Well, I'm Not Thankful For The Cold Weather

Today there was an arctic blast that brought us, well, arctic weather. Bitter cold temps, strong winds out of the north, sleet, freezing rain, snow, and dear GOD, if this is fall, what's winter going to be like?! I am not thankful for this. I AM thankful for these:

I discovered at some point during the day that I had my underpants on inside out. That, I could live with. I'm just thankful they weren't on backwards.

My ankle is healed enough that I was able to return to the gym. Big thankful for that! (If you missed it at an earlier date, I fell down two months ago, yes, FELL DOWN, and thoroughly jacked my ankle.)

I had to get a new debit card recently, because mine may have been compromised at an area restaurant, and it never occurred to me that the auto payment I have set up on it for the gym would need to be changed. The phone call from the gym's business office made me remember REALLY FAST, but when I explained how it happened, they waived the deadbeat fee!

It was a great hair day today, even after going to the gym before work.

Last week, our downstairs furnace quit working. When I say "quit," I'm saying it wouldn't even PRETEND to do its job. Not a click, not a harumph, nothing. My husband called our furnace guy (who we have not had to use in probably 10 years, which is a thankful right there), and he's no longer in business. I got a referral from a friend, called Thursday and left a detailed voice mail message, and he never called me back. Now here we are, in the throws of the arctic blast, and no downstairs furnace (we only have hardwood floors and ceramic tile, so with no carpeting, the floors are STINKIN' COLD when there's no heat). I came home from work today, prepared to find another furnace man (I was planning to call the guy whose truck pulled up next to me at an intersection earlier today, having written down the number before the light changed). The air temperature downstairs was in the upper 50s (BRRRRR!!!), and on a whim, I turned the furnace on AND IT WORRRRRRKED!!! I don't know why, I don't know how, but I have a working furnace right now. Fingers crossed that it was a fluke that it didn't work and all will be cozy and warm.

My classroom was toasty warm all day. This is a huge change over my old room at the preschool, which had windows all along the north wall and was very drafty.

Pizza bagels for lunch today!

My electric mattress pad is turned on and my bed is getting snuggy warm and ready for me to crawl in. 'Night.....

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I Survived The Blizzard And Other Thankfuls

I think of wonderfully witty things to include in blog posts, but they're generally always at a time when it's difficult to write them down, like while driving or when I'm awake in the night. They are usually so profoundly clever and hilarious that I am SURE I will remember them as soon as I'm able to put pen to paper or fingers to keyboard, buuuuuut, yeah, no. I created a cute little haiku last night around 3 am as written from the cat about the time change and it went like this:

something something time change
my belly something something
I scoff at something

Brilliant, don't you think...?

Thank goodness I can always remember to be thankful. Hey! There's #1!

2. It got nasty, unseasonably cold this week and rained buckets. It also - wait for it - SNOWED a little. But it was such a small amount that the worst thing that happened was I had to scrape the windshield a little without the long handled ice scraper that I removed from the car in the spring and failed to replace yet, because WE'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO GET SNOW IN OCTOBER.

What was once a gerbera daisy.

Results of Blizzard of '19....

3. Because my car used to belong to my parents, there was an extra ice scraper in a pocket in the back seat. . .

4. . . .AND it was the kind with a built in wooly glove, so my hands didn't get cold without the gloves that I DIDN'T THINK I WOULD NEED IN OCTOBER.

5. The heated mattress pad is once again on my bed, and not only am I grateful for it, three cats are, too!

6. Last week, I wrote about my cat, Finn, who had been sick with a UTI. He spent five days at the vet's office and got to come home Tuesday. He had a rough go of it, including a catheter and a cone of shame AND being away from home for so long without his family, but he appears to be on the mend, has had a voracious appetite, and is tolerating his medicine fairly well. 

He's not the brightest, but we love our Finn.

7. Halloween is over. I'm really not a fan.

8. My dad, husband and I attended our first Missouri State Ice Bears hockey game of the season. The games are such fun, plus we had an Ice Bear win of 4-2 over Alabama. 

Go Bears!

9. I cooked with my little nuggets at school on Friday. We made applesauce muffins, and everyone got to stir. They were DEAD SERIOUS about their stirring, and no one spilled, sneezed or coughed into the batter. When we were done, I taught them how to stick a finger into the bowl that held extra applesauce and then lick it up (you're welcome, moms!). (TBH, a couple of them MAY have stuck their entire hand into the bowl.)

Serious muffin making going on here.

10. I ran into Kohl's and picked up a couple of shirts (the kind you wear under other shirts, although, in theory, they are intended to be stand-alone shirts) and when I finished checking out, the cashier handed me a Kohl's cash coupon and said the previous customer told her she wanted to pay it forward and to give it to the next customer, which ended up being ME! I've never had anyone do that for me before, and it made my heart so happy! Thank you, unknown customer! I truly appreciate the gesture!

Have you counted YOUR thankfuls for the week? 

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Bluegrass, Band-aids, and Boom Boxes: Thankfuls Abound

I've got to get it together and get my Ten Things of Thankful post done earlier in the weekend, but until then (hah!), Sunday night it is!

1. I'm thankful for the unseasonably cool weather because maybe now I'll stop being bitten by bugs. I have been particularly tasty to ticks, mosquitos, chiggers, and wasps this fall, and my body has not reacted pleasantly to any of them. 

2. I only have one more parent teacher conference and I'm DONE.

3. We had a harvest party this week at school (i.e., Halloween party) and I got to dress up as anything I wanted. At my former job, we always had to dress the same. Every year, I said "Let's be scarecrows!" and every year, I got shot down. So guess what I dressed as....

4. Hair compliments. This letting my hair go curly AND silver was a big step. Or two big steps, actually, but there's nothing to perk you up like a total stranger stopping you to compliment your hair! 

5. I got two ginormous blisters, one on each heel, after wearing a new pair of shoes to work and not wearing socks. It's been two weeks and the skin is almost healed.

6. On that note, I am thankful for Band-aid blister bandages.

7. I've had a bit of bad luck with cd players at work. There was one in the classroom when I started my job in September, but it sounded crappy, so I bought a new one. Three weeks later, the new one quit working (I finally located the receipt and am going to give it a shot at returning it to Walmart). I pulled the old one back out and used it for a couple of weeks, then when I was trying to remove a cd on Friday, there was a crunch aaaaand broken. We REALLY NEED music in our classroom, especially at nap time, and I was in a pickle. Today, however, I found one at Goodwill for $6 AND IT WORKS (so far, but apparently I am Wreck-it Ralph lately, including, but not limited to, cd players and body parts, so I'd best be careful).

8. My brother invited us to a concert of one of his favorite bluegrass artists, and I'm really glad he did! We don't go out to hear live music very often (getting in free to anything we wanted to see when we were in the music biz spoiled us), and we should. If you like bluegrass and Becky Buller is in your area, go see her!

9. I've got a sick kitty. Poor Finn has been struggling with a UTI for several weeks. I thought he was pretty much over it, but Friday, he peed a little drop in the bathtub and it was bloody. I am very thankful for my veterinarian's office, who told me to bring him in immediately. He's been there all weekend, and my vet has kept in contact with me. Poor fella has had a catheter all weekend. He's showing signs of improvement, but he's not ready to come home yet.

10. In light of this vet visit, I am thankful that I get paid this week....

How about you? Thankful for fall weather? Band-aids? Deals at Goodwill? Write 'em down and link 'em up with us!

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Thankful Me!

Imma gonna be the last one to get my Ten Things of Thankful posted this week, and it's not for lack of thankfuls. On the contrary. I'm simply BURSTING with them! 

I've been waiting for months and months and MONTHS for this weekend, because I was going to become IRL friends with my blog friend of (six? seven?) years - Kristi of Thankful Me. We have been blog friends since the very beginning of Ten Things of Thankful, found out we are distant cousins through Kristi's genealogy research, and have had a lot of parallels in our lives, and WE WERE FINALLY GOING TO GET TO MEET when Kristi and her husband, John, vacationed in my area.

Kristi and her husband were going to spend several days in Branson, Missouri, and I was able to be a cruise director for them. There was a glaring similarity of one of their vacation experiences and one my husband and I had a few years earlier when Kristi and John road the Showboat Branson Belle, a replica steamboat on Table Rock Lake. This was my experience here; fortunately, Kristi's wasn't quite as crazy as mine was, and hopefully, she doesn't hold me accountable for the buckets of rain, thunderstorms, and inability of the ship to leave the dock.


In honor of Clark, we had cake. I ate 75% of it. Okay, 85% of it.

It's not a TToT party without cake!

Kristi presented me with a folder filled with articles and newspaper clippings about my family that she researched and she found for me. She found the notice of my grandparents' application for a wedding license from 1931, family obituaries, my engagement announcement, SO. MANY. FASCINATING. THINGS.

When Christine of In The Coop (which I desperately wish she would resurrect) and I met IRL around five years ago, we both wore the same shirt. Had to duplicate this by getting Kristi a shirt to match mine. We're cousins, after all, so we needed to show how we looked alike.

In our matching Missouri Southern t-shirts
on the dock at the lake house.

We got to spend nearly the entire day together on Saturday. 

I took Kristi and John to the Shepherd of the Hills fish hatchery. When we arrived, we were greeted by a committee of vultures. Not sure who or what they were waiting to devour, but it wasn't us.

Through the magic of Google and cell phones (thanks, John!), we found out that a group of vultures is called a committee. If they're flying, they're called a kettle. If they're eating dead things, it's called a wake. You're welcome.

The floodgates open on Table Rock Dam is not really a thankful, but the beautiful backdrop it made sure is.

John and Kristi in front of Table Rock Dam.
Don't let the photo fool you; the dam is
252 feet high.

The weather couldn't have been better! There wasn't a cloud in the sky, and the air had just enough crispness that we wore sweatshirts and walked on a trail that followed the shore of Table Rock Lake. John was interested in the temperature of the water (still fairly warm) and, after I said Christine scampered onto rocks in precarious places several times when we have been together (including, but not limited to, at the confluence of the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers and on top of nuclear waste site), Kristi joined him to feel the water. I am happy to say neither of them fell in, but I had the camera ready, just in case....

As sure-footed as a couple of mountain goats.

Besides walking for miles (quite literally) beside Table Rock Lake and Lake Taneycomo, feeding fish, and feeding us, we talked and talked and talked. How lucky I feel to have met someone in person after all these years of knowing each other in the blog world and feeling we have known each our entire lives!

I hope Kristi and John come back this way again soon. I hope when that happens that my husband can join us (he had to work out of town and got back in time to meet them but that's all). I hope I can head to Utah some day. I also hope that Kristi and I can someday do our "girl trip" to the Pacific Northwest and visit her mom as well. I hope someday YOU will get to meet a favorite blog friend IRL, because there's nothing like it!

Because they're cousins, identical cousins and you'll find...

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Finally Fall And Other Thankfuls

My weeks are going by in a flash, a FLASH, I tell you! Sunday evening already? Time to be thankful!

1. It's fall, y'all! Really, truly, finally fall! Today was cool and rainy and utterly delightful.

2. I put fall decorations up in my house. They make me happy to see.

3. I have never had a job as physically demanding as the one I have now. This is a good thing. I spend a lot of the day doing squats as I pick up a little who is crying or just needs some love. I believe I'll be able to bounce a quarter off my ass by Christmas because of it.

4. We had a rainy morning one day this week just as we were about to go outside to play. Try to explain to one year olds that we have to take off their jackets and stay inside after telling them we would go out. Six little open mouths, crying tragically, and it's both funny and pitiful. I covered the table with butcher paper and gave them crayons, and they not only scribbled a masterpiece but NO ONE PUT CRAYONS IN THEIR MOUTH. We weren't so lucky the last time we tried this.

5. Last week, I wrote about a little spill I took where I bruised my left knee and sprained my right ankle. I'm happy to report that my knee is almost recovered and my ankle is improving. The ankle is still a little swollen and tender, but that's a HUGE improvement from this time last weekend.

6. My husband and I hopped on the Movie Pass craze two years ago and rode it until it crashed and burned. We moved to Cinemia next, got burned by that, and thought we were through with movie deals, then the Regal chain started their own unlimited movie pass recently, and we joined it, as Regal is the only movie theater we have in town (okay, locals, I know we have a tiny independent movie house, but you know what I mean). We have had it for less than a week and already seen two movies. Our theater is crappy, the floors are sticky, many of the seats are broken, and it smells like feet, but WE CAN SEE UNLIMITED MOVIES, MAN!

7. Lewis is a snuggly boy when the blankets come out! Refer to #1.

8. I had a long conversation with my Person this evening. It's hard to be 500 miles apart, and I'm thankful for cell phones and not having to wait to talk to someone long distance until nights or weekends when the rates were lower.

9. We went to the high school football game Friday night. Living in a small town may have its drawbacks, but you can't beat our Friday Night Lights!

10. Next weekend, I get to spend some time with our TToT hostest with the mostest, Kristi! Stay tuned!

Take time to be thankful!

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Coast: A Six Sentence Story

It was a summer Saturday morning, our family had just returned from a vacation the night before, and there was not much in the house to eat, so my mom made the decision to drive to Luke's Bakery and pick up some doughnuts for breakfast; 12 year old me decided to tag along.

"Is there enough gas in the car?" my mom asked, and my dad replied, "There's enough to get you there," and she and I climbed into our '72 avocado green Chevy Impala and headed the three miles down Blue Ridge Blvd. to the bakery, and my mom allowed me to get a custard-filled, chocolate covered long john (my favorite).

We took our doughnuts to the car and headed home, but as we turned into our subdivision, the car sputtered and died. My mom steered the car towards the curb as it coasted to a stop, the gas tank dry.

At that point, I knew my mom was madder than mad as she grabbed her purse and the doughnut box and started the three block walk to our house; the morning was hot and she was hotter, and I bounced along beside her, clutching the white bakery bag holding my custard-filled chocolate long john.

I remember my dad looking up as my mom threw the front door open and stomped into the house, saying through gritted teeth, "You said there was enough gas!" to which my dad grinned and replied, "I said there was enough to get you there, I never said there was enough to get you home."

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

Propping My Eyes Open To Write A List Of Thankfuls

You want to know what happens when you start working with one year olds? YOU ARE VERY TIRED BY THE END OF THE DAY AND EXHAUSTED BY THE WEEKEND AND YOU CAN'T MOVE YOUR FINGERS TO TYPE A BLOG POST.

I've missed two weeks of Ten Things of Thankful in a row and with this week's that would be 30 things. 

Relax. Not going to do that to you.

How about a highlight reel of the past couple of weeks of thankfuls? 

1. I'm really loving my new job! The kids are adorable (most of the time), and they love me and even when they are crying and snotty nosed, I love them, too.

2. The kiddos get fed breakfast, lunch, and an afternoon snack every day, and the staff gets to partake in it as well. This is very handy when I am going straight from the child development center to my job at the photo studio. It's not always the best food I've ever eaten, but it doesn't suck, either, and it's free.

3. My dad and I went to an auction two weeks ago, and I got this amazing gem:

It's enamelware. Flawless. Could be worth around $30.
I got it for $2 and, believe it or not, NO ONE
bid against me on it.

Thoroughly cleaned and repurposed!

4. It's going to be fall soon. 

5. I went to a sing-along version of "Grease" at the Alamo Drafthouse theater in Springfield, an hour's drive away. My friend Traci went with me, and we had a BALL! 

They gave us props at the Grease sing-along,
including bubbles, a comb, and candy cigarettes.

6. The Med School student got to come home for a whole 24 hours two weeks ago. My daughter came home, too, and all four of us got to watch the Chiefs game and eat game day snacks and all was good.

7. I found out I have to ride on a float in the MSSU homecoming parade with the rest of the staff at work and any kids and their parents who want to join us. My thankful is that by this time next week, it will be over.

8. We attended parent weekend at the University of Arkansas last weekend. It was also Dad's Day at my daughter's sorority. We stayed at her apartment (she gave us her room and slept in the room of a roommate who was gone), walked to nearby shops and restaurants, and walked MILES AND MILES to the game and back.

9. I fell down yesterday. Fell. Down.  Wiped out. Ate it. The last time I fell down was 12 years ago when I was a camp counselor. (I won a contest earlier this year, sponsored by the university where I am now employed, ironically enough, by writing the story of that fall, and you can read it here.)  I can promise you that falling down at 59 is worse than falling down at (59-12=47) 47, and I can also promise you that I have no intention of it happening again. I am thankful that I wasn't hurt worse than a sprained ankle, and hard whack to the knee (opposite leg, naturally, so both legs hurt), and aches EVERYWHERE. Hey, I'm tall and it's a long way down to the ground from up here. Lots of ibuprofen and ice bags, and I will hopefully be at least close to good as new by Monday....

10.  Indoor plumbing. Which I am going to visit right now.

How was your week? Or weeks? Link up your thankfuls with us. We would love to have you join in!

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