[Aarcyn]

Things I Love Thursday.

This is something I got from DS. He got it from a blogger he follows who got it from someone else. Thursdays are fast becoming my favorite day. He gives me a smile when I look at the sunshine in his life.

I do not have a blog but I really liked the idea. He said that so many of the blogs he reads are people venting or complaining. We here with MS have a perfect right to air our difficulties but reading DS’s Thursday blog brings me joy. So I decided to start it in MS NT. There are often lots of positive threads. This is one of them.

This week: It started out nicely. It was the day before my 27th wedding anniversary. We decided to go out for dinner as a celebration in order to skip the weekend crowd. Italian food. Fantastic bruschetta, good glass of red wine, Caesar salad, lemony chicken, eggplant parmesan, a tiny cup of a decadent rich chocolate cake with caramel and quality decaf coffee. We felt like we were on Top Chef enjoying the very best that can be offered.

Kittens: We took the two newly adopted kittens in for a free check up. I laughed because the orange tabby, Mango, is going to be a large cat. He is twice the size with giant paws than the black/white kitten, Luna, right now. As the vet looked at his teeth, she said she had expected to see an older cat due to his size already. He still has all of his baby teeth, he is far from being full grown. She said TWICE “this is going to be a BIG cat.” I am looking at a 25 + pound feline in the end! His markings are like a tiger. I may have mistakenly purchased a wild animal!

Random thoughts: Joan Goldberg. I love this woman even though I hardly know her. We met in front of a fitness gym over 10 years ago when I was first baking breads. My friend Jeannie was teaching Pilates so we met in the parking lot for an exchange of my bread for her money. As Joan walked by, Jeannie told her she should buy a bread from me. She did and I gave her a business card. She liked the bread and started ordering from me occasionally. I would deliver to her when I delivered to Jeannie. Jeannie left 24 Hour Fitness and that was the end of Joan. Not really. Joan had lost my card so she could not contact me. She searched high and low, managed to find me, chased me down on my delivery path. She has ordered bread every week for over ten years now. I leave it at her door on the doorknob. If I saw her in a crowd, I would not recognize her. Every once in a while she sends the nicest e-mails to me. Her words are as warm as the bread when it comes out of the oven.

Kicker. I take a perverse pleasure in beating Kicker at her Trivia game. I do not like to see my name below hers! I love to play late at night just in case she is on top so that in the morning, she can discover I have snatched the victory. She is a very good sport and I wanted to include her on my first TILT.

You are welcome to TILT blog too. It feels good to talk about things I love. It will be nice to think about the happy stuff during the week to put into the next Thursday.

[Kitty]

What a great thread! I really enjoyed reading your post above, Cyn.

This Week: This has been a nice week......milder weather giving my A/C a much needed break. I've been reading two books simultaneously and have really enjoyed the two different story plots. Makes my brain work harder to remember the story line of each.

The kitties are getting along pretty good. Panda still gets a wild hair every now and then and chases Tigger, Gracie or both of them under the bed. She just wants to play but those two geriatric residents want nothing to do with the sprints down the hallway! After much hissing and growling they manage to calm down and take a much deserved nap.

I did my grocery shopping yesterday afternoon. $211.34 but I think I'm stocked for at least a month with the exception of milk and bread. I was exhausted when I got home but DS was kind enough to unload the trunk and help me put them all away. Why is eating healthy/organic foods so darn expensive?

On a brighter note I talked to a lady who was riding one of the scooters the store provides. She had arthritis in the legs and hands (her hands were so affected by it....looked so painful). She was looking for Almond Butter for a recipe she was going to try to make. Neither of us could find it. Finally, after I had gone on to finish up my shopping I found it on the peanut butter aisle. I got a jar of it and then set out to find this lady. We must have been going opposite directions for about 10 minutes....I finally found her in the checkout line....without her Almond Butter! I gave her the jar and she was so thrilled. Just made my day! I hope her recipe turns out good. I should have gotten a copy of it! Maybe I'll see her in the store again. If I do I'll ask her about it.

[Dejibo]

great idea!

This week, Jack (my HUGE orange tiger) failed going off his meds, and needs to be on daily stuff for a while longer.

My son is coming to visit all weekend. He broke up with his ignorant g/f and is finally starting to see life can go on without her. He was blindsided by her actions.

I played round robin with several computers. One preacher man in town crashed his machine (blue screen of death) I talked him into buying a new machine that will handle his needs. I cleaned up and donated his old machine to a couple that has been married for greater than 50 years. Sweet folks, cant afford to repair their old broken machine. I moved all their old files to the new (donated) machine, and then set them up. Took their old very busted machine home with me. put a couple of dollars into it, and repaired, and updated it. I am donating it to the local community center that just opened a computer access area for young ones trying to get their GED or fill out job apps online, or doing resumes, or connecting to family far away. Its a great cause and this older machine will fit the bill perfectly.

My old church has a new pastor! whee! the old one fell far short of expectations and many left the church in droves of anger, and frustration. Maybe this new guy can breathe life back into the place. Its a blessing.

The house is about to be full to bursting! we are expecting hoardes of family to visit for the long holiday weekend, for a last blast on the lake side weekend. Some are staying here, some are in a local motel. its gonna be brutal to keep up with this heat.

[Blessings2You]

AWESOME thread!! Wish I'd discovered it earlier in the day when my brain was functioning.

This week has been way too hot for my taste, but I love that it (mostly) cools down at night, and that we are blessed to have an air conditioner for the bedroom on those really muggy nights. And the hot weather is making my tomatoes and green beans happy! Plus we live in the country, so when it's hot it smells like good things: dirt, grass, the river.

I love hearing my daughter's pet stories. She has a little bichon/shih tzu adorable dog, and a tigerish stripey cat, and they are inseparable. They jockey for position...who can get closest to my daughter, and they sleep with their little legs all tangled together. And they do some FUNNY things! For example, Cooper the cat locked my daughter out on the lanai. Really.

I love baseball. I love it better when the Red Sox are playing well, but I love it even when they once in a great while aren't.
I like the sound of baseball being played even if I'm not truly paying attention. It's like background music.

I confess....I love the Geico ad with the piggy. Wheeee!

[Aarcyn]

Thursday means TILT – Things I Love Thursday again. This week was crazy busy baking breads. Luckily, I had DH home this week to help with egging the breads and washing the bread utensils. I met my quota and had lots of company stopping by to pick up their orders. It was nice to put a face on a name to the people whom I have never met but buy my challah. The Jewish New Year is my busy time. I love to eat apples and honey to start the year off sweetly.

House cleaning crew. Every other week, my crew comes in and cleans what I cannot. After so many do-it-yourself years, I take pleasure in having it done for me. They watched as people rang my doorbell to pick up breads and I was telling them of my holiday. Turns out it was also Sara's birthday so I took a bread out of the freezer as an impromptu gift to celebrate her special day.

Mango is my hero. One huge highlight was Mango found my car key! I thought it had dropped out of my walker at the park two months ago and drove home. Hoping that I did not do that, I looked high and low around the house but could not find it. Mango went under my bed to play attack-my-toes and pushed out the pouch that contains my key.

Random – I love vocabulary. Simply put, I am a word geek. I have always been a word geek. In fact, for my 13th birthday, my favorite gift was a dictionary. I still have that dictionary on a bookcase. I even had a pocket dictionary for reading in bed. I would stop reading a novel just to look up a word if I was unsure of the true meaning. It was a game to see if I had the right definition. I think that is why I love my Kindle. With an easy click, I can have a definition.

In college I used to play Scrabble with a friend. It would be an entire evening event, three hours to play Scrabble. One of our rules was that we could use that dictionary to look up letter combinations, basically made up words. I always lost. My friend was a Scrabble Master, she never scored less than 26 points on her turn even at the end of the game. She was that good. Me? I averaged 12 points, or maybe 3 points. Winning did not matter, it was the words. It added to my lexicon. Don’t know the definition of lexicon? Look it up!

There are so many things to love. As tempting as it is to write about the opposite, I love being determined to edit Thursday’s post and let the good things dominate my thoughts.

[Dejibo]

What a great thread!

I had a house full of company from Thursday PM til Tues AM, and woah am I tired! I am going to need a week to recover. The cleaning girls are back so i had loads of help to clean up after. the DH has gone to the grocery store for me, so I got out of that chore, and DS did the household laundry! Wheee! I even got all the beds changed.

My orange tiger is feeling better back on his meds, and has even been caught cuddling the other kitty. he slept with me last night which he hasnt done in weeks. I was so happy I could have cried.

the weather is finally turning! even peeks of reds, yellows and oranges are starting on the trees! I love fall.

Cleaned out my sweater or winter closet. I have lost a bit of weight and decided that I am entitled to new stuff. I bagged up alot of old stuff and donated it, and now can hunt for new stuff without guilt.

[kicker]

Both my kids are happy in college (good ones - they're kinda smart) but keep in touch with me and admit I was a pretty good parent. I have food and drink available at all times to me. You can feel Fall coming and it is my favorite season. My deer feeder is working, they come out of the woods and I can watch from my bed as I nap.

[Aarcyn]

Another Thursday has arrived. I made bread quota early so I had a few days to relax. I am even ahead for the following week. All a part of my plan for doctor appointments next week. But first, this week is part of what I love Thursdays.

Fall Planting: Although the temperature outside is still mega hot, the season change is in the air. The long days of Summer are gone. I am constantly surprised by how early the sun is setting. I know that the cool early mornings and mild evenings are also coming soon. We headed to our favorite nursery to purchase plants for a hedge. Japanese privets. Nice, evergreen and will grow tall, just what we want. I love wandering (in my portable wheelchair) among all the various species of greenery. I am looking forward to creating a garden oasis on my patio. I have managed to keep a few plants alive for months now! When I was in college, we all had little apartments around campus. Everyone grew beautiful plants, creeping charlies; wandering jews; colius; philodendron. It all felt very organic.

Five fifteen gallon plants went into the ground. DH measured them by having me stand behind them. The tallest is as high as the bridge of my nose. They will fill in nicely with a little care. It will be great when the fledgling plants grow in together and provide a nice green wall.

I have a “Wish List” of things around the house that I would love to do when money permits. As the house ages (along with me aging), the list is always changing and priorities change as well. The plant hedge was one of the things to do. Makes it a good Thursday.

Random Things I Love in the food section: Cherry Jello, Raisin Bran Crunch, nectarines, edamames, bananas, avocados, frozen yogurt, chocolate, Cheesecake Activia, 1/2 cup coffee with the morning newspaper, raw green beans, Portobello mushrooms, peanut butter, fresh apples, nonfat milk. So much more. Those just came to mind immediately.

[AfterMyNap]

S.o H.appy I.t's T.hursday! I think I just unpacked the 6th to the last box! Some generous people came by last night to help me get rid of a couple things and scoot some furniture around. What a difference, I'm super thankful to have met them.

[tkrik]

Cool thread, Cyn! And, I just happened to see it on Thursday.


This Week: My wonderful elderly neighbor (although she doesn't look it or act it) has been such an inspiration to me all week and pushing me to succeed and try new things with my art. She is an awesome, well-known artist and together we are putting on an art show/sale in November. She encouraged me to try some landscapes and to NOT be a perfectionist and to relax and just go with it. I tried it and I have to say that so far I am pleased with my painting. I hope to finish it by tomorrow.

Additionally, I have such a wonderful best friend. Yesterday we spent an hour on the phone (sheesh! I could have driven there in that time ) and the conversation was so uplifting and really cheered me up - well both of us as we were both having rough days. It is great to have such awesome friends like her.

Random Thought: Cyn, the mornings are getting cooler down here so they should be cooling off where you are soon. I am starting to notice a difference in my legs, mobility and coordination, spasticity and pain level. Fall brings to me a "breath of fresh air." My body wakes up from "hibernation" and I get moving.