Knitting in the Shadows

Gratitudes

Periodically, there are surges of "post three thankful things each day" that go around.  I always try to join in, because I do believe that if we focus on the good in our lives two things will happen:  1) we'll be happier with our lives as they are, and 2) we'll attract more good to our lives.

As far as I know, there's no "x days of Gratitude" going around, but I was thinking of that premise this morning, and so I'm going to share some thankful thoughts, just because:

I woke this morning to the sounds of mourning doves cooing outside my window.

Bookworm had already made coffee.

Despite some rocky moments during the day yesterday, the event I had planned worked beautifully (thanks to those who were here!)

We have girl scout cookies in the house

My migraine has retreated, and the rest of us are healthy.

The washer and dryer both work (we expect them to, of course, but I'm still glad that they do)

I've already finished my reading for next week, so tonight needs only studying for the test.

Zara has all but stopped snarling at the other cats.

and.... as I prepare to give someone a ride... I'm confident my car will start.

Thankful Thursday, the Third

Well, here we are again.  I'm not quite sure how the week spun 'round so fast, but there you have it.

Okay, I did lose a day to a migraine, so it feels like Thursday is a day early, but it gives me another thing to be thankful for -- the migraine is gone!

So... this week I am thankful for:

1) Warm socks.  The weather is turning cooler, and it's time to pull out the lovely wool socks I've knit over the years.  I'm thankful that so many are still "alive" (though some darning is likely to be in my future), and that I've managed not to have them all the same age -- so I won't suddenly have a drawer full of socks that really truly need to be retired.

2) Paperback Swap.  This week has been particularly fun... I've found an out of print series by a favorite author, and managed to get half of it on my first swing through!  This great site has let me purge my bookshelves of unwanted  no-longer-needed books, and replaced those books with with wanted  (and sometimes out of print) books at a fraction of the cost of buying the books in stores etc.  (If you'd like to join me, use that link and I'll even get a credit).  I'm similarly thankful for the sister sites Swap-A-CD and Swap-A-DVD (again, if you join w/ that link, I get credit), which have allowed me to offload some no-longer-loved CD's and DVD's and replace them with good stuff.  They even let you move credits around, so I've ditched books, and gathered movies.

3) Teachers who care.  I got an email from one of the girls' teachers.  I had worried about the math thing a bit, but the darling child kept telling me she had all the work in ....  Turns out, she'd missed some key things while home sick, and wasn't caught up, and would soon be floundering helplessly.  Before I even got to the part of intervening, the teacher emailed me with her concerns.  She and I have a plan.  Algebra will not win.

4) Friends.  I think I'll always be thankful for friends.  I could go on and on and on about how wonderful my friends are, even when they're not doing anything special. T'is a sad thing that in this society, we spend so little time pausing to appreciate others, and even less in letting others know they are appreciated.  So...

Thank you my friends for sharing your time, your thoughts, your wisdom, your affection, your knowledge with me.  Thanks knitting with me... for lunching with me.. for calling... for helping me... for trusting me to help you... for sending me stuff in the games I do play on FaceBook (for not plaguing me with crap for the games I don't play on FaceBook).  Thanks for loving me, and for accepting the love I give to you!

(and a special thanks to Kat... whose post today reminded me of more things I'm thankful for)

Thankful Thursday, take two

A week ago, I joined some folks who are trying to make each Thursday in November (at least) a Thankful Thursday.  We're pausing for a moment, and instead of focusing on what was wrong today, or what we need to do next (I still have a list, it's still huge), or even what we've gotten done, focusing on what we're thankful for.

This week, I'm thankful for

1. Finding my list.  I thought, for about 1/2 an hour or so on Tuesday, that I'd lost it.  I'm actually thankful for the list, because now that it's part of my life, I feel much less stressed about the possibility that I might be forgetting to do something.  Of course, I now know that I'm addicted, and that losing the list would be disastrous... but I'm thankful all the same.

2.  The veterans.  And not just because one of them was my grandfather.  I may not agree with the current war; I may think that we are fighting in places we don't belong.  But I also know that without our veterans, and indeed, without many who are serving now, my world would be a very different place -- one I might not like nearly as much.  Even if I'm not sure whether I agree with a even 50% of the things that America has sent its military in to deal with since WWII, I'm well aware that without them, without the long line of men and women who serve, the many freedoms I enjoy would be something I could only envy.  I don't think about that very often, but yesterday WAS Veterans Day.  It's good to be reminded sometime

3. The Library. I love our library.  I love that I can request books, and renew books, while sitting right here at home with my little laptop on my lap.  And I love that I can get recent movies for free.  And I love love love that so many of the people who work there are so pleasant to deal with.  There's continuous gratitude for that around here.

4. Good service and the policy of standing behind your products (okay, I'd prefer true high quality that didn't need so much of the standing behind, but the standing is very good).  I'm sure I've whined about my repeated encounters with failing cables on my needles.  This past week, calling KnitPicks to complain about it finally rose to the top of the to do list, and I called.  There is a  package on its way to me on my kitchen table that just came in the mail, containing replacement cables (2 - a 40" and a 60"), replacement tips (my 4's were starting to snag the yarn in ways that my lace did NOT enjoy), and replacement pouches in which to keep my cables (their zipper tabs came right off!).  (Insert note of thanks to the USPS for speedy shipping).  There is also a package en route containing yarn for mitts I'll be knitting for Kitty (she grew... can you imagine?); I'm thankful for that too.

5. Friends who love me enough to get down on their knees to help me find all the beads I dropped when I knocked over the bead tube...

6.  Bead Wrangler.... for having more of those beads in stock

7.  Friends who lure me out for Sushi on a day when everyone else seems to be hell bent on thwarting my efforts to solve problems.

8.  The fact that I neither own a fire-arm nor other incendiary device, and that I do not have the physical address for the folks who provide my cable TV/Internet/Phone service or the folks who provide my bill pay services.  If I had these things, I'd soon be in jail for outbreaks of violent behavior.  I'm hoping that next week I can report being thankful for resolving at least on of these issues.

And finally, I'm inordinately thankful that I can make a LIST of things each week, instead of only one thing.

Thankful Thursdays

A very dear friend of my posted today about Thankful Thursdays.  Sylvia gives credit for Thankful Thursdays to Carol, who of course gives credit etc.  'm joining in.

There's a lot to gripe about lately (I have a list...), but there's also a lot to be thankful for.  One of the things I'm thankful for right now is being reminded of that.  So, for the moment, instead of looking at that huge list of things to do, which includes phone calls to try to fix things that are on my list of things to gripe about, I'm going to focus on things I have to be thankful for.  Here's today's list.

1.  My health.  It seems to have returned.  I can get up in the morning, and nothing hurts (not even the pesky hip, despite the snap, crackle and popping going on there).  I'm not coughing.  My brain seems to work.  It seems amazing to me that I can feel so ... normal ... after three weeks of basically sleeping and coughing and sleeping.  Thank you immune system and modern medicine. I'm thrilled that you worked together so well.

2.  My kids.  I whine a bunch, I prod and nag and reprimand and scold, but I'm inordinately proud of them.

    a.  I'm thankful that Kitty gets herself up, and dressed, and breakfasted, and OUT THE DOOR, and on the bus to school every day.  All with little if any help from me. It's amazing how much easier the day is when there is no debate over whether or not it's morning.

    b.  I'm thankful that Bookworm needs little more than a nudge in the morning to get her up and moving about.

    c. I'm thankful that both of them do their homework without prompting or nagging.

    d.  I'm thankful for many other things, but if I keep this up, they'll read the blog and promptly quit doing them all to rest on their laurels.

3. My wonderful husband, and the joy we find in taking dance classes together.

4.  The number of lines I've managed to draw through things on that list of Things To Do that I blogged about most recently.

5.  Knit Night -- which make Wednesdays a better day every time, even on nights when I get exactly two rows knit over the course of the whole evening.

6.  The serendipity that means I've already found my step-mother's Holiday Gift!! (a rare thing, that, I'm usually desperately still hunting the day before she and my father arrive just after new years).

7.  and... I'm thankful that I could keep on going for quite some time without running out of things to be thankful for.  But...I'm guessing that we've hit the moment when you're thankful that I've stopped.

So there we have it.  This week's entry in the Thankful Thursday's effort.  I'm going to TRY to do this weekly.  (I'd best go put it on my list).

P.S.  to those of you who are waiting for pictures of the Halloween Costumes -- so am I!  The Mom who had charge of the Zombie Prom gals has been having a war with the computers that seem dead set against her getting them uploaded anywhere.