No One Died And Other Thankfuls

It's a rainy, dreary Sunday. Somewhere out there, folks are in the middle of a drought or wildfires, and if we could send them some of our rain, we would! I am currently at the lake house, watching the creek that runs along the edge of the backyard spill chocolate brown water and debris into the lake. I missed last week's TToT for no good reason other than I was lazy, so this week's list is a mishmash of the past two weeks:

1. Due to lower enrollment trends, among other things, my elementary school in the Kansas City area is being sold by the school district. The district was kind enough to stage an open house on a Saturday afternoon where former students and staff could walk the halls one last time. It was bittersweet. 

2. I got to spend some quality time with three of my childhood friends while I was in Kansas City. The first one, Cherie, is the one from my story about the black eye (read it here), and I have literally known her since birth. The second one, Jan, and I went to elementary, junior high, high school, AND college together. She knows where the bodies are buried. The third one, Dana, and I have been friends since junior high. She also knows where the bodies are buried AND is a great encourager of my writing.

3. My husband came home from his deployment to Little Rock with the Red Cross. He was gone for over 2 weeks, and it's the longest we've been apart since we got married.

4. We have two nearly-nine month old kittens in addition to our almost 3 year old calico, Nora. If you are a fan of the PBS Kids show "Arthur" at all, you will know exactly what I mean when I say Finn and Lewis are the cat version of the Tibble Twins. They are insanely energetic and playful and get into trouble CONSTANTLY. We're talking furniture moved, lamps turned over, curtains pulled down, trouble. 

Last weekend, however, Lewis wasn't being himself (and he is usually the ringleader). He threw up a few times, wasn't as playful, and then, he started to cough. My sweet, beloved Ruby, who we lost 3 years ago, coughed as the first symptom she displayed of what turned out to be cancer, so when Lewis coughed, I was in a panic. I took him to the vet on Tuesday morning, and my vet knew I was terribly worried about him and she knew why. Welllll, long story short, I spent $178 to find out that Lewis was just constipated. Not dying. Constipated.

Lewis at the vet's office

5. We've been spending quite a bit of time at the lake house this summer, cats included, so when Lewis was sick, I took him back to Joplin with me, and my husband and I got to enjoy a couple of days without the other Tibble Twin or Nora, and Mr. Independent became very sweet and cuddly, and he has continued to be so, even after rejoining the rest of the family. Amazing what a good poop will do for one's disposition!

6. I'm trying to strip an old cabinet that I purchased at an auction. It has layers and layers and LAYERS of paint on it, and I have worked with stripper and scraped and scraped and there's still layers of paint stuck to it. My husband pointed out that they use heat guns on Flea Market Flip, so I headed to Harbor Freight to get one. While I was there, a man who was standing in the same aisle, just a couple of feet away from me, bent over and A GUN FELL OUT OF HIS PANTS AND LANDED HARD ON THE CONCRETE FLOOR (I'd like to add that the part where the bullet comes out was pointed towards me; I don't know anything about guns and what the parts are called, but I know when the business end is pointed at me). I was so shocked that I just stood there. The man fumbled around with picking it up, and I decided to get out of the OK Corral before somebody or something got plugged.

Very slow process

Have power tool, will strip furniture

Man with no business carrying a gun

7. The med school boy paid us a visit! He has been studying practically non-stop for several months for a huge exam, after which he and his girlfriend took a week long camping trip. They came by to see us for a couple of days before heading back to school for orientation for rotations, which will start on July 1. It wasn't nearly enough time to have him around, but we got to see him and celebrate his birthday a day early. 

Isn't he handsome? He was in a
friend's wedding earlier this year.

8. At home, I have a small rolling pin from Pampered Chef that I use when I'm making pizza. It's perfect for spreading pizza dough in a pan that is either (a) not completely flat, like a pizza pan or (b) flat but has sides, like a jelly roll pan. At the lake house, I use an empty tomato sauce can with both ends cut out as a makeshift small rolling pin. My dad saw me and decided he'd make me a small rolling pin. He attached it to a small paint roller, and last night, I gave it a try. It worked pretty well, although it helped to ignore the dried paint on the handle of the paint roller, but when I had nearly completed rolling the first pan of dough, I was distracted by the little flecks from the whole wheat flour I used, and WAIT A MINUTE! I DIDN'T USE WHOLE WHEAT FLOUR! Instead, what I had was little bits of sawdust from the homemade wooden roller, and I had firmly pressed them into the dough. Sigh. I picked and picked and got all (I think) of the plainly visible wood chippies and decided to ignore the little bitty ones, finished the pizza, baked it, and served it to my husband and dad. Our conversation after they were partway through their serving:

Me: Remember those old Grape Nuts commercials with Euell Gibbons saying "Ever eat a pine tree? Many parts are edible"?

Husband: Why are you asking if I remember that?

Me: 

Husband:

Me: Remember, many parts are edible.

Husband: Okay. Wait, what?!

Both of them survived the extra fiber in the pizza.

Worked great in theory....

9. My Person, Terri, got a new job a few months ago, and she asked me to write her bio. She told me she got a lot of compliments about how well it was written, which made me happy. She called me last week and asked me if I would write a script for an award she was presenting at a banquet for work. It was about a five minute speech, and it turned out really well, and I might be just a little proud of it. 

10. Book of Secret Rules states that when you ramble in your first 9 thankfuls, you can call it a day and skip #10.

Be thankful!