Starting the Year Right, a Ten Things of Thankful Post

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It's time to start the year off right, with the first Thankful Post.

Last Saturday, rain was predicted, so i'm thankful we got an early start heading to NOLA as well as thankful the rains didn't actually show up until that evening, long after we were home.

All of Becca's extended family had gone home, so i was thankful to be able to go over as per usual although we only had one church service that day.  Ms. A, however, had caught a cold and decided to stay home and kept Becca with her.  This meant, after our walk with Mr. Cal and playing some games, i went to church by myself.

Sunday afternoon and Monday, i was thankful to get several end-of-year things wrapped up.

I was also thankful Ms. S didn't fuss about the Christmas present i'd bought (because she'd told me not to, but i knew she wanted it, so i did and she was happy).

#2 Son and His Bride both had work Tuesday, so i was thankful i got to babysit and after they were done, they took little Annie with them to a family party (her side of the family) and i got to go home and rest and do more catching up.

Ms. G is out of town visiting family for a late holiday gathering, i'm thankful for some extra income from cat-sitting.

I'm also thankful the cat shelter was almost empty when i went Wednesday, so i got done early, went and did Ms. G's, and was home early for a work day.

Mr. L was feeling very good on Thursday, for which we are all thankful.  The house got cleaned with little fuss, always a plus, and Ms. V, out of the blue, has given me a raise for which i am very thankful indeed!

It was a mixed up day Friday but i'm thankful everything worked out, from being able to make phone calls for friends who had forgotten their phones (thankful i had the phone numbers on my phone) to being able to get to the cat shelter.

There had been 4 adoptions that day, and there were 3 more while i was there with extra volunteers, we're always thankful for adoptions and volunteers.

While i was at the shelter i got a most unexpected call from someone i'd not talked to in quite a while.  There's a website where i have some friends, and before Covid we used to try to get together every year, coming from different parts of the country.

One of the friends has been ill for several years, and had not posted for the last couple of years.  I still sent her and her husband a Christmas card each year.

The call was from her husband,  He'd lost my contact information, but from the return address on the card, he was able to track down my phone number and call me to let me know his wife had died last August.

I'm very sad to know she's gone, she was loving and determined and talented and funny.  I'm thankful for the joy she brought to my life and the times we got to visit, online and in person.

I'm very thankful her husband was able to track down my info and let me know, so now i can inform the rest of our friends on the website.  Fivecat, you will be missed.

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

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Today is:

Day of the Fallen against the Colonial Repression -- Angola

Day To Mourn Racism -- anniversary of the day ethnic discrimination was outlawed worldwide in 1969

Dimpled Chad Day -- if you have to ask, you wouldn't understand; sponsored by Wellcat Holidays

Earth at Perihelion -- 1:28pm UTC (closest point to the Sun)

Eleventh Day of Christmas

Feast of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton (1st US-born Saint; Patron of Apostleship of the Sea, people ridiculed for their piety, widows; Shreveport, LA; against in-law problems, the death of children, the death of parents)

Festival of Fufluns -- Etruscan (god of wine, also of spring and rebirth; date approximate)

Independence Day -- Myanmar(1948)

Martyrs' Day -- Democratic Republic of the Congo

National Spaghetti Day

Ogoni Day -- Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People of the Niger River

Pop Music Chart Day -- Billboard magazine published the first one today in 1936

St. Pharaildis' Day (Patron of difficult marriages, victims of abuse, widows; Bruay, France; Ghent, Belgium; against childhood diseases)

Trivia Day -- celebration of those who have a doctorate in uselessology, sponsored by PunsCorp

World Braille Day -- birth anniversary of Louis Braille

World Hypnotism Day -- to remove myth and misconception, and promote the truths and benefits of hypnotism 

Anniversaries Today:

Utah becomes the 45th US state, 1896

Birthdays Today:

Julia Ormond, 1965

Dave Roley, 1962

Michael Stipe, 1960

Matt Frewer, 1958

Ann Magnuson, 1956

Grace Bumbry, 1937

Dyan Cannon, 1937

Floyd Patterson, 1935

Don Shula, 1930

Barbara Rush, 1927

Jesse White, 1917

Jane Wyman, 1914

Sterling Holloway, 1905

Charles "Tom Thumb" Stratton, 1838

Louis Braille, 1809

Jakob Grimm, 1785

Benjamin Rush, 1746

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Night Court"(TV), 1984

"Blondie"(TV), 1957

The Pop Music Charts in Billboard Magazine, 1936

"Academic Festival Overture"(Johannes Brahms Op. 80), 1881

Today in History:

Titus Labienus is defeated by Julius Caesar in the Battle of Ruspina, BC 46

Columbus leaves the "New World" on return from his first voyage, 1493

Spanish viceroy Alva banishes Zutphen City's only physician, Joost Sweiter, "because he is a Jew", 1570

Most of the Palace of Whitehall in London, the main residence of the English monarchs, is destroyed by fire, 1698

Andre Méchain discovers M80, the globular cluster in Scorpio, 1781

Samuel Colt sells his first revolver pistol to the United States government, 1847

4 wheeled roller skates patented by James Plimpton of NY, 1863

The New York Stock Exchange opens its first permanent headquarters at 10-12 Broad near Wall Street in New York City, 1865

Sofia is emancipated from Ottoman rule, 1878

The last known sighting of an eastern cougar, in Ontario, 1884

Dr W W Grant of Iowa, performs the first appendectomy (on Mary Gartside, 22), 1885

Thomas Stevens is the first man to bicycle around the world (SF-SF); his itinerary accounts "DISTANCE ACTUALLY WHEELED, ABOUT 13,500 MILES", 1887

The Scout Association is incorporated throughout the British Commonwealth by Royal Charter, 1912

The first elected Jewish governor, Moses Alexander, takes office in Idaho, 1915

Sputnik 1 reenters the atmosphere and burns up, 1958

Luna 1 becomes the first spacecraft to reach the vicinity of the Moon, 1959

Rose Heilbron becomes the first female judge to sit at the Old Bailey in London, 1972

Elizabeth Ann Seton becomes the first American-born saint, 1975

Spirit, a NASA Mars Rover, lands successfully on Mars at 04:35 UTC, 2004

The 110th United States Congress convenes, electing Nancy Pelosi as the first female Speaker of the House in U.S. history, 2007

The Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest building is officially opened, 2010

Eleven-year-old Kathryn Gray, of Canada, becomes the youngest person in the world to discover a supernova, 2011

The world's largest ever blue star sapphire at 1404.49 carats, found in a Sri Lankan mine in August 2015, is finally certified by Colombo's Gemology Institute, 2016

South Korea, the country with world's lowest birth rate, records more deaths than births for the first time, 2021

The Canadian government announces a settlement to compensate for the Indigenous child welfare system, 2022