Thankful Thursday, Average week edition

 This week I'm thankful for:

1. The Gaithersburg book festival! It's a favorite of mine- such a great festival so close to home. I got to meet an author that I really like, Stephanie Dray, and got her newest book about Abigal Adams signed! I also picked up a signed copy of Milo Todd's 'The Lilac People'. I got to hear both of them talk about their books (separate sessions) and also went to a session about books on two different shipwreck stories. Yummy food, bumped into a lot of friends, great weather.

Me with Stephanie Dray

2. Catching up with old friends. Caught up with DJ, a friend I hadn't seen in almost 20 years, at the book festival and we spent 2 hours catching up.

3. Flexible work hours so I can take mom to doctors appointments every now and then.

And sometimes to breakfast afterwards :)

4. A lovely thunderstorm last night.

5. Fresh strawberries and whipped cream.

Thankful Saturday, Calmer week edition

 This week has definitely been better than last week, although that was a bit of a low bar lol.

Lots to be thankful for!

1. I got to camp with my Girl Scouts after all! I was scheduled to camp with them Friday and Saturday nights, but mom in the ER meant that another parent went in my place for the weekend. As it turned out though, I was able to go Saturday night and had a lot of fun! The funniest part was our troop moving our tents into the Glen Shelters because it was going to rain.

2. Luna is walking almost normally now. We're still sorting out her digestive system (maybe too many meds?) but she seems in less pain and is excited to walk again.

3. I just read the book 'The War That Saved My Life' by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley and it was so good. Historical Fiction set in England in WWII, YA. 5 star read.

4. I had a day of rest and small adventures. I slept in, made muffins for breakfast, checked out a new bookstore in Kentlands, went birding for an hour at the lake, and bumped into 2 friends there. I also went looking for owls in a different spot and discovered a new to me trail that I want to fully hike at a later date.

5. A Pileated Woodpecker basically posed for me while I was birding and I got some beautiful shots of a beautiful bird.

6. Two of my cousins have moved to Arizona! Their new place looks so nice and I can't wait to visit them.

7. Mom is doing better. Saw her Saturday morning and Wednesday for lunch and she seems like herself and can walk relatively normally (with her walker). 

Thankful Saturday, Ooooof Week Edition

 Oof, this week has been a doozy. A proposal, worrying about Luna, and then mom wound up in the hospital yesterday because she was really dehydrated. While this is not going to go in my top ten list of weeks in my life that I have enjoyed, there are still things to be grateful for.

1. I have amazing friends that checked on me all week and all day yesterday while we figured out mom in the ER. I cannot say enough good things about my people.

2. Health care and good nurses and doctors. They kept mom comfortable, even fed her in the ER, and were very thorough in figuring out what was going on (mostly dehydration).

3. Mom's care team at Sunrise. They communicated great all week and made the right call to take mom to the hospital yesterday. I know she's in good hands today back at Sunrise.

4. Fun coworkers. Its not fun to be working on a proposal (or anything work related) all weekend, but we had a fun group chat as we reviewed everything, complete with many gifs and emojis.

5. Luna seems to be doing better. She's still not 100% herself, but she's mostly eating and sometimes walking.

6. Beautiful spring colors! Even in a rough week, it helps that everything is bright green and in bloom outside.

Thankful Thursday, Weird Week Edition

 This has honestly kind of been a weird week for me. It's had some great highs and some low lows. In some ways, it was really hard to think of things I was grateful for on Tuesday, when I was so worried we might bomb Iran again. But honestly, remembering that I have so much to be thankful for helps when I'm feeling low, maybe even more than when I'm just having an ordinary day or a great day. 

So this week I'm thankful for:

1. Old friends. On Friday I went birding with Kate and we talked for like 6 hours. On Saturday I saw my friend Andrea from college and we also talked for about 4 hours. Then I had dinner with Babs... and talked for 2 hours. I've known all 3 of these women for over 20 years and its just so fun to hang out, talk about our lives and randomness, laugh, and just be. I really hadn't seen Andrea in at least 8-9 years (we were trying to figure that out), so meeting up in Harrisburg was great. Rats for forgetting to take photos!

2. My favorite bookstore, Midtown Scholar in Harrisburg. On one hand, its a bummer my favorite bookstore is 2 hours away. On the other hand, it's probably a good thing because I'd be there weekly buying way to many books if I was local. It's got new and used books, a huge history section, and this cool underground part that goes on forever of rare books. 

3. Birds! Spring migration has started, and Kate and I walked several miles around Huntley Meadows looking for birds. We found what we think was a Coopers Hawk in a nest, red-headed woodpeckers, and tried our hand at identifying lots of sparrows.

4. Easter! Easter service at our church was such a wonderful celebration. We had a full house, great music, and dang, can Joshua preach. 

5. Girl Scout Cookies. I was silly and gave up sweets for lent, so I've been enjoying my stash of girl scout cookies this week. 

6. Conversations with mom. Alzheimers is a tricky thing, but on Friday mom was in a good mood and we actually chatted about a few things. I think she was following the conversation pretty well as I tried to reminisce about things she might still remember (but not too many things or I'd confuse her). We laughed a lot, and that was wonderful. I miss being able to talk to her about things, and this was a lovely small dose of her that's still in there.  

Thankful Friday, Decluttering Edition

 Well I figured out this week after going BACK to the doctor that I don't have bronchitis, I just have insane allergies. So I have finished my antibiotics, am not contagious, and have a referral to an allergist. All in a week's work?

I'm thankful for:

1. Cherry blossoms! We hit peak bloom this week, and I was able to drive mom around Kenwood yesterday to look at them. 

2. Dinner with mom. I hadn't seen much of her in the last 2 weeks when I was sick and then thought I was still sick. Now that I know I'm not contagious, I was able to take her out for a belated birthday dinner at Not Your Average Joes. 

3. Allergy meds. I'm double dosing Zyrtec at the moment (under doctor's orders) and I don't feel terrible anymore. I still have a terrible cough, but I'm very happy to be rid of the sinus pressure and headaches, hopefully for good.

4. Everything is turning that lovely shade of light green. I love that shade of early spring green.

5. My friend Susan helped me declutter my guest room for almost 5 hours today! I have a load of stuff in my car to go to recycling, another load prepped for Goodwill, and a few boxes that need to go to really specific places like an antique shop or a certain friend. 

6. I'm so happy to almost have my guest room functional again! It's been 3 years since I moved mom to assisted living, and I've been chipping away at the boxes of things I inherited in that process. I'm getting much closer to keeping the number of things I actually want to keep.

7. My work hours are going up to 80% for the next 2 months, huzzah!

8. The bell choir I'm in. We had a particularly fun rehearsal this week with lots of laughter, and its just fun making music with those folks.

9. A gorgeous day to do a short hike with my Girl Scout troop on Sunday. 

Thankful Thursday, In the market for new sinuses edition

 I still have this stupid cold/sinus infection and I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired. That said, I'm still thankful for:

1. The antibiotics I just got- hoping they can help me kick this crud!

2. The sound of rain on my roof as I snuggle under my covers.

3. Mom is doing well. I hadn't seen her in 2 weeks, but I stopped by tonight (masked) to check in and had a good short visit.

4. The weather is warming up- I walked Luna in short sleeves several times this week!

5. A new good book- The Secret Chord by Geraldine Brooks

Thankful Friday, March Edition

 It's been an interesting week, to say the least. I drove back from South Carolina, had some church stuff and Girl Scouts on Sunday, a slew of doctors appointments on Monday, and oh yeah, apparently we are now at war with Iran. :/  I'm still thankful for a lot, including:

1. I'm not traveling internationally right now. I can't imagine living in the middle east and suddenly missiles are headed your way, or getting stranded somewhere because you were trying to catch a connecting flight in Doha (which I have done in the past).

2. Health Insurance and pretty good health. I'm trying to knock out all of my preventative healthcare visits for the year (minus eyedoctor in July), so I have a slew of doctors appointments for a couple of weeks. Other than my angry shoulder though (x-rays and PT), everything is preventative, which is awesome.

3. It's mom's birthday! I managed to get her a Costco cake for VIPS and get her TO the VIPS meeting, so I think she had a really good day. I'll take her out for dinner sometime next week to spread out the celebration too.

4. My snow has melted! When I left for South Carolina, my yard was still 2/3 covered in snow and I had -just- managed to clear my deck of the ice. When I came home, all the snow is gone! Then of course we had an inch on Monday, but that melted pretty quickly. I love snow, but I'm also ready for spring.

5. Work is going well. I wasn't sure how working 60% was going to go, but I seem to be able to get my workload done, and my projects are going well, so that's a win-win.

6. My mojo is back a little bit. Sometimes I have a little bit of seasonal depression in January/February, and it can be hard to get things done, even things I'm excited about doing. Somehow the calendar flipping to March has helped, so I can feel more in control of my time. (Such as scheduling a bagillion doctors appointments.)

7. I got to see Bec on my way home from SC!

 

Thankful Wednesday (?) Pre-Trip Edition

I'm posting a day ahead of time because I'm driving all day tomorrow and I'm not sure what my schedule will look like.

This week I'm thankful for:

1. I was able to get mom to Shrove Tuesday pancakes at church last night. She really enjoyed being with friends and kept saying we should do this more than once a year :o)

2. I got reports submitted for work. Sometimes the portal I have to submit things through is temperamental, but it worked pretty well this time. Thankful the portal worked AND that the reports are done.

3. We played a really beautiful bell piece on Sunday.

4. The Olympics, again. I love watching every day and will miss them when they are over.

5. The ice might finally be melting? Today, a month to the day of the snow/ice storm, and I was finally able to shovel my deck and open my backdoor all the way.

6. I'm off for a week and a half to go visit family and friends. Perks of only working part time, is that I'm only taking 3 days off work to be off 12 days :oP

7. Luna is doing great post-op. Acting like her normal self and even countersurfing a bag of flour lol.