Saying Farewell To March

In like a lion, out like a lamb? Hah! More like lion day, lion day, lamb day, lamb morning, lion afternoon, REALLY ANGRY lion hanging around for a few days while lamb cries and hides, lamb running very quickly in and out, lamb and lion getting into a GINORMOUS fight, lamb day but lion blowing big puffs of icy cold air, lamb day, lamb day, JUST KIDDING lion day.

As March winds down (and you can read "winds" with a long OR short i and it would still be appropriate) and April begins, I think, THINK that we're done with the worst of the liony stuff. I am hopeful. Now on to the Ten Things of Thankful.

1. The daffodils and paperwhites are blooming.

2. Tulips have popped up and the buds are just about to burst open.

3. The birds are clearly happy that spring is here, and they are telling the world about it through their chirps and songs.

4. Our tail-less squirrel has survived the winter! We don't know what happened to the tail, and I have worried about him all winter, since he doesn't have that built-in blanky to keep him warm when he sleeps. I wish I had video or a picture of him, but alas, I don't. Imagine, though, a bunny with short, round ears hopping along a tree branch, and that would be what Mr. No Tail looks like when he's in a tree.

5. My daughter came home for an abbreviated spring break (the University of Arkansas thought if they only gave them two days off, they wouldn't go to the beach in big, rowdy groups and spread Covid amongst them, but they thought wrong, at least about going to the beach in big groups. Time will tell if they were super spreader events or not.). Instead of a fun trip to the beach with friends (and two of her roommates did just that), she went to the lake house with us. I'll take every moment like this I can get; she's going to be graduating and moving away to law school, and I won't get to see her nearly as often.

6. Hot dogs and roasted marshmallows for supper while sitting around the fire pit. Daughter's idea, and an excellent one it was!

7. We went to Silver Dollar City this morning for an hour or two. We have been season pass holders for years, but we let ours from last year roll over to this year, as we weren't willing to risk exposure to Covid last year. It was a lion day pretending to be a lamb day, in that it was beautiful and sunny and 60 degrees, but there was a strong wind out of the north that cut right through you. We walked through the entire park to see what had changed since we were last there in 2019, then enjoyed listening to the Homestead Pickers, my very favorite thing to do there. 

8. The doctors are getting married two weeks from today!

9. We have no location for a rehearsal dinner yet. I am doing my level best not to panic about this. I think I'm faking it really well....

10. Today marks the 9th anniversary of my bilateral mastectomy and free-tram reconstruction. Self-examinations are key to early detection of breast cancer! Remind someone you love!

The Ten Things of Thankful link is open until Monday night! Please join us!

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Thankful For Matching!

This weekend's Ten Things of Thankful is brought to you by a fabulous weekend filled with wondrous events.

Friday, March 19, was Match Day 2021. This is the day that fourth year medical students find out where they are going to do their residencies. Of course, due to Covid, the past year's rotations and classes were interrupted, and the interview process for residencies was completely on-line. The only good news about this is the playing field was level, because it was the same for every 4th year student, no matter where they were attending medical school, not that that makes it any easier for anyone.

My son's school, University of Oklahoma College of Medicine, held a Covid-friendly (that seems like a contradiction in terms) celebration on Friday at a park near downtown. They did a lovely job of making it be as normal as possible: there were round tables set up and decorated with swag (more on that later), balloons (including an arch that was, quite honestly, a little underwhelming but nice in theory) and a few speakers. The tables were spaced out, seating was reserved, and masks were mandatory, even though it was outside, but it was terribly exciting to be there and see the students open their envelopes just before 11 a.m. to find out where they were going.

My son and almost daughter in law (as in 3 weeks away from the wedding) were matching together, or hopefully so, since there was a remote possibility that wouldn't happen. BIG THANKFUL that they did, indeed, match in the same city - yay!

The swag on the tables made it real that after all these many years of work, our son is a doctor! He's only been working towards this end since 6th grade.

The weather was beautiful. It could have been raining. It could have been snowing. There could have been a tornado. But instead, although it was a little cool, it was gloriously sunny, with very little wind (a big deal, because, you know, "Ooooooooklahoma, where the wind comes sweepin' down the plain" is a very real thing).

We were stand-ins for Lillian's parents, who were unable to be there, but they joined her via Facetime to see the Big Reveal.

This is a pretty big deal, but I didn't fall down OR tip over in my chair during the celebration. Both were distinct possibilities, as my chair was not on level ground AND one time that I got up, I caught my foot in the excessively long tablecloth and tripped and stumbled but remained upright. Had I fallen, I should have been well cared for, since I was surrounded by approximately 120 4th year students plus several faculty members.

Envelopes were passed out to each student just before 11:00, at which time they all counted down from ten, and the envelopes were torn open. The verdict? Kyle and Lillian are going to Little Rock! 

We were so honored to get to experience Match Day with our doctors! What a treat!

Besides the official Match Day festivities, we also finally got to have Christmas with our doctors, as we hadn't been able to be with them since Thanksgiving. 

I managed not to eat all the candy for their stockings, and I think that shows a great deal of restraint on my part, since it was in my basement for three months. 

We stayed in a cute Airbnb in an old historic building. I love Airbnbs!

We ate entirely too much while in Oklahoma City, but it was goooood.

Now the countdown is on for the wedding, which is in three weeks and graduation six weeks later. Whew!

That's one pretty darn thankful weekend!

One final thankful goes out to my co-host Pat Brockett. She has some pretty terrific intuition, and I am grateful for it.

Now how about you? Ready to join the Ten Things of Thankful? Sure you are! Write yours down and link them up! 

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I'm A Cheese Sandwich, What Are You?

I am a member of a computer sandwich generation. Is that a thing? I am the cheese (I like cheese sandwiches). I can use computers and certain programs, but I can't tell you how or why any of it works. I can't fix anything if it goes terribly wrong. I'm afraid of accidentally losing Important Things (and it has happened).

My dad is one slice of bread. He regularly screws the crap out of his laptop. He thinks everything he reads on Facebook is news (99% of the time, it's click bait). He also thinks gmail and Google are interchangeable. He also believes every email he receives that says he is getting a package delivered. Thankfully, he is getting better at asking me and not answering everything he gets.... Oh, and this is just the tip of the iceberg with him.

My kids are the other slice of bread. They are not afraid to click and push buttons. My daughter learned how to create Power Points in kindergarten gifted class. I wouldn't be able to do it with a gun held to my head.

Currently, Google is giving me grief. My account is 96% full, and I keep getting warning messages about how I'm no longer going to be able to upload files or photos or send or receive emails. I'm deleting photos, but it's like Sophie's Choice trying to decide what to part with. I was too exasperated to write a TToT last weekend and was nearly so this weekend, but that's not the attitude I need, now is it, so here's my list:

1. Spring is coming in like a lamb for a couple of days at a time before being chased off by a lion for a few before he runs off and the lamb tiptoes back in. Would I prefer every day to be a lamb day? Absolutely! Is that going to happen? Not for several weeks. Be patient, Grasshopper!

2. I lost and found a checkbook this week. This would be the second time this has happened in the past year or so. I'd like to say it will be the LAST time it will happen, but history says it's pretty unlikely.

3. I finally found a pair of shoes to wear to my son's wedding! I got them from Poshmark, they are snakey, and I think they will negate me wearing Chuck Taylors as previously threatened.

4. I have also booked an Airbnb for the wedding. One month to go!

5. My friend Jennifer hooked me up with some awesome fabric! I haven't had time to make any new masks with it yet, but I'm excited for the unveiling when I do so!

6. The fleece sheets were removed from the bed during some lamb days this last week, but they are back on now that the lion has strolled back in. They are so comfy!

7. This past weekend was Mom's Weekend at my daughter's sorority. It wasn't much of an event (thanks, Covid), but it was a terrific opportunity to spend time with my daughter in Fayetteville. She will be graduating in May and moving to...?

8. My daughter got her second Covid shot on Friday afternoon. Arm was a little sore, but that was it, or so we thought. In the middle of the night, she woke up aching all over and said all her organs felt as though they were on fire. She didn't have a fever, though. By morning, she was a little woozy but otherwise better. Saturday evening, she woke up from a nap (okay, WE woke up from a nap) and had a pretty good fever but no organ fires. She also had hives on her elbow (she always gets hives when she gets stressed). The fever was gone in a couple of hours, and she has had no more reactions since. Covid vaccine reactions are weird.

9. Daylight savings time! A lot of people bitch and moan about the time changes, but I love them! I love it in the fall, when it gets dark earlier and the house is all warm and cozy. And I love it in the spring when we get more daylight in the evenings,

10. My preschoolers are going to be grumps tomorrow because of the time change, but the upside is they should go down for their naps a little easier and stay asleep a little longer!

There! I did it! You can do it, too. The Ten Things of Thankful link is open until Monday night at 11:30 pm CDT.

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