Laugh, It's Healthy, a Ten Things of Thankful Post

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This week, Thankful Day comes with a funny story to tell, for which i am thankful, of course, and a couple of "whew, that could have been worse" stories.

Sunday morning, i couldn't find the key to Becca's house.  Keys live in a key pouch tied to my bag with a lanyard and shouldn't go wandering.  It turned out, when i pulled Grandma's key out on Saturday, this key decided to sneak out and try to hide.

Thankfully it didn't hide too well and i found it in the car under the parking brake lever, and i'm thankful it didn't fall from there to under the driver's seat where i might not have seen it until i tore everything apart.

Later the same day, Mr. JH, Becca's dad, texted to say the church sexton found my driving license!  How it got out of my wallet and onto the floor of the elevator is anyone's guess, but i'm thankful Mr. JH was on his way home with Becca and dropped it off for me.

I was thankful while at church in the prayer room to find out Pastor D is going to be leading one of the Lent Small Group Discussions on Sunday afternoons at the church.  it's perfect, as we haven't had a small group to meet with since Mr. L had to give up leading because of his almost constant pain and i've been missing it.

Sweetie accidentally overslept Monday morning, so i got a call from #1 Son, "Um, wasn't he supposed to meet me here at Kevin and Lenny's so they could change my oil and he was going to run me to work?"

Oops.  It's a good thing i can leave Carl's and come back and no one minds, and we're both thankful it's not far.

Then Ms. D called me a bit later in the morning and said, "Don't come today, I'm going to the doctor."  She hasn't been feeling well for a while and i'm thankful she finally went to the doctor.  She was on the verge of pneumonia!  It's been caught in time and i'm thankful she's better.

Because Ms. D canceled, my Monday was much shorter and i was able to go see Ms. JAI earlier.  I did some cleaning, but mostly what i did was listening.  Her children have finally agreed she does need to sell the house and the girls are supposed to come  help and i am most thankful as when she tried to do this a few years ago, they all pitched a fit about her selling their childhood home.

I was also thankful i had #1 Son's debit card with me so i could pay for his car and get his key on the way home, since he doesn't get off work until they are closed.  Plus i got to pick him up and take him to get the car, so i'm thankful i saw him twice in the same day, it doesn't happen often.

Ms. G and i went to a "Bulk Club" store while i was working Wednesday and i am thankful i found cinnamon raisin bread Sweetie loves at a much cheaper price per loaf than at the regular store.

Our church has Ash Wednesday service at noon while i'm working.  I'm grateful for another church near here which does a 7pm service.  This is the second time i've gone there for Ash Wednesday, and it's a treat.

Wednesday evening i noticed a discrepancy in the bank account online so i called the bank Thursday morning, and i'm thankful i did.  The check from Carl on Monday had been returned as "insufficient funds!"

I laughed when i realized what happened, the story Ms. V and i figured was this.  Banks in our area had a choice, to close on Monday, President's Day, or on Tuesday, Mardi Gras.

My bank was open on Monday and Sweetie went right before closing to cash the check.  Carl's bank was closed so the check was not processed through his bank right away.

Tuesday, my bank was closed and his was open, and again, the check wasn't processed yet.  He checked his account, didn't know a check was outstanding, and paid for his dentist visit.

By the time both banks were open and the dust settled, Ms. V wrote us another check which went through just fine.  It was one of those crazy things we couldn't have pulled off if we'd tried to time it that way, and i giggle every time i think about it.

I'm very, very thankful i earned enough this week, even with Ms. D having to cancel, to pay off Kevin and Lenny!  All the car repairs are paid in full!

Friday morning, i'm thankful i remembered to pick up extra copies of our church Lent study guide, as Ms. V and Mr. L were still not quite up to attending last Sunday and will be visiting their son's church this week.  Now they don't have to miss any readings or make a special trip up there to get them.  I dropped them off on my way to the cat shelter, which was quietly busy this week, a nice change from the "busting loose at the seams" pace of last Friday.  I'm thankful for both kinds of shifts.

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:

Dairokuten-no-Hadaka Matsuri -- Chiba, Japan (around this date; one of Japan's "naked" festivals, as participants wear only a loincloth as they wrestle in the cold, wet mud, bringing luck to the community as they run through the crowds smearing the lucky mud on the onlookers)

Dance of the Secret Places -- Fairy Calendar

Dag van de Revolutie -- Suriname (Day of Liberation and Innovation)

Februaristaking -- Netherlands (commemoration of a strike against the Nazis)

Festival of Ptah -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (date approximate)

International Sword Swallowers Day   

Kitano Baika-sai (Plum Blossom Festival) -- Kitano Tenman-gu Shrine, Kyoto, Japan

Lesser Eleusinian Mysteries -- Ancient Greek Calendar (date approximate)

Let's All Eat Right Day -- in honor of the birth of Adelle Davis in 1904, an early pioneer in good nutrition

National Chocolate Covered Peanuts Day -- some sites say any nuts will do, some specify peanuts; take your pick

National Clam Chowder Day -- not to be confused with New England Clam Chowder Day, back in January

National Day -- Kuwait

Open That Bottle Night -- time to finally drink that bottle of wine you've been saving for a special occasion; after all, the final Saturday in February only comes once a year (sponsored by Dorothy J. Gaiter and John Brecher of The Wall Street Journal)

People's Revolution Day/People Power Day -- Philippines

Pistol Patent Day -- Samuel Colt received US Patent #138 for the first pistol on this day in 1836

Quiet Day -- can't find the history behind this one, but mommy wants one!

St. Walburga's Day (Patron of boatmen/mariners/sailors/watermen, harvests; Antwerp, Belgium; Eichstätt, Germany; Gronigen, Netherlands; Oudenarde, Belgium; Plymouth, England; Zutphen, Netherlands; against coughs, dog bites, famine, hydrophobia/rabies, mad dogs, plague, storms)

Soviet Occupation Day -- Georgia

Birthdays Today:

Josh Wolff, 1977

Chelsea Handler,1975

Sean Astin, 1971

Tea Leoni, 1966

Carrot Top, 1965

Lee Evans, 1964

Neil Jrdan, 1950

Ric Flair, 1949

Karen Grassle, 1944

George Harrison, 1943

Diane Baker, 1938

Tom Courtenay, 1937

Bob Schieffer, 1937

Sally Jessy Raphael, 1935

"Texas Rose" Bascom, 1922

Bobby Riggs, 1918

Anthony Burgess, 1917

Jim Backus, 1913

Millicent Hammond Fenwick, 1910

Adelle Davis, 1904

Zeppo Marx, 1901

Meher Baba, 1894

Enrico Caruso, 1873

Charles Lang Freer, 1856

Pierre Auguste Renoir, 1841

Xuande, Emperor of China, 1398

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"A Little Night Music"(Musical), 1973

"Toys in the Attic"(Play), 1960

"Wonderful Town"(Musical), 1953

"Your Show of Shows"(TV), 1950

"Natoma"(Herbert Opera), 1911

"Riders to the Sea"(Play), 1904

"Hernani"(Victor Hugo Play), 1830

Today in History:

The First Bank of the United States is chartered, 1791

The German Midiatisation is enacted, taking over 1,000 German sovereign states into about 40 larger entities, 1803

Samuel Colt patents the first revolving barrel multishot firearm, 1836

The first US electric printing press is patented by Thomas Davenport, 1837

Hiram Rhodes Revels, a Republican from Mississippi, is sworn into the United States Senate, becoming the first African American ever to sit in the U.S. Congress, 1870

The US Steel Corp. is organized under J P Morgan, 1901

The Stanley Cup: Ottawa Silver 7 sweep Toronto Marlboroughs in 2 games, 1904

Marie-Adélaïde, the eldest of six daughters of Guillaume IV, becomes the first reigning Grand Duchess of Luxembourg, 1912

Oregon places a 1 cent per U.S. gallon tax on gasoline, becoming the first U.S. state to levy a gasoline tax, 1919

Diplomatic relations between Japan and the Soviet Union are established, 1925

Glacier Bay National Monument (now Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve) is established in Alaska, 1925

Francisco Franco becomes General of Spain, 1926

Charles Jenkins Laboratories of Washington, D.C. becomes the first holder of a television license from the Federal Radio Commission, 1928

The USS Ranger is launched. It is the first US Navy ship to be built solely as an aircraft carrier, 1933

In occupied Amsterdam, a general strike is declared in response to increasing anti-Jewish measures instituted by the Nazis, 1941

The first Pan American Games are held in Buenos Aires, Argentina, 1951

Cassius Clay defeats Sonny Liston, 1964

The first unit of the Pickering Nuclear Generating Station, the first commercial nuclear power station in Canada, goes online, 1971

President Ferdinand Marcos of the Philippines flees the nation after 20 years of rule; Corazon Aquino becomes the first Filipino woman president, 1986

In the Cave of the Patriarchs in the West Bank city of Hebron, Baruch Goldstein opens fire with an automatic rifle, killing 29 Palestinian worshippers and injuring 125 more, 1994

In the Irish general election, the Fianna Fáil-led government suffered the worst defeat of a sitting government since the formation of the Irish state, 2011

The World Health Organization removes India from the list of polio endemic countries, 2012

Hundreds of pro-Russian protesters block the Crimean parliament and demand a referendum on Crimea's independence, 2014

The XXIII Winter Olympic Games close in Pyeongchang, Korea; Norway wins a record 39 medals, 14 gold, 2018

The influential film review site Rotten Tomatoes implements changes to the site after internet trolls target the new Captain Marvel film, 2019