I've been a crabby old bat lately, and I know it. I remind myself of my mom--not my REAL mom, the way she was for the first 80+ years, but the way she was about half the time for the last couple of years, when Alzheimer's changed her from a sweet, good-humored, generous person to a fussy, selfish whiner.

When she was in that frame of mind, she took everything personally and negatively. We'd go for a ride and she'd say, "Wouldn't you know I'd get a chance to go for a ride and it would be raining!" The next time she'd say, "Wouldn't you know I'd get a chance to go for a ride and the sun would be right in my eyes!" One day she'd say, "Wouldn't you know there'd be nothing good on TV!" and the next, "Wouldn't you know there'd be three shows I want to watch on at the same time!"

As I do every once in a while, when I hear myself heading that direction, I'm trying to be mindful of the little things I have that make me thankful. I'm not talking about the BIG things that we're all (or should be) thankful for: family, friends, freedom, whatever. I'm forcing myself to look at the things I take for granted every day, such as:

*Two bathrooms. There are many, many times when I would really be anxious to realize the bathroom was already in use.

*Kleenex. (Puffs, actually). I remember my mother boiling handkerchiefs in an old pot. Yee-uck!

*Toilet tissue. No explanation needed.

*A shower head. My folks always had only a bathtub, and climbing in and out was painful and a peril for them.

*A clothes dryer. I remember Mom unpinning towels from the clothesline in the winter. They'd be frozen stiff. (Mom and the towels)

*A well. I can remember having to wait two hours between loads of laundry so the spring would fill up.

*Cordless phones. I know, I know, you're thinking, "You still have a land line??" But I spent most of my life trying not to knock the sugar bowl over with the phone cord as I stretched it out across the table trying to reach the stove while talking to someone, hitched to the wall. I still marvel sometimes that I can take the phone with me to the basement to explain, "Yes, the pilot light is still on".

Okay, that's a start.

I'm grateful for a grocery store. I don't garden and with this drought I don't know if I could even try. But I am very grateful that I can got to the grocery store and get anything I want. I may not like the prices but I own my home, have good retirement benefits plus SSD and a nice nest egg.

I am also very grateful for the internet. Like a lot of you my personality has changed through the years. I am not as out going, it rakes a while to find a word. You guys don't know how many times I have erased a sentence because it doesn't look right. But with this forum and my face book, I belong to a wonderful non MS forum there, I have a lot of friends who take me as I am

im grateful I dont have to worry about lightening in the mountains while i am on the phone cause it would ZING thru the house and smack into the copper plumbing. DONT be on the phone during a storm!

Im also grateful we no longer have party lines. We used to have 5 families share our phone line on top of the mountain and if you wanted to call and see what movie was playing at the drive in you had to wait for Shirley to stop talking to her aunt Thelma about her bunions. You would be in the middle of sweet nothings with your b/f and Darla up the road would say "Does your momma know you talk that way to a boy?" UGH! HANG UP!

Cast iron tubs. COLD! you had to use really hot water to heat it up so your bum wasnt a ice cube when you took a bath.

Cant bathe during "the curse" WTH was that all about? wasnt that the time you needed a bath the most?

Washing your hair in ice cold water in the sink cause no one would give up the bathroom so you could shower. No hot water in the kitchen sink, it was a pump from the yard. BRRR!

Why did we have to sit IN the car and wait for it to warm up? it was icy, breezy, dark out and at 4 am in the back woods I doubt anyone is going to steal it while we let it warm up, unless Bears want cars. Had to sit and shiver while scraping ice from the inside. im glad for remote car starters. The doors stay locked while it warms up.

Your mom sounds like Dejibo's neighbors.

I'm grateful landlines are still available! Us rural folk get lousy cell phone signals. Even though the company's name is Coon Creek TC, and everything more than 10 miles away is long distance, I'm glad they're here.

I'm grateful I have one good neighbor. He called yesterday to let me know a loose cow was coming down my road. I opened the gate and she went right in.