Saturday, November 23, 2013

25 Weeks x 10 Thankfuls = Too Much Math

For 25 weeks IN A ROW, I've been posting a little list of ten things for which I am thankful. 25 weeks. (I'd say half a year, but even as much as I hate math, I do know that 52 ÷ 2 = 26, not 25, so Lizzi, have you planned the 6 month party for next weekend yet? Just wondering.)

There are some weeks (this may be one of them) when the idea of coming up with ten things I can be thankful for is more than a daunting task. And there are some weeks when it is difficult to stop at ten, but as I am a rule follower, I pick the ten best things and leave it at that.

This week's 25th Weekaversary Edition of the Ten Things of Thankful begins now:

1. I had a migraine on Saturday. That's two Saturdays in a row that this has happened, if you're keeping score. I'm thankful that it was relatively mild, as migraines go, because I was in a town about 45 minutes away (accessible by two-lane highway only) with my daughter and her friend to watch a college volleyball game. We were sitting at Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers when the migraine hit. I took four ibuprofen immediately and was able to drive us home about 30 minutes later when the blind spot finally left my field of vision.


Volleyball team watching volleyball.


2. I spent all day Sunday in my jammies, nursing my migraine hangover and snuggling with sweet Ruby.

3. Ruby had her first visit to the vet this week, where she tested negative for Feline Leukemia (whew!) and was determined to be in excellent health and a sweet and beautiful baby. Oh, and she weighed in at a whopping 1.5 lbs. I really don't know what we would have done had she tested positive for FeLV; we are all head over heels in love with her (except for Pete).


4. Later the same evening as her vet appointment, I noticed Ruby rubbing her left eye with her foot. Upon closer inspection, I saw that her eye was rimmed with pink and was very watery and obviously irritated. It got progressively worse as the evening went on and was no better the next day, so I had to call the vet's office to see what to do. The solution was to stop by and pick up a prescription for an antibiotic eye ointment for her, and while I really do think she picked up the infection at the vet's office and probably should have been given the ointment for no charge, I am grateful that the antibiotic is working, and she is much better. And that she never showed any other symptom of feeling ill other than rubbing her eye. She was just as bouncy as usual, even right after getting a smear of ointment in her eyes twice daily.

5. I am working on a 30-day Pinterest challenge that I learned about from my bloggy friend Wendy Nielsen (whom I lurrrrve). Results show will be Monday, but here's a sneak preview for you: I made something with quinoa and it didn't suck.

6. Wednesday, I started feeling kind of crappy. Sore throat. Sinus-y headache. Achy. Slight cough. On Thursday, I felt even crappier, but I shouldered on. That morning, during circle time with my primary class, I watched as probably 7 of the 11 in the class coughed or sneezed without covering their mouths with their elbows (or anything else - at this point, I'd even take a hand, as long as the mouth was covered). I talked to them YET AGAIN about the importance of covering your mouth and nose with your elbow when you cough or sneeze, that I was now coming down with a cold and I got it from ONE OF THEM. At this point, one of my boys got a big grin on his face and said, "I bet you got it from me!" Kind of cute how proud he was that he gave me something, even if it was his cold. (And yes, I believe he was the Midwest Distributor, as my dad would say.) And it ended up being a pretty mild cold, as that was my worst day, although I am FAR FROM CURED.

7. I came home from school that day, put on comfy clothes, covered up with a fuzzy warm blanket, and napped with Ruby, the house quiet except for her purring.




8. On Friday, my pre-k class got everything done in preparation for being Indians at our preschool Thanksgiving Feast on Monday. I wasn't sure we would get it all done, as they are so busy socializing that they don't get their work done in a timely fashion, but we made it. Vests, drums, headbands, necklaces, placemats, DONE. Bring on the Pilgrims.

9. I am not a proponent of putting your Christmas decorations up before Thanksgiving, but since we won't be at our house for Thanksgiving, I gave myself a head start on decorating by taking down all the fall decorations and putting them in bins, ready to go up to the attic when the Christmas stuff comes down. I feel very accomplished.


Ruby has tipped this basket of mums over
about a hundred times in the past 2 weeks.

10. Borrowing a page out of Clark's book, I am making my tenth thing of thankful that I am thankful that I came up with 10 things. Shut up if you think that I only did 9. It was all I could do to get the ones I did.

If you're reading this and you haven't given Ten Things of Thankful a try yet, WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR? Be part of the Legend.

And PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE notice (and mouse-over) your artistic co-hosts of TToT spelling out a message to you, which would never have happened without the begging and threatening of our Founder, Lizzi of Considerings. (Psssst - I'm the "Y".)





It's time for the 25th TToT
Please join our hosts so

Everyone's favourite Pig Wrangler Who do you want to be today? Clark? Scott? Roger?</ area> She's loving the Sunny side of life Cloudy with a chance of poetry Purveyor of brain-candy, beautiful words and dorky pictures Nutty as a bloody fruitcake! Our Bardic WIZARD, and mascot The Skipenator She'll bake you a mountain of thankfulness What the L? She's deranged! Our very adorkable warrior Image Map

And just for you, a freebie, too:

Ten Things of Thankful


 Your hosts

36 comments:

  1. Ack! HTML breakdown alert! I spy code! And no mouseover *sob* That was the sneaky-hidden-cool-part! Come over to mine and see...

    Sorry to hear your week's been challenging. This is still a lovely list, with lots of Good Things in it :) Thank you so much for all your support and contribution of our wonderful hop :) Love that you're part of it :D <3

    And in response to the math - NO - nothing doing for our 6mth, but we'll put on a show for Christmas.

    I went for 25, it being an obvious division (1/4) of 100, this being the most obviously accessible notable quantity, us being a base-ten species. So there.

    (Why are you one of the ones I have to beg/threaten so often, scott?)

    ReplyDelete
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    1. Fixed, fixed, fixed! Well, thanks to you; it would have stayed that way forever otherwise, since you KNOW the sum of my html talents.

      The only good thing about a crappy week is you know it will get better soon (Pollyanna to the rescue).

      Okay, I will give you a break until Christmas.

      I FORRRRGOTTTTT!!!! If you'll recall, I was initially almost a week early. Maybe you should have told me I had the right date at that time!

      Anyway, I LOVE it! You are a visionary, and we all were delightfully creative.

      Delete
    2. Just as well I was around ;) Glad you got it fixed. It's beautifuller now, and shows the full extent of my highly frustrating efforts at coding.

      True dat - the only way is up! *sunshine moment* and if not, there's always Ruby and more games of 'Would you rather' ;)

      Thank youuuu but it'll be slightly BEFORE Christmas, otherwise the prize won't be there in time. Oh. Crap. It'll be SOON then!

      Derp! Somehow you and me and dates tend to get wrongfooted somewhere along the way...

      GOOD :D We all are. Very, most beautifully creative :D

      Delete
  2. oh man! what a tough week?! Lucky you got that Ruby girl to make you all soft and squooshy inside otherwise who knows what could happen?! I hope you continue to feel better and Im so glad Ruby is healthy as well... How common is feline leukemia? Very if they test for it regularly I guess huh? ... We dog folks are clueless... well this one is! Feel better Dyanne... and sorry I couldn't get your whole photo on my site..l am a formatting moron!

    ReplyDelete
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    1. I think it's 2-3% of all cats are infected. And, with other cats in the house, we would probably have had to put her to sleep or find someone willing to take a FeLV-infected cat. Neither good propositions.

      This next week will be looking up, I'm sure.

      Delete
  3. And a gorgeous "Y" you make! DANG that kitty just kills me - she doesn't even look real! and I'm so so so sorry you suffered with another migraine, you poor thing! No one deserves those. My heart goes out to ya. :(

    Here's to hoping your yucky sickie ickies are gone soon and you DO NOT suffer another awful headache - BLEH! Be Gone Evil One! Great list, Dyanne, love seeing you on it!
    XOXO

    ReplyDelete
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    1. Thank you, Beth! You're too kind; the list is as crappy as I have felt. Planning to make up for it NEXT week.

      Aren't the letters SO COOL? They are just how I hoped they would turn out. Did you mouse over them to see Lizzi's descriptions of everyone?

      Delete
  4. My 4yo started forgetting to cover with his elbow recently, so I told him to make an "elbow mustache," which he finds funny, and it's worked. "Elbow mustache!" is catchier than "DAMMIT, cover your mouth! You KNOW that!"

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    1. I'm loving "elbow mustache"! And it PROBABLY would go over better at a Christian preschool than "dammit, cover your mouth!" Maybe, anyway.

      Delete
    2. Gah THAT'S A VAMPIRE SNEEZE! Can also be interchanged with looking evil and saying "Muahahahaaaaa!" in your creepiest voice...

      Delete
    3. Jenn, that comment cracked me up.

      Delete
  5. I want a Ruby-kitty, too!! What a sweet little girl. Glad she's fine! Hope you're feeling better soon, too! Migraine and a cold suck. Our 5-year old was feeling pretty under the weather as well today, sickness everywhere ;-) Hope you have a wonderful weekend!

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    1. She's asleep on my lap as I write this, Stephanie!

      Migraine, gone. Cold, still here but not bad.

      You have a wonderful weekend, too!

      Delete
  6. Can I just tell you that quinoa does not suck at all. I LOVE that stuff and make it all the time. Glad you made something with it and it didn't suck.

    Glad to hear about Miss Ruby...how is her FB page coming along?

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    1. I'm not completely convinced about the quinoa, but I'll not give up on it. Yet, anyway.

      Ruby is sweet and beautiful. I need to get to work on the FB page.

      Delete
    2. Does Ruby have a FB page!????

      Delete
  7. "...was able to drive us home about 30 minutes later when the blind spot finally left my field of vision."

    one of the things I like about you… that statement says it all, pretty much.

    Your small feline has mad cute skills! (which is a high compliment from a pretty-much-dogs-only guy such as myself).

    hope you are feeling better. Judges on the 'Y' 9.3 9.6 9.7 10.!!!!

    ReplyDelete
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    1. Yeah, that blind spot is the worst part of a migraine. I can take the headache, but hoo-boy! That squiggly spot makes me siiiiiick.

      I am more than impressed with the high compliments you have bestowed on Miss Ruby, dog person that you are.

      Aaand, thank you. Finding that "Y" was a stroke of genius on my part, because I was otherwise going to have to scale the building a la Spiderman to get a decent picture of a Y.

      Delete
  8. What a week you've had!

    Glad to know Ruby is doing well. She is SO stinking cute.

    I agree on the pre-Thanksgiving Christmas decorations - even Kidzilla is walking around saying "Lights already??? It's too early!" She loves Christmastime, but she is also savoring the week leading up to Thanksgiving. I'm really proud of her - it's tough to teach kids patience (I never did learn...) but she seems to understand that it's good to take life one day at a time. My smart girl!

    I definitely think you should try the "cover your mouth dammit" approach with the pre-K and see what happens. Just for fun.

    Headaches are the absolute worst - migraines even more so. Glad yours went away. Finally.

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    1. I feel as though my whole post was a big whine-fest, but I wasn't in much of a mood to find the thankful, which is all the more reason to find it, right?

      Kidzilla is wise beyond her years.

      I'm thinking I probably shouldn't take preschool advice from you or Jenn.

      Delete
  9. I agree with you on only putting up decorations after Thanksgiving. Why rush through one holiday to get to the next?

    Also, I feel for you on the migraine. I had one on Thursday and had to leave work early and was exhausted on Friday. So draining. Hope you're feeling better!!

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    1. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. I don't like to wish it away by having Christmas all up in my business before its time.

      Migraines SUCK. End of story. Glad you're over yours.

      Delete
  10. Sorry you had such a crappy week. Well...to be perfectly honest...misery loves company so *high five*! ;P

    We are reminded daily...no...hourly...no...every stinking time Riley sees us that Christmas is in December. Not November. I could really send him over the deep end by decorating the house next week. :O

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    1. I haven't read your post yet, but suspect we should have had a pity party together.

      I knew I liked Riley. This proves it.

      Delete
  11. Two weeks in a row. That sucks epically.
    How can that adorable kitten still only be a pound and a half? It seems like you've had her long enough that she should have at least gained a pound. Or did you manage to find the one and only mammal that won't grow up and simply stay the same level of cute her entire life??? I want a kitten like that.
    I think the teacher I work with may have tried the cover your mouth dammit strategy. She was getting close when I saw her last week. She's been sick half the year thanks to those little snots. Fortunately, I've been around kids almost daily since I was a kid and have built up my immunity. I've managed to avoid it thus far.
    Aaaaaaand next week I will probably tell you how sick I was this week.
    Hope you have a lovely week migraine- and cold- and cat eye infection-free.

    ReplyDelete
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    1. Made it through Saturday without one this weekend, so hopefully, the migraine train has been derailed.

      She's only a pound and a half because she RUNS IT ALL OFF.

      I usually only get one mild cold a year from my preschoolers, which really is a miracle, considering they are walking petri dishes.

      Do not, I repeat, do NOT get sick. There is no time for it.

      Delete
  12. On pins and needles waiting for that quinoa recipe...I'll believe it when I see it.

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    1. Yeah, not really going to make it in my top 10. Or 20. Or 100.

      Delete
  13. I know I've mentioned this, but my mom is a para at a preschool and she is ALWAYS catching something. (but then, she also has a low immune system so...just about the worst place for her to work in that regard, but she loves it and she is so good at it)

    I LOVE that pic of Ruby in the mums... that needs to be framed!

    Sorry you've been under the weather...being sick is just the absolute pits! And too bad your vet visit didn't go like my son's big wart removal appointment (which pleasantly surprisingly ended up at no charge) Glad Ruby doesn't have Feline-L....

    and...yeah, when does Ruby get her own FB page? :)

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    1. Fortunately, I got The Cold 'Lite' and not the fullblown thing the kids have had.

      Ruby's had a rip-roaring good time with those mums.

      Delete
  14. Sounds like my Intro this week may partially refer to you ;-) I'm sorry it's been such a struggle this week to come up with your list, especially given it is the 25th Week Anniversary! Huzzah! Congrats on 25 weeks in a row! I just realized that I didn't do 25 in a row, but certainly made 25 posts... Hmmm

    I think the host/co-host Thankfully banner is down :( I like it a lot, as well as the 25th TToT badge, but really that banner is pretty awesome!

    I laughed at the end of your list, though. It's like... "GAH, fucken hell, I barely got 10 on my list and screw you for thinking the 10th doesn't count! I will hunt you down and kick you in the genitals if you say it doesn't!"

    Followed promptly by: "If you haven't joined in yet, what are you waiting for? It's the most fucking awesome thing in the world!" *glitter twirls*

    Muahahaha Not really, but really it made me laugh... There may be something messed up with my mind...

    Very sorry to hear about the migraines :( My Ladyfolk gets them often (has one coming on now actually) and I am definitely not envious. You get blind-spots? That seems really crazy and I wasn't aware that is normal. Is it normal? Are you normal?! ACK!

    Then getting a cold or flu... everyone seems to be catching something... It's no good. Hopefully you recover swiftly and are back to your chipper self... are you usually chipper? Are you a chipper person? Are you chipper?!

    I love your posts about Ruby and all your new-found adventures! Sucks she picked something up in the eye grossness department. It probably was from the vet! Sabotage... or what some call Job Security...

    GAH! I see I have a new email notification in my gmail account and I hope it isn't you commenting on my blog... I had this post up for over an hour, but distracted by taking care of the Ladyfolk, replying to new comments on my blog post, and then suddenly I saw you were making your rounds and commenting on blog entries I have "notify" checked on and have hit panic mode attempting to beat you before you comment on my blog post!

    I'm going to peek...

    Whew it was K1's TToT post! SUCKA! I WIN! Well, I win my own oddly created game in the spur of the moment... I suppose from the sounds of it that it would seem you wouldn't have had a chance... but really... you were extremely close!

    Now on to others!

    Feel better! *hug*

    The Cryton Chronicles & Dreams in the Shade of Ink

    ReplyDelete
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    1. *giggles like mad at the description of Dyanne's ending*

      Also, the banner thing was totally my fault, as everyone was only too happy to jump down my throat and IMMEDIATELY LET ME KNOW! ;) They're awesome like that.

      Delete
    2. I HAD 10 THINGS ON THAT LIST, I SWEAR! Clark isn't the only one who gets to get away with making #10 thankful to be at #10.

      My migraines are normal. If you look up the classic symptoms of a migraine, that's me. Fortunately, I don't get them very often anymore.

      I'm reasonably chipper. Only annoyingly so in the morning, because I'm the first one up and have had time to get over the morning grumpies before anyone else is up.

      I love my Ruby, eye gunk and all.

      Delete
  15. That kid who was proud to have given you his cold was really cute (although I really feel for you because right now I am sitting on my sofa with a stuffed nose thanks to my son who gave his cold to me for the third time in only a few weeks. He likes to share...).

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