With all my extra non-writing time, I've been able to appreciate some thankfuls this week.
1. With the need to be all advice-giving during the challenge, I was beginning to have laughter withdrawals, wondering if I was ever going to be able to get my funny back. Those who follow (and get notifications, it seems) my Facebook page know that it came back to me in spades soon after I dropped from the challenge. I still laugh when I read this post.
Sure, I'm laughing in horror, because every word is 100% truth, but I'm still laughing.
2. I'm thankful that my days of participating in sports which require me playing in all sorts of miserable weather is over. While my kids suffer through, I can watch from my cocoon made of a coat, blanket, and umbrella...
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| poor, poor Star |
or if I'm really lucky, from inside my car.
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| Don't be fooled. It was frigid out there. 50 degrees with a wind chill of -120. |
4. I'm thankful for Benadryl. My eyes have been itching like crazy, and I'm afraid they are going to start swelling. (I have some unknown allergy that pops up out of nowhere every once in a while.) I've been keeping a constant flow of antihistamine flowing through my veins, and so far it's been taking taking the itch and swelling at bay.
5. I am thankful that my mom got to come for a visit this weekend to see the play, watch Phoenix's volleyball tournament, and go to the high school's fundraising dinner with me.
6. I am thankful for the fabulous coaches my kids have this year. They are learning a lot and having a blast doing it.
7. I am thankful for Cuckoo's sense of style. Guess what the weather was the day this photo was taken.
8. I am thankful for Cuckoo's recent desire and ability to take on more chores. He is finally tall enough to reach the lock on the door into the chicken coop, so he can let them out in the morning without my assistance. He collects eggs, waters the dogs, feeds the chickens and dogs. This has been especially helpful this week, since the big kids haven't come home after school a single day this week.
9. I am thankful to have learned from my kids (when they are little) to appreciate the smallest, prettiest things, like rain drops on blades of grass.
10. I am thankful that my grandma is doing so well at the independent living facility. All of her worries are gone. Her blood pressure is the lowest it's been in years. It's also giving her the confidence to do things she's wanted to do, but has been afraid to. Next month, my 90 year old grandma is flying by herself to visit my aunt in South Carolina. I could not be happier for her.
OK, time for me to go to bed and catch up on all the sleep I've missed this week.
What happened in your life this week to make you appreciate the life you've been given?
Have a lovely day!
Your hosts
A Fly on our (Chicken Coop) Wall, Amycake and the Dude, Considerings, Finding Ninee, Getting Literal, I Want Backsies, The Meaning of Me, Thankful Me, Uncharted, The Wakefield Doctrine
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Hey, that's a perfect hat for a Disneyland trip!
ReplyDelete(Frist?)
You got frist!
DeleteFunny, we got the hat on a DisneyWorld trip. :)
I think being thankful you didn't waste the whole bag of M&Ms by finding the ants first is one heckuva silver lining! I'm glad Emma plays an indoor sport, because I'm all about climate control. Love the pic of the raindrops on the grass. And Cuckoo, both in his get-up and feeding the chickens (is he giving them pizza?). And your series of unfortunate events is a perfectly good reason for dropping out of the A to Z Challenge. Now find me something for X. I'm desperate.
ReplyDeleteI am also reminded of the time I was in college and was eating melba toast for a snack. The box held maybe three cellophane wrapped packages of melba toast, and I was eating the last one in the box. I was on the very last piece of melba toast when I looked at my hand and found a weevil crawling on it. I had eaten a package of weevil-infested melba toast.
DeleteWhile I do appreciate the gym on rainy or cold days, I hate sitting in one on gorgeous, sunny days.
DeleteDid you have a similar story about your brother not telling you about bugs in the flour or something?
I don't blame you for taking yourself out of the challenge when you have such a busy family life.
ReplyDeleteLove the story of the M&Ms, I don't do Facebook so I wouldn't have seen it if you hadn't put it on here. I always inspect any food that's been around or opened for a while, especially cereal, before I eat it - anything that shouldn't be in it, either living or dead, and it's straight in the bin.
Cuckoo's outfit is great, and it's good that he's capable of helping with the chickens and the egg collecting.
So glad the your grandma is doing so well in her new home and that her health has improved - and well done to her for making that flight all on her own, I hope she enjoys her stay with your aunt.
PS - When you get a minute in your busy schedule hop over to my T post in the challenge, I'm sure it's somewhere you'd like to go to if you came back over here. Let me know what you think :)
Thanks. :)
DeleteI was even careful to seal up the M&Ms. Either the ants are very sneaky or the kids aren't as diligent as I am. It never crossed my mind that they would be in there. I eat them every day! :)
She will have a great time once she gets there. I never thought she would ever take a trip again, so this is a huge surprise.
Yes! Yes! I do want to go!
I hear many a mysterious allergy is caused by ant germs. I had a similar box of raisins story the only difference is having been living with a former yak farmer at the time he would have finished them stating the protein was a plus... He didnt but I know he would have if I let him. Grandma is a star! As is Star and Cuckoo... funny but I looked at that photo and thought he was feeding OUR chickens... very generic creatures, huh?
ReplyDeleteHa! I'll jot that down.
DeleteMy mom has an ant and raisin story, too! Different ending, though. :)
They are basically identical. We can't even tell our own apart.
You've much to be thankful for. I don't participate in that challenge because I know I'd fail. Too much stress for me.
ReplyDeleteWhat great news about your grandma. That rocks.
I'm thankful for being on the right side of the dirt this week.
Have a fabulous day. ☺
It is fun, I just wish it was in July, when we have virtually nothing going on.
DeleteGrandma is a rock star.
Always something for which to be thankful.
I'm lucky not to have allergies, at least as represented in the above post and comments, but there are some airborne things that will cause my throat to develop a crinkly-felt-based lining. The really strange thing is how specific it is, geographically! (At certain times of the year) there is a section of road about 2 or 3 hundred feet long that, as I cross into it, I can feel my throat seize right up. As soon as I get past it, everything like nothing happened. So I do what any normal person would do…I speed up and drive as fast as a can through this zone!
ReplyDeleteFunny about your weather-depicting photos, here in New England everything is running about 30 days behind. Today, for example, was a perfect day…for the middle of March! Low 50s windy cloudy.
Are you serious?!? That really happens?! How bizarre is that?
DeleteWell, there was a lot of snow to melt before spring could really start... Hope you get some normal, nice May weather by May 3.
How wonderfully that move has worked out for your grandmother! So glad! Loved the ants story, but I don't think that's a farm thing. I wouldn't mind much myself if I found them. Now, if they were cockroaches, that's a completely different story.
ReplyDeleteOh, cockroaches are WAAAAAAY worse! I've lived in places with them (in Bermuda, they are so big they wouldn't fit in an M&MS bag, and they fly!) and ewewewewew.
DeleteI could not be happier for my grandma.
no doubt it would have been a tragedy to waste the M&M's (my go to candy) getting that little one to help out is adorable; sounds like a busy and good week,. Enjoy your week.
ReplyDeleteThank you!
DeleteI quite enjoyed your ant post - I remember laughing heartily at that one. My Grandmother hated ants, probably because their very old home always had an ant problem.
ReplyDeleteSo glad to hear your Grandma is doing so well in her new home. It must be comforting to all of you to know that she is happy and thriving.
Zilla's sport of choice is karate. I'm delighted that I will watch from a climate-controlled lobby. The worst thing to complain about is other parents who aren't quiet enough so we can hear the class and sun glare on Saturday mornings. Tough life!
You've been to my blog already so you know I am thankful for the life I have right now operating from home. The income may be practically non-existent right now, but that will come. Being able to pick up and drop off Zilla any time or place, chaperone the trips, volunteer in the school...priceless. Five years ago I never would have guessed that I'd prefer the life of a home-based mother, but I've changed. She changed me.
And now I'm crying - good Lord! I guess that could be helpful since my eyes are so allergy-riddled right now it's awful. Benadryl is indeed a help, but if I take it I have a two day hangover to deal with. I save it for desperate moments. Tonight I might be desperate.
I was in a Benadryl fog for a couple of days, but there was no choice. If my eyes swelled, I couldn't drive anyway, so at least I could see.
DeleteBermuda is basically on an ant hill. Those buggers are everywhere. If ANYTHING is left out, even a spoon with a bit of food left in the sink, it would be covered in ants within hours. Thankfully, we only get them once a year, and as soon as we put out the traps, they are gone.
Oh yeah, and as for the A to Z...I could never keep up without advance planning and scheduled posts. I may try it that way next year...we'll see.
ReplyDeleteI like that in theory. But I want some flexibility to write about something that comes up. Plus, I don't think I'd ever do it, cause that would be a lot of working ahead, and I'm a fly by the seat of my pants kinda girl.
DeleteHow did I miss that status on FB!!! OMG....I gagged reading about it! I may never touch another M&M ever again.
ReplyDeleteIt wasn't on my personal page. Do you follow my blog page? If not, I guess you better get on it. ;)
DeleteAnd, yes you will. It may take a few cocktails, but you will.
Spring soccer is miserable because of the freezing, windy weather. YUCK. You rocked the challenge, however far you got. The M&M's story is hysterical and I'm glad you are back with humorous stories.
ReplyDeleteIt can be quite miserable. Thankfully, there are more nice games than miserable ones.
DeleteThank you. :)
I do understand! Internet is so crucial and I was wondering if my computer was going to make it. I just found you on the A to Z sign up list and was so intrigued by your name, as I have 5 chickens on Maui and they are BRATS, and I am building a chicken enclosure on the gulch, and doing some extreme terracing. Your blog looks fun! I think I'll follow you on GFC and read from your middle A to Z posts backwards. I had to laugh at your M & M post! That could SO easily happen on Maui. Lots of bugs here.
ReplyDeleteMaui Jungalow
Maui! Nice! I wonder if it is just island living. We lived in Bermuda for a while, and bugs were a problem there, too.
DeleteDo take photos of the enclosure! I'd love to see it! Seeing how other chickens live is fun, and sometimes I get some great ideas.
Thanks for stopping by!
Thank you, Dear. :)
ReplyDeleteAnts- just more protein, right? NATURAL protein, probably the healthiest kind you could probably have. Okay, no, I'm not okay with that, either, but I grew up on an acreage, and that sounds very true to what I might have been thinking as well!
ReplyDeleteHello there.
ReplyDeleteSorry you couldn't complete the A-Z Challenge...hope you enjoyed taking part! I didn't get to visit your blog during the crazy month of April so I'm popping over today from the Road Trip.
Entrepreneurial Goddess