August 6th: Veterinarians

Today I am grateful to have the mental capacity to know that I dated yesterday's blog title incorrectly. I was pretty tired last night. The dog even barked me into going to bed before I wanted to.

Today I am grateful for veterinarians. Benji was doing poorly enough that DH took him to the vet, AND even called me at work while they were there. Poor fella (Benji) has pancreatitis and poor fella (DH) needs to quit feeding him peanut butter and other fatty foods. Glad the vet was clear with them about that.

Benji didn't eat the low fat canned dog food; but he did eat some unseasoned baked chicken breast. Kept it down (he's on an anti-nausea med). Wonder how long this will take to resolve. DH cancelled doggie daycare and the grooming we had planned for tomorrow. One of the ironies is that we fed him the allergy meds twice a day in peanut butter, recently, which may hsave exacerbated any pancreatic inflammation he may have been getting. Oy.  The new med he accepted in a bit of the canned food; DH needs to give it to him once a day. Glad I'll be at work.

Today I am grateful for my patella, which is strong and whole and bore the brunt of a recent stumble up stone steps. 

Today I am grateful for the ease of use of the phone camera, which records an image that reminds me of what I was thankful for earlier in the day.

Hope you had a good one!  Hugs and love, Ace

August 4th: Work

Today I am thankful that I still enjoy the challenge of the workplace.

Today I am thankful I get to enjoy the mini cold Kahlua liqueur I've been hankering for for maybe a week, week and a half.

I am thankful a tree branch disappeared and we don't have to clean it up. Thank you, neighbor or good Samaritan!

said branch

I hope you have a good day, and many more.

Love & Hugs, Ace

August 4th: Commerce

 Today I am thankful for the marketplace, commerce, stores that are open when I urgently need a restroom and they have one I can use, and I make a courtesy purchase in gratitude for its availability and use. Today’s courtesy purchase:

I am thankful for birthdays; today’s is an amazing woman’s birthday. She’s the same age as the fellow  whose memorial service DH and I attended yesterday. 😮 Time flies. We cannot take life for granted.

I dreamt of our late friend and bizarre work scenarios last night. Easy does it. The food place is supposed to call me today to confirm tomorrow morning’s early order for work. Nothing like working on your own time. Easy does it. Plan B is to show up there an hour before the requested items are to be ready, to make sure the ball is rolling.

Seven more years before I’m eligible for retirement. Seriously? And then my reward is lowered income and five times higher health insurance premium? Good grief.

Back to the gratitude antidotes. Yes, antidotes. I suppose anecdotes, too, at times. I am grateful to have a job and the wherewithal to pay for others to take care of me (the coffee shop, the convenience store, and the drive thru breakfast places this morning), and me to take care of others - i.e. DH’s plan G premium.

Have a good day, everyone! Hugs and Love, Ace

August 3rd: Nail Polish

 

Today I am thankful that DD left nail polishes and tools here when she moved out. It gives me more selection to use on my current nails.

I have very, very, very thin nails that are of no consequence most of the year. Sometimes in the summer I get lucky and they grow and I can have some fun:

Last week I discovered the leftover (abandoned?) tools, and added a heart and a flower to my manicure. With the pale background, they may have looked more like debris that didn't get washed off. Oh, well, I enjoyed them!

Not sure what this week's iteration will look like. So many choices! 

Have a good day - love & hugs, Ace

August 2nd: My Boss

Today I am grateful for my boss, for taking on the role of leadership and carrying the weight that comes with that. By the end of the day they were driving me crazy, which makes me realize as I type this how much of a family my workplace is. Lol and Hmmm. 🤔

I am thankful for cats, because they bring so much joy to so many people, and sharing cat content is one of the best uses of the internet IMO.

I am grateful for eggs, a cheap and easy to prepare protein rich food.

I am so grateful to all the helpers working to restore my city after bad storms - water, trees, electricity, communication - many, many things we take for granted but really, really require a lot of work. Like learning what food to toss after a power outage, and where to get more.

Today I am thankful for my spouse. His support means so much right now.

Wishing you a wonderful day!

August 1st: The smell of coffee

Today I am grateful to smell DH's coffee automatically brewing first thing in the morning; it means our electric power has been restored.

I am grateful DH and Benji made it home safely yesterday. A storm blew through our landlocked area with tropical storm force winds. DH drove in the thick of it to pick up Benji from daycare.

The deciduous hardwood trees took the winds as well as they could, but the wreckage is significant. Approximately 10% of the population lost power. My usual coffee shop is closed today for lack of electricity; so is DD's workplace. And DD's home is without power still. We were only off about 6 hours here.

I took a lovely long walk around the neighborhood yesterday with the last of the day's light. It was so nice to say hello to people on their porches and balconies, and chat a bit with some. At about the halfway point, I realized I had a very friendly dress on: light blue with dragons breathing rainbows (instead of fire) and I think white clouds too? Very elementary school, lol. In fact, a young child requested I close his car door for him, and I did so. Mom was on her cell phone. Older sibling thanked me through the dark tinted window. :)

Those types of human interactions are soul sustaining for me. But they don't happen often; we are in our dwellings, working on, watching, or communicating with screens. Sigh. I actually felt like a teenager again, with an unknown stretch of unscheduled time and "nothing to do".

Have a good day! Hugs and love, Ace

Giving myself credit

 A Beck concept, if I remember correctly.

I came out here to articulate what I’ve been up to, thinking it’s immodest bragging, knowing it was too lengthy to put in the chat thread.

I wrote: Friday - doctor and tire repair. My mind was blank after that. Really, that’s it? Why were you so exhausted? That’s not long enough for a blog. And I deleted it.

Then I took a bike break to use the restroom, and DH had me move the cake I baked this morning - oh yeah, I did that - and memories of all I tended started to come back.

Yesterday morning I got up and biked per my usual routine. Since the day was not hot yet, and I had time before the doctor, I went into the yard and pruned along the west fence and around the shed, until the trash can was almost full.

I went to the annual doctor visit, good report, he’ll leave me alone until next year (that’s good to me, others may have different relationships with and needs from their providers). After that, I finally got to the tire place and got the slow leak patched. They found additional things that need tending, so I arranged for Tuesday to get them done, having to call work in the process to ask my buddy to check my calendar so I don’t miss any critical work things.

When I got home, I started in on my new read, “Nothing to Fear”, about end of life journeys. I follow the author on TikTok, and my work pal has a dear friend whose mother just went on hospice. I was thinking about buying the book for a while, and I hope to finish it this weekend and offer it to that pal.

I remembered other chores, so initiated a tree removal inquiry, and scheduled pedicures for me and my DD today.

This morning, I got up and made a cake for tonight’s potluck. Oh, yeah, a trip to the store for those ingredients was another of yesterday’s activities! After this bike ride, we’ll get those pedicures. I’ll come home to be Benji’s companion while DH goes to rehearsal. When he returns, I’ll head to the potluck. I feel as busy as Deb from San Diego - more to do than I prefer!

Hopefully tomorrow I can sit and relax and read my book. But - its also Father’s Day and I did pick up a trinket for DH and I suppose there’s a chance I’ll go to a play reading with him. We shall see.

Have a great day, everyone, and keep p the positive self talk. Remember to give yourself credit for every little thing you do that moves you closer to your goals!  As OKM says, and MOBYCARP used to say, Life is good!

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