Saturday, June 29, 2013

Thanks, Y'all

It's the end of a crazy fun week. My daughter and I are in Nashville, having a little girl time, and that leads me to my Ten Things of Thankful.

1. I'm thankful for my friend Terri, who opens her house up to me and lets me visit whenever I can.

2. I'm thankful for old friends, ones who knew me long ago, saw me through some of my stupider times, and still love me.

3. I'm thankful for new friends who are so comfortable to be around that they seem like old friends (yes, that's you, Kayla, along with Mac, J. and J.).

4. I am thankful that I have amazing parallel parking skills, because I had to put them to good use when my daughter and I went downtown to visit a friend. Not only did I perfectly park with three-point accuracy, I did it with a guy in a pick up truck breathing down my neck. If I'd known it would be such a spectacular feat, I would have made my daughter stand on the sidewalk and videotape it.

5. I'm thankful for restaurants that are still here and still delicious (shout out to South Street Restaurant and San Antonio Taco Company).



6. I'm thankful for the comic relief provided by my daughter, whether intentional or not, while we were traveling. Case in point: we stopped at Dairy Queen for lunch on our way to Nashville, and while I was paying, she took our cups to the drink station to fill them. Since DQ only has Pepsi products (and that sucks), she asked me if I wanted Diet Dr Pepper, and I said yes. As we sat at our table, waiting for the food to arrive, she commented that the root beer at this place was really bad. It was so bad, in fact, that it didn't even TASTE like root beer. As she continued her diatribe about the quality of her drink, I picked up my cup and took a sip of... root beer.  I reached over and switched cups with her. She stopped in mid-sentence, and we laughed and giggled and snorted until our sides hurt.

7. I am thankful for thrift stores. I used to hate, hate HAAAAATE them, but now, I find I enjoy the thrill of the hunt, although I have to be in the MOOD to thrift store shop, or forget it. (My husband, on the other hand, is a thrift store shopping BEAST.)

This little find is going to become
an accessory for a certain cat....


8, I am thankful for my fabulous sense of direction. The streets in Nashville are set up like a wagon wheel, with downtown as the hub of the wheel and all the streets branching off of it the spokes. Not an easy place to get around if you're used to your town's streets being laid out the NORMAL way, which would be in a grid.

9, I am thankful for the Stones River Greenway. I try to walk on it every time I come to visit, and it's really lovely. Well, except for an ugly little incident today. I BEGGED my daughter to walk with me (her excuse being that it was too hot and she didn't want to sweat). After I finally talked her into going with me, we drove over to the trailhead and set out. We had seriously not gone 100 feet when a group of about 6 bicyclists coming toward us each shouted, "Snake!" as they swerved their bikes to avoid running over it. As the last bicyclist passed, we saw that the "snake" was really a "SNAAAAAAKE!!!" The part we saw, as it slithered slowly off the path toward the river, was about three feet long and as big around as my daughter's arm and appeared to be a water moccasin. And it was HORRIBLE. We were both nervous wrecks for the rest of our walk, eyes constantly darting from side to side, flinching at every noise from the sides of the walkway. It was not my most relaxing, enjoyable Greenway trail walk, and I will probably never, never, EVER get my daughter to do it with me again.



10. I am thankful that we still have two more days before we have to leave!

Happy weekend, y'all!







24 comments:

  1. 1,2,3: Good friends are always a thing for which to be thankful, regardless of when you met them. 4. Go you! Can't say I'm stellar at it. Fairly good, perhaps. 5. Beautiful photo! 6. I love it when my kids do something like that. Too bad I'm usually the one doing it, so everyone laughs at my expense. 8. Indy is set up the same way. Don't be hatin. 9. Ew! Otherwise, sounds like a lovely place to walk. 10. Have a great time!

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    1. 1,2,3: You know it! 4: It really defies words how really stellar it was. 5, 10: Why, thanks! 6: Well, the nut doesn't fall far from the tree. 8: Something to keep in mind if I ever visit Indy. 9: That snake could have swallowed a small dog.

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  2. I adored the drink-switch story! What a hoot :) Husby often does that to me with cups of tea (he has sugar, I don't, but he can't tell when he has the wrong one. I can).

    The water moccasin sounds like a fascinating beast to have come across! I would totally be back there at every opportunity to try to see it again! So cool.

    Nashville sounds like a tough place for an outsider to navigate, though I expect the whole of the UK is hard work for anyone who's used to a grid system (something apparently invented after we finished building roads).

    Thanks so much for linking up with us - I hope you have an awesome time when you're away and find many more than ten things to be thankful for.

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    1. She's gifted and she's blonde. Sometimes, they conflict.

      You are welcome to come see the water moccasins any time you would like. We also have black snakes that can be 7 feet long and copperheads. Round them all up and take them home with you! Please!

      Nashville is tricky to navigate when you LIVE here, and I haven't done so in 20 years. You have to be able to imagine it from a bird's eye view to get anywhere. Midwesterners are much more sensible with their city planning of streets.

      And thank YOU for hosting such a fun weekly hop! There's always something to be thankful for!

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  3. "I am thankful for my fabulous sense of direction" I trust you are not making fun (of your sense of direction) as it is one of the more fun things I do in the car in daylight hours. The whole bubsiness of picking the correct turn and despite the howls of protest..."plug in the GPS!!! it will tell you the way to go' when I turn the last turn and I am at the place I set out to get to.... damn! good feeling.

    fun list... (I suspect the snake will return home that night and add to the (snake people's) mythology of 'shining wheels of fire' crossing the sky and the angry gods who followed. lol

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    1. Not being facetious at all. I really do have a fab sense of direction. It sometimes require that I talk to myself out loud while driving and make some daredevil moves, but I can get there!

      In my opinion, any smart snake wouldn't be ON that path, with all the bicycles, foot traffic, dogs, etc. As big as he was, and as fast as those bicycles were going, he would have had quite a story about an angry god flying over the handlebars of the shining wheels of fire if he had gotten hit!

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  4. Good friends and comfortable places are always a good thing to be thankful for. :)

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  5. Wonderful things to be thankful for and truly loved the picture of you and your daughter. And the perfect parallel park is an art form, which sounds like you have it down pat!!

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    1. Thank you, Janine! Funny thing, I had to retake my driver's test a few years ago (long story that I really should blog about) and I couldn't parallel park to save my soul. I guess the important thing is to be able to do it when it is vitally necessary, which I can!

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  6. Snakes .. ugh my skin is crawling and I'm thousand of miles away. I would have cancelled my walk right away. I'm so scared of snakes.
    I still can't drive so parallel parking is not a skill I possess.
    I love thrift stores - although the ones we have here sell more rubbish than anything else.

    Love the pic of you and your daughter. Hope you enjoy the rest of your stay..

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    1. Thanks! Yeah, had I been any closer to that snake, the walk would have been over.

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  7. Looks like you are enjoying your vacation. Kudos on your parking skills and sense of direction, both of which I lack. Have a great couple of days.

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    1. Thank, Miriam! We're having a terrific time! Well, other than the snake incident.

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  8. Friends are always a good thing, glad you have good ones. Love the picture! you two look amazing!

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  9. I like the whole list but I must admit my favorite part is that you bought your cat a tie. So awesome.

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    1. I can't even begin to tell you how excited HE is about it.

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  10. I have to agree: the best part about this whole post is the tie for Pete. He will be soooo happy to wear it (looking forward to the picture you will post, after which I'm sure one of my snarky labs will have something to say....)

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  11. Nashville eh? By now you are back home tucked away from... eh... prowling (slithering?)... yea slithering snakes!

    It's awesome you had such a great time and you can arrange to spend some mother daughter time like that. A lot of families don't do that enough, if at all *coughcoughlikeminecoughcough*

    I thought the root beer story was hilarious, your daughter rocks^^, but I bet you are correct she may be a bit more hesitant to go on those dangerous walks you like to take.

    "Come with me daughter! There is only a 65% chance you will be bitten by a snake! Huzzah!"

    I may be jealous of your driving abilities. Parallel parking isn't my strong suit and I hate almost all downtown parking... In fact, I pretty much avoid downtown(s) at all costs. Forget it. Pass. No thanks!

    LOVE thrift stores, but I avoid buying clothing. Something about it creeps me out. It's best I just stay out of them because a lot of times I see things that I think I will want/need and really I don't. At least it's cheap(er) than if I got them elsewhere? Okay, I love garage sales too. Hmm... come to think of it I've bought clothing from a garage sale (though usually not for myself) and odds they haven't been washed or have something ucky about them is about 100fold compared to a thrift shop. Interesting.

    Anyhow, rambling time is over. Appreciate and love your friends and spend time with them when you can :)

    Hope you've been having a good week and have a fun 4th/weekend!

    Jak at The Cryton Chronicles & Dreams in the Shade of Ink

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    1. The snake thing just about did her in (it wasn't like I was thrilled with it, either). She just now came screaming up the stairs to announce that an ENORMOUS BROWN RECLUSE SPIDER was crawling on the downstairs bathroom floor. Naturally, by the time I got down there, it was long gone. (It's lurking, somewhere - won't be the last time we see that little fucker.)

      We had a terrific girl trip. The two of us have a lot of fun together. It makes me sad that you don't have that with your family. Should I adopt you?

      Parallel parking with an audience is no easy feat. SO glad I pulled it off!

      I have a little trouble with used clothes, too. I usually just look for stuff for my husband and son, because men's used clothes are in much better shape than women's are. I don't like garage sales, though, because I feel bad stopping at someone's sale and leaving empty handed if I don't find something I want or need. Because it's like I have rejected their stuff as not good enough for me.

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  12. ACK aren't Recluses deadly?! Where do you live?! HELL?!

    Oddly, I was going to suggest adoption in my comment, but felt it may be taken as... creepy... lol BUT now that you mention it...

    I almost left the same comment as well, about leaving empty handed! What the... I always feel "obligated" for some unknown reason to buy something (anything!) if visiting one. I've just gotten to the point of training myself this Summer to avoid succumbing to that feeling. So far I've been semi-successful!

    Prep the spare room!

    Actually mention of a recluse spider preeeeeeetty much puts the kibosh on that I think ;-)

    Well played...

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    1. Yes, yes, I live in Hell. Or southwest Missouri. Sometimes the same thing. 80% of homes in Missouri have brown recluse spiders in them. The other 20% just haven't seen a spider yet.

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