My Fabulous Week of Thankfuls

Thankful, thankful, thankful, thankful, thankful, thankful, thankful, thankful, thankful, thankful.

That's 10 thankfuls.

Done.

Aw, just kidding! I'm having such a great week, I don't know if I can stop at 10 Things of Thankful. Get a load of all of this:

1. It's Spring Break. It may not FEEL like Spring Break, weather-wise, as we had snow last Sunday and a slight possibility of it again this coming Sunday, but it's STILL. SPRING. Winter truly cannot last forever. (Can it, she asked hopefully?)

2. My daughter and I took a little road trip to Nashville to stay with my Person and her kids. (This one alone is worthy of ten thankfuls, but I don't need to invoke any secret rules this week.) I miss living in Nashville so very much, and it energizes me to get to visit it, as infrequent as those visits are.

3. If you read my TToT list last week, then you know that we had a tire that was nearly flat while we were in Kansas City for a volleyball tournament. It seemed fine after being aired up, but my husband said to make sure I keep an eye on it on our trip. My daughter and I stopped for a lunch break about 3 hours into our trip, and I thought the tire looked a little low, so we stopped at the Walmart tire center that was across the street. The attendant said it was a little low and aired it up, then said, "The belts look like they are slipping on this tire. There's no tread on one side of it. You're going to need to replace that tire pretty soon." Well, that would explain the shimmy in the steering wheel. I told him we were on our way to Nashville and would then be returning to Joplin and by "soon," did he mean we could wait until after we got home from our trip? He said, "I wouldn't." Gulp! We forged onward, hoping for no tire disasters until we got to Nashville and were successful. The next morning, I paid a little visit to the tire center at Sam's Club, and we are now the proud owners of two brand spankin' new tires on the back of the car.

It's pretty quiet inside Sam's Club during the early
morning hours set aside for business members.
Sometimes, you have to make your own fun.

4. I took my daughter and her two friends we are visiting to the zoo on Thursday, because it was the ONE thing she wanted to do on the trip. It was such a good idea to visit the zoo on such a pretty, spring day that several thousand others decided to join us. The girls had a great time, and I enjoyed trailing after them, watching them be teenage girls. 

5. Being a spring day, the zoo was not as, shall we say, fragrant as zoos sometimes are, particularly in warm weather. Some of the highlights of our visit there were:

The meerkats, who do NOT come when
you call, "here, kitty, kitty."

This awesome and most likely deadly frog.

Tandem alligators. Or crocodiles. Whatev.

Self-explanatory.

Isn't he CUUUUUUTE?

The rare and elusive Coke machine
in its natural habitat.

6. On Friday morning, I met my friend Janice for breakfast. Janice and I met through work many, many years ago during my previous life in the music business. I am always thankful that she wanted to be friends, since the first time we met in person, she wasn't so sure about me. She and I did a lot of business stuff over the phone before we decided to meet one day for lunch at a restaurant we both liked, South Street Original Crab Shack and Dive Bar. (If you ever visit Nashville, eat there. Have I ever steered you wrong about food? No, I have not. Eat. There.) I ordered the Blue Plate Special (you can never go wrong with the Blue Plate Special), which happened to be something Mexicany, but I don't remember what. All I remember is that the plate was exceedingly hot, and as I was talking, I held a forkful of rice over my plate, ready to take a bite, when my pinky finger touched the edge of the plate, burning the crap out of my pinky, and causing me to jerk my hand, rice scattering all over the table. I felt pretty stupid, so I just kept talking and pretended like it didn't happen and Janice didn't say a word. Then years later, we were talking about the day we met at lunch and I mentioned burning my finger and throwing my rice all over the table, and she said, "THAT'S what happened? I thought you had some kind of spasm or something, so I didn't want to say anything." And see? Still friends, 25 years later.

7. When we met for breakfast (Cracker Barrel, for the curious-minded), she told me she invited a surprise guest, and in walked our friend Lynn. I hadn't seen her since my wedding shower nearly 21 years ago (although we are Facebook friends - yay, Facebook!). She looked fantastic, and the three of us spent two hours together, laughing and talking. Here's my thankful- Lynn-wanted-to-be-friends-with-me story: Lynn, Janice, and I (plus another girl, Misha, whom I have completely lost contact with, but I digress) were at lunch at, you guessed it, South Street Original Crab Shack and Dive Bar, sitting at a table by the windows, which can roll up like a garage door in nice weather, opening the dining room up to the sidewalk. We were all talking away, and as I made some gesture with my hand, my fork flew out the window and landed in the bushes outside. True story. I should really stick to finger foods when I go there.

With Janice and Lynn. No food or forks were thrown.

8. Right after we said our goodbyes, I went on to my next appointment:

 I GOT TO MEET A BLOGGY FRIENDDDDDD!!! 

I was so, so, SO excited to get a chance to meet Synnove from Don't Chew On The Dinner Table. She writes a hilarious blog about her life with her three kids (2, 4 and 4 months) and who have the SWEETEST CHEEKS EVER. We spent two hours together, talking non-stop and watching her two oldest play on the playground (me) and chasing them back onto the playground and out of the mulch and putting shoes back on and chasing them back onto the playground and giving them snacks and pushing them on the swing and chasing them back onto the playground (Synnove). We (okay, I) hope we can do this again next time I'm in Nashville, because I enjoyed being with her just as much as I enjoy reading her blog (which is TONS). She's bona fide.*

Yes, we were acting like we were about 15.

*("O Brother, Where Art Thou?" reference)

9. How do you top a morning like that? You don't.

But you CAN come pretty close to matching it by taking three 15 year old girls to the Parthenon, because they wanted to go. 

Taking selfies in front of the Parthenon.

Athena. She's kind of big.

And kind of creepy.

10. After dropping the kids off at a movie, Terri (my Person - watch Grey's Anatomy if you don't know what that means) and I had a leisurely supper. Mexican food. And I didn't burn myself and throw rice at her. Or throw a utensil out the window. We just talked, about everything and nothing. That's the best kind of friend to have, one where you don't have to work at anything.

And the trip isn't over yet! We still have a whole day and a little bit to enjoy Nashville (which, I believe, makes 11 things of thankful).

Are you having a fabulous week. Are you? ARE YOU? Blog it and link it, below.

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