Monday 23 Jan 2012
This morning I was thinking about the things that I have to do today and one of them is to change the towels in the basement that are soaking up the water that is leaking from the crack in the furnace. I admit I was feeling a bit whiny about that - until I thought that I AM thankful that the furnace still works, and that it keeps us warm, and that I have a washing machine to spin the water out of the towels, a place to hang them to dry, and perhaps a chance in the next few months to replace the furnace. I am also thankful for an uplifting trip to Portland ward conference yesterday, for Eris' company, for the crackers and cheese she shared on the way home, for the apple I 'won' in Sunday school last week that was still in my bag to eat on the way home, for a chance to chat with Marvel and Judith, for safe travel, and for interesting insight into a familiar scripture story. I am thankful for the chance I had to relax the rest of the day, to read two more chapters in Tennis Shoes aloud to the grandsons, and for the three digital jigsaw puzzles I did online, and for the Seminary Centennial Broadcast, and a good night's sleep.
Tuesday 24 Jan 2012
Again, I am thankful to have arrived home yesterday before the icing started. Also, the big project that I was hoping to do when I got home was to organize the big freezer downstairs and when I got home it was already done! How cool is that! I am thankful to John, Eliza, and Mike for completing that project. I am thankful for Rebekah Marie Fleck and Courtney Mae Fleck for coming to seminary this morning so that we could read about the calling of Samuel to be a prophet and discuss how we can seek for and recognize the voice of the Lord in our own lives. I am thankful to have watched a very sad episode of "Bones" last night that caused me to reflect about what is important in my life and what I need to change so that my actions align with my priorities. It made me so thankful to have made it a priority to have children - my life now is so very rich because of them and their spouses and children. I am looking forward to this day as I do every day. It is a game - once I teach seminary, work, and have my treatment - what else will I do or experience? Can't wait to find out! This is an odd winter so far in the Northeast. Freezing rain, sleet, rain, snow. Today will be in the 40s. Right now the roads are horrible. I am hoping for better this afternoon when I have to go out.
Wednesday 25 Jan 2012
The sun is shining, it is amazing how uplifting light can be. I am thankful for the Mormon Channel. I usually download several programs so that I will have something to listen to when I drive. Yesterday I listened to the Relief Society program on the Visiting Teaching message for January. Very inspiring! On the way home I listened to an episode of The Weekly Edition. There was an interview with a women from South Africa who is a pro golfer and then with a women who was called to work in the Young Women's program when she was in her 80s. Finally, an interview with the head chef and the head baker for The Lion's House Restaurant. They baked 8000 dozen Lion House Rolls for Thanksgiving week this past year. Isn't that amazing?
Today is my father's birthday. He would have been 83 years old. I have many fond and funny memories of life with him. I am pretty sure that he is not resting today - but do hope he is peaceful. I miss you and love you, Daddy!
I am thankful that I was able to manage to evaluate 9 tasks yesterday for WGU- as we are pretty slammed right now. I am thankful to have read another two chapters in the Tennis Shoes book to Caleb and Kaleb. We are in the city of Zarahemla at the time of Captain Moroni. Amalakiah and his army of Lamanites are marching to the city of Moroni. There is talk of the children of the Ammonites joining the army. (The Stripling Warriors) There are pretty exciting times coming! I am also thankful that my son Mike called last night. I love to talk with him. He is going on a field exercise for a couple of days and then will be spending a month at Ft Gordon in Georgia. He has some friends there and I hope they will be able to see each other. I am thankful for an uplifting phone call from Patti Caton, friendships are so important and healing. I am thankful for the energy that I pulled from some unknown place to do up all the dishes and clean the counters last night as it is so wonderful to start the day off with a clean kitchen. I am thankful that John and I read from the Book of Mormon, and for the choice I made to not come home from treatment and sit in my chair but to sit at the table and laminate some cards for seminary and cut them out. I resisted my chair until almost 6pm and then I am thankful for how wonderfully comfortable it was. It was like sinking into the most amazing luxury - my chair, my blankie.....! My chair is even now calling my name and I am thankful that I can bring my work laptop out from my office and work there today. I am thankful for the sun that is now peeking up over the trees. I am thankful that it is Thursday and feel that I can tolerate two more treatments this week - then a blessed two days off!
The roads were clear and dry yesterday, just the way I like them. I had a productive life after WGU and radiation yesterday, just the way I like it. I did laundry and cleaned up the kitchen after supper. I did some small projects, read to the grandsons, read scriptures with my husband, and talked to my son and a friend on the phone. I must admit that the easy chair and sleep were most welcome!
Friday 27 Jan 2012
School is canceled and I am such a kid! I am thankful for the break in routine, even though no school is bittersweet when you work at home at a job that needs a quiet house and 3 grandsons live with you! I am thankful that today is payday and also thankful for the challenge of trying to figure out how to make the money do everything it is suppose to. I got $190 for Christmas, for which I am thankful, and I am thankful to have just spent $25 of it on a machine quilting class and thankful that the class was reduced from $59 dollars- which, by the way, I never would have paid for a class. I am thankful that Danny is safely in Westbrook with Joe and Dvorah, although I do wish he had thought to tell us about it. :) Sometimes I think very hard in the morning about what I am truly thankful for because I want to be honest, and sometimes I despair because it seems that I lead a very uneventful life. This morning I realize that I am thankful to lead a very uneventful life. It is free from drama, well-almost, and I like it that way. I am thankful that we read scriptures last night and that I had a captive audience for the next two chapters in 'Tennis Shoes'.
I am thankful for homemade chop suey and broccoli for supper and thankful that I took the time to make a bag of carrots into carrot sticks because I left it on the table at suppertime and the boys ate the whole thing! Amazing! I wish I had found the energy to clean up after supper last night but I didn't and I am thankful that the world continued, nobody is mad at me or called me names or beat on me - and I am thankful that I can do it this morning. I am thankful every time the car starts - I don't really hold my breath but I do say a little prayer of thanks after. I am also thankful every time I unlock it and the alarm doesn't go off and freeze it so it won't start. I hope we can nurse another year out of it, at which point we might be able to get a better car that we can drive to the Boston temple in - that would be such a blessing. I hope that everyone has a wonderful day!
We are having a snow/ice day today with no school. My grandkids will love that but I will probably have to lock myself in my office to be able to concentrate. Yesterday was pretty routine and that is OK. I am not into drama very much these days. At the end of the day I love a good meal, a comfortable chair, and a blanket. I also love reading aloud to my grandsons – they were riveted to the two chapters I read last night. Very gratifying.
Saturday 28 Jan 2012
Last night was the second night in a row that I fell asleep right after supper and slept for a couple hours. I must have been tired. I am thankful that I can do that. I am thankful for this quote that someone posted by President Thomas S. Monson, "Sometimes courage is the little voice at the end of the day that says, “I’ll try again tomorrow.” Isn't that a wonderfully hopeful message- that even when you are totally discouraged or have totally failed- you can show courage by just being determined to try again the next day? I love it! I am thankful that John went with me to my treatment yesterday and that once we got out of Norway the roads were clear. I am thankful to now be down to single digits - only 9 to go. I am thankful that we stopped at WalMart on the way home and once I tore the shopping list in two and gave the biggest part to John - that I was able to get the rest. I am thankful that they had one tube of the ointment left that I needed for my burns. I am thankful that Eliza cooked supper last night and that after I awoke from my nap she and Mike were willing to watch an episode of "Bones" with me. I am thankful for the clarity of thought that I experienced when I was up at 1:30 (because I had napped in the evening) and that I was motivated to get some plans for the year on paper. I am thankful to have paid Time Warner so that we will not lose our internet and to have had enough money on my Christmas gift card to order John and Danny's birthday presents and that Amazon thinks they will arrive before the 5th. I am thankful that I DO NOT HAVE TO GO ANYWHERE TODAY!!!
Yesterday was another very tiring day for me and I took another nap right after supper. I am down to single digits with my treatments- only 9 to go. Ah, how I long for the good old days when I could work past noon and still have some life in me to do other things. Sigh.
Sunday 29 Jan 2012
I am thankful for a pretty amazingly productive (for me) day yesterday. I worked for 5 1/2 hours, did the laundry routine which includes changing the wet towels from the leaking furnace, cleaned out and organized the living room closet and the piles of things in front of it, loaded and ran the dishwasher twice, cleared a path to our closet and bureaus in our bedroom and put away all of our clothes. I am thankful for Kaleb and Eliza who helped with the closet project. I am so thankful for the feeling of accomplishment. I am thankful that we went to Juli's house and had tacos with her and her husband, George and Linda, and Linda's mother and friend Maxine. The tacos were delicious and it was wonderful to spend some time with friends. We played a dominoes game called Chicken Foot that was really fun. We read two chapters in the Book of Mormon and finished 1st Nephi for which I am grateful. I am thankful that watched an episode of 'The Mentalist' when we got home. I am thankful for the Emergency Essential order that was waiting for us on the porch and for the people who were willing to order so that I could get some freeze dried sweet potato dices. I am thankful to be alive and to have family and friends who love and support me and to my Heavenly Father for giving me some responsibilities and a pretty amazing desire to do a variety of things so that I do not sit around and be bored. And I am thankful that it is Sunday and I get to go to church and play the organ and when I come home I do not have to work for WGU but can choose from a myriad of possibilities: seminary, family history, indexing, organizing photos, planning, reading the Ensign, working on Relief Society, talking to my Mom, reading aloud from 'Tennis Shoes' and 'The Undaunted', and maybe skyping with my smallest grandchildren. Hooray!
