Thankful Thursday | kittens, mushrooms, windows...
This week, I am thankful:
that I took biology only one semester ago
This first part of Anatomy and Physiology feels kind of like a whole semester smushed into a two-week period. It hasn't even been two weeks yet and poof! we are already covering DNA replication, mitosis, meiosis, and a whole bunch of other stuff that took a whole semester to get to in biology.
I am not drowning, but if I hadn't taken biology so recently, I might feel rather underwater at this point.
that I have a physical textbook now
I ordered a used copy of the previous edition, just to have a paper version of the e-text that automatically comes with this class.
apparently this one used to be a rental book!
Last semester, I kept wishing I had a physical book. So this semester, I have made my own wish come true.
that my professor is a helpful teacher
My biology professor was the sort that literally just read the PowerPoint slide decks out loud in class, and that was it. I was mainly on my own, and while I did fine in the class, it's a little annoying to pay for a class where you basically are teaching yourself.
But my current professor is so much better! She explains things and gives examples and shares mnemonic devices, so I feel like I am actually getting something out of lectures now.
So, yay!
for some beautiful weather days this week
We've had a couple of days that make me believe fall is lurking around the corner.
It has been super delightful to feel some less-humid air and to open the windows!
And even when a hotter day is mixed in, it hasn't been as oppressively hot as it was earlier in the summer.
for the mushrooms I've seen this week
Sonia loves mushrooms, so I took pictures of these for her when I was out for a walk.
I'm not as into mushrooms as Sonia is, but I do think wild mushrooms are fun to look at. I think the ones in the small round stage look like perfectly toasted marshmallows.
for my window
Y'all, I am still tickled pink that my desk is now by a window. Every day, I feel a fresh wave of joy!
And even on a cloudy day like today, there's still lots of light.
that I have nothing scheduled today
Tuesday and Wednesday had a lot of scheduled stuff, so I am extra thankful that I have nowhere I need to be today.
(This is not the same as having nothing to do today; I have plenty to do!)
for kittens
Almost every week lately, there have been kittens to take care of at the rescue and they're just so darn cute.
The great thing about being a volunteer is that it's like getting a permanent ticket to kitten-land. If you actually adopt a kitten, the kitten will grow up super fast.
But if you are a volunteer, you get to snuggle kittens all the time!
(Remember this little gray kitten? I think she is the most adorable kitten I have seen in my entire life.)
that my neighborhood is so walking-friendly
Sometimes when I notice houses that are on main roads, I am reminded to be thankful that I can just walk right out my front door and immediately have access to miles of walkable neighborhood roads. It's handy that we don't need to drive to a park in order to go for a safe walk.
I got to visit my Mom for the first time in 2 years!
I got into a BSF class!
The weather is beautiful today.
Wild sunflowers!
Flying to Denver to see our son march with the nationally famous fightin Texas Aggie Band! ( as they are introduced @ the beginning of the half-time show.)
Woohoo for a visit with your mom!
@Gretchen, Gig ‘em!
1. I am also thankful for a walkable neighborhood and friendly neighbors. I walk our Westie and our Havanese girls every morning and love that we have sidewalks!!
2. I'm thankful for my physical therapist, Emily, at Redbud Physical Therapy. She pushed me to work hard in my one hour twice weekly sessions for several months and now I'm back to walking at least two miles every morning and hiking again!! She helped me get my life back and I'm so thankful for that.
3. Little bit cooler morning temps here in Oklahoma; doing my walking and gardening in the mornings before it reaches 90 degree temps in the afternoons.
4. My awesome husband, David. He cooks all our dinners...enough said!!
5. That I've lost 44 pounds!!
I just got my flu shot this morning and it reminded me of how grateful I am for my health, my access to medical treatment and preventative care, and my job (through which I have decent health insurance). This has not been the case for the majority of my life, so I'm truly grateful now!
Last weekend, my oldest daughter came for the three day weekend and brought my granddaughter. Lots of amazing memory making happened that weekend and I love spending time with them.
My four cats (yes, four) who spend their days just hanging out with me while I work from home. I'm so glad to have them here, even if they sleep the majority of the day. There's something about having a cat who wants to hang out with you that makes life a bit sweeter.
So grateful the transition to bunk beds is going so well! My 1 year old just goes right to sleep on the bottom bunk and doesn’t try to get out of bed at all, we were worried she’d be wandering the room but so far she doesn’t seem to realize she’s not in a crib and she’s sleeping great. Both kids are also delighted to be in a room together now and we’ll start turning the nursery into an office for my husband, so wins for everyone all around!
Grateful that the baby hiking carrier I listed on fb marketplace finally sold yesterday. I’ve never sold anything on there before and it had been posted for weeks with not much response so I was worried it wouldn’t sell and I’d priced it too high. I guess it just required a little patience though. Also grateful for Venmo, for making these types of transactions so easy now.
Grateful for the positive experience I had returning to my office briefly yesterday. I had to return to my office for the first time since March 2020 to pickup a new laptop, and I was feeling a little anxious for some reason but it was really nice to see a couple coworkers and talk to them in person and just good to see my desk and all my stuff again, so now I’m even looking forward to my official office return in November.
And of course so grateful for my husband and kids, sunshine and coffee!
At-home offices have become more and more important of late; so glad your husband has one now!
Nice cooler temps. Especially at night.
Funny and supportive coworkers.
NFL starts tonight
Let's see:
Thankful that my work did the free flu shot clinic again this year. One less thing to worry about.
That my daughter has been doing alright in Kindergarten so far. I've been a bit of a wreck about it since my experience with schooling was ... not so great, shall we say.
That I got to go to the county fairs when they were running. I would say going to the fairs were some of my best childhood memories. I really liked going, watching the shows, seeing the cattle etc. I was really sad missing them last year so it was a welcome return. Plus my daughter had a blast there.
@Battra92, I go to our fair just to see the animals!
@Battra92,
Glad about your little girl having a great school experience. I know you were a bit worried and she was in my thoughts as I could relate.
For mornings in the 60’s (makes the 90s later on not so bad), my desire to get my yard in shape is back and I can do some yard work without shortness of breath or fatigue, can clean my house without the same issues, for a good report from my post-heart surgery checkup and echo, for my outdoor SS class in my teacher’s beautiful and shaded backyard (such a great time studying the Bible and enjoying being outside), losing 20 pounds over 6 weeks which is a good jumpstart on my weight goal I want to achieve before my next birthday (June).
“I’m thankful for living, I’m thankful each day.”
Oh gosh, I LOVED Martini! I spent my first semester of Physiology contemplating quitting nursing and training as an anatomical illustrator...
Access to kittens on a regular basis is indeed something to be thankful for, as is not having to raise all those kittens. They are adorably cute, but kittens can get into so much trouble!
1. My biggest thanksgiving this week is for the life of my 93-year-old uncle, who passed last week. He was a loving family man, a devout Christian and a talented man of music. He was the last blood relative I had left out of my parents' generation; one era has passed, and a new one begins.
2. I'm thankful that my first attempt at making "Nomato" sauce turned out quite well, and that my husband ate it in our meal without realizing he wasn't eating a tomato based sauce. This opens up a new world of cooking possibilities for me. Plus, it should freeze well, so I can make it in big batches.
3. I'm thankful for quality toys, like the wooden building blocks that my sister gave to my kids almost 30 years ago, and which now entertain my grandkids when they visit.
4. I'm thankful for my Big Ben Moonbeam clock. I've had it for 15 or so years, and it faithfully wakes me up for work with its light. Only if I fail to turn off the light will it finally give an audible alarm. A light is a more peaceful way to wake up. I got mine at LL Bean but I think Amazon has them as well.
5. I'm so grateful to be seeing a few - a very few - red and yellow leaves starting to peep out. We don't get a lot of fall color here in North Florida, but the dogwoods and pear tree in our yard always do their best to put on a show. I am also grateful to see the many yellow Cloudless Sulphur butterflies, which signal the end of summer. It's a reminder that the heat will finally abate and we will see some cooler weather, eventually.
1. I am thankful to be retired after 36 years as a school counselor.
2. I am thankful for friends.
3. I am thankful for my family.
4. I am thankful for plumbers that can fit you in during the week you call.
How good to read that you value your walk-friendly neighbourhood! I am reading a book at the moment on how motorization influenced the way we conceive of and plan our living environments. It is a statistically proven fact that in my country, for every mile of motorway that was added in the last 30 years, traffic jams increased by a considerable factor! It is a disheartening read in a way, because " if you do what you always did you will get what you always got" - or words to that extent. So more tarmac is not a likely solution for congestion in our small and crowded country.
This week I am grateful for warm and sunny days and evenings, great results for my regular medical check up, for more energy and focus in work lately, and for our choir rehearsals that have started again. Also I am grateful for a neighborhood that is green and great for cycling!
Happy week, all!
I understand what you mean about neighborhoods being walking-friendly. I grew up on a highway (great in the winter because it was always plowed first) but never really got comfortable riding a bike because there was nowhere to ride. I would have gotten smashed by a semi! I like that my kids are growing up in a neighborhood where we can walk and bike.
This week I'm thankful...
* that we just had just my in-laws visit for almost a full week! It was SO good to be all together again.
* that you never could have guessed that my kids haven't seen them in 2 or 3 years. Even my littlest who was only a newborn when her grandpa was last here took to them right away. Hooray for video chatting letting them all maintain fantastic relationships for the 5 years my in-laws were overseas!
* that we will get to see my in-laws again in a month.
That my daughter is on her last day of quarantine today! Tomorrow she gets to go back to school after a solid 10 days at home with me while I try to work and essentially home school her at the same time (school is trying, but it's pretty difficult to support just one or two kids out on quarantine in each class!).
That the little girl I'm watching two days a week to help out her mom for a bit is such a good playmate for my daughter. I'm sure they'll eventually start squabbling, but for the last two days, they just run around and play while I do my work. It's actually much better than when I'm home alone with my daughter, because of course she wants me to do things with her, not just work in the kitchen or whatever.
For enough green beans to freeze and apples to dry. I'm frustrated that my tomatoes were no good this year (SO many pests), but glad that there are at least some things to preserve. We didn't get apples last year, so everything takes its turn.
That my husband is picking up the steer we bought from our neighbor today (bought for our freezer, that is--it's already been processed). Even with higher auction prices for cattle, it still ended up being less than $4 a pound for both the animal and the processing. I was afraid it would be a lot higher than that.
That we already had two chest freezers to store the meat. It was a 1,300-pound steer, so it's going to be a LOT of meat. One of the freezers was in a shed at the house we bought next door. It must be from the 70s at least, but it still runs fine.
For the window unit A/C my husband insisted on putting in. I hate using it, but am grateful for it on days like today and tomorrow, when it's going to be 95 degrees.
@kristin @ going country, ouch ... fall has NOT arrived for you guys yet in New Mexico. It feels like fall here in Minnesota. We are having lows in the 50s at night and we get to 78/80 during the day with low humidity so I am totally getting into the fall spirit. Honestly, I think I wouldn't mind living in the south during the winter but I don't know if I could take the longer summers!
Weird question, do you find that you prefer to have multiple chest freezers over multiple fridge/freezers? I personally have an inside fridge/freezer and a garage fridge/freezer because I enjoy keeping bottled waters and other drinks in the outside fridge ... I think thats a midwest thing?!?
Hope you sleep well with the AC in your room.
Awww, kittens! I am not planning to get another cat after our wonderful old guy passes away, but a kitten cuddling gig would be perfect for sharing the kitty love without a permanent commitment.
My thankful things are:
After nearly a month of craziness, work has calmed down some.
Our sweet little rescued "middle dog" -- she is the second of three -- is doing great on medication for a heart issue. It's wonderful to see her running and playing with her sisters again.
I am taking iron and vitamin C for the low ferritin anemia that plagues me and feel much better.
Somehow still coming in at or under budget on groceries. It probably helps that we don't eat a traditional dinner and thus rarely buy meat. Meat prices are shocking these days.
Always thankful for my wonderful husband, who patiently replaced the flush handle on the toilet four times before finding one that worked right. Stuff is not made the way it was even a couple of years ago.
It's challenging to find things to be thankful for this week, which I guess makes it even more important.
1. That I can be strong, even when I don't want to be and don't want to have to be.
2. That my job has paid sick leave. I got a bad enough cold that I spent a day in bed. (First time I've been sick since right before the pandemic started, something else to be grateful for, I guess; a silver lining.)
3. For lotion-infused tissues (a rare indulgence for me) and hand sanitizer so it's easy to clean my hands after each nose-blowing.
4. That my coworker is in my corner regarding a problem we're both having. She's supportive, too, despite her own significant troubles. She proves the saying that pain shared in pain halved but joy shared is joy doubled.
5. For semi-random online friend who, when she couldn't answer my hobby question, passed it to someone else for a response.
@WilliamB, your #1 is a version of what I say to myself every time I walk into the nursing home to see DH, since I never know how he'll be on any given day. (Fortunately, on my visit yesterday, he showed a few faint glimmers of recognizing me, and his speech was clearer than usual.) Hang in there with your current challenges with your relatives. We're rooting for you.
@A. Marie, and to you, too!
I am thankful for the reminder to be thankful. There has been a lot of bad news regarding people I love lately.
I am grateful for cooler weather. I even had windows open some days in the past week.
I am thankful for rain. It guards against drought, helps plants grow, and it made weeds easy to pull this morning.
I am grateful for my good health.
I am thankful for my spouse and adult child. They are always thinking of me.
I am grateful for things that keep me busy. I am not good at doing a lot of sitting around.
I am thankful that the grocery store is full of food, even if some items seem to be out of stock lately.
Yall, I am soooo thankful today. Three months to the day after we started living in hotels while looking for a rental home, we just emptied the last of the moving van in our new house!! This house is very small and we had to rent a storage unit to hold the overflow, but it beats a hotel anyday. Dh and I have decided to be positive and make do with whatever comes our way.
@Jennifer, we’ll done for aiming for the positives! We’re supposed to be moving from our rental shortly and the stress is intense.
I am thankful for sunny weather in the 70's, absolutely perfect in my mind! I am also thankful for continued health as I near the end of my pregnancy and for chiropractors! I went once during my first 2 pregnancies and I discovered during my 3rd that regular adjustments help immensely so I've continued that trend in my 4th!
Walkable neighborhoods are wonderful. We moved in part so that my hearing impaired daughter would feel safer when she was outside. There was a lot of speeding at our old house, and now, I let her roam our front yard without any concern.
Thankful this week for:
1) My husband picking up so much slack around home due to some medical challenges and getting used to the school year. It's nice to have a partner on the home front. Mad respect to all single parents out there. You're doing incredible work to juggle all that you have to juggle.
2) Cooler feeling temperatures. 92 without humidity is so very much nicer than 92 with all the humidity.
3) Sunset happening earlier. It makes me it easier for me to go to bed when I need to rather than staying up just because the sun is up.
4) Friends. I think I include this one every other week. But seriously, all our family is 800+ miles away, and we have a few friends who have become our family. It is such a rare, beautiful gift to have people like that in our lives.
Thankful for….
1. Birthday boy
2. Birthday cake
3. A Morning Workout
4. Yummy Leftovers
5. Baby Camila
It has been a challenging week with continuing changes of plans and me struggling to maintain a good attitude. But the best way for me to improve my attitude is to battle it with gratitude and get my mind off myself and onto God and others.
I'm thankful for:
-Living in a warm climate. I prefer hot and sunny to cold and cloudy.
- My kids are at an age where they're a pretty big help.
- Despite lots of sickness lately we're all either healthy or seem to be on the mend.
- Good internet connection and my wellnrunning phone.
- My new notebook
- À new pancake recipe that turned out pretty good.
It's been a really intense work week, so it's great to focus on the wins that are all around, even during busy times.
1) I love walking, and make it a point to walk (or run) in the mornings. I use my pre-COVID commute time for walking.
2) For the garden, still putting out blueberries, tomatoes, kale & pepper.
3) For carpools. Our kids are old enough to be vaccinated, & everyone wears a mask in the car, but it's so, so, so helpful when we have multiple places to be at once.
4) Funny conversations that happen on the way to soccer. My 15 y.o. is often in a chatty mood, & I really appreciate the time together.
5) A video chat app (Marco Polo) that I use to keep up with a handful of close friends/family. It's been such a lifesaver during COVID, when we aren't seeing each other nearly as regularly as we'd like.
Thankful for:
(1) Cooler days and nights.
(2) The friendly toads in my garden who are eating at least a few of the mosquitoes that are turning my body into a relief map of the Rocky Mountains. I think I've got Pike's Peak on my left wrist right now.
(3) The trick of running my hair dryer on the mosquito bites till I can no longer feel the itch. This works for several hours at a time.
(4) The fact that the abundant rain has at least turned my garden into something worthy of Martha Stewart's attention. My lovely neighbors have been lavish with their compliments.
(5) And, as usual, all the lovely neighbors. As I told an out-of-town friend in describing the support network I have here, "The [Name of Street] Mafia takes care of its own."
@A. Marie, Hot tap water also works for itchy relief.
@A. Marie and fellow mosquito victims,
A product called After Bite is in the shape of a magic marker and takes the itch away.
You and Sonia might like Entangled Life by Merlin Sheldrake, and you’ll find it extra fascinating with your medical studies. It’s basically about how fungi rules the world. I can only read it in small batches so I can go away and reset my internal views on the world! Which sounds nuts, but there’s an awful lot of things I though plants and animals did, when it turns out it’s the fungi living in/on them.
Scientists are using fungi and slime mould, because of the way it moves, to design emergency exit routes among other things.
You might also like Other Minds by Godfrey-Smith, all about cephalopods.
I’m thankful for seeing the osteopath this afternoon.
That my work calls yesterday went well.
That my partner is lovely.
That my FIL’s first chemo was ok.
That I get to look out and enjoy the plants in the garden.
The best part of the thankfulness blog each week is the reminder of things you might have taken for granted. Mushrooms! I, too, adore anything mushroom-related. These photos are adorable. A walkable neighborhood. It’s a favorite pastime here and I love that everyone you pass greets you with a little smile or hand wave—even the drivers.
A loving partner and two boys who make us proud in their hard work and lovely families are daily on my thankfulness list. Reading the lists from this community makes me realize that it’s also the little things that are huge happiness makers.
On that score, I have a grey and white winter scarf, knitted by a former work colleague, that feels extra soft to me because I call it the kitty scarf for its resemblance to soft and sweet kittens. Yay to more kitten and cat photos!
I am right there with you on the kitten front! I have decided that when I “retire” from being a homeschool mom, I want to become a “cat cuddler” at our local animal shelter. 🙂
I am thankful 1) that my daughter was able to go for a short hike this week. She strained her knees this summer, and we have been waiting for them to heal. They are not 100% yet, but are improving. I found some adorable mushrooms on our hike, and took pictures of them and posted on my blog here https://chickadeecove.blogspot.com/2021/09/frugal-friday-week-of-august.html
I am thankful that 2) my daughter’s violin teacher was able to fix my broken violin bow. I was SUPER relieved and thrilled when I showed the teacher the sad remains of my bow, and she looked at it and said “Oh THAT is an easy fix!” Then she rummaged around in a plastic box and pulled out the exact part that my bow needed! An “eyelet,” which is basically a screw inside the bow that mine had gotten stripped. I thought for sure I would need to purchase another bow, and this broken one was $200. Instead, the teacher said the part was about $2.00–and she didn’t even have me reimburse her for the part!
I am thankful 3) that I was able to go with my friend this week when sadly her precious cat had to be put down. I wish so badly the cat could have been helped, but it’s lungs were filled with bloody fluid and the vet said it was either heart failure or cancer. At least I was able to be with my friend, so she wasn’t at the vet’s by herself. I may not have been able to cure her kitty for her, but I was able to sit there with her and join her in crying for her loss.
I am thankful 4) that our own kitty is alive and well. It was only a year and a half ago that I lost my own cat I had had for 19 years, so I remember very well the loss and pain from losing a precious friend. We have since gotten a new cat, who is not the same at all but has still brought a lot of joy into our lives. I have him some extra love this week.
I am thankful 5) that our weather has cooled down today—our air conditioning is actually turned off! Now, if Fall would just be nice and long, before we need to start running the heat!
Thankful for ...
1. My oldest doing well in school. I got a message from her teacher saying that she's doing great, loves learning and is kind to everyone. That makes me one proud mama!
2. My wonderful and oh so helpful husband. Although he just got off his 12 hour night shift and was very tired, he volunteered to walk our 2 oldest to school and watch my youngest who was sick and kept me up last night, to let me sleep in for a couple hours.
Shows just how much he loves me!
3. These bodies that God gave us and the amazing abilities for them to heal themselves. Been thinking about that again with 2 out of 3 kids sick and my husband mending from his broken ribs.
4. Facebook mom groups where we can ask any questions we have, get support and plan outings together with.
5. Beautiful sunsets and gorgeous sandy shores. We live near a major river and try to get out there as often as possible to enjoy the surroundings. As for sunsets, I am in awe since they always remind me of how God is like an artist and his canvas is the sky.
I am thankful that the library is fully open! (My power is out due to lightning but I am getting AC and internet at the library. It is also nice that their bathrooms are open to the public now.
I am thankful that the lightning didn't start a fire. California has already had there fill of fires.
I am thankful for financial advisors who are helping my husband and I steward our resources as best as we can.
I am thankful for a gas stove. Even with no electricity, I was able to make coffee using boiled water and a pour over.
I am thankful that I didn't have a lot of food in the freezer/fridge. We will likely loose our milk and eggs but the freezer does not have any expensive meat that I would be sad to loose after 2 days without power.