This week, I am thankful:
that my dad brought me a grill!
My beloved Weber grill is on the deck at my old house, so I’ve been without a grill the whole time I’ve lived here at my rental.
I was poking around on Facebook Marketplace to see if I could find a used Weber grill, but then my dad told me he’d rescued and rehabbed a Weber grill that he’d seen left out for trash pickup.
(I come by my rehabbing ways VERY honestly. 😉 )
He didn’t really need two grills, so he dropped his extra one off for me.
I’m so excited!
I don’t have a deck here, but I do have a carport with a narrow back patio. So I can scoot the grill out there when I’m cooking and then slide it back under the carport when I’m done, for protection from the rain.
that someone wanted my two extra side tables
When I moved in here, I picked up a coffee table and two side tables that someone was giving away. I didn’t really want the side tables; I wanted the big coffee table to use as a TV stand.
So the side tables have been sitting in my carport ever since. Ahahaha.
Someone on my Buy Nothing group posted that they were helping two young men furnish their first rental, and they included end tables in the list of things they were looking for. Perfect!
They popped by and picked them up, and now my carport is a little emptier.
that the road out of my neighborhood got freshly paved
This happened a few weeks ago, but I keep forgetting to share it!
The hill going down out of my neighborhood has had very broken-up pavement ever since I moved here, and I always felt like I was navigating an obstacle course of potholes when I drove out.
But now that whole section is repaved, and it is a delight every time I drive on it.
that I got to bake with Lisey
She was wanting to bring some cinnamon bread for a classmate of hers that is obsessed with bread.
So she and I made some cinnamon bread loaves together. 🙂
that I don’t have to take that algebra CLEP test
I know I already mentioned this on Tuesday, but OH MY WORD I am so happy about this.
I know I could have done it, and would very likely have passed, but I am super delighted that I did not need to spend any more days steeped in algebra test prep.
I am sufficiently competent at math, but I just do not enjoy it.
I never have, and after this many years steeped in math (I’ve been teaching it to my kids since 2004, sometimes with four different grade levels concurrently), I think if I was going to like it, it would have happened already.
This is kind of how it was in my chemistry class last semester; I worked hard and got an A, but man, I just did not care about the subject matter at all. I could do it, but there was basically zero delight in it for me.
(This reminds me of a post: “You don’t have to like it. You just have to do it.”)
I think there’s a certain freedom in allowing yourself to dislike some things. There’s no shame in liking some subjects and not liking others; almost no one is interested in everything!
Blood-tracing assignments from anatomy. Now THIS I can get into!
Happily, I adore classes that have to do with healthcare and the human body, and I have lots of those coming up in the next two years. 🙂
for signs of spring
Yes, they’re a little too early, but I’m enjoying them anyway.
for the way our cat entertains us
She was busy playing with a catnip mouse the other night, and it was making me laugh so hard. She’s getting to be rather an old cat, but when she has her catnip mouse, she is almost as chipper as a kitten.
for the way Lisey just shows up as herself
I think I’ve told you before how she frequently went to work at her automotive jobs sporting tall Sesame Street socks with her work boots.
Well, last week she brought home a sheet metal rivet project from school, and she’d drawn little cats on each side of it. 😉
I like how she is not afraid to let her personality out wherever she goes!
Kate
Wednesday 15th of March 2023
My thankful is that I’m at the end of a very long, very drawn out legal process. But as of Friday, things are both agreed on, and signed off on in my favour. It’s weird - I’m so thankful it’s over, but I thought I would feel something good. I don’t though, I’m just exhausted.
Stephanie D
Friday 10th of March 2023
Move out the end tables so you can move in the grill. Good exchange! lol
This week had mixed blessings. Monday morning I woke up to doggie diarrhea on my kitchen floor. This has only happened twice before in the 4 years we've had her (she's a rescue), and isn't like her, and you could see she was upset about it. So I was up wiping up and then mopping the floor, still in my nightgown. The thankful part? It wasn't on the carpet, the runners, or the hardwood floor. Kitchen linoleum is much easier to clean!
Second mixed blessing. I told about the rusted out water heater on Tues, but the blessings were: I managed to reach a plumber Mon morning (after the doggy poop incident), who was able to to work us into his busy schedule on Tues to replace the heater. He added an expansion tank, a basin to contain any future leaks, and ran a pipe from the basin to the outdoors, so if the heater leaks again, it will run outside and not all over the garage. So it was a mixed blessing that I had to fork out almost $2000, but that it was emergent enough that it could be done right away, I chose the right plumber, and caught the damage before the water could seep into the walls.
I'm thankful for wind chimes. The warm days are gone again, and blustery, cold-ish weather is back, but the music from the wind chimes can only be heard with the wind, and they are so beautiful to my ears.
Thankful for fresh bread. I really don't enjoy cooking or baking, etc, so I rarely pull out my old bread machine, even. Anyway, a friend texted me directly this afternoon and asked if I would like a loaf of sourdough starter bread. Dashed over and it was still warm, (though not after standing and visiting for 20 minutes!) and soooo yummy!
Thankful for my 25-yr-old pickup truck. Thankful that it still runs well, rarely has any problems, lets me haul yard waste to the dump without having to pay someone to do it, and wait until they have the time. And it's so useful for hauling bags of potting soil, plants, items to and from my gifting group. I drove cars all my life, but when it came to purchasing a second vehicle, I insisted I wanted a small pickup, and it was/and still is a good decision!
Georgia Zanskas
Friday 10th of March 2023
Hi Kristen. This is just a note to let your know that tons of the Little Critter sets have been recalled. I know you used to have some on eBay. The small parts have caused 2 deaths and choking cases.
Mimi-in-the-Mountains
Friday 10th of March 2023
I’m thankful the snow has stopped. One of my neighbors tracks precipitation as a hobby. He told me our little mountain hamlet has received 13+ FEET of snow cumulatively this winter. I have 7 ft berms on each side of my driveway … So a snow break is definitely at the top of my thankful list this week!
KarenBC
Friday 10th of March 2023
I'm thankful that our local college has a volunteer patient program. Really thorough cleaning & care, $50 total for 5 appointments. They take longer than a "normal" cleaning, as the students in their final year and getting their hands on experience. Next week will include an hour of x-rays. Just tickled that I was accepted as a volunteer...next spring I will likely be able to get in again without a problem. I asked the student about the instruments she had, did she have to buy them? She said yes, and they were expensive...$4,000 Cdn for 2 sets. Not sure what the other costs would be for the course. Good investment in herself methinks!
That we have 3 Salvation Army stores here. One is close to the college. I was looking for a curtain rod to put a little curtain across the spot my old dishwasher sat. That is now the flour/sugar bucket storage. Found a really pretty rod with "crystal" finials.
It was lovely that most of the roads going into town were down to bare pavement, instead of frozen lumpy snow. Made for a nice drive.
That I found a "litter box" that will be big enough for Pippin my 20lb.+ Maine Coone cross cat. He's been using a Rubbermaid tote...found a big black plastic tote at Costco today for $12.99 Tomorrow I'll cut the doorway for him. Catnip is amazing stuff for cats...Pip is almost 12, but he's a wild man when he's on the 'nip.