(Because some people like Blogger and some like WordPress, i am putting the same content at both. If you would prefer to read this on the other site, it is linked here.)
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How much can happen on a Thursday? Also, how can we find ways to be thankful for what happened?
Let's explore this past Thursday, shall we? (Yes, i'm going to use that annoying "we" throughout this, because it's my blog and because it almost tricks my brain into thinking that maybe all of this happened to someone else, which it did not.)
We begin at 4:30am, and we are thankful to be able to get up and have quiet prayer time before the day begins. As we shall see later, this is essential and keeps us sane.
A few minutes before 6am, we start loading Lunceford the Land Yacht to drive to the A family house and we are thankful it is still early so the traffic is not backed up yet, the way it will be in about 1 1/2 hours.
Once there, we are thankful that Gussie, the very sick cat, is still alive. (We are praying she hangs on until the family gets back from vacation.)
At this point in the week, we have determined that Big Red is not using his litter box, and we are thankful that we figured out it's because he got scared of the type of litter. We got cheap regular litter at the Dollar Deal, but he wouldn't use it, either, because by now he just wanted to "go" under the bed. We are so thankful that moving him to the bathroom, with no bed to hide under, cured his litter box aversion.
By Friday we are also grateful that the A family, specifically Ms. GA, keeps a lot of Pet Oops around, and that it works. The bed being on gliders is a bonus. But let's not get ahead of ourselves, shall we?
At 7:15am, we are done with the morning watering of plants and feeding of cats and are grateful we are going the opposite direction from the traffic, so we get to the S family house by 7:30.
In the middle of the busy morning (after all, the S family home is a 9 hour job), a call comes in from Bigger Girl -- her brakes have failed on Cicero, what to do?
Now we are very thankful that she can be trusted to drive very slowly and carefully, with her hazard lights on, to Kevin and Lenny's, thankful that Sweetie is done with his work for The Big Boss and can meet her there, and so grateful that they can both come by the S family house so she can take Jalopy and he can take Lunceford.
Let us also pause to be thankful it was just two brake lines and was fixed the same day for only just under $300.
Bonus thankful, Bigger Girl called me later and said, "Mom, thank you for teaching me to be a safe and careful driver! It was so scary driving with brakes that hardly worked, thank you for showing me how to drive slowly and thoughtfully!"
Now let's see, where are we? Oh, yes, Bigger Girl has Jalopy so she can get on with her day, and she will meet us at Kevin and Lenny's just before close to retrieve Cicero and give Jalopy back to Sweetie.
Also, Sweetie has Lunceford, so he can go on with his day, which includes getting more of that expensive cat food that is the only thing Mikey will eat (and since he is losing weight on it, that's a good thing).
Dr. Bea's office is out of the cat food, their order hasn't come in. We are thankful she can write us a prescription and he can get it from another clinic. Several calls to many clinics and they find some for us. About an hour after Sweetie purchases it from the other clinic across town, Dr. Bea's office gets their shipment in, thankfully, so we can buy another bag next week and don't have to worry about the kids running out while we are on vacation.
Sweetie doesn't just find the cat food, he also finds that the temple of his glasses is broken. He stops at an optical shop where a very elderly person with shaking hands behind the counter gets a new screw in -- barely. We are thankful that barely holds, because a stop at another optical shop has them saying no one in the place can do it at all, even though there are five people behind the counter!
Nearing the end of my job at the S house, where we are thankful it only took 9 hours instead of ten (which their place could easily do, an essay for another time), Sweetie picks me up and we are grateful to barely get to Kevin and Lenny's before closing.
Everyone is now back in the proper vehicle, and thankful to get on with the evening. For me, that means back to the A house for watering the lawn and all of the plants, and feeding the cats. Although a bit of rain would have helped shorten this process, we are thankful that the sprinklers work, and that i get home by 9pm.
There, that should be at least ten things for which we are thankful, just in the mess that was last Thursday. We shall keep in mind that things could always be worse.
Ms. Josie Two Shoes is the wonderful hostess of the Ten Things of Thankful blog hop, which you are welcome to join. We are not fussy about ten things, we are just glad when you share your thankfulness so we can all be thankful along with you.
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Today is:
California Artichoke Festival -- Castroville, CA, US (lots of fun in the Artichoke Capital of the World; through tomorrow)
Capitol Hill People's Fair -- Denver, CO, US (arts, entertainment, and fun; through tomorrow)
Coronation Day -- United Kingdom
Coronation Day and Social Forestry Day -- Bhutan (anniversary of the coronation day of the Jigme Singye Wangchuck, the 4th Druk Gyalpo, in 1974, and the day children plant trees)
Dare Day -- Manteo, NC, US (a fun festival and unofficial kick-off for summer)
Derby Day -- Epsom Downs Racecourse, Surrey, England
Do-Dah Parade -- Kalamazoo, MI, US (a "Salute to Silliness" that is worth seeing)
Drawing Day/Pencil Day -- used to be sponsored on the first Saturday with the motto "Drop Everything and Draw", but even though no longer promoted by any specific group, you can still enjoy some time drawing today
Eel Festival -- Jyllinge, Denmark (through tomorrow; every restaurant and pub in town serves fried eel, and there's lots more fun around town)
Elfreth's Alley Day (Fete Day) -- Philadelphia, PA, US (one of the oldest continuously inhabited streets in the country)
Enshu Hamakita Hiryu Matsuri -- Hamamatsu City, Japan (honors the river god Ryujin; through tomorrow)
Festa della Republica -- Italy (National Day/Feast of the Republic)
Festival of Light and Dark Spots -- Fairy Calendar
Festival of Utter Confusion -- an internet declared holiday, and this is the one for me!
Hristo Botev Day -- Bulgaria (poet and national hero who fell fighting the Turks this day in 1876)
"I Love My Dentist" Day -- no one will claim starting this one, so it makes me suspicious
Isabel Province Day -- Isabel Province, Solomon Islands
Kaiko Kinenbi -- Yokohama, Japan (Yokahama Port Opening Festival; through tomorrow)
Maritime Gig Festival -- Gig Harbor, WA, US (parades, entertainment, and fun with the view of Mount Rainier to grace it all; through tomorrow)
National Bubba Day -- created by comedian T. Bubba Bechtol for Bubbas everywhere to have their day
National Family Recreation Day -- US (seems to have been started by the community of Arvada, CO, US, wanting families to enjoy the great outdoors together)
National Health and Fitness Day -- Canada
National Lemonade Days -- Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation wants everyone to either run or patronize a lemonade stand some time between now and June 10 to help fight childhood cancers, one cup at a time
National Rocky Road Day
National Trails Day -- US (be safe out there, if you want help becoming a hiker there's info here)
Nazul Al-Quran -- Brunei Darussalam; Malaysia (Quran Revelation Day)
Sjómannadagurinn -- Iceland (traditional Seaman's Day was alternately celebrated June 6 or the first Sunday of June, depending on which authority you ask, but is now a weekend long Festival of the Sea)
St. Blandina's Day (Patron of girls, people falsely accused, torture victims; Lyon, France)
St. Elmo's Day (a/k/a St. Erasmus; Patron of ammunition workers, boatmen, childbirth and women in labor, explosives workers, mariners, navigators, ordnance workers, sailors, watermen; Gaeta, Italy; against abdominal pains, appendicitis, birth pains, childhood intestinal disease, colic, danger at sea, intestinal disorders, seasickness, stomach diseases, storms)
Strawberry Festival -- Independence, MO, US (one of many such festivals all over as strawberries come into season -- look for one near where you live some time this month, and go have a good time)
Toppenish Mural Society's "Mural-In-A-Day" -- Toppenish, WA, US (professional artists work to paint a complete and historically accurate mural in one day, accompanied by an arts and crafts show and food fair)
Wicket World of Croquet® Day 2018 -- The Benjamin Harrison Presidential Site, Indianapolis, IN, US (croquet tournament fundraiser, includes an Alice and Friends game for the little ones)
Yell "Fudge" at the Cobras in North America Day -- at noon, your local time, because according to Wellcat Holidays, cobras hate fudge and will not stay if we mention it
Anniversaries Today:
U.S. President Grover Cleveland marries Frances Folsom, 1886 (only president to wed in the executive mansion)
Elizabeth II is crowned Queen of the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Her Other Realms and Territories & Head of the Commonwealth, 1953 (the first major international event to be televised)
Birthdays Today:
Justin Long, 1978
Zachary Quinto, 1977
Queen 'Masenate Mohato Seeiso, Queen consort of Lesotho, 1976
Wayne Brady, 1972
Wentworth Miller, 1972
Joel Tobeck, 1971
Dana Carvey, 1955
Gary Grimes, 1955
Dennis Haysbert, 1954
Diana Canova, 1953
Cornel West, 1953
Jerry Mathers, 1948
Marvin Hamlisch, 1944
Charles Haid, 1943
Stacy Keach, Jr., 1941
Charlie Watts, 1941
Sally Kellerman, 1937
Milo O’Shea, 1926
Johnny Weissmuller, 1904
Hedda Hopper, 1890
Sir Edward Elgar, 1857
Thomas Hardy, 1840
Marquis de Sade, 1740
Martha Dandridge Custiss Washington, 1731
Today in History:
The Vandals enter Rome and begin 2 weeks of plundering, 455
The First Siege of Antioch ends when Crusader forces take the city, 1098
The first Récollet missionaries arrive at Quebec City, from Rouen, France, 1615
Bridget Bishop is the first person to go to trial in the Salem witch trials in Salem, Massachusetts, 1692
The Derby horserace is held for the first time in Epsom, England, 1780
P. T. Barnum and his circus start their first tour of the United States, 1835
The Slavic congress in Prague begins, 1848
Guglielmo Marconi applies for a patent for his early radio device, 1896
U.S. President Calvin Coolidge signs the Indian Citizenship Act, making Native American Indians withing US territories and states US citizens, 1924
Lou Gehrig begins his streak of 2,130 consecutive games played, 1925
In a referendum, Italians vote to turn Italy from a monarchy into a Republic, and exile their king, Umberto II di Savoia, 1946
The USSR and Yugoslavia sign the Belgrade declaration and thus normalize relations, 1955
Surveyor 1 lands in Oceanus Procellarum on the Moon, becoming the first U.S. spacecraft to soft land on another world, 1966
Pope John Paul II visits his native Poland, becoming the first Pope to visit a Communist country, 1979
The Bhutan Broadcasting Service brings television transmissions to the Kingdom for the first time, 1999
Europe launches its first probe to voyage to another planet, Mars, 2003
The World Health Organization announces the E. coli strain responsible for the 2011 E.coli O104:H4 outbreak had never before been isolated from patients, 2011
The unity government is sworn into power in Palestine, agreeing to the following: recognition of Israel, compliance to diplomatic agreements, renunciation of violence, 2014
The US Congress passes new legislation to reform the National Security Agency’s procedures, restricting gathering of phone records, 2015
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