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Here i am again, skidding into Thankful Day rather breathless. Lots of things haven't gone quite as planned this week, but they worked out perfectly anyway, and i'm thankful.
Last Saturday was an election day. Nothing big, just a few amendments and a judgeship. The polls are supposed to open at 7am, so i told Grandpa i'd vote and then head down there for shopping and cleaning. He was fine with that, although i'd be a bit later than usual and he always wants to be finished with everything yesterday.
About ten minutes before the polls were to open, i pulled into the parking lot at the school and got out to get in what i thought was a line of voters. It wasn't a line of voters, it was the poll workers. The school had forgotten to send someone with the key, so they were locked out.
That's how i ended up getting to NOLA earlier than i'd planned, which made Grandpa thankful. Also, Grandma had a lunch meeting with a friend for the first time in a long time, a very thankful thing. Wen i was done cleaning, i was thankful to be able to head back home, vote, and i even got to go visit Ms. S that evening because my Sunday was already packed.
Sunday's plan was for me to go to Becca's house as usual, and after the first service at church and Sunday school, i was going to sit with her while her mother sang with the second service choir for one special song that was being done at both services. Then i'd scoot out for the rest of my day's activities.
After arriving, Ms. AH told me Becca was still asleep and asked me to let her rest another 45 minutes. This was fine, i was thankful to take Mr. Cal for a walk and he was thankful to get one. He got to play with his dog friend Ash.
While we were out, Ms. AH texted me and said she was feeling poorly and did not think she could make it to church at all, so she'd stay home with Becca. She was sorry i'd come all that way for nothing, but to me it was a thankful thing, Mr. Cal and i had a good time.
After church, it was time for Lee's birthday party. Red-headed Alec's boy Lee is now four! It was a Sonic the Hedgehog party, and i'm thankful i got to go and see all of the family.
Once the party was over, i was thankful to go back to the church for the Children's Choir performance of "Table for Five...Thousand!" They did a wonderful job, the choir is kindergarten to about 5th grade and you could tell they were having a good time. They fed the audience, the "five thousand," goldfish crackers, which i found funny and appropriate.
Monday morning at 2am, i woke up and knew that i once again have a bladder infection. Thankfully i now keep the medication that controls symptoms in the house, so i was able to take it right away. Once i cleaned Carl's apartment, i ran by the doctor's office and left a sample, then went to Ms. PA. Before i got home, the prescription was ready, i am so thankful for my doctor and the nearby pharmacy.
This past Tuesday was the first part of my annual physical and my appointment to take the twins in for their glamour shots (mammogram).
Interruption for my annual PSA -- get your annual physical and whatever tests your doc tells you to get. Better safe than sorry!
Thankfully i had arranged to have the day off, so i wasn't in a rush, and my doc and the place where they do the testing is all under one big hospital roof. Once i was done, i was able to have a nice, long visit with Ms. S. It's a thankful thing to be able to see her twice a week.
Tuesday evening was our monthly Ladies' Circle meeting. We had a wonderful time, and the dessert you saw on my Wordless Wednesday picture was the peanut butter/butterscotch rice crispy treats i brought. Thankfully they are quick and easy to make, just do your regular rice crispy treats adding a bag of butterscotch chips and 1/3 cup peanut butter.
While i was at the meeting i fielded a call from Ms. G, my Wednesday lady. She wanted to know if i was okay to skip cleaning her house and go volunteer at the other shelter instead. Of course i was.
That meant that on Wednesday i went and did the usual shelter stuff, then went out to the one in the next parish(county). They'd had a bit of a disaster, 135 cats needed care and due to an unfortunate series of events they were down by 3 employees and a couple of volunteers. It made me thankful to go and help, although at the end of 6 hours i was whipped.
When i got home, i was thankful to lie down for a while, and then i got the phone call from the doctor's office. How soon could i come back in for more testing? They needed more mammogram views, and i was thankful to be able to say that i would be in Thursday afternoon.
Ms. S wasn't home when we got there Thursday morning, and the lock box with the house key was gone. When i called her, she said her husband had taken it to one of his jobs, and we're thankful he thought to leave the key in a hidden place where we could get to it.
The house was not quite as bad a disaster this time as last, even though they'd just had a birthday party for one of the boys, and Sweetie and i were thankful to get it done by noon.
One-thirty pm saw me back at the hospital for the further testing, and i'm thankful the radiologist is being so proactive. The views and the ultrasound show a small cyst that he's pretty sure is nothing, but in an abundance of caution i'm going to have a biopsy done at the end of the month.
Again, go get your tests, please!
Thursday evening a neighbor called to ask two favors and i was thankful we could do both. First, she wanted Sweetie to come and change a light bulb for her -- he's tall and she needs a tall person to do it, and he's always glad to go over there and help. Second, could i start coming once a month to vacuum, sweep and mop the floors, since she broke her toe and just can't keep up with everything since it's not healing right, making her limp.
That's how on Friday i went to morning prayer group, cleaned Ms. GA's house, and then went to see Ms. DJ. Thankfully i was able to get all of that in, and go back to the pharmacy for another prescription (thanks to all the antibiotics, i now have a yeast infection, too, so i needed more medicine, can you see why i'm so thankful for the modern medical community right about now?) and then back to the cat shelter.
At the regular shelter where i volunteer, we have a new director, and i was thankful to finally meet her. She's a wonderful person and going to be a great director.
There we have it, folks, another week to remember how good we have it, i know i am thankful as so many of these things could have gone sideways or worse.
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:
Absurdity Day -- an internet generated absurd holiday
Africa Industrialization Day -- UN
Air Your Dirty Laundry Day -- internet generated, and be careful with this one!
Beautiful Day -- Fairy Calendar
Clean the Cat Hair Out of the Vacuum Cleaner Day -- internet generated, and always tops on my chore list
Dia de la Soberania Nacional -- Argentina (Sovereignty Day)
Day of Sekhmet and the Purifying Flame -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (date approximate)
Day of National Sovereignty -- Argentina (commemorates the Battle of Vuelta de Obligado)
Dia da Consciencia Negra -- Brazil (Black Consciousness Day)
Family Volunteer Day -- to get families working together to better their communities and the world
Globally Organized Hug A Runner Day a/k/a G.O.H.A.R.D
International Games Day @ Your Library -- libraries in many countries are sponsoring a local Games Day, check with yours!
International Survivors of Suicide Loss Day
National Survivors of Suicide Day -- US (by Congressional designation since 1999, and now an international movement; remembering those who have lost loved ones to suicide, especially as Thanksgiving and the holidays are coming)
Name Your PC Day -- mine is Ol' Bessy, a/k/a Old Crankypants; sponsored by Wellcat Holidays
National Adoption Day -- US (encouraging us to find a home for every child; many courts finalize thousands of adoptions of children from foster care on this day each year)
National Peanut Butter Fudge Day
Praetextatus and Paulina's Day -- Ancient Roman Calendar (Guardians of the Eleusinian Mysteries, pagan activists and devotees who tried to save Roman religions; date approximate)
Revolution Day -- Mexico (traditional)
St. Edmund the Martyr's Day (Patron of kings, torture victims, wolves; East Anglia, England; against plagues)
Surin Elephant Round-Up -- Surin, Thailand (includes elephant football, elephant tugs-of-war, and parades; through Sunday)
Teachers' Day -- Vietnam
Transgender Day of Remembrance -- memorial for those who have been killed because of transphobia
Universal Children's Day -- UN
Zumbi Day -- Brazil (death anniversary of Zumbi dos Palmares, a day of Afro-Brazilian consciousness, as he was a hero and freedom fighter)
Anniversaries Today:
The Princess Elizabeth (now Queen Elizabeth II) marries Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten at Westminster Abbey in London, 1947
The first municipal airport in the US opens, in Tuscon, AZ, 1919
Birthdays Today:
Sabrina Lloyd, 1970
Ming-Na Wen, 1967
Sean Young, 1959
Bo Derek, 1956
Steve Dahl, 1954
Richard Masur, 1948
Duane Allman, 1946
Judy Wooodruff, 1946
Veronica Hamel, 1943
Joe Biden, 1942
Dick Smothers, 1939
Don DeLillo, 1936
Richard Dawson, 1932
Estelle Parsons, 1927
Kaye Ballard, 1926
Robert F. Kennedy, 1925
Nadine Gordimer, 1923
Gene Tierney, 1920
Robert Byrd, 1917
Alistair Cooke, 1908
Chester Gould, 1900
Edwin Hubble, 1889
Karl von Frisch, 1886
Kenesaw Mountain Landis, 1866
Selma Lagerlf, 1858
Sir Wilfred Laurier, 1841
Thomas Chattertn, 1752
Oliver Wolcott, 1726
Susanna Wesley, 1669 (mother of John, Charles, and 17 other children)
Peregrine White, 1620 (born on the Mayflower)
Maximinus, Roman Emperor, 270
Debuting/Premiering Today:
Beatles Antology 1(album release), 1995
The Day After(TV movie), 1983
"A Soldier's Play"(Fuller Pulizer winning play), 1981
"Cabaret"(Musical), 1966
"The Seven Year Itch"(Play), 1952
"The Children's Hour"(Play), 1934
"The Goldbergs"(Radio), 1929
The Sheik(Film, with Rudolph Valentino), 1921
"Das Lied von der Erde/The Song of the Earth"(Mahler symphony), 1911
"The Doctor's Dilemma"(Play), 1906
"Fidelio"(Opera, Beethoven Op. 72), 1805
Today in History:
Bögü, Khan of the Uyghurs, conquers Lo-Yang, capital of the Chinese Empire, 762
Zumbi, the last leader of the Quilombo dos Palmares of Brazil, is executed, 1695
New Jersey becomes the first state to ratify the US Bill of Rights, 1789
Curacao's government forbids slave work on Sunday, 1795
Howard University is founded in Washington, D.C., 1866
US State Department starts requiring photographs for passports, 1914
The first municipally owned airport in US opens, in Tucson Az, 1919
In response to the Soviet Union agreeing to remove its missiles from Cuba, U.S. President John F. Kennedy ends the quarantine of the Caribbean nation, 1962
The SETI Institute is founded, 1984
Microsoft Windows 1.0 is released, 1985
The number of protesters assembled in Prague, Czechoslovakia swells from 200,000 the day before to an estimated half-million, 1989
In England, a fire breaks out in Windsor Castle, badly damaging the castle and causing over £50 million worth of damage, 1992
The first module of the International Space Station, Zarya, is launched, 1998
The Dow Jones Industrial Average reaches its lowest level in eleven years, 2008
NATO agrees to begin handing over Afghanistan's security to the Afghan military, 2010
The UN World Meteorological Organization announces the 2011 greenhouse gasses reached record levels, 2012
A vote of the General Synod of the Church of England approves women to be ordained bishops beginning the next year, 2013
Atlanta's Georgia Dome, once the world's largest covered stadium, is destroyed in a controlled implosion, 2017
The Oxford Dictionary word of the year is "climate emergency," 2019
