A Little Snow, A Lot Of Thankfuls

If you live around the outside edges of the US and have predictable weather you won't get this, but for those of you in the middle, here's what the last three days have been like. Wednesday, it snowed. Not a lot - only a couple of inches, which equals not enough to cancel school but enough to make the drive to work a little slippery. It started melting away on Thursday, on Friday, there was only a bit of snow in shady places, and on Saturday, we had thunderstorms and a tornado warning. January has sure been a jackass.

On with the show! It's time for this week's Ten Things of Thankful. I'm thankful for the following:

1. I took my class outside in the snow. I'm pretty sure it took us longer to get the coats, hats, and mittens on everyone than the amount of time we stayed outside, but it was totally worth it! They stomped in the snow, ate the snow, threw the snow, fell down in the snow, ate more snow, and we sang the Barney "if all the snowflakes were candy bars and milk shakes" song. It was delightful!

2. I'm thankful for an unattractive but very functional pair of snow boots I bought on clearance at Walmart probably 5 or 6 years ago.

3. And for ibuprofen PM formula, which I can only take on the weekend because it knocks me out, but ohhhh, do I sleep when I take it!

4. When tater tot casserole is on the menu at school.

5. And that tater tot casserole is only on the menu once a month, or I'd turn into a giant tater tot.

6. That I can eat ice cream any time I want, because I'm an adult. I DON'T eat ice cream any time I want, but knowing I can is empowering.

7. I'm thankful that my person, who lives 500 miles away in Nashville, and I made a joking pact that we would talk or text every single day, and we are on it!

8. On last week's TToT list, I noted that I had found an outfit to wear to my son's wedding. I had found it at Dillard's, but the only one they had was several sizes too big, so I was going to have to order it. In the store, the outfit was $108. On their website, the outfit was $66. WHAAAA??? For that price, I ordered it in two different sizes, since I wasn't positive what size would fit best. They arrived yesterday, I tried them on, chose one, and will return the other one to Dillard's later this week. Bam! Done!

9. I have had a recurrence of plantar fasciitis that started around Christmas and has been very painful (but only when I walk....). One day this week, after watching me hobble down the hallway, my boss said she could fix it for me by taping my foot. She pulled some athletic tape out of her drawer and taped my foot (it's on YouTube if you are afflicted as well). When I stood up and put weight on it, I found I was pain free! Hoping this leads to the end of the plantar fasciitis!

10. I am particularly thankful for a boss who will tape my big ol' bare foot. If you don't have that kind of boss, you're working in the wrong place! Mine is the BEST.

Some of the most mundane, daily activities can remind you of how full your life really is. Look at your week and find the thankfuls, then join us at the Ten Things of Thankful, this week and every week. And check out my friend Denise's blog hop Six Sentence Stories. I don't make it to that hop every week, although I try, but I do have an entry this week, and you can read it here. Check out SSS and the many other entries, write one of your own next week, add it to your TToT list, link it up with Denise, add it to a thankful post that you link up with us, repeat, repeat, repeat.

Because Bernie Sanders memes never get old.

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Ocean: A Six Sentence Story

The little cottage was mostly quiet, save for the ticking of a clock, the slow creak of a rocking chair, and an occasional sleepy sigh from one of the little ones as they slept, curled up in their bed. The rocking chair stopped abruptly as the sound of caterwauling began to drift into the cottage from outside, distant at first, then growing louder and more raucous until the front door banged open and a figure staggered inside, standing precariously in the doorway before dropping to the floor onto all fours.

"Hush that racket," came a hissing from the rocking chair, "the babies are asleep, and I don't want them to see you this way. I assume you were out tomcatting again?" 

"Ahhh, Princess, you know you and the kits are my world, but it was Ocean Night at the Pussycat Club, and I couldn't resist clawing into the buffet; I didn't go anywhere near the scratching pole room, I swear," and he nuzzled her face with his, their whiskers entwining.

"Oh, Tom," she purred back, "I know that no matter what, you will always wander back home to your family," and the two of them jumped onto the bed with their three babies, and all five of them curled up together in a furry, purry jumble.

Family Portrait

Linking up with Denise at Girlie On The Edge's Blog for Six Sentence Stories with the prompt "ocean"

Happy Days Are Here Again!

This week has been like a breath of fresh air, especially after feeling as if I had been holding my breath for the past four years. How could you not find thankfuls when you feel that way? Here are my Ten Things of Thankful:

1. Joe Biden is in da house!

2. We have the first woman vice president in over 240 years as a nation. That she is also a woman of color is icing on the cake. Or even a whole, new, beautiful cake.

3. The women at the inauguration were so classy! The clothes! The coats! They were lovely!

4. Bernie Sanders. On a personal level, he's a little intense for my liking, but the mittens! The memes! The levity on social media!

5. Still no covid vaccines available in the state, BUT the university where I work is trying to get it and when they do, we will be vaccinated. Hooray!

6. Diet Dr. Thunder will do when Diet Dr Pepper is ridiculously expensive. That it starts to taste like cough syrup after awhile is a small price to pay when it's only 87 cents for a 2 liter bottle and the stores want to charge nearly $2 for the real McCoy.

7. It was a short work week. Didn't seem like it at the time, but I will appreciate it more this week when it's back to five days IN A ROW of work (cruel and unusual punishment, that five day week).

8. I found an outfit to wear to my son's wedding! It wasn't easy, since I didn't want my arms, shoulders, legs, or feet to show, but I finally found something, and no, it's not a tarp. My only real worry about it is it matches my hair, and I'm afraid I'm going to look like a welding rod being silver literally from head to toe....

9. My daughter is five for five on law school applications and acceptances. Praying for the financial aid offers to roll in now.

10. THE CHIEFS ARE GOING TO THE SUPER BOWL AGAINNNNNN!!! My mama would be so pleased! I hope she has a good seat for the game in Heaven, along with a Pepsi and plenty of Rotel dip and chips!

What are your thankfuls this week? Link them up, below! We'd love to have you join us!

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Here I Am, Late Again

Is there a vaccine for people who can't get their shit together? I will volunteer to be in the test group for that one. I was late getting this week's link up posted, because I honestly couldn't believe we had finally made it to Friday. I thought this past week was never going to end. And since I have Monday off in remembrance of Dr. Martin Luther King, today didn't feel like Sunday and I nearly didn't get this post written.

Here's my list, better late than never....

My daughter found out this week that she has been accepted to three law schools she applied to. She had already been accepted at Arkansas, and now she only has one outstanding application.

One of the law schools she applied to has offered her a full scholarship for tuition for all three years. Major thankful! Here's hoping her negotiation skills are such that she can get at least one of the other schools to match it.

And she came home for the long weekend, and that always makes me happy.

I've been looking at thrift stores for a small tray to hold Nora Pearl's food dish. The boys' bowls are on a cafeteria tray, but she prefers to dine alone. However, she is a horrid pig, which necessitated the hunt for a tray just for her. Found the perfect one at the Salvation Army thrift store:

Nora agrees: Troy is dreamy.

We had a little snow on Friday, and while it fell pretty much all day and evening, it only stuck to cold stuff, like cars, left a dusting on the grass, and didn't stick to the streets. 

I made a cookie cake for the first time (think Great American Cookie Company), and while I got it a little thicker than I would have liked, it still tasted amazing!

Betty White just celebrated her 99th birthday.

The Chiefs won today. Hoping Mahomes gets over his concussion quickly - it was a scary moment. My daughter said if he had been a cartoon character, there would have been little birds flying around his head.

How adorable is he?!

There was a lot of snot in my classroom this week. A lot. A LOT. That is not a thankful, but I'm about 95% sure the itchy, runny eyes, congestion, headache, and scratchy throat I now have came from them and is a cold and not the Covid.

I'm in a purging mood. Today, I cleaned out our butler's pantry and our glass cabinet (as in the one that holds drinking glasses).

Found in the back of a cabinet, tucked away
from a previous life. Didn't purge them.

This week could be a rocky ride. I fervently hope not, but y'all, be safe out there, just in case.

It's not too late to link up with us. You actually have until Monday night to do so, so what are you waiting for? 

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Put It In A Box And Write Some Thankfuls

I was at a Beth Moore Living Proof Live event a number of years ago, and during it, she said when something was troubling you, put it in a pretty box, tie a bow around it, and lift it up to God. Those are words I have carried with me ever since. Sometimes, that box falls back down, the ribbons rumpled, the paper torn, and I have to package it better and try again. But most of the time, once I release that package, tossing it towards the heavens, I feel a release in my heart as well.

This week, though. This week. The package keeps tumbling back down, and I scoop up the contents and try to stuff it back in the box, but the lid won't stay on and parts of it fall out and scatter, and I am frustrated and sad and tired. Oh, so tired.

I think I need a bigger, sturdier box. And packing tape. Maybe a staple gun. 

I'm no quitter. I will persevere.

I just need time.

Here are my Ten Things of Thankful for this week. They are not deep.

I'm thankful for:

A husband who enjoys doing laundry. I'd count this as two thankfuls if he also put the laundry away.

Oatmeal with raisins, brown sugar, cinnamon, and a smidge of butter.

Warm kitties who like to snuggle with me.

Finn and Nora Pearl

Finding hiking boots on sale. 

Grilled cheese sandwiches.

Streaming services. Wednesday evening, I couldn't watch one more minute of news coverage and instead watched "The American President" on Netflix. And cried at the end.

Streaming services, part two. If you have ever danced, had a child who danced, or just like dance, watch "On Pointe" on Disney+ which follows young dancers at the School of American Ballet for one school year. 

My tiny dancer, ten years ago.

The downstairs furnace is still working. That's all I'm going to say about it, because it's probably listening....

Uncle Funky's Daughter Curly Magic curl stimulator. Seems to be helping with frizz. I only wish it smelled better (perhaps that's the funky part?).

"At Home With Baker Mayfield" commercials. I don't even know what he's supposed to be touting, but they're funny as hell.

Write them. Post them.

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Some Words Of Thanks To 2020

Oh, 2020, I don't think there are many who are sad to see you go. To be fair, I don't think it was your FAULT, exactly; you were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. It happens. But you are going to be remembered for the various shit shows that occurred and not for the beautiful moments in between. And there were NICE things that happened this year. REALLY, there were. To prove it, here are ten of them, from me to you, 2020:

1. The KC Chiefs went to the Super Bowl. And won it. I was 9 the last time that happened. 

2. We spent a weekend in February in Fayetteville with my husband's sister and her husband. We stayed in an Airbnb and had a terrific time with our college kids and their friends as well. We had such a great time, in fact, that we all vowed we would do it again a minimum of once a year. Gonna have to wait and see how that plays out for 2021.... 

My SIL, her husband, and I on a cold, wet hike.

3. The university child development center where I work shut down in late March and didn't reopen again until mid-May. While the reason SUCKS (sorry, 2020, nothing personal), I'm not going to lie: it was kind of nice to have all that time off. Did I use it wisely? Not at all. I completely squandered it, with no regrets.

4. Thanks to the shut down, I had enough extra time on my hands that I committed to doing the A to Z Challenge again. 

5. I put my fabulous (cough cough) sewing skills to work and began making facemasks. Since I can only go forwards and backwards on a sewing machine, despite any fancier accoutrements the machine might possess, it was right up my alley to fashion them (need one? hit me up).

My RBG mask.

6. I ate a lot of bread during the coronacation. And cookies. And pizza. And ice cream. It was great while it lasted.

7. Thanks to #6, I got on the stick and lost 35 pounds. It needed to be done long before the bread, the pizza, the cookies, and the ice cream, but coming out of the haze of mindless eating was a slap in the face (truly, I gained less than 10 of those pounds during that time, but I really felt gross).

8. We are a mask-wearing, hand washing, stay home as much as possible family, and it has (thus far) worked in our favor.

My fam.

9. There's a vaccine. There's a VACCINE. THERE'S A VACCINE!!! 2021 is going to get all the credit for it, since that's when most people will get theirs, but it was discovered in 2020. I should be in line to get mine after the medical workers and before the prisoners.

9. I love working with my little nugs. I switched from toddlers to preschoolers this summer, and they are truly night and day (take that however you want - it can be both a positive or a negative, depending on the day or the situation). One of my favorite parts? Every. single. morning. when I walk into the classroom, I am greeted with shouts of "Dillon!" along with a rushing of feet and many little hands and arms hugging me.

10. We lost Ruth Bader Ginsberg this year, and that was rough, 2020, but the nation has elected the first female vice president IN OVER 240 YEARS! 

So thanks, 2020, for the good times. For the gift of forced family time that we might not have enjoyed otherwise, for Zoom calls and binge watching tv. For making us appreciate what a supply chain is and the effects of just one broken link. For getting us outside (where we don't have to wear a mask) and for teaching us to appreciate the little things.

That being said, and I say this with the utmost respect to you, 2020, don't let the door hit you where the Lord split you.

Peace out.

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