Still thankful. Here's why:
1. I am thankful Terri and her daughter got to visit, even if it was a short trip. We don't get to spend enough time together, with 500 miles between us, but by golly, we make the most of the time we get!
2. We ate, we talked, we laughed, we went to shows, we got soaking wet on a ride at Silver Dollar City, we shopped, we made something crafty, and WE NEVER NEARLY WET OUR PANTS like we almost did this time last year. Thankful for bladder control!
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| One year ago. Close call. |
3. I'm not naming names on this one, but you can read between the lines. I had a friend who visited me very recently. She was on her long trip back home when she got stuck in traffic on an interstate. Stuck as in not moving for over an hour and a half. Bladder control only goes so far, but this champ strategically maneuvered her car between trucks to the point that they could not see her car in their rearview mirrors, put her 17 year old daughter at the wheel of the minivan with instructions to keep BOTH FEET ON THE BRAKE AND DO NOT LET THIS CAR MOVE ONE INCH, crawled behind the driver's seat with a handful of McDonald's napkins, dropped her drawers, PEED IN AN EMPTY SMOOTHIE CUP, poured the contents into two (YES, TWO) empty Snapple bottles that had been rolling around in the back of the car, capped them, pulled up her britches, and got back in the front seat. I am thankful that (a) this didn't happen to me and (b) this friend was so proud of her accomplishment that she called me from the (still stuck in traffic) car to tell me about it, saying, "You can use this in your blog if you don't use my name!" So thankful to get to share a story like this! Thanks,
4. Summer volleyball. I do so love watching Emma and her friends play! School ball has already begun with a camp and a weekly league night.
5. Pinterest. I made several things this week, courtesy of Pinterest. It reminds me that I was going to do a monthly Pinterest Challenge post, as I announced after the A to Z Challenge. Oops.
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| White chocolate macadamia nut cookies, some with dried cranberries. |
6. Shop vacs. I'm doing a MAJOR cleaning of our basement, and that sucker (no pun intended) has been awesome!
7. College Boys who can figure out how to change the shop vac from the suck-up-water mode to the suck-up-spiders-and-other-crap mode with no manual to be found.
8. Summer.
9. Quiet, lazy weekends at the lake house (except for the near-constant discourse about the need to be fed). I sat on the deck last night as the sun was setting, watching the lake go by while my daughter sat on the porch swing and softly played the ukulele.
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| Ruby "helping" me blog. |
10. While watching Trisha Yearwood on her show on the Food Network, I saw that she and I have the same neck. Somehow, that made me feel better about my neck.
So, how's your week been? Can you find some thankfuls? Trust me, you can; I had some less-than-thankful moments this week (one of which I'll get into at another time), including, but not limited to, my first mosquito bites of the year, both located on my ass, (I felt that little bloodsucker in the back of my pants, too) one just above the Prime Meridian, one at about the Arctic Circle, received while I was relaxing on the back deck last night and which itch like hell. Come on, you can do this!
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I have to say, all I could think of while reading about your ingenious friend was my daughter's experience waiting to adopt her cat from the animal shelter. (I did tell you about that, didn't I? The women in front of her in line said, "If you really wanted the cat, you would have peed in a cup like we did!")
ReplyDeleteI remember your daughter's experience! Ugh! Horrible people!
DeleteI got a flat tire on the interstate in Kentucky waaaaay back in my single days. It was probably midnight when it happened and I sat in the car all night until some nice man stopped about 8 a.m. and changed my tire for me. I had to get out of the car twice in the night to pee, but there was no one to see me. What few cars and trucks that were out just swished right on past me!
I just had to google Tricia and take a look at her neck. why do you feel funny about your neck that's not a bad neck? it's nice to see Ruby here too she also has a nice neck.
ReplyDeleteIn fairness, Trisha's neck is better than mine, but I'm 5 years older.
DeleteRuby has a lovely neck, as befits a princess.
You make me laugh. And smile:) And! you just might be the person to explain this Pinterest thing to me. Stop me if I've asked in the past but I don't think so!
ReplyDeleteShopvacs are amazing contraptions. We had 2 - the larger size and the little one. Theyare a great invention.!
Sounds like a totally enviable time at the lake house. Nice you and your family have a "get away" place:)
Ok. I'm with Ivy. Got to goole Trisha for the neck thing lol
Do I need to give you Pinterest lessons? There really is a learning curve for it. I didn't get it for the longest time, but once I did - yowza!
DeleteThis is our second shop vac. I have no idea what happened to the first one, but all that seems to be left of it is the manual, an air filter, and some attachments. None of these things go with the newer shop vac, and I want to throw them away but haven't had the nerve to do so yet.
We love that house and location! Come visit. We can sit on the porch and swat mosquitoes together.
HER NECK IS BETTER THAN MINE. I CONFESS! But I think some of that is because she's heavier than I am (sorry, Trisha, true story). Some of mine is looser than hers. YUCK.
Dyanne, glad that you got to spend time with Tari. Amd hey to Ruby, looking as cute as ever!
ReplyDeleteThanks, we had a great time. And yes, Ruby is adorbs and she knows it!
DeleteI love hearing from you, Dyanne. I love being with my family at the North Carolina house, but I relax the most when I go with just my sister or my girlfriends. I just saw an ad for a She Wee on Facebook. I wondered about it. Keep enjoying Summer. Hey, is that a silicon baking mat? Cookies look yummy.
ReplyDeleteGeez, my family wears me out! I need a vacation after every vacation.
DeleteI posted a picture on my blog several years ago about a standing up to pee apparatus for women. I'm thinking I should just get her a box of adult diapers next time she comes to visit.
YES, that's a silicone baking mat! I have a couple of Silpat brand (I think they've made my TToT at some point), but these are newer ones that were a gift from my assistant teacher at preschool. They work just as well as the Silpat, which means they work GREAT. Love them!
See I cannot pee in a moving car. Nope.
ReplyDeleteOnce on our way to Disney, we were stuck in traffic and I had to go seriously bad. My mom was all "Here is your brother's diaper. Pee in this" So I draped a blanket over myself and tried to go. I had like performance anxiety. I just couldn't do it.
I can't even do it in public restrooms. I know....I am just weird. I take medication for that.
So is she going to be a master mixologist - like dumping urine into Snapple bottles is like right up a bartender's alley
Looking at things on pinterest makes me fat. Yes, just looking at it. Damn pinterest.
If you KNOW you can't pee in a moving car, does that mean you have TRIED IT? :)
DeleteI couldn't have done that diaper thing, either. Have you ever had a catheter? I kept feeling the sensation of needing to go when I had one before I had my daughter, but I also felt the need to hold it in, because, well, you're not supposed to let it go unless you're on a toilet, right? I was sure I was going to pee all over the bed, but eventually, I couldn't take it any more and relaxed, and once I got used to it, it was kind of nice.
It always drives me crazy that there are empty bottles rolling around in her car, but I can see now that it ended up being a good thing!
Do you read recipes on Pinterest and say "well, THAT will never happen"? So many of them are what I consider works of fiction. Bring on the easy stuff!
I've just spent a week with a ridiculously bad chest cold so any title with "bladder control" is going to grab my attention. Your friend is a rockstar with obviously good aim! Smoothie cups aren't that big!
ReplyDeleteI hope I didn't give you MY cold. Did you name yours after me?!
DeleteShe certainly was a rock star! Very inventive! And when she reads this post, she'll probably kill me!
Bladder control is awesome, and I'm thankful that I'm far enough into the post-partum phase to have full bladder control again :-) Now only my daughters have to join me in the happy world of bladder control again!! Oh, and I'm still jealous at the lake house! I need a lake house, so the kids can run outside, splash in the water, and not badger me without end to get the kiddy pool out at 4pm.. Have a wonderful week, Dyanne!!
ReplyDeleteI never gave bladder control much thought until the past couple of years when I realized I no longer had 100% control :)
DeleteYou need to come visit me at the lake house. Except you can't swim in the water. It's REALLY cold. It is drawn through generators at a dam from the bottom of another lake (that one is actually warm enough for swimming and such). The water is 200 feet deep at the dam, so that's mighty cold water - usually around 48 degrees. Trout fishing only, really. But in the evening, there is fog and wonderfully cool air that wafts up from it.
Loved the title of this post! Being a women of a certain, things-are-changing, age, I can tell you that bladder control can never be overrated!
ReplyDeleteYour evening on the porch with ukulele music sounds blissful!
As I just commented to Stephanie ^^^ I never thought that much about bladder control until the past couple of years when I found out I was no longer in complete control!
DeleteThe evening on the porch WAS blissful, until the mosquito flew down the back of my pants and bit me twice....
Ouch!
Delete…. Lakes and lake houses are also very cool.
ReplyDeletekinda limited this week, although I will go google Trisha...
Bladder control issues are out of your comfort zone, aren't they?
DeletePerhaps if you gave them literal worms instead of figurative worms, they'd stop bugging you to feed them. Just a thought I'm throwing out there. :)
ReplyDeleteI have a friend who can beat the car pee story. Honestly, she has several of them, but one in particular. I don't know if I could do it. My aim stinks.
I know your pain of an itchy behind. So sorry. It's really miserable.
When my mother is there, she waits on them, which I try to stop her from doing. And I remind my children that she is not their servant. Maybe I'll try your suggestion....
DeleteYou might have to tell me your friend's car pee story.
Yes, yes, you of all people understand having an itchy behind. And I'm sure you'll commiserate with me in that when you sweat and it trickles down your back into your pants, your itchies turn into stingies and burnies.
I hate my neck. Do you hate your neck? I've never thought about your neck.
ReplyDeleteThat pee story is so impressive! I want to meet this woman and shake her hand!
Emma plays the ukelele?!?!?!?!?
I REALLY hate my neck. I have a goiter (isn't that fab?). It makes the bottom half of my neck kind of bulgy. And the top part is getting kind of loose and turkey-ish.
DeleteI'd love to introduce you to the woman behind the pee story, if only I could name her....
She does play! She taught herself a couple of years ago. My brother bought her a ukulele when she said she wanted to learn to play. She's pretty good, too. Next, she says she's going to learn the mandolin, which will send my brother over the moon, because he plays it.
COMPLETELY unnamed friend. She was certainly resourceful! And yes, we had such a great time together! I wish it were only a 5 hour drive. That's doable. But 8-1/2 hours (and that's driving HARD) is a long trip.
ReplyDeleteMy neck is not pretty.
I loved the near miss story. It caused my own uh near miss. LOL. LOL can't stop laughing. I know about mosquitoes and their bites. I have already had more than fair share this summer. They love me, but my hubby never gets bitten. What gives? Anyway thank for the funny stories.
ReplyDeletehi , there is no way you are 5 years older than Trisha Yearwood, I like her cooking show next time its on i'll check out her neck i don't like my neck either - I have whopping double chin aargh!
ReplyDeletelast year my friend had tickets to see year in concert she had an extra one and invited me.
she was very funny -
Ukulele i'm impressed ..sunsets are the best - mosquitoes ugh I was getting bit one night last week while doing yoga - enjoy the week.
The value of bladder control is definitely underrated! I'm happy you had a good week. It sounds serene at the lake house (minus the food demands) :)
ReplyDeleteYour cat is so pretty! You make me laugh most weeks and this is one of those laugh weeks from necks to Snapple bottles of pee I think you may have won the internet! Here's to another great week of thankfuls!
ReplyDeleteHooray for bladder control! I have to admit I grossly underestimated its value prior to the birth of my daughter. I know, I know, Kegels...
ReplyDeleteSo you also suck up spiders in a vacuum? I do that too! Know why? Nothing can live in a vacuum...right? :D