Quite a Lot of Ten Things of Thankful

 ***********************************

Whew.  There.  It's Thankful Day, the day i mentally stop and take a breath and add up all the thankful things i've been noting through the week.

Thankful number one is that, while most Blogger blogs i read were talking about having trouble uploading photos yesterday, even me, i did manage to get one in, and it was the most important one.  After all, it's not Feline Friday if you can't post a picture or two of a feline, right?

This past Sunday, Becca let me take her to church again.  We seem to be in a good habit that i'm hoping will continue.

Monday was the typical 3 client day, long but satisfying in that nothing odd or unusual happened.

Then came Tuesday.

it started with MallMart, where i am thankful i found everything i needed and everything Ms. S needed.

After that, i had the eye doctor appointment (optometrist, OD), the one i've been saving up for so i could get new glasses.  The doctor was quite surprised that i'd never had my eyes dilated and really examined before at that office, although i did have that done about 4 years ago by the other doctor (ophthalmologist, the one who is an actual MD).

This doctor talked me into the full exam, and said my retinas and optic nerves look great, and i'm thankful, but i noticed the disposable sunglasses he gave me to protect my dilated eyes seemed to be irritating my forehead.  At least, that's what i thought it was as i picked out my new glasses frames and left.

Ms. S was next, and i'm thankful i got everything done there, even changing the bed.

Ms. JAI has opted to ask me to come only once a month, and Tuesday was that day.  She was distraught because she'd lost a gold and diamond bracelet on Sunday, she thought it must have fallen off at church.

After cleaning her bathrooms, vacuuming, and evicting a whole bunch of spiders that had set up housekeeping and egg sacs in the bench by the bay window, i got to mopping the kitchen floor.  Mopping to me always includes moving any furniture that can be moved, so i pulled all the chairs out from the table.  The bracelet was on one of the chairs that she never sits in, and the tablecloth hid it from view from above.

She was on the phone when i found it, so i simply put it on the table and finished the mopping, then went out to empty the mop bucket.  When i got back in, she said, "Where did you find my bracelet!  It's a miracle!"

When i told her where it was, she was incredulous.  She has no idea how it ended up there.  When she stopped hugging me, i asked her if there was anything else she needed cleaned, since i figured i'd run out of miracles for the day!

Actually, i am just thankful that i did find it, i hate when my things go missing, and i get equally frustrated when it happens to my friends.

By this time, though, my forehead was itching fiercely, and i noticed i had hives.  It had itched a bit through the day, but when i was busy, i could ignore it.  Driving home, sitting in traffic without moving for minutes at a time, i had plenty of time to realize i'd probably had an allergic reaction to the drops used to dilate my eyes that morning.

Benadryl helped some, but by Wednesday morning my whole forehead was one huge, swollen mess of itchiness, my eyes were puffy, and my doctor agreed to call in prednisone.  Since the pharmacy doesn't open until later, i went ahead to the cat shelter and got started.

When Ms. M got to the shelter and saw me, she told me she didn't want me to stay there by myself.  As much as i hate to leave a job undone, i headed to the pharmacy and got my meds, then called Ms. G.  She fussed at me to stay home, so i did.  An unexpected day off, and the prednisone and Benadryl were starting to take effect by evening.

One unexpected thankful thing that has happened this week has been the appropriateness of the Bible verse of the day i get on my phone each morning.  As i was realizing just how serious my allergic reaction was on Wednesday morning, i got the verse, for 2 Corinthians 5:1, "For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of G-d, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens."  No matter what happens to the body, there is heaven.

On Thursday it was on my heart to tell Ms. V and Mr. L, both church members, and ask for prayer as i was cleaning their house.  When i hesitated to "bother" them with it, the verse that came was Ecclesiastes 4:9-10, "Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labor.  For if they rall, the one will lift up his fellow, but woe to him that is alone when he falls, for he has not another to help him up."  Since i had others there to help me up, it was foolish not to take advantage of that!

Then Friday iced the cake with one of the verses that reminds us that stuff happens (like serious allergic reactions), 1 Peter 4:12-13, "Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you.  But rejoice, inasmuch as you are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that when his glory shall be revealed, you may be glad also with exceeding joy."

Tuesday had also seen the safe return of Little Girl from her military duty, and her reunion with her precious dog, Coda.  It's always a joy to be the dog-sitters, and to see them happily reunited.

Little Girl also had good news, she is now certified to teach CPR classes, as well as be a medic.  Four more semesters and she should be an RN/BSN.

Friday went as usual, lots to do, and as long as i stay on the Benadryl and prednisone, the swelling is staying down, and there's no itchiness.

The shelter, ah, there's a new order to signing up for shifts, and a few mix-ups have occurred that  have more than one person signed up for the same shift.  That's okay, i got there last night and it was the usual Friday madness, with kittens needing to change cages, and some cats needing to move to other rooms because they were being bullied by the other cats in the room, one set of kittens managed to shred their hammock and it was hanging by one corner, so i simply ran around for two hours and put out fires while someone else took care of the cages.

It's all good, because it's all about the cats and taking care of them, that's what really matters over there.

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.   

***********************************

Today is:

Ambarvalia -- Ancient Roman Calendar (purification festival to Ceres, date approximate)

ARMAD: Amateur Radio Military Appreciation Day -- US ("Ham it up for the troops!" is the motto of amateur ham radio operators on the Saturday before Memorial Day)   

Ascension of Baha'u'llah -- Baha'i

Bermuda Day -- Bermuda

Castleton Garland Celebration -- Derbyshire, England (a Garland King and Lady ride the bounds of the parish on white horses, after which the garland the King wore is placed on the church tower; possibly dating back to Oak Apple Celebrations)

Democracy Day -- Nigeria

End of the Middle Ages Day -- considered such by many historians because of the fall of Constantinople on this day in 1453

Feast of Mars -- Ancient Roman Calendar

International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers -- UN

International Jazz Day -- date as originally set by the New Jersey Jazz Society, on the Saturday before US Memorial Day

Julia Pierpont Day -- US (she came up with Decoration Day, the precursor to US Memorial Day; spend time today to prepare veterans' graves for Memorial Day)

Learn About Composting Day -- can't find a sponsor for this day, but there is a week sponsored each year here; and you can learn about composting here, too 

Mount Everest Day -- Nepal (declared on the anniversary of first ascent in 1953)

National Coq Au Vin Day

Oak Apple Day / Royal Oak Day -- England (celebration of the restoration of the monarchy; no longer officially recognized, but many localities have traditions that have grown up around this date which are still celebrated)

Pink Flamingo Day -- Don Feathersone created the first one on this day in 1957

Put a Pillow on Your Fridge Day -- supposedly dating back, in Europe and the Americas, to the days when you put a piece of cloth in your larder for good luck; why it became a pillow no one knows

Runic Half-Month of Odal (home, possessions) commences

Squoosh an Ice Cream Sandwich Day -- rules say you must squoosh, not squish or squash!

St. Bona of Pisa's Day (Patron of couriers, flight attendants, guides, pilgrims, travellers; Pisa, Italy)

Anniversaries Today:

Rhode Island becomes the 13th US State, 1790

Wisconsin becomes the 30th US State, 1848

Birthdays Today:

Noel Gallagher, 1967

Lisa Whelchel, 1963

Melissa Etheridge, 1961

Adrian Paul, 1959

Rupert Everett,1959

Annette Bening, 1958

LaToya Jackson, 1956

Danny Elfman, 1953

Anthony Geary, 1947

Kevin Conway, 1942

Al Unser, Sr., 1939

Francis Thomas "Fay" Vincent, Jr, 1938

Paul Erlich, 1932

John F. Kennedy, 1917

Tenzing Norgay, 1914

T.H. White, 1906

Bob Hope, 1903

Oswald Spengler, 1880

G.K. Chesterton, 1874

Patrick Henry, 1736

Today in History:

Ottoman armies under Sultan Mehmed II Fatih capture Constantinople after a siege, ending the Byzantine Empire, 1453

Charles II (on his birthday) is restored to the throne of Great Britain, 1660

Treaty of Middle Plantation establishes peace between the Virginia colonists and the local Natives, 1677

The right of Canadians to keep Indian slaves is upheld at Quebec City, 1733

In Patrick Henry's historic speech against the Stamp Act, he answers a cry of "Treason!" with, "If this be treason, make the most of it!" 1765

Present constitution of Switzerland takes effect, 1874

Chemist John Pemberton places his first advertisement for Coca-Cola, the ad appearing in the Atlanta Journal, 1886

Igor Stravinsky's ballet score The Rite of Spring receives its premiere performance in Paris, provoking a riot, 1913

Ocean liner RMS Empress of Ireland sinks in the Gulf of St. Lawrence with the loss of 1,024 lives, 1914

Bing Crosby, the Ken Darby Singers and the John Scott Trotter Orchestra record Irving Berlin's "White Christmas", the best-selling Christmas single in history, for Decca Records in Los Angeles, 1942

Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay become the first people to reach the summit of Mount Everest, 1953

First of the annual Bilderberg conferences, 1954

Amputee  Steve Fonyo completes cross-Canada marathon at Victoria, British Columbia, after 14 months, 1985

Space Shuttle Discovery completes the first docking with the International Space Station, 1999

Olusegun Obasanjo takes office as President of Nigeria, the first elected and civilian head of state in Nigeria after 16 years of military rule, 1999

A WWII Memorial is dedicated in Washington, D.C., US, 2004

Scientists describe the 160-million year-old fossile of Aurornis xui as the most basal species of Avialae, possibly shifting the evolutionary position of the Archaeopteryx as the oldest known bird, 2013

A heatwave in Karachi, Pakistan, kills 65 as temperatures soar above 110 degrees Fahrenheit, 2018

The world's smallest surviving baby, a girl, is discharged from Sharp March Birch Hospital in San Diego after being born at 23 weeks weighing 8.6 ounces (245 grams), 2019