New Year, Same Crazy, a Ten Things of Thankful Post

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Oh, yes.  It's the New Year, isn't it?  The thankful things, though, they keep coming.  They never stopped, and i believe they never will.

A few weeks ago, as usual, i ordered two bags of prunes from Sam's Club (Grandpa is a member and lets me order on his account).  The prunes are not in store, they have to be ordered and shipped, not a problem as i go to their house each week and can easily pick things up.

The two bags arrived, and when i opened them, they stank to high heaven.  Both bags were spoiled, so we stowed them in Grandpa's freezer to take back to Sam's club the next week.

Heading over there, the day after Christmas, i expected a long line of people at the service desk and lots of waiting as people returned things, and i was concerned that since the prunes were shipped, they wouldn't give a refund in store.  Instead, we were thankful to find ourselves with no line at all at the service desk and all they needed to give Grandpa the refund was his membership card.  Easiest return of spoiled goods ever!

While we were heading out to Sam's, Grandma yelled, "Buy Bigger Girl a new phone while you are there!" and Grandpa yelled back, "Okay!"  When we got there, though, it turned out the area where the phones are sold was closed until 11am (we get there at 8am).  Grandpa said we'd come back, but instead i suggested we go to the AT&T store, there would be more choices.

It turned out to be a great thing that we went there instead.  First, it turned out i have insurance on the phones and instead of buying her the phone we'd looked at, that same model would be the one sent to replace the damaged one and for only the $50 deductible.  Then, the nice lady got onto my account and figured out how to trim our lines and save some money, our bill for our family plan will be going down.  A double win.

Saturday was not over yet, however.  When i got back into town, i texted #1 Son to let him know i had his Sam's purchases, and he called me.  Bessie Low-Key (his car) was making a terrible noise, so he took her straight to Kevin and Lenny's.  Instead of him coming to get the stuff on Sunday evening, necessitating my putting them in our crowded fridge overnight, Sweetie took the groceries along to pick him up from the shop and take him and the groceries straight home.

This also meant i did not get to sleep in on Sunday morning, as #2 Son needed a ride to work, but it did mean i got to visit with him, and that was worth more than sleeping in, i am always thankful to see the kids.

While at Ms. PA's on Monday dusting the back room, a guitar pick fell from the bookshelf (again, it lands on me every time).  Picking it up, i asked her about it, and she said she had no clue what it was, her son hadn't played guitar in that house since the early 1970's, and to throw it away.  On a whim, i asked her if i could take it to Sweetie, who loves to play guitar and collects picks.  She said he was welcome to it.

Turns out it was a Mosrite Joe Maphis pick from around 1968, and Sweetie lost his back in 1969 and was most upset about it, and now he is a happy camper.  It's in a place of honor in his man cave.

Tuesday morning, Ms. RA greeted me with the news she'd lost a pearl earring.  Searching ensued, and thankfully, she found it in the carpet before the vacuum cleaner did.

Our next door neighbor has been asking to buy our old van, The Jalopy, and we finally found the time to get to the notary office on Wednesday.  He's thankful to have a spare car to work on, and we are thankful we didn't have to pay to have it hauled off.

Also on Wednesday, i stopped and paid Kevin and Lenny on our "revolving charges."  A couple of hours later, Sweetie got into Lunceford the Land Yacht to go run errands, and it was dead.  The same neighbor who had just bought The Jalopy from us a couple of hours earlier brought his jumper cables over, got it started, and Sweetie high-tailed it back to Kevin and Lenny's just before they closed to get a new battery.

Yes, we were within one week of paying off what we owe, and now we owe more on that battery, but we are thankful that with the holiday coming up, this all happened before the shop was closed for days, and he made it in time Wednesday so we could take Lunceford to work Thursday morning unlet and unhindered.

The office was closed Thursday morning, so we got to go to Ms. SE's first and only, and they are back at the hunting camp so the house was empty, and thus easy to work in.  Sweetie and i cleaned it and got out and were able to get home in time to take a nap, a nice luxury. 

It's also a blessing to get a nap on New Year's Eve afternoon, in anticipation of a noisy, late night.

Only this year, it wasn't so noisy.  Oh, they had fireworks in the neighborhood, but we also had rain.  We didn't get drowned or anything, but it was enough rain to put a bit of a damper on the noise.

Instead, they set off fireworks last night, but early enough to be entertaining and not to be annoying and keep us awake.

Okay, that's enough of my crazy life for one while.  Yes, the fun never stops, neither do the thankful things, and i am pretty sure i got to 10+ again this week.

Please write up your own list and link up to Ten Things of Thankful, where Dyanne and her co-hosts always have a warm welcome waiting.   

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Today is:

Advent of Inanna -- Ancient Sumerian Calendar (date approximate; equivalent to Ishtar, Assur, Astarte, Isis, and others; a female warrior and fertility goddess)

Berchtoldstag -- Alsace; Liechtenstein; Switzerland (a celebration of the goddess Perchta, or Bertha, guardian of animals and member of the Wild Hunt) related observance

     St. Berchtolds' Day -- Liechtenstein Bank Holiday; Switzerland Regional Holiday (because of the close association of his name with Perchta,  Duke Berchtold V of Zähringen's founding of Bern, Switzerland, is commemorated today; while not an official saint of any church, his day has become a big festival for children)

Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy Day -- The Andrews Sisters recorded the song this day in 1941 (yes, before the US entered the war; it was for the movie "Buck Private" with Abbot and Costello)

Dainichi-do Bugaku -- Kazuno, Japan (11 traditional bugaku dances at the shrine; dates back as far as 718)

Earth at Perihelion -- 1:50pm UTC (closest point to the Sun)

Festival of Sleep Day -- begins this evening; celebrate by sleeping in tomorrow because it is assumed we could all use some extra z's after the holidays

Genshi-sai (First Beginning Ceremony) -- Imperial Palace and various shrines, Japan (a dance and musical art performed to round out the New Year's celebration)

Happy Mew Year for Cats Day -- because felines must have a day to celebrate the New Year, and they cannot share; sponsored on behalf of felines everywhere by Wellcat Holidays

Jour des Aieux -- Haiti (Founder's Day, sometimes translated Ancestry Day)

Kakizome -- Japan ("first writing", a day to do the first calligraphy written at the beginning of the New Year; often a resolution or poetry asking for a good year)

National Cream Puff Day

National Motivation and Inspiration Day -- US

National Science Fiction Day -- Asimov's birth anniversary

Ninth Day of Christmas

Nyilo -- Bhutan (Winter Solstice)

Positive Postcard Day -- some people now say you should fight the post-holiday let-down by sending someone an uplifting postcard; the original project said to have positive postcards to yourself, with instructions here     

Run It Up the Flagpole and See if Anyone Salutes It Day -- try something new today, in the spirit of the new year

Second Day of New Year -- also a holiday in many countries

"Someday We'll Laugh About This" Week begins -- to remind us to keep our perspective; sponsored by The Humor Project

St. Adelard's Day (Patron of gardeners; against fever, typhoid)

St. Basil's Day/Basil the Great -- Roman Catholic and Anglican Churches (yes, the Eastern Churches celebrated him yesterday; Patron of hospital administrators, reformers; Cappadocia; Russia)

St. Macarius' Day (Patron of of confectioners, cooks, pastry chefs)

Takai Commision Holiday -- Niue

Victory Day -- Cuba

Anniversaries Today:

Georgia becomes the 4th US State, 1788

Birthdays Today:

Kate Bosworth, 1983

Taye Diggs, 1972

Christy Turlington, 1969

Cuba Gooding, Jr. 1968

Tia Carrere, 1967

Gabrielle Carteris, 1961

Alan Beckwith, 1952

Wendy Phillips, 1952

Christopher Durang, 1949

Dennis Hastert, 1942

Jim Bakker, 1939

Roger Miller, 1936

Isaac Asimov, 1920

Sally Rand, 1904

Barry Goldwater, 1902

Martha Carey Thomas, 1857

James Wolfe, 1727

Today in History:

The Alamanni cross the frozen Rhine River in large numbers, invading the Roman Empire, 366

Emperor Joseph II orders Jews of Galicia Austria to adopt family names, 1235

Spain recaptures Granada from the Moors (Granada Day), 1492

The first American revolutionary flag is displayed, 1776

The British Institution of Civil Engineers is founded, 1881

"The Liberator", and abolitionist newspaper, begins publishing in Boston, 1831

The British reestablish rule in the Falklands, 1833

The first US wire suspension bridge for general traffic opens in Pennsylvania, 1842

Because of anti-monopoly laws, Standard Oil is organized as a trust, 1882

Alice Sanger becomes the first female White House staffer, 1890

A record 19'2" alligator is shot in Louisiana by E. A. McIlhenny, 1890

Pres. T Roosevelt shuts down post office in Indianola Miss, for refusing to accept its appointed postmistress because she was black, 1903

The American anarcho-syndicalist union known as the Industrial Workers of the World forms, 1905

The Canadian branch of the Royal Mint opens in Ottawa, 1908

Lithuania gains independence, 1919

The US & Canada agree to preserve Niagara Falls, 1929

Luna 1, the first spacecraft to reach the vicinity of the Moon and to orbit the Sun, is launched by the U.S.S.R., 1959

Stardust successfully flies past Comet Wild 2, collecting samples that are returned to Earth, 2004

Mauritius bans the use of plastic bags, 2013

The WHO reveals it will classify gaming addiction as a mental health condition in its next Classification of Diseases, 2018