Thankful Thursday | a triangle cat

This week, I am thankful:

for a funny triangle cat

Instagram showed me this fat cat who is almost exactly the same shape as a triangle, so I immediately sent his pics to my girls. I knew they would love him as much as I did.

His username is katsrkole, in case you’d like to follow him. 😉

for the way a smartphone makes being on hold less miserable

I had to call the IRS this week, and the hold time was…impressive.

Impressively long, that is.

And that reminded me how grateful I am that I can take my phone all around the house with me, put it on speaker, and do whatever I want while I wait.

I did some painting, made a snack, worked on some blog posts, texted with a friend, and organized papers this time around. It’s almost like not losing the time at all!

that it’s April 2023 and not April 2022

I was thinking back to where I was last April…trying hard to find a place to rent and feeling so frustrated at how difficult it was. I felt so discouraged!

And now here I am, almost 11 months into my lease. If only 2022 Kristen could have seen how it would all work out.

for my own house

I am so, so grateful that my parents let the girls and me land at their house for four months last year.

But I am also so grateful to have my own place now; the unsettled feeling of being in a temporary living situation definitely wears thin.

I know my rental life is, by definition, temporary as well.

But it is a much more settled temporary than living with my parents!

for a semester off from classes

I was just sitting here thinking over the last year or so, and whew, it makes me feel sort of tired to consider it all.

I give 2022 Kristen a pat on the back for navigating everything, AND I am also grateful that 2023 Kristen gets a semester off of school at least.

A semester with no classes is just what the doctor ordered, I think.

for the way the abandoned house is always providing for me

The other day I needed to paper clip a few things together and I was like, “Oh dang it, I don’t think I have any paper clips!”

And then I realized I had a box of them from the abandoned house.

that my lemon tree is getting some leaves

My poor lemon tree has never managed to produce a lemon. It did at least look very healthy when it was outside last summer.

When I brought it inside in the fall, though, it was seriously on the struggle bus.

SO MUCH LEAF DROP.

But lately, it has been sprouting some new leaves and that makes me think it’s not quite ready to give up the ghost yet.

I don’t know why my orange tree is doing so much better than the lemon tree!

I did order some citrus fertilizer that I can use for both trees (I ordered these spikes), even though my orange tree is doing quite fabulously all on its own.

for lots of sunny walks

I usually drag myself out there every day, even if it’s cloudy and depressing weather outside.

Even a cloudy walk in the woods is better than no walk.

BUT I am way, way happier when a morning walk is full of sunshine, and I’ve had several lovely sunny walks this week!

for sudden green on the trees

I was driving home the other day and I noticed a slight green tinge on the trees along the highway. It’s crazy how fast it happens; I know that just two days prior, that green tinge wasn’t there.

And as I was walking on a trail with lots of brush, I noticed that the green is all over the place now!

for open windows

Tuesday was warm enough for open windows at my house and ooh, I love that. The smell of fresh air cannot be beat.

What are you thankful for this week?