Thankful Thursday | kitty cats
This week, I am thankful:
for our cats
This is a kitty who got shut out of a bedroom for interrupting homework.
And this is a kitty who has a thick winter coat right now. Ok, and maybe some extra fat.
that I canceled/postponed my New Mexico trip
I feel glad for a few reasons.
First, the airport situation does indeed seem rather sketchy at the moment.
Secondly, I spent the entire day yesterday working on homework for the Worst BSN Class in the World. I would neverrrr have gotten it all done on time if I'd flown yesterday.
that I have no plans to fly for the holidays
For everyone else's sakes, I hope flights are back to normal by Thanksgiving. But I am glad I don't have any flights scheduled in the near future!
Flying around holidays is sort of a headache in the best of circumstances, so I can only imagine how stressful it might be this year.
that this class is halfway done
This is week four of eight, and I have all my week four assignments done. That means I have officially survived 50% of this unfortunate class.
I seriously was about to have a whole 'nother crash out yesterday. In fact, I may need to do another complainy-pants post next week just to rant. 😉
that my group project-mates are like-minded
I'm working with two other students on our big group project, and thankfully, they are both on top of things and want to get stuff submitted early.
Whew.
In general, my style is not the Submit At The Very Last Minute variety, and I'm grateful my group is on the same page with that.
Also, both other group members share my frustration with this class, and that means I have some people to commiserate with!
that I am in the midst of five straight days off
I have this chunk of time because I was supposed to be traveling. But now I am just home, and I am hoping to get lots of schoolwork and regular life work done before I go back to work again.
That will make me feel much, much better.
I might even be able to get several weeks' worth of homework done, which would get me almost to the end of this class.
that I got out to see some fall colors last weekend
I did a 7-mile hike about an hour and a half away, and I'm so glad I made it there while the leaves are still lovely.
Also, please enjoy this moss close-up from the hike. We know I always have to stop to inspect the mosses. 😉
for my little house
As I said in yesterday's post...I love my little house. It is perfect for me in so many ways, and I am grateful to be here.
for a little more confidence at work
I have three weeks of solo nursing under my belt now, and I am getting more and more comfortable and confident.
If I feel this way after three weeks, imagine how much growth I will observe in myself after six weeks or twelve weeks!
And in a year, I will be miles more competent than I am now.
for coworkers who are willing to help me
Of course, I routinely run into things I don't know how to do, just because I've never encountered them before. But luckily, there are a lot of helpful people who work on my unit, and they are willing to answer my questions and show me how to do things.
It's not like I need to be shown the same skill a million times; it's just our unit has such a wide variety of patients, there are a million things to learn for the first time!
that the RN to BSN life is temporary
I should be able to graduate next December (2026), which means I just have to hang in there for one more year of being extra busy.
By January of 2027, I should be done with school (woohoo!) and I also will have my feet solidly under me as a nurse.
So, in several ways, my life should feel a little easier in about a year.
I have been in school for so many years already. One more year? I can do that. The end is in sight.
for a moody sunrise
I rolled out of bed yesterday and realized I had time to catch a sunrise. Except...the sky was awfully cloudy.
I took a chance anyway and drove to the trail that has a sunrise view, and it was still beautiful, despite the cloud cover.
I am thankful that despite the muted fall colors this year there has been beautiful color for many weeks. I noticed last night that there were leaf piles to walk through on the sidewalks. I really like crunching through leaves. I have seen kids in the neighborhood playing in leaves. One of our neighbors bagged their leaves and took them down the street to add to a pile where a bunch of kids were playing.
I am thankful for a warm house and clothes. It has been chilly the past several days.
I am thankful we were able to make donations to the Maryland Food Bank and also the assistance organization in our suburb.
I am thankful for continued good health.
I am thankful for friends and family and also good neighbors. One neighbor we rarely see but we have been texting lately.
@K D, I like walking through crunching leaves too!
Me three!
Group assignments are always stressful, but being on a team with the same work style is really helpful!
This week's thankfuls:
- for breathtaking days, sunshine peering through the fog on to the autumn colours
-for positive feedback and interesting suggestions during my performance review
- for financial stability
- for time not flying but "stopping" during choir rehearsal. Not a mindful moment but a mindful hour -
@JNL, Love your "time stopping" sentiment. I miss my days in a choir experiencing this!
I'm thankful:
- that at parent teacher conferences, I got good reports reading my problem child. He had been slipping into failure again , but both teachers noticed and sent me an update so I could make sure he got stuff done.
- that another child's teacher showed me his work and made constructive suggestions for improvement. He does not like this class or the teacher, but I found that she's alright - just not as dynamic or warm as other teachers.
- bloggers who put book recommendations - I have a very nice list for winter reading now.
- two medical appointments for my kids were the staff were helpful and listened. Also we can try some more watchful waiting for one kid so no surgery yet!
- my cats, who are entertaining and sweet ( mostly) and not too destructive ( usually- it's a good thing we own the house though.) . They keep me company at night when I can't sleep, a reason to smile when I'm sad, and something fuzzy to snuggle when life's hard.
@mbmom11, I see you're on the same wavelength with school thankfuls. 🙂 I'm glad you had mostly positive experiences with teachers. Those conferences can be so stressful when you just know your kid is not going to get a glowing report.
This week I'm thankful:
*that I dragged myself out of bed as early as I want to normally once this week. That strengthened my resolve to do it more often because it really started the day the right way for me.
*that I found the present I was looking for last night eventually!
*that while I was looking for another present at a book store, I came across the book my son's story is published in. I saw my son's name in a book in a chain bookstore!!!!!!! That was so cool.
*that the church is taking care of some maintenance chores in our home. One fellow in particular is sacrificing a lot of his time to do this. I'm so thankful for him because I know he's busy.
*that my friend invited me to go to the big city (and she drove!) to see Phantom of the Opera. Her friend couldn't use two tickets, so she gave them to us. I saw it once when I was a teenager, but it's so lovely to watch in person instead of only listen to.
*that official confirmation came through for my son's scholarship for flight training. His first official lesson was canceled due to wind. We'll see if it happens today. But that's something settled for him. It's his senior year, so there's a lot unsettled still about next year. Another thing-- he was accepted into one engineering school. We'll see what financial aid does, but there's an option, and that makes my heart a little more at rest.
*for the silly kitties. That my son is tall enough (just barely) to stand on a chair to get the roof kitty down when she decided to climb up there!
*for my coffee that's waiting for me. That it warms my hands so I can massage my face in comfort. For the excellent facial physical therapists. Facial paralysis left it's mark on me, but I'm trying hard to keep improving what will never be exactly the same again. Not many people in my circumstance have access to the professionals I've been able to see. I am so, so grateful for them.
@Jody S., That is a very cool story about your son's story being published!
@Jody S.,
Can't wait to hear about your sons flying experience & adventures.
@Jody S., I am thrilled for your published boy and rooting for your HS guy's options. Good job mom and dad! As the mom of two boys who successfully navigated life from early school to options that now have them both in successful careers of their choosing. You never stop worrying but I can cheer their hard-won accomplishments now. You will too!
@Jody S., that's a lot of your plate. Best of luck with it all.
@Jody S., I add my congrats to you and your published son on his appearance in print. What a thrill for you both! I know the feeling.
@Regina, Well, today he had a ground lesson because of wind again. I can see this happening frequently.
@ErikaJS, Thank you. This parenting through the early adult stage is definitely harder than I expected.
@WilliamB, Thank you.
@Mar, Thank you!
@ErikaJS, Yes, this parenting new adults is different territory. I'm glad your boys have found their place.
@A. Marie, Thank you. Will you share what you've published? I'd like to read it. Unless it's science fiction, fantasy, or really steamy. I love memoir. Do you have any of that? 🙂
--That we still have another week for the airports to calm down before we're supposed to fly to New Orleans. This is the first trip on a plane we've ever taken as an entire family, and I would really like for it to be a good experience. And that it looks like we CAN fly. We were going to drive if flying looked unlikely, but I would much prefer to avoid a two-day drive.
--For the fleet of old vehicles my husband has collected. I am usually kind of annoyed at how many trucks/etc., live at our house, which is six. As of yesterday, five of the six are mobile, so that's an improvement from when two weren't driveable. However, as we enter our long period of having teenaged drivers, these old trucks (and van and Jeep) are helpful. My eldest son got his license last week, and he has a couple of options for vehicles to drive, none of which will go more than 65 miles an hour at best and all of which are so decrepit that it doesn't matter if he scrapes the gate coming in the driveway or whatever. 🙂 Having so many also means my car is never missing.
--That said eldest can drive himself places now. This comes with its own downsides, of course, but it is nice to send him out the door on his own to get to his church confirmation class while I stay home and help the other kids with homework.
--That my youngest son's teacher has been trying so hard to help him with some persistent difficulties, in math especially. This is her second year of teaching him, so she's very familiar with his problems and keeps offering strategies to help him. She also understands his need to move and run and is very careful to make sure he doesn't miss recess or whatever, which I really appreciate.
--Similarly, that my daughter's teacher has been able to make some changes in her classroom recently so that my daughter doesn't have to do phonics with her second-grade class anymore. She's very far beyond needing phonics instruction for reading and was really bored with that. I finally asked the teacher if there was an alternative for her, and the teacher told me she was already planning on changing it the next week.
--That our small class sizes and multiple grades in classes--my daughter's 2/3 grade class has seven students this year, youngest son's 4/5 class has eight--means greater flexibility for the teachers to individualize instruction and "advance" some students or "hold back" others without the social repercussions that can have at bigger schools.
Your kids school sounds like a wonderful mix of home school-like with the benefits of more kids than just those who live with you at home.
@kristin @ going country,
The joy of a beat -up car! Our kids drove our minivan with >170k miles on it to school. No worries if anyone backed into it ( three times) bumped it at a stop light ( once) or othwise got dinged. It just added to the character! The high school parking lot and road is like a bumper car /derby with everyone rushing to leave, so our decent cars ( with only 90k miles) don't go near it.
I hope he enjoys the freedom of driving himself! Driving himself has helped my problem child feel more confident. ( Luckily, he drives like a little old man, very cautious, unlike the typical teen stereotype.)
@J in NC, It is very much like that, and I appreciate that.
@mbmom11, He LOVES driving himself. Independence is very important to him, so he's been anticipating this for a very long time.
@kristin @ going country, We have two old vehicles which are also good for teaching kids automotive repair. Unfortunately, passing Maryland emissions isn't always easy for them. When they do, we all cheer. Yay! for the driver's license. We currently have one in driver's ed.
@kristin @ going country, your description of your children's school reminds me of the one-room Vermont schoolhouse described in one of my old favorite kids' books, Understood Betsy by Dorothy Canfield Fisher. The astute teacher in that school, after Betsy's first half-day there, deemed that Betsy should be in seventh-grade reading, third-grade spelling, and second-grade arithmetic, and tailored her instruction accordingly (as she did for all the other students).
@A. Marie, My younger children love that book.
@A. Marie,
One-room schoolhouses had some advantages. My dad was set to go to school at age five because more little ones were coming along right behind him at home and I guess they needed one less child at home to care for. Unfortunately, the one-room school didn't have a first grade that year, so he turned five in July and started as a second grader that September, having never had first grade. Thanks to a kind and helpful teacher, he did just fine. This was in 1923.
And I'd not heard of that book, somehow, so thanks for the mention. I'm going to check on this one for a grandchild.
I'm also in a short course and am SO looking forward to the end.
I'm thankful the government shutdown has ended, for the sake of those who have been struggling with no pay or SNAP benefits. I'm also thankful that we were able to weather it thanks to our savings, and for the two weeks DH was the stay-at-home homeschooling parent while I started my short course. We'll get through the next couple of weeks; it'll be tough but we can do it.
I'm thankful that DH did not have an accident when he went to help his mom get to her eye appointment (she neglected to mention, when she called Sunday to ask for a ride for Monday, that it was eye SURGERY. Eep. And of course Monday was the day we got dumped on with our first snow...but the roads were passable and DH was able to get her there. And apparently they had a nice visit, so there's that to be thankful for.
I'm thankful that DS#1 has a great employer. They're a military contracting research group, but they gathered everyone during the shutdown and reassured everyone that there would be no layoffs, just reassignments to already-funded projects.
And I'm thankful we're going to get a little warming spell here, so I can keep biking to class--I didn't think I'd make it into November, but here we are!
Wishing everyone a wonderful day!
I missed last week due and have really had to push myself to find some thankfuls this week.
This week I am thankful
- for the friendly dog with owner outside a shop who was happy to receive all the fuss going. Just a few seconds petting her cheered me up
- that hubby has been wait-listed for CBT. No idea when he will get it but it will be provided by our NHS at no additional cost
- for our two fur babies. They are not cats who like to be picked up and cuddled, 1 will tolerate it the other will not entertain it at all. Despite this they are always snuggling up for fuss on their terms
- for flexible working. I'm going through a period of not sleeping great; one bad night makes me grumpy, over a week makes me very unhappy. I was able to take an afternoon off yesterday just to give my frazzled brain a rest.
- a few days without rain. Grey skies and rain/drizzle really dampen my mood (SAD afflicted), so brighter days has somewhat helped my sleep deprived self.
@Stacey in UK,
I am reading a most interesting book on the physiology of dreaming at the moment, and am actually impressed by our body's mechanisms for self restoration. One take away from this book for me is definitely that a good nights' sleep starts during the day. We need a lot more "micro" rests than we are often getting.
I hope you will have truly restful nights soon!
1 more year of classes is a doable goal. We have that same goal & deadline. 🙂
That picture is such a beautiful sunrise.
Thankful the Govt shutdown has ended.
Thankful for our house & the heat keeping us warm in our first official cold & snow of the season....No problems with furnace or gas woodstove. 🙂
Thankful for the warming up yesterday through this weekend. Temps moved from feels like teens to feels like freezing (32*). Today hopefully wind is not as bad as yesterday as we need to start the New leaves that came down with the wind & snow. The leaf carpet is thick as almost all leaves came down.
Thankful for rescue dogs who are always so happy to see us. <3
Thankful that I will be able to only have heat on at night/dark because sunshine & warmer during day for a few days.
Thankful for help at the Post Office as I was in shock at the price increase for flat rate shipping (their) large box jumped 50%. Priority boxes start out at $11 & are by the weight, which is usually not heavy for packages I ship to Florida from Michigan.
Thankful my dad's girlfriend/step mom knee replacement surgery went really well. Her knee/leg look crazy painful, but PT & scans show it was successful.
Thankful I almost got almost all my service people Thanked for their services gifts/treats done. What's left will be completed next week (before Thanksgiving definitely).
Thankful teen diligently working hard to finish college classes slightly early. Will have complete hopefully by Thanksgiving or shortly after. And only 1 test this semester. 🙂
Thankful for Kristen and her blog where we can learn & share from each other. It is truly a blessing to have a place of strength & compassion to be able to be a small part of.
@Regina, how kind of you to give gifts to the service people in your life. I will have to keep that in mind for next year.
One big one: after two miscarriages in the last 12 months, I'm now 13 weeks pregnant. Because of my prior issues and some minor could-be-nothing abnormalities on the ultrasounds so far, I'm getting extra monitoring. I...find this very stressful (I'd love to just hear, "Everything's great, see you in a month!") but I'm trying to remember how lucky I am to be followed at one of the world's best hospitals for maternal/fetal medicine and the extra attention is to keep me safe and healthy. And also statistically, everything probably IS fine. And I'm grateful, as always, for my daughter. If we didn't have a four year-old at home, this whole ordeal would have been so much harder. She is a joy, a comfort, a distraction, a reassurance about our reproductive potential...and also has very yummy cheeks. So. Lots to be grateful for, I remind myself.
@Meira Bear, I have been where you are. I had back-to-back miscarriages within a year, and holding on to the joy of being pregnant and the new life within is so hard when fear is high. But when my daughter was born after those miscarriages, what joy! You will be in my prayers. (And you are right: having another child to love and be distracted by is such a blessing.) I love the "yummy cheeks"!
@Meira Bear, mazel tov and very best wishes this time!!!
Ohhhhh my goodness!!!! Congratulations!! Sending you a gentle hug and I think your stress levels are completely understandable.
@Meira Bear,
Congratulations on your so very welcome pregnancy. I hope it will be uneventful and that all will continue to be well.
@Meira Bear, congratulations and sending positive vibes for a happy outcome xx
@Meira Bear,
My sister had two back to back miscarriages before having her son. I'm praying you have a completely ordinary, uneventful, ,successful pregnancy and a healthy baby at the end of it.
@Meira Bear, two in 12 months is so terribly hard. Praying this one goes the distance, and thankful you live near a great hospital.
@Meira Bear, I am sending the very best baby wishes to you for an uneventful pregnancy and super joyful birth.
@Meira Bear, I'm sending good vibes and my very best wishes.
@Meira Bear,
So happy for you! I share your experiences as well, such joyful news.
@Meira Bear, blessings on you, your sweet heart, the precious baby, & lovely daughter. Prayers for all of the pieces!
@Meira Bear, mazel tov. all the best.
@Meira Bear, joining in all the others with my prayers for a very smooth, uneventful, in fact boring rest of your pregnancy!
@Meira Bear, so thankful you and your baby have made it to the 13-week mark, in addition to what everyone else said!
Thankful, as always, for my Betty. Betty has been sleeping elsewhere for a few days now (everyone in the FG Cat Club, I'm sure, knows how cats like to change their sleep spots from time to time). But I was having a rough night last night, and I think Betty knew it: She planted herself in DH's old spot in the bed and made herself available for strokes and scritches. (And, BTW, Betty says to Chiquita: "Don't let 'em call you fat. Just say you're big-boned.")
And thankful for a reasonably full life, as described in my FFT this week. I'm trying to stay physically, mentally, and socially engaged, for the sake of future A. Marie and (I hope) for the benefit of those around me.
@A. Marie,
I'm glad Betty was there for you. I am sending you loads of support across the miles.
@A. Marie,
Those kitty cats aren't fat! They're just fluffy!
Hope things get better for you right away.
Extra weight on cats (and dogs) is incredibly detrimental to their health. Having been a cat parent for over 4 decades, may I gently suggest that you look at getting the extra weight off of Chiquita now while she's still young and very active? Diabetes in cats is very common so working on her weight now will pay huge dividends down the road. Checking blood sugar levels and giving insulin shots daily is not fun for the human or the cat. Been there.
You should be able to feel her ribs when you pet her but not see her ribs.
Yes. We are slowly decreasing her kibble amount per her vet. Apparently rapid weight loss is detrimental to cats so we have to take it bit by bit.
She’s gotten a little less crazy over the last year so I think she is burning fewer calories than before and that’s what caused the weight gain. Because we didn’t change her food at all!
@Kristen,
I know dogs are different than cats, but here’s how we succeeded in managing our sheltie’s obesity:
Rory went from 38 to 24 lbs, thanks to our vet’s suggestion to cut the quantity of kibble but to keep the volume the same by adding unsalted green beans as a filler. It worked very well.
I wonder if your vet could suggest some low calorie, inexpensive filler that your cat would like?
My m-i-l's dog was very overweight (mostly due to unhealthy people food) and developed diabetes. She was on insulin shots twice/day, blood sugar checks 1-4x a month and prescription food. She became a very expensive companion=~$200+ per month to manage her condition!!
Agree...less calories and more activity sound like a good plan.
@Kristen, oh, yes, weight loss in cats has to be a slow process. Glad to hear you're on top of it. Also, indoor cats (the only kind I believe there should be but I know plenty of others disagree) can tend to eat out of boredom if free fed.
@Kristen, perhaps a thyroid check. I've had cats with under active and over active.
I'm thankful
- that I have only one thing scheduled today. My days aren't usually this free.
- for my knitting group (local yarn shop has a stitch-n-bitch every week). Last night a few of us went to dinner first, too.
- the new local Japanese restaurant. Still haven't had something I don't like there, and the manager always takes extra-good care of me and my guests.
- books by Lois McMaster Bujold. Her human insight is so good that it's helped me IRL and, oh by the way, she's also an extraordinary writer. Even a mediocre Bujold is a good read.
I loooooove a day with almost nothing scheduled!
@WilliamB, I dislike sci-fi, but because of your Thankful, am willing to give Bujold a try. Will you recommend a book of hers for this non-sci-fi reader to try?
@Central Calif. Artist Jana, tell me what you do like in general - books, authors, genres. Also what you don't like about SF.
Shelly seems a little offended there. I can just hear her saying, "WELL!"
My thanksgivings, and goodness, the U.S. thanksgiving is only two weeks away!
1. First, I'm thankful that nothing appears to be damaged by the cold nights Monday and Tuesday. It was below freezing for several hours, but not low enough for long enough to damage my not-quite-ripe lemons and satsumas.
2. I'm thankful for the service of the many veterans in my family, especially this week.
3. I'm thankful I found out yesterday that my application for new health insurance was accepted. My current plan, according to forecasts, was going up to $244 a month, which was only for health, not dental and vision, and is in addition to the $185 a month I pay for Medicare. This week I received a notice from them that it will go up to $255 a month, not $244 . So I will be saving more money than I thought with the new company.
4. I'm thankful my daughter is to come home today from a business trip to Finland. I hope I can also be thankful for her safe trip home, tonight.
5. And finally, if my sweet, fuzzy dog just had to bring in a rabbit through the pet door last night, at least it was already dead (and partially eaten, but that's not part of the thankful). I didn't enjoy getting it disposed of, but I am really thankful that I have one of those long-handled upright dustpans.
She should stop walking on laptops then. Ha. 😉
Aw, I love all the pictures this week! Fall is such a beautiful time of year and your cats are adorable, as always.
I'm thankful for:
-Delicious food. I made Great American Burger Stromboli from my Publix cookbook. It was amazing, as always. And I still have some left over for tonight. The recipe is online if you search. 🙂 I don't make mine into a beautiful roll like they do, though. I just put all the meat inside the dough, then close it up. It tastes just as good.
-Cute birds. I have seen a lot of adorable birds while walking this week: finches, ibises, egrets, heron, and a croaking cormorant yesterday afternoon!
-My job: it's kind of back, for now (I was laid off for a week). It won't be there forever—the contract now ends on December 19. But I'm in the process of picking up some more contract work while I build my accounting firm, so that I won't be left in the lurch next time.
Hope everyone had a great week!!
Yay for a little reprieve from the layoff!
@Natalie K.,
Birds are such beautiful creatures. I live where there are an abundance of bird species. I love making a list the ones I see.
- I'm thankful for the beautiful fall colors in our area. DH and I took a nice scenic drive last week to enjoy the fall foliage.
- I'm thankful that our son's cat's thyroid procedure went well and kitty can come home tomorrow.
- I'm thankful our son came over yesterday to help spread mulch. I had 100 bags of mulch delivered to keep from paying our yard guy a fortune to clean out flowerbeds and mulch. It was nice to have our son's help.
- I am thankful that my sister and figured out that we are having issues with texting. We both thought the other was mad or ignoring us. Turns out I can send her messages but cannot receive her replies. Now if our respective carriers can just figure out the problem.
- I'm thankful DH helped prepare my dish for my office's Thanksgiving potluck. I made the dish before work, then he baked it and delivered to my office.
I'm grateful for your positive attitude, which inspires me.
That we got to see the northern lights one evening this week.
For a reliable car.
That my fourth grade teacher taught me to knit.
For audiobooks to listen to while I'm knitting.
@Cindi, knitting is something to be very thankful for!
• I feel like I have spent most of my time recently in varying states of aggravation, so I am very thankful for this opportunity to center myself.
• I am thankful for my two-year old granddaughter's beautiful smile. She is such a happy child bubbling over with smiles and giggles.
• I am thankful for my serious grandson who at the age of 3 wanders around with calculator and a tape measure. We measure how big everything is when I take care of him.
• I am thankful for my little corner of the world - nice neighbors... a yard full of flora and fauna ... peace and quiet.
• I am thankful that the people of Florida managed to stop the sale of Marineland - an oceanfront property and state historical landmark - to a developer. Whew!!!
Wishing you all the blessings of peace, good health, and prosperity.
@Bee,
Sounds like the 3 y.o. is going to be a mathematical genius!
@Bee, I know how you feel about development. When we drive to the county seat, I hate when it seems that we keep seeing more and more gigantic warehouses replacing farms.
Are you not considering just staying in school while you’re in the mode? Nurse practitioner? Med school? 🙂
Oh my goodness, no. I want a break from school once I have my BSN, and besides, the type of work NPs and doctors do is not what I want to do. I like having vast numbers of hours with a small number of patients. I don't want to spend 10 minutes a day with 45 patients!
I will probably eventually go back and get a masters so I can teach at a nursing school but I need a break first.
Hospital bedside nurses often make more in less hours than NPs....besides the 7-10 mins/visit that Kristen mentioned doesn't sound appealing at all !!!
Beautiful kitties and a beautiful hike!
My thankfuls:
1. I did the parkrun at the weekend and managed to beat my previous time.
2. I found a pair of jeans on sale. Jeans shopping is a special kind of hell.
3. I finally finished reading Vanity Fair. It took weeks!
4. A good yoga class.
5. It's been an extra busy week and I'm thankful it's almost the weekend!
@Sophie in Denmark, do you ever see jeans described as “the perfect jeans” or “perfect fit jeans”? so ridiculous of a company to call anything “perfect", knowing there are a zillion different body shapes and preferences!
@Central Calif. Artist Jana, and the fact that women's sizes aren't standardised and always change according to store!
@Sophie in Denmark,
I met a talented seamstress whose first job after moving to the US with her US husband was at a factory sewing blue jeans. She said if an order came in with sizes they didn't have and couldn't whip up quickly, they were instructed to change the size tags - for instance, size 6's would get re-tagged as 8's if they needed 8's.
This week I am thankful . . .
For my children. Yesterday (while they were all at school) my husband and I were joking about how they are each so different. The oldest is a puppy dog--happy to run around you and game for pretty much anything. The second is in every way a cat--a sweet, cuddly guy who is wrapped around your leg one minute and the next minute hissing and scratching. Our daughter is funny and sweet, and very honest in the way only autistic people can be. Our youngest is the easy one. I think we had figured out parenting by the time he came along. He gets good grades, has lots of friends, and loves to play sports. Each one is so special, and it fills me with joy to be their mama.
For our daughter's new school. It has been a hard road in mainstream classrooms because of her disabilities. We have been in a protracted fight with the school system to get her the services she needs. A few weeks ago we made the leap to a local private school that specializes in serving kids with various disabilities. We think we are already seeing progress.
For my job. I exist in this weird world right now where lots of very smart, capable people (I include myself in this) can't get jobs. Some can't even get interviews. And yet wages are going up and up, so the handful of people who do get jobs do very well while most are left in the dark. I am anxiously looking for my next job because I am in a contract that runs out in July. I am so thankful that I have this job for the next eight months. At least we have health insurance and a reliable paycheck until then. I also have that time to work on my book with a goal of finishing it. Then I can at least publish my book before I move on to a new career.
For the bus at my university. This is my fifth year at my university. The first two years were weird because of covid. Then I had breast cancer, so I was on leave a lot of years 3 and 4. This is my first (and sadly last) year I will teach a full load and so the first year I have really had to figure out parking and getting around campus. Being hired as faculty at a university is kind of weird I've found, at least compared to "real" jobs I've had, because you don't get a real orientation. No one says "here's where you park and here's how to get to this academic building." Maybe they assume if you have a PhD you know it all???? I just today figured out that the bus system is better than walking from the cheap parking lot. Boy, will this save me some steps.
The last one is funny because I would have assumed that some of the very smart PhDs might be the sort of people who are very very good at academics but maybe not so good at things like finding parking lots. Hehe.
@Amanda in VA, do we get to know what your book is about? Or is it an academic topic, written to keep you “viable” in that world? (that “publish or perish” thing… sounds HORRIBLE to live under that sort of pressure)
@Kristen, That definitely applies to me 😉
@Kristen, I used to work at a very highly regarded, research-heavy university that is very much known for having many Nobel laureates, elite scientists, etc. I was just administrative staff and not one of the scientists. I had to go to the copy/printing shop once and as I was leaving, saw a big sign on the door that said "PUSH, NOT PULL" and I turned to the person working there and said "Really? This is necessary?" and she was like "Ya, school full of geniuses but can't figure out how to to work the door."
Exactly. The genius's brain is probably too full of other smarts to be able to think about how to open a door!
This week I am thankful for…
• A glimpse of the northern lights. Standing on our back deck we were able to see some of the reds and whites dancing in the sky – not as intense as in other parts of the state but still so beautiful.
• I had no flight difficulties getting to and from Las Vegas. I was nervous once I arrived in Las Vegas that I wouldn’t be able to get home but I was lucky that I had no delays.
• Flight delays didn’t impact my work event. I had 70 speakers flying in and all of them arrived on time without issue. They all arrived home safely as well!
• The dogs’ coughing is finally lessening. After testing so many meds the vet determined this is a nasty virus and we will just have to wait it out. They are feeling better and calm is finally settling over the house.
• I was able to pull together a generous donation from our pantry for the food drive at work this week. Picking up extras on sale really paid off for this donation!
• My son passed his driver’s permit exam on his first try! I’m excited for him on this new adventure in his life (future me will really miss our chats when I’m driving him around).
• My boys (my husband, son, and two dogs)! When I got home my heart felt full to see them all.
@Geneva, isn’t the Las Vegas airport weird with those gambling machines?! Made me scratch my head in wonder and amazement that so many people actually enjoy wasting money.
So, Kristen---how are we celebrating the end of this unfortunate class when the other 50% is done? Will it involve some of your budgeted self-use money?! Because I think it definitely calls for a celebration 😀
I am thankful for (in no particular order): Physical therapists, a close-knit school for my son, the ability to choose his education, for Mystic Monks in Wyoming who roast amazing coffee beans, and that (3) Christmas trees are up and decorated in our house. I have one more evening of decorating and then I'm done for the year <3
I'm hoping to carve out some time to go buy my Civic! 🙂 I won't buy myself a new car after every horrible class (ha), but the timing for this one seems perfect.
So much to be thankful for:
1. Fall color
2. Friends to walk with
3. Running water
4. Working internet
5. Electricity
Super thankful that our grocery store has a fuel saver program, 20 cents fuel saver per flu shot, and all 4 of us got our flu shots, so with that 80 cents, plus other stockpiled fuel saver, we were able to get 20 gallons of gas for 18 cents! Just had to pay the $.009/20 gallons! Saved $58, and we brought both vehicles and a gas can for the snowblower to fill!
Thankful that same grocery store is doing a weekly meal deal for $3 adult meals and free for kids under 12 this week. So far we have had Chicken Penne Alfredo with garlic toast, and Chinese, and tonight is fried chicken! $9 for 4 meals is an amazing reason to not have to cook this week!
Thankful my youngest saw that her friend had no lunch so shared her home packed lunch so that she wasn't hungry.
Thankful for a working furnace, and that the snow we got on Saturday melted quickly!
Thankful we are all up to date on flu/covid shots, as my MIL is having surgery soon and we don't want to add any unnecessary sickness to her plate when we visit for Thanksgiving.
@Jen,
Give your youngest daughter a hug from me. What a sweet and caring girl she is!
I love your moss love! I also love moss 🙂 If you haven't read or listened to it- may I suggest the wonderful Robin Wall Kimmerer's book, "Gathering Moss"? It may inspire you to spend some of your "fun" money on a loop so you can inspect the moss up close! The audio books of hers are so lovely to listen to- and you can hear her talk about moss for free on the Ologies podcast episode about moss. I'm listening to her book "The Serviceberry" right now and enjoying it very much.
Haha, I love that she wrote a whole book about moss!
Just looking at your hiking trail made my blood pressure lower and my brain sigh.
My number 1 - my nephew, fixed the riding mower (it is a lemon, keeps blowing fuses. So we are searching for a used smaller kubota).
He picked up all the yard leaves, dumped them in the compost.
2 - the last two nights of partly cloudy aurora. Looked like a watercolor. So pretty.
3 - my cousin brought me a huge bag of chanterelles. I gave him fresh cracked filberts, I gleaned 100lbs from a friend's orchard after it was professionally picked and swept.
4 - Kitties - so fun to see them hunting in the fields and later coming in the house to nap by the hearth.
5 - The strength and fortitude to eradicate 60 yrs worth of stuff out of my mom's kitchen. I hauled out 8 bankers boxes to share with the local thrift shop. I only need one mixing bowl set, not 5. I kept one for this house and one for our adult that we are building.
Kristen, last year my Goddaughter made me a beautiful terrarium for the kitchen table filled with mosses that we found on a hike on our tree farm. I liked it so much I made one for our back porch table and a small tree frog moved in.
I'm thankful I found someone to cut the tree limb as it dangled right over the electric line. Had a storm caused it to fall on the line, and cause the line to fall down, that would be an expense I'd be stuck paying. Plus they'd make me update all the electrical circuits in my 1960s house to meet the current codes. I imagine that'd cost an arm and a leg. Also got the "jungle" over by the air conditioning compressor cut down and another bad board in the wooden fence patched up.
At my store job last night, I'm thankful that when the rich old lady (a regular, very bossy, customer we absolutely dread) came through my cashier lane at 7 minutes until closing, I handled it OK. She'd piled her shopping cart high, stuffed it with so much merch that it took 3 other carts to put all the filled bags in! Tons more stuff than could go on my counter. But I was able to successfully handle the situation. (Even though she tries to micromanage me until I could just scream in frustration. But I kept calm.) She bought well over $600 worth of stuff (mostly groceries), much of it from the half-price and clearance aisles, and it took me more than 20 minutes to check her out. (We don't scan, we manually enter the prices.) Her cash register receipt tape looked like Santa's list, it was so long. I was still punching in numbers at 8 p.m. when we shut our doors, and for quite a while afterwards. The big boss came over and was watching my every move once the store had closed. (Talk about pressure!) I got everything out of her piled-high cart, into bags and into the other carts in an orderly manner -- no small feat. I think my boss was very pleased. The customer is very elderly, hobbles around with a cane, and why she decided to go shopping for all that so late in the evening is beyond me. I asked our teenaged customer service boys to wait and help her load her car so she wouldn't fall down on our parking lot. The boss followed her to her house in his truck and unloaded her car for her. To say that customer was a pain in the you-know-where is an understatement, but we got through it! (Ok, maybe I should've saved this one for our cranky pants blog...but I had to vent...)
For my Ollie's Outlet tabletop oven. A real oven, not a microwave, but small enough for one person's meals. It works great! Won't waste electricity like a regular-sized oven would, when cooking for one or tw0 people. (Although my big oven is broken.) Yesterday for lunch, I was able to bake a fancy salmon dinner from HEB's fresh chef-prepared takeout dept. Tasted like something from a high-dollar restaurant. I want to eat healthier foods, so I'm going to start getting some of their stuff and fixing meals at home.
For today's sunshine. Bright and beautiful!
For a very loving Snuggly-wuggly dog.
This is an exercise that I need to do this week.
1. I am thankful for my friend’s dogs. I’m dog sitting and they are cuddled up around me.
2. I’m thankful to be back home to see the end of the fall leave. Fall is my favorite time of year and I have been out of town in a state where the leaves aren’t as beautiful as here.
3.I’m thankful that my mother is starting to somewhat adjust to living in a long term care facility. We kept her in her home as long as we could but, after a bad fall, she needs 24/7 care.
4. I’m thankful for my fantastic group of friends. I wouldn’t have gotten through the last six months without them.
5. Despite my precarious job situation, I can still afford the basic necessities and I have healthcare for the next six months.
When I woke up this morning, I was grateful for the realization that it was Thursday and not Friday. For some reason, I have thought all week that today, I would have to make rolls and prep the noodles for our immediate family's Thanksgiving, which is Saturday. I can do those tasks tomorrow.
The Cleaning Ladies came yesterday, and while they didn't get finished, they made a HUGE dent in what needed to be done and it is spurring me on to complete the task. I've mentioned them before. They are young ladies that go to the same church that I do. The three sisters's Mom voluntold them to help. And the other young lady volunteered herself with her Mom and Dad's permission. She will help me on a routine basis going forward. I am very thankful for them and am thankful for a cleaner home. I am trying to weed out the tchotchkes but most are related to the things "that bring me joy". The week prior and mostly Tuesday, I got rid of a lot of clutter esp. in the kitchen. And made multiple trips to the basement. Because of that, I was almost worthless yesterday, although I filed papers, and fixed lunch and put a lot of little things away. I don't know how the little things get out of their appointed places and wander all over the house;) That's worth at least three thankfuls right there.
I am thankful for the Northern Lights. I did not see them myself, but my friends sharing their pictures has been joyful. I would have needed to get out from among the trees and buildings and town lights to see them.
Still thankful for Molly. She did not quite know how to handle all of the "treatgivers" nor the many extra people in her house and she slept as hard as I did once we got to bed at 10p. She continues to decline, little by little while. I continue to make sure she is not needlessly suffering and that still finds some joy in her days.
Our 3 ladies (me, my mom & daughter) yearly outing to a warehouse sale as kickoff for the holiday season-fancy coffees & Christmas music. That my energy allowed it as I'm still healing (my new meds are helping!!). Happy Farm animals in the resumption of fall weather (they were Not impressed with a blip of winter last week). The book several of y'all recommended (Ella Minnow Pea) is waiting for me at the library
This week I’m thankful:
1. That the years I put in as a state employee enabled me to retire early and care for my grandchild several days a week;
2. For my grandchild, who fills me with love.
3. For my partner’s help and positive attitude about all the prep that needs to be done for winter and holidays.
4. That I can pay the ridiculous cost to have my light fixture replaced.
5. For my library and the town that funds all its programs, particularly the ones for children.
You know what I'm looking forward to? The recap of the New Mexico trip.
I will reschedule it for sure! Maybe I can manage it during a class that is less terrible than this one.
@Kristen, personally, I’d consider going when the humidity is at its worst! NM is not humid, so that could be pleasant if you’re up in the altitude and there’s some shade.
Thankful for our young adult group, who rallied together to donate shelf-stable food and personal items to a shelter this week. It's so encouraging to see younger people jumping in to serve others. Along those same lines, three of our group members have been taking on more responsibility lately with our group/church life.
I enjoyed a visit with a friend yesterday--we live 90 minutes apart, and coordinating our schedules is tricky, so this was a treat. And, after we were done, I had time to pop in for a brief visit with my college daughter.
Also thankful for coffee with a friend today. Good, thoughtful conversation was enjoyed by both of us.
woo hoo five days off yay you. we are visiting a college for our zoe this weekend. it shoulder fun. going by train. thanks for the shelley photo.
Thank you for your thankfuls 🙂 reading other people's gratitude list is even more inspiring when there are lots of challenges happening in their lives. I hope they are also as powerful for you.
This week, I am grateful for:
- A boss that has always gone up to bat for me when I need her
- A healthy body and knowledge of how to keep it that way
- Enough savings and income to weather economic uncertainty for an extended period of time
- Parents who raise their children to be conscientious and contribute meaningfully to the teams/groups they are involved with
- The colors of fall
This week I am thankful:
* for a flexible part-time job. I work every Thursday plus occasional special events and this morning I needed to be late because of a kid's appointment and next week I'm going to flex my day to go on another kid's field trip. I'm glad they're not making a big deal of it.
* that my kids are happy to listen to Christmas music with me.
* for my husband. He's done some thoughtful things this week and is gracious and kind.
* for my friend Andi. She's such a gift to me.
* for the joy of watching my kids grow.
Hi Kristen. Do you hike alone? Do you worry about this? Any tips? I am newly divorced. My ex and I used to hike but now I don't have a partner.
I actually wrote a whole post about that! https://www.thefrugalgirl.com/qa-how-do-you-feel-safe-walking-alone/
Thank-you for remembering to be THANKful, writing it, & sharing thankfulness with others!