Yippee! It's Thankful Day!

It's the weekend, so that means it's time to list the things i'm saying "yipee!" about right now.  Or "hooray!", or "wahoo!", depending on the word that pops out at the moment. 

Can you tell i'm about busting out with thankfulness and gratitude?  That's because i always have a lot to be thankful about.

Yesterday, while cooking dinner, i realized just how thankful i am for my hands.  Those years where they would swell, or blood vessels would break, or they were swollen and sore all of the time and i didn't know why were very scary.  (It was an allergy to an antibiotic that started it, and it has mostly cleared up now.)  The time i ended up in the hospital after the cat bite and could have lost the use of my right hand was scary.  Without my hands, i cannot work or do a lot of other things, and i am grateful for them.

We have taken Lunceford the Land Yacht to Kevin and Lenny several times in the past couple of weeks, and i am jumping for joy that the last time we went, they figured out -- at no charge to us! -- why the brakes were still squealing and they fixed it.  No more horrible noise every time we try to stop!

Red-headed Alec and his bride-to-be stopped by to let me know when they are going for the next ultrasound and to assure me they will be letting me know whether the baby is a boy or girl as soon as they do.  It warms my heart that he knows, even though he moved out, he's still family to us and always will be.

The Generator Guy called!  When i tried to get in touch with him a couple of weeks ago, the number had changed and i couldn't track him down, so i was afraid he'd gone out of business.  That would have meant being thrown back on the tender mercies of the other generator company in town, and they have very few mercies indeed.  He had just ended up having to change his number, and he called to schedule our yearly generator check-up and i'm so glad because storm season approaches and we want to take good care of this generator Grandpa so generously bought us.  It has been a life saver on more than one occasion.

For the past couple of days we've the windows open and the cool breezes blowing, and i am so thankful for the cooler temperatures.  It's going to be swamp hot soon enough, i am going to enjoy every breezy minute, even if i have to wear a jacket and keep the heating pad handy for a while longer!

The cat shelter is purring along quite smoothly with kittens being adopted out almost as soon as they come in, and adult cats not taking that much longer.  It's such a happy, thankful thing to see people come in looking for a companion, and going home with a new friend.

Sweetie has agreed that we can puppysit Pepe the Granddog when #2 Son and Daughter-in-law Becky go on vacation.  It's been a while since i've seen him and i'm so glad he's going to be staying with us for a whole week in June.

Speaking of Sweetie, i am thankful we found his favorite digestive aid on Amazon after a certain "health food chain store" quit carrying it and all others like it.  Several years ago, he started having symptoms of indigestion and possibly reflux.  Instead of getting on medication, he started taking an HCl (hydrochloric acid) supplement.  Turns out the older you get, the less your own HCl does the job in digesting.  Instead of suppressing production of HCl, as so many of the medications do, supplementing with more of it helps you break down your food better and gets rid of the indigestion and reflux.  For the past few months, every time he's gone to the "health food chain store" they have changed up what brand they carry, and as of this month they have none at all.  Now i have an Amazon account, and we will be ordering this stuff regularly!

This weekend is homeless ministry weekend, and it won't be raining like last weekend.  No need to take shelter and cut everything short this time.

The best thankful i have saved for last.  Tomorrow is Grandma's birthday!  Today i am going to visit, and i and all the kids will call her tomorrow, and we will all see her on Mother's Day.  She and Grandpa are our special blessing.

There they are, my thankful things, some quirky, some downright odd maybe, but all from the heart.  List your own thankful things, it can be as many or as few as you want, and share them at Ten Things of Thankful.  You will be glad you did!

Today is:

Adhesive Postage Stamp Day -- the first adhesive postage stamps went on sale on this date in 1840 in Great Britain

Army Day/St. George's Day -- Bulgaria

Beverage Day -- an internet holiday that encourages you to try a beverage you've never had before

Cotton Pickin' Fair -- Gay, GA, US (a fabulous two days of Southern family fun)

Festival of Min -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (a four day festival celebrating male fertility)

Free Comic Book Day -- check here for information, including a store locator 

Galveston Historic Homes Tour -- Galveston, TX, US (Galveston Island’s great treasures of Victorian and post-Victorian architecture that are privately owned are opened for tours this weekend and next)

Giro D'Italia -- San Lorenzo Al Mare to Milan, Italy (one of cycling's three Grand Tours; through May 28)

Herb Day -- an international celebration of herbs and all the flavor they add to our lives; try a new herb to season a dish today 

Holland Tulip Time Festival -- Holland, MI, US (one of the best small town festivals in the US, with visitors from around the world; through next Sunday)

International No Diet Day -- for reasons not to diet, but focus on health instead, click here 

Joseph Brackett Day -- birth anniversary of Shaker author of the song "Simple Gifts"

Kansas Sampler Festival -- Winfield, KS, US (a living brochure of the state of Kansas, with over 100 communities, hiking trails, historic sites, off-the-beaten-track places, and more represented in one place, highlighting all the great things there are to do in the state of Kansas; through tomorrow)

Lemonade Day -- US (empowering youth to start their own small businesses) 

Low Country Shrimp Festival -- McClellanville, SC, US (seafood, arts, crafts, civic displays, entertainment, and the blessing of the fleet)

Martyrs' Day -- Syria

Mounikhia / Munichia -- Ancient Greek Calendar (festival of Artemis, date approximate)

National Crepe Suzette Day

National Homebrew Day -- US (Home Brewers Association) 

National Nurses Day -- US, start of National Nurses Week

National Scrapbooking Day -- begun by Creative Memories, now celebrated by scrapbookers everywhere, a good article about it is here  

National Tourist Appreciation Day -- during US National Travel and Tourism Week

No Homework Day -- sponsored by Wellcat Holidays (celebrated on Monday if it falls on a weekend)

Pilgrimages to St Patrick's Purgatory begin -- Station Island, Lough Derg, County Donegal, Ireland (three day pilgrimages to the island where St. Patrick supposedly showed the Irish heathens Purgatory so they would be converted continue through August; such pilgrimages date back at least to the 10th century)

Remembrance for Eyvind Kelve -- Asatru/Norse Pagan Calendar (pagan martyr)

St. George's Day -- Eastern Orthodox Churches (the day to visit graves and decorate, leave special food, and provide entertainment for the dearly departed) related observance:

     Shepherd's and Herdsman's Day -- Bulgaria

St. Gerard of Lunel's Day (Patron of epileptics and Montesanto, Italy; against epilepsy and headaches)

Towsontown Spring Festival -- Towson, MD, US (four stages of continual entertainment, food, art and photography exhibit, and more; through tomorrow)

World Naked Gardening Day -- scare the neighbors!  get rid of those pesky squirrels!  experience nature (and sunburn, and mosquito bites) with your whole body!  Follow the link at your own risk, too. 

Yale Lock Day -- the Yale lock was patented this day in 1861

Anniversaries Today:

David Duchovny marries Tia Leone, 1997

Princess Margaret marries Anthony Armstrong-Jones at Westminster Abbey (the first televised royal wedding), 1960

Birthdays Today:

Gabourey Sidibe, 1983

Leslie Hope, 1965

Roma Downey, 1964

George Clooney, 1961

Tom Bergeron, 1955

Tony Blair, 1953

Lynn Whitfield, 1953

Alan Dale, 1947

Ben Masters, 1947

Bob Seger, 1945

Willie Mays, 1931

Orson Welles, 1915

Stewart Granger, 1913

Rudolph Valentino, 1895

Gaston Leroux, 1868

Rabindranath Tagore, 1861

Sigmund Freud, 1856

Robert E. Peary, 1856

Maximilian Robespierre, 1758

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Entertaining Mr. Sloan"(Play), 1964 

Today in History:

Spanish and German Imperial troops sack Rome, which many consider the end of the Renaissance, 1527

Mongol emperor Babur defeats the Afghans and Bengals, 1529

Henry VIII orders that English Bibles be placed in every church, 1536

Louis XIV of France moves his court to Versailles, 1682

The first African-American Masonic Lodge (African # 459) forms Prince Hall, Boston, 1787

John Deere produces the first steel plow, 1833

James Gordon Bennett, Sr. publishes the first issue of the New York Herald, 1835

The Glaciarium, the world's first mechanically frozen ice rink, opens, 1844

Dr John Gorrie patents a "refrigeration machine", 1851

Linus Yale patents the Yale lock, 1851

Chief Crazy Horse of the Oglala Sioux surrenders to United States troops in Nebraska, 1877

The Eiffel Tower is officially opened to the public at the Universal Exposition in Paris, 1889

George V becomes King of the United Kingdom upon the death of his father, Edward VII, 1910

George Herman "Babe" Ruth, of the Boston Red Sox, slams his first home run, against the New York Yankees, 1915

The German zeppelin Hindenburg catches fire and is destroyed, 1937

John Steinbeck is awarded the Pulitzer Prize for his novel The Grapes of Wrath, 1940

Bob Hope performs his first USO show, 1941

Roger Bannister becomes the first person to run the mile in under four minutes, 1954

Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom and French President François Mitterrand officiate at the opening of the Channel Tunnel, 1994

Chaiten Volcano erupts in Chile, forcing the evacuation of more than 4,500 people, 2008