years has occurred. My prodigal son has come home, and now he begins the hard work of resetting his path. But he's home and my family can support him as he figures things out.
Hooray for an answer to a prayer. And more prayers for you and your family as you figure things out going forward.
I had not seen Lindsey's comment, but your mention of it prompted me to go back to find it. I am sad to see her announcement, but not at all surprised at the grace with which she is handling this. Lindsey, if you see this, please be assured of good thoughts and wishes for your peace, and that of your husband, family, and friends, from New Mexico. You probably remember my saying this many times here over the years, but it is often so applicable: I wish you gentle passage through this difficult time.
[Hug]
Books.
I am so thankful that they bring us entertainment, instruction, and food for thought generally. I was firmly on the entertainment end when I was younger, but now I gravitate towards books that share insights and offer inspiration. However, don't rule out the way fiction can send a lightning shaft. I can distinctly remember the scene in Deerslayer (Fenimore Cooper) where a village went midnight fishing, hauling net after net of fish to the shore "fit for a banquet in the courts of Europe", only to eat some and leave the remaining fish to rot on the shore. Such a vivid scene - it spoke more to me than any blog or newspaper article on food waste ever.
A few years ago I started copying quotes that strike me, on flash cards. When I feel need of "meditation" I can now leaf through quotes from Primo Levi, Nescio, Paul Kalanuthi, Dirk de Wachter, George Orwell, Victor Frenkel and others. I feel saddened sometimes but sustained too and part of the human race, throughout time and place.
Books, yes! Index cards, yes! My teacher heart rejoices.💖
I also collect quotes. Inspiration, food for the soul and the mind, comfort in this too moments, reminders to enjoy the journey. Some are on cards, but I think I will transfer more from their notebook paper homes.
One of my favorite free frugals: Lipton tea, boxes of 100 bags, come with 4 cardboard flashcard boxes! I have them in every room. Laundry room for stain removal, care instructions for particular pieces of clothing, laundry recipes. I have them for gardening, wardrobe combination ideas, journaling prompts, just every area of life! Also use them as smaller section organizers in the recycled box organizers I have in every drawer. Ex: bedside drawer has a 5 inch square box lid with 2 of the tea boxes in it on either side. That makes a third section in the middle. 1st section closest to me holds eye drops, lip balm, nail clipper, nail file, and rescue inhaler. Middle section hold small refill bottles of asprin, tylenol, and ibuprofen. Third holds my bedtime RX meds. I never have to get out of bed for any of them, I can just turn on my reading lamp with the shade pointed down to avoid glaring wake me up lights to see at o'dark o'clock, and everything is held firmly upright and in place. Makes me so happy!
Sorry, that is one of my favorite rabbit holes.
Yay JNL for quote flash cards! ❤️ Grateful for your sharing.
For a while I kept commonplace books and copied quotes from books I especially liked. Your flashcards remind me of that. I haven't written in one for a while but maybe I should start a new one!
I had the same thought on Tuesday, I’m mostly housebound due to ME/CFS but as I was puttering around at home I just felt this gratitude that I’m able to do this. And yesterday I was able to work three hours at my old job. These are all good days and I’m thankful for every day.
I haven’t seen the sun yet this year, but my weather app tells that we have three hours daylight now and it’s really noticeable how the days are lighter. Both literally and figuratively.
Grateful for the full freezer from hunting, fishing and foraging in the fall, so I can use most of the food budget these first months of the year to build a more sizable pantry.
And lastly grateful for getting an invite to a sewing club from an acquaintance. I haven’t been to meetings in the association we both belong to for a year, so it warms to know that one is still remembered.
💝 GUNN, you are light!
1. Thankful for my sister. I had a not great (honestly not terrible but I couldn't think of one good thing to report!) day yesterday and I was able to just lay it all out in a video message to my sister. I received back nearly 20 minutes of encouragement 🙂
2. Thankful for my sister-in-law. She's been a mix of a spiritual guide/emotional support/childcare/friend for years now and I still am amazed at her humbleness and quiet care.
3. Thankful for my young children. running/jumping/spinning hugs from my 4 year old is the cure for any slump! And my 20 month old's giggle lights me up.
4. Thankful that I like my profession. Even though I go through periods of being frustrated at my job, I am generally happy with my role within the greater healthcare system.
5. Thankful for having a family that likes each other!
- I’m thankful the worst of this winter storm is supposed to go through South of us.
- The elementary school where I deliver bins of supplemental food was hit by gunfire this week. I’m very grateful that only buildings were damaged and that everyone was ok. I also feel lucky it was a non-delivery week and I wasn’t there unloading my van.
- In the past year and a half, I’ve been able to use some strong “negative” feelings to finally push myself past some long-engrained fears, and have been volunteering in several ways to help my community. My newest challenge to my social anxiety and agoraphobia is that I signed up to help young students struggling to read and write. Next step will be training.
- I’m glad I signed up for the CoCoRaHS program. This sounds like a strange thing to say, but I’ve been enjoying learning the precipitation measurement process!
I also love all my days (on or off).
Thankful for :
Paid sick time: I finally caught a virus (which is a miracle I have lasted this long as the hospital is full of sickies)
That the golf course near me is open for dog walking when there is snow cover. My dog just loves to run free!
Good friends.
Happy and healthy kids who are making their way into adulthood.
This week I am thankful for:
My faraway sister's neighbor and good friend, who is looking out for her in amazing ways.
My own good friend who listened patiently to an unusual outpouring of anxiety this week!
Finally, a day that wasn't frigid -- but that will change tomorrow.
My new increased Social Security payment -- only because it will cover (almost) the hike in assessment fees to my condo organization.
That by focusing on using the food in my pantry and freezer, I'm starting to see a little space in both. And my grocery spending is very low!
That I live in an area where I find numerous discarded receipts, which I scan to Fetch. What fun!
For the awesome trainers at my gym who are always helpful and considerate.
I tend to prefer work days which are more predictable! Haha!
My thankfuls:
1. I met up with a friend last Friday and it was so lovely seeing her and catching up.
2. I went to my book group which I hadn't been to in a long time (my schedule always seemed to clash) so it was good to get back into it. I went after seeing my friend and initially just wanted to go home, but I knew I'd have fun once I was there.
3. I went for my first run of the year during a beautiful sunset.
4. I made it to the gym for strength training and then went to a yin yoga class directly afterwards.
5. I'm thankful that I don't feel self-conscious doing things alone. Some of my friends were surprised I went sledding by myself but I had a lot of fun, and who cares if I looked awkward? I'll never see those people again. I also enjoy going to the cinema, museum and on trips alone. I do enjoy doing those things with others as well, but I like my own company (and being able to leave if I'm bored or tired!).
I so enjoy your posts. YAY you for enjoying your own company, and doing things you enjoy on your own! I would have loved to see you sledding. 😊 You and Kristen share a joyful, grateful, and refreshing outlook on life that blesses me down to my toes.
I don't have to leave the house other than get the dogs outside and shovel last snow. I'm thankful for that ( though worry about my kids that do need to be on the roads in the bitter cold ).
What a blessing you are to that patient. Most people will not experience that kind of compassion while in the hospital, sadly. The snow last Sunday in middle GA was so beautiful, but gone quickly. I think we will escape this weekends weather event. Thankful for that for sure.
I had also missed Lindsey's comment. Lindsey, thank you for posting your update. This internet makes it so easy for people to drift into your life and right back out again without explanation. Thank you for explaining because wondering is difficult for people who care. I do care about you (and the husband, always the husband). Thank you for being a part of our lives.
Also, how important for you to notice "the straw that broke the camel's back" situation. I'd never thought about how important that skill is for people whose job is to help people.
So this week, I am thankful:
*that my dental hygiene appointment was (dentally) uneventful. No scraping at all!
*that I know how to "fix" my vertigo because my lying back and tilting my head to the right at my dental hygiene appointment set me to spinning.
*for the kind notes my homeschool reviewer put on the review form. Often there's a "versus" mentally with regard to homeschool and public school, so it was nice to be met with kindness.
*that the hens are increasing their egg production. It's still not enough to keep our large family in eggs, but 6 eggs is more encouraging than 2 or 3.
*that a situation my friend has been dealing with has been (hopefully) resolved-- and resolved well. What a need there is in this country for good care situations for people with mental health issues!
- I'm thankful to finally be feeling better after getting both a stomach bug and a cold from our sweet grandson.
- I'm thankful Monday was a holiday so I had the day off to rest and recover from the stomach bug.
- I'm thankful DH felt better this morning than he has in 2 weeks. It's been a rough road for both of us.
- I'm thankful that I am off on Fridays.
- I'm thankful for a warm home and lots of books to get me through the cold weather forecasted for the weekend.