Thankful Thursday | so many fungi
This week, I am thankful:
that we are decidedly not in a drought now
Our summer started off very dry, but we've had regular thunderstorms now for a while and the world is very green and wet here.
It does make the air more humid, but hey, that's summer here on the east coast.
for the interesting fungi that resulted from the rain
Yesterday I walked on a trail I hadn't been on for a while, and whoa, there were tons of colorful and interesting fungi all around!
It was one of those walks that took an unnecessarily long time because I kept stopping to take pictures. 😉
Aren't these ones so interesting?
It's unusual to see mushrooms growing out of a live tree!
I saw lots of these red guys growing on fallen trees.
And these ones are SO tiny!
Not often you see mushrooms above your head! This is a half-fallen tree.
that my grass doesn't grow very fast
Most of my yard here is in the shade, which means the grass/weeds don't grow at a tremendous clip.
This means I don't have to mow my grass all that often, which is lovely because boy, I really don't enjoy yard work.
Also as I mentioned, we had a period of drought this summer, which means I got an even longer break from mowing! Obviously, drought is not wonderful, but I did appreciate the slow grass growth.
for my neighbor who lets me use her riding mower
My house is on a ¾ acre lot, so I am very grateful for the convenience of using a riding mower. It makes the job much easier and quicker!
that Southwest fixed my stolen points issue
The other day, I got an email confirming a flight (booked with points!) that I had most definitely not booked.
It was an expensive flight too; it used up over half the points I have in my account.
I got on the phone with Southwest right away, and after some shuffling around, they got me to someone who could fix the problem for me. Apparently, this is a somewhat rare occurrence (the point-stealing) so it took a bit for them to figure out how to rectify the problem.
I changed my Southwest password, of course, and they put some extra blocks on my account that would make it harder for someone to get in.
(I use the Chase Rapid Rewards Southwest card; if you sign up through my referral link, you can get a 50,000-point introductory offer. There is an annual fee, but the point bonus and free flights outweigh the fee, particularly the first year.)
that Zoe's all set for college this fall
I helped her get registered for the math placement test, which she passed with flying colors (she tested all the way into pre-calc, which is very impressive, given that math is not her favorite or easiest subject!)
So, now she's registered for a college math class, plus several other classes, and NOW I really feel like my homeschooling journey is done.
Yay for Zoe! and for me! We have both graduated in a sense. 🙂
for ease of hauling things in my van
I love having a minivan! It was great for hauling many children around before, but since I can just keep the back seats down all the time now, it's awesome for picking up free/cheap stuff.
Such as...my wheelbarrow.
Or the fan I just bought for Zoe.
I am such a fan of minivans! They're just so practical, and I hope I can hang onto mine for a long time.
Aww, little Zoe! She was such a cutie and I always enjoyed the pictures you posted of her at that age. Congratulations to her for doing so well on her placement test! And congratulations to you for helping to foster competent math thinkers. 😉
I am thankful the weather has been less humid this week. It is still hot and humid but not bad. It seems we live in a decent place, geographically. Also, as summer goes on my body seems to acclimate to the heat somewhat. Last night I walked to the home of a neighbor then walked farther to a friend's house. My friend had extra orchard peaches and I gave her some watermelon I had just cut.
I am thankful for summer fruit. In the past week we have added peaches and plums to the summer fruit mix we've been consuming regularly. I love fruit.
I am thankful for time spent with friends. I have seen/will still see several of them this week and they all add to the quality of my life.
I am thankful for the ability to take early morning walks. Thursday is trash pick up day in our neighborhood and today we saw two outdoor folding chairs set out that looked to be in very good condition. We carried them home and I will give them away. I love to keep useful items out of the landfills.
I am thankful for A/C. I know I am lucky to have central air in our house.
I am thankful for how little disruption Covid is causing in our lives these days. A few years ago it was a different story.
@K D, yes, amen on the covid. It's so out of the news these days that it's almost like we dreamed all that chaos.
@Anne, And yet a friend was stuck at her daughter's house in Ohio because she caught Covid while she was visiting. Had to cancel and reschedule her return trip and missed a few appointments back here in NM waiting to be cleared to fly. So ... No. It ain't over.
@JDinNM,
Agreed....it's not 100% over, and may never be. But it's light years better than it was, especially that first year when there were no vaccines. I'm very thankful for that.
I'm thankful for rain here, too. The clouds keep the edge off the summer heat, yippee!
A repeat from last week, but I'm now a few days away from my old lease ending, and oh my gosh, so thankful! We've been taking the slow route to moving our things (6 weeks), and every morning this week I've had to haul stuff from one place to the other. Two more days and I'm done! Also, we've had repair issues ongoing for a few months in the old place, which led to abnormally high utility bills, and those are about to end soon, too.
I'm hopeful and thankful that we have the option to request a correction to past utility bills on our old rental once the repairs are completed. This is going to take some time, but persistence could potentially net us $1,000 from what we've had to pay over the past year!
I'm thankful that we have kind neighbors at both rentals. It's so nice to like the people who live so close. Also, our new place has more shared walls, but it's sooo quiet here, much moreso than the old rental. And it's cheaper at the new place. All wins!
Good Job Zoe!
I’m thankful:
-for sweet, hopeful dreams after a string of PTSD triggered nightmares.
-that the heat and stickiness we have will be short lived. It makes it much easier to not be cranky or miserable.
-that even if the dew point is high and the temps are high during the day, the nights are still quite cool. It’s helping keep the house at a very reasonable temperature, as are the many windows and timely opening and closing of them.
-that I could watch the USA v. Netherlands World Cup game last night. I really enjoy watching sports but don’t have access to see most.
-for ice cubes. I’ve been craving icy water so I’ve been going through lots of ice cubes.
@Kaitlin, as a chronic sufferer of nightmares (I think last year I had a string of a few months where every single night was a nightmare) I am happy that these aren't happening to you now.
@Battra92, Me too. It's always either a stress dream or a nightmare. My nightmares frequently involve alien invasions conquering earth. Last night was just a stress dream where my dog was attacking my cat and also I couldn't find my car.
I am forever not able to find things in my nightmares! Also I can't move fast.
@Rose, I can NEVER find my car in dreams. But the bad guys are never aliens, almost always Nazis. Clearly, I have watched way too many hours of WWII movies. (Not to mention the museums, books, documentaries, etc.).
@Kaitlin et al., I wish you all better dreams--as I'm having myself. For the last few years of DH's life, I had a string of what I call "responsibility nightmares": I was always with him in a public place where he was having dementia-related behaviors, we were lost, my arms were breaking with packages, and no one would help me. I had the last of these a few days before he died, and I haven't had a one in the almost 8 weeks since he passed. Thank you, Morpheus.
@Rose, @Anne,
Usually mine are about floods (my basement flooded something like nine years ago and it was a traumatic week for me.) I also have nightmares of being alone or abandoned or rejected by everyone around me. Apparently a lot of mine were caused by medications I was on but I still get nightmares somewhat on the regular.
@A. Marie, I used to have recurring "responsibility nightmares" involving my deceased mother, where we would be in some sort of complicated maze-like building structure and I couldn't manage to find a way get us out. I finally realized that it was a "dream"/nightmare scenario that replicated my experience when my mother was scheduled for quadruple bypass surgery the next morning, and my father and sister left the hospital to go home, and I asked my mother if she wanted me to stay, and she said yes, of course. We watched a video together, and then she fell asleep around 2 or 3 in the morning, and I decided to go home and get at least a couple hours sleep. But I didn't have a car, so I wandered (exhaustedly) through the dimly lit hospital corridors at night looking for an exit where I could find a cab. Took me about an hour. By the time I got back to my parents' house it was just about time to turn around and go back to the hospital.
@Anne, I'm the kid who read The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich on the beach when I was 12. In college, as a history major, I took a Nazi class with required original sources in German. Sheesh!
Yet it's always aliens. I guess I figure Reinhard Heydrich isn't coming back, right?
@Kaitlin, My big one growing up was trying to cross the scary bridge to my grandparents' farm (a rickety, wooden bridge with no sides and fairly high above the creek).
@Rose, I can’t scream in my nightmares. That might be the worst part—even worse than the person who is trying to harm or kill me—probably because it makes me feel so powerless.
So true! I experience that too. It's like my voice won't work.
@Kaitlin, same with me! I’m not able to scream out for help and it does make you feel powerless.
The fungi isn’t just growing on the tree, it’s everywhere! Read Entangled Life by Merlin Sheldrake. It’s fascinating and will scare you about how much mushrooms basically run our world.
I’m thankful that I got a dentist appointment at short notice, that I can afford a new mattress for mum’s spare room (where I sleep when I stay), that I have some eye candy in the series I’m watching, that I got a long goodbye cuddle with my osteopath’s dog at my final session yesterday as she’s moving. I swear half the benefit of my appointments was destressing with Sid!
@Victoria, Yes! I took botany in college and we spent a good while on fungi. The part you can see is only the fruiting body: most of the organism is hidden inside the tree or the soil, etc.
@Victoria and @Rose, maybe a better title for Entangled Life would have been Fungus Amongus? 😉
@Victoria,
It is fascinating how trees communicate with each other through funghi. Plants have their own intelligence that is quite unique. For example flowers that communicate with bees through sound on when the flowers are refilled with nectar. I once saw a BBC documentary where scientists managed to amplify the sound and you could see the bees responding by visiting the refilled flowers - so incredible and so incredibly efficient. We know so little, it is humbling.
@A. Marie, good one. I put Entangled Life on hold at my library - I'm #11 on a book that's three years old so it must be a popular one.
@A. Marie,
My mother always used that phrase! I had forgotten it - thanks for this!
@A. Marie,
lol!
@Liz B.,
My dad used that a lot!
This week:
Right now, feeling thankful I lost my job. It was stressing me out too much. I feel pretty positive about going back to freelancing. Note: opinion may change in the future.
Thankful I have the time to go to the movies today with a friend and then out to eat.
Hot water, I shall never take you for granted again. (<-- will forget this soon, heh.)
Glad in some ways I've had so many terrible things happen in the past ten years. You name it, it happened to me. But I've learned I can bounce back again.
Glad to have some savings in the bank and no debt except for a small mortgage.
@Rose,
good luck on going back to freelancing and may you have no reason to not feel positive about that in the future!
@Rose,
"Troubles are what God uses to fashion us for better things." He is making you stronger via those terrible things. I believe your life is going to improve very, very soon.
@Rose,
Yay for time with a friend and your hopeful words! Keep on keeping on!
@Rose, when Winston Churchill lost his PM-ship in the 1945 election, Clementine reportedly said to him, "Winston, this may be a blessing in disguise." Winston, it's said, gave her an eyeroll and replied, "Well, it is certainly very well disguised." I'm glad you're able to see the disguised blessings in your current situation.
Saw Barbie. Laughed through the entire thing. Found it absolutely delightful.
1. I am grateful that I have finally learned how to work our sprinkler system. This has been an odd task since lots of the videos out there showcase working with various models I finally found one with controls similar to ours nd voile! I don't have to lug 100ft of garden house to the tope of our backyard,
2. For time to rest and recover from Anemia. I know that sounds like nothing but when your iron drops to 5 and you are trying to work, go to the gym 3-4 days per week, work & maintain a home. I am taking supplements, eating red meat, greens, and following up with my doctor. Goodness friends the exhaustion from this is a very real thing.
3. For Coffee & Celsius, see #2.
4. For a strong body that lets me do hard things in the gym, in the yard and just keeps going in general. Health is such a gift and I treasure it so much.
5. For blissful organization in my home. After painting everything has been moved back to where it goes, closet cleaned and purged, outgrown clothes to consignment and items we can't use donated. how lovely to have it all sorted!!!
@Angie, low iron is hard! Mine has never been that low, but when I’ve had issues before (8) I could barely function! Hang in there and rest lots!
@Angie, I have had bouts of extreme anemia and I am very impressed that you managed to keep functioning and at such a high level. I could barely make myself get out of bed, day after day after day. I hope you recover quickly.
Thanks to Kristen for the photos of the interesting fungi. A neighbor's yard at the end of our street becomes a Giant Puffball Forest in early autumn, and I may actually try eating one or two this year. (I know they're the edible kind, because a DPW worker who was doing something at the cul-de-sac last year harvested a few and took them with him. He says they're kind of like tofu: They take on the taste of whatever they're cooked with.)
Now, Thankful Thursday:
I'm thankful that NDN (my next-door neighbor who had the not-so-excellent road adventure last week) seems a bit more with it as she continues to take medication for an infection that might have contributed to her confusion, and that she's OK for the moment with not driving. Her other close friend (CF) and I still think it's time she got off the road permanently, but we haven't had that discussion (or a lot of others) yet. Meanwhile, CF and I have custody of her car keys and are running errands for or with her.
Along with many of the rest of you, I'm thankful for central AC. It's been a hot sticky week here, as elsewhere.
And I'm thankful for the bird and insect life that my summer flowers attract: goldfinches in the sunflowers and coneflowers, hummingbirds in the monarda, and several species of butterflies. Only a couple of monarchs as yet, but their time will come.
@A. Marie, Hen of the Woods really does taste like chicken. In fact, every time I've had it I've had to stop because I get so weirded out by the texture combined with the chickeny taste.
@A. Marie,
I planted milkweed last year and got one monarch chrysalis - I hope for more this year. Here's hoping you get a ton of monarchs this year.
@A. Marie, My kids seem to want to have a caterpillar in a jar each summer. So we found a black swallowtail one on the dill and brought it inside. I was thinking it was taking a long time for the butterfly to emerge from the chrysalis. . . and then the next time I looked at it......it was open....and.....a wasp had emerged instead. That was an educational experience!
It feels very odd this week that I have had to put on a coat again, and am wearing warm clothes again! So much rain, I have to remind myself we were craving water nog three weeks back.
Thankful for a can-do disposition
Thankful for the energy to do chores in the weekend, making it easier during the working week
For great colleagues who keep in touch even thought we work in different places now
For hearing that they have learned from me, as I learned from them
For not having food allergies, allowing me to cook and eat out without second thought.
That nailpolish on toenails lasts longer than on hands. I hate the feel of nailpolish on my fingernails plus it always looks scruffy on me, however the bright orange on the toes lasts for weeks and I love the colour.
I wonder what will happen when you become an empty nester and alone. If by some tragic situation I ended up in my house all alone I'd probably go crazy. I don't think you'll be the type who will be up to no good 😛
For me, I'm thankful for some basic stuff:
That I can go out with my family tomorrow night for a picnic with some live music.
That it's not torrentially down-pouring every single day like it was a few weeks ago. My sump pump is still working but not constantly like it was a couple weeks ago.
And finally after ten years of waiting, I am thankful that I can finally play Pikmin 4.
Haha, well, who knows, perhaps I will not be alone. There's still time to find a new love after my divorce, I think. 🙂
Regardless, I will be fine; I will just make efforts to find social interaction when my last girly has moved out.
@Kristen, Find new love?? They will be banging down your door; you will not have to go looking.
Haha, well, hopefully there will be one good egg in the pack of suitors. 🙂
@Battra92, "Alone" can be a wonderful thing! You can get things done without interruptions, you don't have to stop at the supermarket to buy whatever it is you've run out of, you can listen to the silence or play loud music, single-handedly manage the remote control, and sew or read or cook or sleep or daydream all day, if you want.
Every time I've lived alone--sadly, very few times!--I've absolutely loved every second of it. Fortunately after my last man friend*, I decided NOPE. Not doing this any more.
*"I'm not getting vaccinated. I'll use crystals instead." At first I thought he was joking. After that, buh bye!
@Jean, I've never lived alone. Heck, for only a few years of my life did I have my own room and that room was a shared den/computer room with the family so it was never fully my own.
It’s so neat to “take a walk with ya” through your pics. We also have lots of fungi in our area (MI) this year.
I’m thankful:
-we were able to get a lot of badge work done in the summer for my daughter’s troop
-for all the fresh fruit in season right now & places to pick fresh berries near us
-that summer ends; I’m more of a fall girl through and through (burned a pumpkin scented candle today haha)
-for two sweet babies & two busy toddlers to love on during VBS week
-for what water does in helpful ways (for plants, for cleaning, hydrating, renewing, etc.)
We’ve had needed rain this week, and cloudy days that I’m loving.
Congratulations to Zoe!
I recognize some of the fungi but some I don't. They are all interesting, though, and very photogenic.
And on to the thanksgivings.
1. I'm thankful that my daughter's business trip to Arizona was safely accomplished this week and that she didn't fry in the heat. It was 117 deg. F when she landed. My sincere sympathies to the people suffering in that heat.
2. We're not enjoying the heat + humidity here in Florida, either, but my air conditioning continues to work as it should after the recent repair, and the last couple of days we had clouds in the afternoon - although no rain - that knocked the heat down a bit. I'm thankful for that.
3. I'm thankful I got to have my 9- and 7-year-old granddaughters spend the night, so that I could help the 9-year-old sew a simple pillow cover to go on a decorative pillow for her bedroom. She's interested in learning sewing, so I offered this for her birthday and let her pick out the fabric. It took a while to set up the sewing session, but we did it this weekend and the huge smile on her face when she finished was all the reward I needed. She helped measure to cut, wind the thread on the bobbin, turn hems, and sewed every seam by herself (supervised, of course), all of it first time experiences for her. The 7-year-old came along to play with my dogs, which are a bigger draw to her than I am, ha.
4. I'm thankful for memories of, and lessons from, my late mother, whose 103rd birthday is tomorrow. She sewed well and sewed almost all of our clothes when we were at home. I like to think of her smiling down on us as I gave her great-grandchild a sewing lesson.
5. I'm thankful I decided to read "The Checklist Manifesto" by Atul Gawande (author of "Being Mortal,"), and that it prompted me to create a problem-solving checklist here at work that impressed my bosses.
Note to Kristen, if you've not read it: while not a medical memoir per se, it is very much medically oriented.
@JD, "Being Mortal" was tremendously helpful to me when figuring out how to best help my mom. Gawande had such practical wisdom about aging that I just put "The Checklist Manifesto" on hold at the library. Thank you for mentioning it!
@Central Calif. Artist, If you have Amazon Prime and a Kindle, you can get it for free.
@JD, I am in Florida also, and I chuckled as I have been so grateful for the high "only" reaching 90, which is still very hot -- but seemed better after last week with it being in mid to upper 90's, and the "feels like" in the 100's -- was just BRUTAL.
@JD, I love that you gave your granddaughter a sewing lesson. Such a wonderful want to make memories together.
@JDinNM, Prime, but no Kindle (the more stuff I own, the more stuff breaks/gets lost. Our library is free. Fantastic library system here! (But maybe someone else reading the comments will benefit from that tip)
All the congratulations to Zoe!!! And I smiled at your mini van love, Kristen, because I feel that way about my SUV, even as I'm eyeing, ironically, a convertible to take its place in the near future.
This week I am thankful for:
1- The energy our 15 year old foreign exchange student brings into our home. Out late at Disneyland, while needing to be up early the next day to go to LA? Not a problem!
LOL- I need some of that!
2- Free Summer Concerts In The Park. Such a summer tradition here, and so fun, loud, and wonderful. People dance, bounce beach balls in the air, sing along, and just have an overall infectiously good time.
3- Cool summer mornings, and breezy afternoons. It's that time in the summer season where even living close to the coast doesn't save us from having to run the A/C during the middle of the day, but I'm so thankful to still be able to throw the sliders and windows open in the morning and let the fresh air and morning bird sounds in. And then again in the late afternoon, once the afternoon coastal breezes arrive.
4- Summer Fog. Related to above, our coastal fog has lingered longer than usual this summer, but boy has it been lovely in prolonging the arrival of the heat each day.
5- Mexican food. It's pretty much in our DNA here in California, and it was so fun to introduce it to our foreign exchange student this week and watch her fall under it's magic spell as well. Plus leftovers for days!
Oh, please send some of that rain to Texas!
And cooler temperatures, too, please.
I am tremendously thankful for advances in medicine. A few years ago, I was told that I couldn't get my terrible cataract in my left eye removed until the small cataract in my right eye caught up with it. Which meant it was very likely I'd be half-blind and unable to drive before this problem could be corrected. No more! There is a new advanced procedure that will fix them both, and my surgeries will be next week. No more closing one eye and squinting to see the TV! I'm told it is a very easy surgery and I will have both eyes fixed, one on Monday, the other on Wednesday, so this time next week, I will be able to see better than I have in years!
I'm thankful for friends willing to take me to and from the surgeries. The doctor won't let me drive myself or take Uber.
I'm thankful for my bosses who let me off four days next week for the surgery and followups. And for all the many nice customers who come through my checkup line at the drugstore.
I'm thankful for the folks who are praying for me. I not only have the surgeries scheduled but also a followup CT scan to make sure last year's cancer hasn't returned.
I'm thankful for this blog and community of frugal girls and guys. I get a lot of enjoyment from reading what Kristen and everyone else is up to, and I learn a lot. So a shout out to you all.
And way to go, Zoe, for clepping out of all those math classes! Isn't pre-calc way up there on the totem pole?
@Fru-gal Lisa, Cataract surgery is amazingly easy now, and they now try to do it much sooner rather than later. Mine were caught so early that the surgeon scheduled me for his first operation both times -- I think it was an easy warmup for him. And they can implant corrective lenses, so I don't have to fuss with contact lenses any more. It's amazing what they can do, and life changing for us patients. Best of luck!
Well, pre-calc is definitely past first-level college math! So I felt very impressed with her!
@Fru-gal Lisa, After your cataract surgery you will be mad---mad that you did not have it done sooner!! I had them in my 30s, due to medications, and went from Coke bottle glasses to no glasses except for night driving because the glare from oncoming cars is amplified. I have one eye long and the other short distance and together they give me 20/20 vision. Over 35 years ago and still working perfectly. Happy for you!
I need this exercise so much right now. I’ve been playing ref between my ex and our 12-year-old this week. They are so similar in personalities that it can be like watching a forest fire. It’s such a delicate balance of letting them figure it out and stepping in when things get too hot.
I’m thankful for our CSA. So far I’ve managed to stay on top of all the veggies that have come in. In past years our CSA boxes felt overwhelming and I gave away half of what came home. This year the boxes have been more balanced. I’ve had to get a little creative (kohlrabi fries) but overall we’ve have delicious veggie-forward meals.
I started listening to A Tree Grows in Brooklyn and I am in love. Listening to this as an audiobook feels like someone is reading me a bedtime story and I’m wrapped up in a cozy blanket. I’m disappointed in myself for waiting so long to pick up this book, but I’m glad that I finally did.
We are in the middle of a heat wave but the walking trail I use is nicely shaded and significantly cooler than the surrounding neighborhood. There is also the added bonus of an occasional deer spotting on the trail.
I have a few things on my calendar that I am looking forward to. They aren’t big things (date night with my husband, a little me time, a dinner with friends) but having scheduled time that I am excited about feels great!
@Geneva, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is wonderful. Similar but rural England not Brooklyn. My great grandmother grew up in Brooklyn about the same time (with some time in Manhattan too) and I wish I'd asked her about it more than I did. Her family was middle class, though.
May I once again offer Lark Rise to Candleford here? Free!
https://gutenberg.ca/ebooks/thompsonf-larktrilogy/thompsonf-larktrilogy-00-h.html
Wait, Kristen, isn't a Honda Civic your dream car?? However, you are obviously a VanFan.
Oh yes, I do still want a Civic. After nursing school, hopefully I can afford one. But I'd still like to hang onto my van for practical hauling purposes!
I had my 28 week ultrasound and am very thankful that the radiation technician said the baby had chubby checks!
I am thankful for the community pool and that there are two lap swim windows that work with my schedule.
I am thankful for the friend who came over to help me move the new chest freezer into my garage. (The delivery people came on the wrong day and deposited the freezer in the driveway, behind my car.)
I am thankful to work from home. It is nice not to climb in to a HOT car for a commute home at the end of a summer day.
I am thankful for the joy of morning coffee.
Yay for a good ultrasound!
I am so very thankful for:
1. our good pickup*, an '03 Toyota, which provided reliable transportation while the radiator in my '96 Accord got replaced.
2. a mobile veterinarian to help my favorite (and very skittish) cat
3. a life of frugal living (ahem, just look at our vehicles) that allows me to pay for luxuries such as a mobile vet, unnecessary yarn, and for necessities such as radiators
4. A/C in the house, studio, and cars
5. A wet year so I can water all I want in the yard without guilt (although it still costs a ton, but see #3)
* The other pickup is an '86 Toyota with 330,000 miles and no AC, which my husband is completely content to drive.
@Central Calif. Artist, no yarn is unnecessary.
@Kris, I'm doing my (not quite) best to be on a yarn diet, and was working through my stash quite steadily until that recent slip-up. My goal is for all the yarn to fit into one trunk without spilling over into baskets.
Lovely pictures.
This week I'm thankful:
*for a good report for my friend who has terminal cancer. (Yes, terminal...but no longer numbered in months left.)
*that we've been well-watered until now. While we could use a little more rain now, things aren't totally crispy yet.
*that my father is with us and able to drive. We've had so many places to get people lately, and it's been so much easier having Dad to help us out.
*that my son (who was very worried about a very bad grade on a driver's ed. quiz) felt comfortable enough to approach the instructor to ask if he would go over the test with him to see what he had done wrong. It turns out there was a problem with the answer key, and my son had actually earned an A. This restored his confidence quite a bit.
*for baby steps (in both weight loss and facial recovery).
*that we are now eating from our garden.
*that my kids noticed right away that the momma hen was starting to be vicious with the chicks. We were able to get her away from them before major damage was done. And that the chicks are big enough to be out on their own.
*for good food.
@Jody S., most totally excellent lesson for all about your son approaching the instructor for learning purposes!
You are such a good photographer! ♥ Lovely pictures. Thank you for sharing with us. (Wish you could share a bit of your rain, but I won't complain). ☺
Aww, thank you!
I'm thankful for sunflowers -- they are blooming along the roadsides right now and I think they are such cheerful flowers.
That peach season is here. I've been eating peaches every day and they are so good.
That rain is in the near forecast. It hasn't rained yet, but I'm being thankful in advance that it will. We have been very, very dry.
For a spouse who is not a picky eater. Whatever I feel like cooking, he will eat without complaint.
That my annual mammogram yesterday resulted in a normal report. Always a relief.
I’m thankful for a free ticket to a World Cup game - great to see women’s football playing at Eden Park.
Grateful that my father’s sciatica has improved - he is still limping but less pain.
Thankful to have both my parents still with us - we had a family lunch on Sunday and my son and his girlfriend visited to see his grandparents.
For sunshine on the weekend, we have had so much rain and flooding this year any glimpses of the sun are appreciated.
For baking skills, I often bake for friends as a birthday treat, it’s frugal and personal.
Well ... This week is a little thin on thankfulness, but I can scrounge up a few:
Because I have a well, I had to pay a small fortune a few years ago to have a whole-house water treatment system installed because the mineral content of the well water was ruining pipes and faucets and fixtures. Happy with it but it does need periodic restocking with potassium pellets. Normally the guy who sold and installed the system would come by and fill up the tank but I called last month and he still hadn't shown up. So I went online to Home Depot and got 6 40lb bags delivered to my garage door for just an $8 delivery charge, and the whole delivery (including the bags) only cost about $68 instead of the $200+ I was used to paying. Of course, now I have to wrestle 6 40lb bags over to the tank, but I'll just keep muttering under my breath "Think of the money you saved. Think of the money you saved. Think of the money..." So, thankful for Home Depot which made a same day delivery to the right address and location for $8 and saved me a trip to the store in this heat.
Thankful for my nieces who (unlike their mother who refuses to get a smart phone or even use her not smart mobile phone which is "just for emergencies") love to text and send photos and jokes and memes and just generally stay in daily touch even though we're all working full time and who will want to go see the Barbie movie. And I forgive them for being cat people and not dog people. Although they love my dog and I love their cats, "never the twain shall meet."
And grateful for a client who kept asking if she owed me more money for a complicated and ongoing project, even though I said we would catch up when we finished, and who sent another check for the same amount she had already paid "because you've been working so hard for us." Really nice of her. And she's right, I have been working hard! But it's a rare client who isn't willing to wait for bill. ;-}
Ohh, it's fun that you have girls who want to go see the Barbie movie with you!
@Kristen, But I can't interest them in Oppenheimer, so I'll have to go to that one by myself. ;-{
Ah yes, that one's a tougher sell!
@JDinNM, I've seen both of them and they are both great.
Chewy sent me a painted portrait of my cat. It is so cute. It’s now hanging on the wall and I almost giggle every time I see it hanging there. I may get some little led lights to hang around it. I never knew companies did something so spontaneous and sweet.
Always thankful for the community of friends here and looks into the variety of lives and places. It is HOT and semi-humid here with very little rain lately. There is yet no shortage of water (another thankful) so gardens can be maintained. It was quite a picture to see a squirrel stretched up human-like taking a long draught from the galvanized tub water feature in my back yard last week. Thankful for a/c.
Thankful for my Ford Escape (I call it Escapade, for it's initial purchase history) that has seats that fold down. I can carry unusual things, too. But mostly dirt/mulch and ubiquitous plants.
Thankful for iced tea. The chai concentrate for chai latte has caught up with inflation and I cannot see the exotic spices to make it being much cheaper. I did appreciate that I was drinking milk on the regular. I like the Tazo (regular), Oregon (regular ) is okay, both iced. And I've used Blue Lotus, hot. Haven't tried it iced. Any other chai latte fans?
@Chrissy, No, but I'm a Tazo fan, and the least expensive place to buy it turned out to be online at Walmart.com (less than half the price Amazon and the grocery stores were charging), and when my order arrived it came not from Walmart but from a wholesale food distribution system. So you may be able to find your chai concentrate if you can go online and let your fingers do the walking, as the old Yellow Pages commercials used to say. Try "www.FoodServiceDirect.com".
@JDinNM, Thank you!
I’m thankful you’re ok, Kristen… I was worried about you since your blog hadn’t shown up in my email since Monday ( that’s the last one I received). But finding your posts from Tuesday, Wednesday and today when I googled the Frugal Girl, I see you’re still writing ( yay). I truly enjoy reading your posts!
I’m thankful for a really good visit with one of my sisters a few days ago.
I’m thankful for a fresh art inspiration that surprised me; also for an unexpected opportunity to teach an art class again.
I’m grateful for so many tips my daughter is receiving towards possible full-time employment ( she really needs a full-time job though she’s doing ok with part-time right now).
I’m thankful for the haircut my daughter got today. She needed a fresh look and this haircut delivers beautifully!
Oh my goodness... that picture of Zoe is adorable!!
This week I'm thankful:
* that my entire front yard is shaded most of the day! We're having a yard sale today and for the next 2 days and with highs around 90, the shade makes a big difference.
* for my awesome neighbors. They joined me and we're having neighboring sales and they are just such fun and kind people. I love living next door to them.
* that my mom got to do something cool. She deserves it. My mom is a giver and takes care of others so well. BUT! This week her flight home from a missions trip to Hungary got delayed and she missed her connection to get home. She got "stuck" in Paris for a whole day. They gave her meal and hotel vouchers and she got to go visit the Eiffel Tower! I love that my mom got to do this really cool thing and have this awesome experience thrown in her lap.
* for yesterday's downpour. Our water bill has been super high this summer and my garden was really dry at the beginning of the week. Yesterday's rain is a huge help.
Shade makes such a difference! I hope your yard sale is super successful. 🙂
I am thankful for 90+ degree heat... hear me out. My new office (started a new job a month ago) is SO COLD. So cold. It's nice to sit outside during my lunch break to thaw! There was an afternoon last week where a thunderstorm had just passed through and the outside temp was surprisingly only around 75 degrees during my lunch break, and man, I didn't feel warm the rest of the day! Makes me wonder if the inside will still be so cold when the outside temps start dropping, but for now I'm thankful for that 45 minutes or so of HOT to counteract how cold it is inside my office.
Thankful:
1. Although our temperatures have been hot and record setting, which for us means it was 88 the other day. Nothing compared to how much of the world is suffering. 72 as I write this at almost noon.
2. We are taking Pound Hound with us on our drive across the US and my sister in Virginia is going to care for him while we are overseas. I thought we would have to hire someone through Rover.
3. The mosquitoes are not very bad this year. Honestly, some years they drive you inside but this year no.
4. for the poster here or on Non Consumer Advocate (cannot remember which) who recommended the mystery series set in Saudia Arabia by Zoe Ferraris. The mysteries are okay but the cultural elements are really, really interesting. And I love having more than one book to look forward to, especially as we will be listening to audio books while driving across the US.
5. for the husband, always the husband. We have been together 40 years and a few months ago when we were talking about our upcoming anniversary he played me a song he likes called If We Were Vampires, by Jason Isbell. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivYkyC8J29M I cried.
@Lindsey, wistfully wishing you and the husband well on 40 years together. My DH and I had 45 years together and 43.5 years of legal hitchitude--neither of which were nearly enough. But he's in my brain and heart and ears and eyes till I shuffle off this mortal coil too.
@Lindsey, made me cry too and wistful for what never was. My first “soulmate” died very young when a drunk driver crossed the line and took out much of his family. The second a rekindled high school friendship who fell or was shoved off a ten story balcony on a business trip to Peru. It warms my heart to know there are those who have 40 years.
Oh my, Tiana. I am so sorry for your losses.
Aww, Lindsey. I love the love between you and your husband. 🙂
@Lindsey, My parents had 68 years together. And it still wasn't enough for them.
@JDinNM, 68 is very impressive! My parents had 53 years. They married when they were 19 and 23. In fact, my father's last words to me, in the hospital, while he was dying, was asking how my mother was doing.
I thought for so many years I would have that myself, until my husband walked out one day after being married 24 years.
@A. Marie, "legal hitchitude"!! That is a fabulous description.
@Tiana, that's a whole lot of sadness for one person to endure. So sorry for your losses.
Congrats, Zoe! Very smart to test into pre-calc! Does she have a college major in mind?
I am thankful that I finally went to see a rheumatologist about my joint and arm pain. The testing and medical terms that he was spewing to his nurse as she took notes really rattled me, but I am thankful for my medical insurance and the relief that I’ll feel, mentally and physically, once I have a diagnosis and treatment plan. Also grateful for the meds that will help me sleep better. Yesterday was a very emotional day, and I’m thankful it’s behind me. Also thankful my younger son is moved in to his new apartment and is nearly ready to start his career. So thankful for my sons; they are everything to me.
She's not sure yet, so for right now, she's just taking the basic classes required for the general ed transfer degree.
I hope your pain gets better!
Love reading everyone's Thursday Thankful comments.
I am thankful for wonderful friends.
For a trip with friends to 3 area Mennonite stores. Found some food bargains but the fellowship was the best part.
For air conditioning, so hot & humid right now.
Produce - tomatoes, zucchini, sweet corn, onions, etc. It all is so good.
Was able to find reasonable Asics for grandsons shoes for school. Try to get each grand a new pair or athletic shoes at the beginning of school year.
I am thankful
1. For having a willing husband so that I can leave the daily household and kid things to go interstate and support my friend getting a cesarean section next week.
2. That my fitness is improving from all the work I'm doing with it, which will help my summer hiking plans.
3. That I had enough money to buy a new pack for hiking this summer.
4. That we get free firewood which keeps our house cosy and warm.
5. For my dog who alerts me to any cars that come down the driveway. Who needs a doorbell?
@Lea from Tasmania, I hear you on the hiking fitness! I worked out HARD all winter and was rewarded with the ability to hike challenging trails during our vacation in June. I'm trying to hold on to my improved fitness. A hiking trip is great motivation for getting into better shape.
My thankfuls this week:
Thankful for the opportunity to spend the weekend watching two of our grandchildren who are pure joy!
Really thankful for finding a nice Air Bnb for my daughter and her family (and US!) to stay at when they come east in August.
Thankful for a nice lunch date with two friends, so fun to catch up!
Thanks to the neighborhood deer population for leaving me a few flowers while they were busy chewing up all of my hosta, rudbeckia, Lillie’s and green bean plants.
This is a weird thing to be thankful for, but kind of a blessing in disguise that my elderly aunt fell and broke her pelvis, 911 was called, and they found she and my uncle unfit to be at home alone, so brought them both to the hospital, and now they have been placed in a nursing home. This has needed to happen for quite some time, but no amount of convincing would get them to go willingly. They were not in a good situation, and they are both angry about being there, but it is the very best place for them and they will be safe. I just hope they can acclimate and be happy sooner rather than later. Life throws us strange curve balls sometimes.
@Brenda, what happened to your aunt and uncle is quite common. I'm hoping I will be wise enough to see the writing on the wall when it's time for me to live in a safer environment. It's a difficult shift to make.
@Brenda, your aunt and uncle may be saying they are mad to be in a nursing home, but my guess is they are thankful to be there, only mad that this is now necessary, that they are at this awful stage of life.
We bought a used 2001 Chevy Venture van in 2003. We hauled our sons (now 30 and 25), and all their friends, to school and all their activities throughout their school years, pulled our pop-up camper and traveled all over the US with it. It moved them back and forth during their college years, and into their first places after college.
The sliding doors no longer work. The windows are pretty slow going up and down, and the back windows don't work at all. The AC hasn't worked in years. It has some pretty good rust spots. The back seats are sitting in our garage. But it can haul a lot of stuff, and is cheap to insure. It's way cheaper than buying a truck. And when the boys need to haul something, their first phone call is to see if they can borrow the van. I will be sad when we have to let it go.
Thankful for wonderful coworkers and my boss, who make my workday pleasant and who laugh at my jokes.
For the opportunity to spend the day with my sisters yesterday. It's rare that the 3 of us can hang out together and I'm glad that it worked out.
For my daughter's new job. Her original summer job hasn't been giving her many hours and for reasons best left unsaid, has been a source of frustration. The new job is at an animal shelter where she's been volunteering for the past year. The director offered her a position. It's wonderful that her hard work and consistency has been appreciated.
That VBS was a positive experience for both kids and volunteers.
For the unexpected gift of my brother and his wife and family ending up next to us at the beach on Monday. That was purely serendipity.
Thankful for:
Storms that go north or south of us.
We are closer to closing on dad's house.
The neighbors at his house are keeping an eye on it for us.
My work gave me a gift card for my 39th anniversary there.
For smart cars, my car told me ahead of time my tire was losing pressure so I was able to get off the expressway into a parking lot to get my tire changed and not have to change it on the side of the expressway, very thankful.
It's always so sweet to read everyone's gratitude posts! I love the variety and occasional quirkiness, and it always puts me in a mindset of thankfulness just to read them!
This week, I am thankful for:
My wonderful church friends. I was feeling dizzy Sunday morning, and when I stood up after Sunday School, I got more so and very nauseated. Friends insisted I sit on a sofa in the lobby, brought me water, and as I got worse, really urged me not to drive myself home, but go to the ER (which is just across the road, actually.) They also persuaded me to go by ambulance, which is exactly what I (retired nurse) would have recommended, but being the stubborn, independent, and apparently fuzzy-thinking person I am, I didn't even consider.
Also thankful that it turned out to be Benign Position Vertigo, which is a fancy way of saying it's due to inner ear and won't kill you. As I have a strong family history of heart attacks and heart disease, it really was prudent to be monitored. Some IV fluids, Zofran IV and Meclizine, and I was able to go home after a few hours.
For the EMS team, who were so very competent and reassuring, and the ER staff, who were also efficient and caring. It's very humbling to be on the other side of the stethoscope.
For the entire episode, as a precautionary EKG done in the ER showed a Right Bundle Branch Block that was not there in Oct. 2021, and could have gone undiagnosed until I began to have symptoms or worse.
For God, whom I know orchestrated this, right down to a church member on the way home from buying groceries and being 2 minutes away when I was discharged, who swung by and drove me to my car. Going through this experience has actually answered several questions I had prayed about.
I'm so glad it's nothing serious. Whew!!
The mushrooms in pictures 5 and 6 are reishi, which is a very popular natural remedy in Eastern medicine.