Day 3 of gratitude and counting.

This morning I woke up and thought "I am so grateful for breadmakers." Doug and I both love to wake up to the smell of bread baking. It's almost as good as Christmas morning. Almost. I have decided that bread machines are one of my favorite appliances. I have had mine since 1993. I don't think that when I bought it I ever imagined it would last that long. I had visions of all sorts of goodies and wonderful creations that I would create with this new toy. Ahhh, the brilliant baker I would become, and amaze my friends and family. (insert laughter here......) I admit that I haven't used it as much as I thought I would, but several times a year I pull it out, usually in the fall. I have yet to use the making jam feature, and once or twice I tried rice, but who wants to wait for 45 minutes to cook white rice? Sheesh. Bread machines make great french toast bread. No, I do not have a magical button that turns my not-so-labor intensive bread into french toast, but if I can get to the loaf of crusty, warm bread before it is eaten, then I love to make a great breakfast with it. Just keep your mitts off until then. Got it?

Movies. This afternoon, I went to see Twilight with Tammy. Years ago, Tammy and I were roommates. I had so much fun talking about how ridiculous we were, or she was, because I am sure that I was NEVER ridiculous. I would never humiliate myself, or put my foot in my mouth, (they're too big) or do anything that would make me seem like an idiot. I am perfectly behaved. (Didja feel that? All that sharp whit and sarcasm? I know. You envy my ability to make jokes out of the simplest of subjects. Actually, I regularly make a fool out of myself. It just seems to come so naturally, and I don't seem to be growing out of it. Too bad.) Anyway, back to movies. I thought Twilight was a great movie, and very well done, but I love movies in general. Any excuse to watch a movie, and I am on it. Any at all. It's Friday. Let's watch a movie. I did the laundry, let's watch a movie. Got milk? Let's watch a mooooovie.

Rolaids. I know that this seems a ridiculous thing, but I must say publicly how I appreciate that someone in the world created such a thing. I have some medical issues that require that I keep my digestive fluids (gross, I know.) in check. Not doing so could cause me to end up in a highly drugged state in the emergency room. Been there, done that. Don't want to do it again, thank you very much. So again, I must say thanks to the anonymous people that make antacids that I am actually allowed to take.

Pillows. I love pillows. Not the decorative ones that are so hard you could use them as a weapon, no matter how cute it is. Don't get me wrong, they are wonderful decorations. I can appreciate a decorative pillow with the best of them. I just love big, soft, fluffy pillows that your head sinks into when you lay down. Pillows that you can smush and cuddle with. Pillows that you don't want to walk away from when you get up in the morning. Hmmmm, maybe I should change my pillows so I could get up easier in the morning...... Nah. Not gonna happen.

Weekends. I love weekends. Not like I did when I was a kid, because in those days it meant no school, lots of friends, and Dukes of Hazard on Friday night TV. Now I love weekends because my family gets to be together. Doug works practically sun up to sun down. Between his day job and teaching scuba at night, we rarely have time together. Those moments on the weekends make the previous week seem not so long. We never actually do much, because Doug likes to be home, it's a novelty to him. It is just nice to have him here. We can spend the weekend being bored together, so that when Monday rolls around again, we can all give a sigh of relief that we made it through the weekend, and can settle down to the week ahead. Why am I never content with where I am? Still, that time we have to talk and laugh together is wonderful. Besides, someone has to eat all the delightful creations that come out of my bread machine.

Day 2 of giving thanks.

I guess under water, it doesn't matter if they speak different languages.



Hands off, girls. One of them is mine. The other is taken, too.

Today I have been grateful for friends. Last night we were able to take a good friend, Dustin, and his wife, Camila (who is now a good friend as well), to the pool while Doug taught her to scuba dive. She speaks Portugese, so it came in handy that Dustin could translate. (I suppose it is always nice to be able to speak to your wife.) Doug and I first met Dustin when they were learning to hangglide about the same time. There have been so many years... and injuries, since then. Yes, Dustin, I AM talking about you. It was fun to see them. While they were doing book work at the house, however, a friend that Doug used to work with stopped by with his wife to see our new cabinets. Thank heaven we have something other people need, or we would never see anyone.

Next, I was thinking that I am grateful for eyebrows. Don't laugh. I'm serious. Ok, truthfully, I thought it was more funny than anything, but think about it. What if you didn't have any? Would you really want to send out a picture on your christmas card? I have decided that I know why we are freaked out by aliens. They don't have eyebrows. Now you are trying to think of any freaky aliens that have eyebrows, aren't you? The only ones I know of are living inside a human body, and that is freaky all by itself.

Thirdly, washers and dryers. I just love clothes, blankets, and towels that are freshly laundered. That does not mean I enjoy doing laundry, just that I love warm blankets and towels, and everything smells so good. I wish you could keep that warmth to snuggle in on a cold night, or while watching a movie. Which makes me also ask: Why are movie theaters so cold all the time? It has nothing to do with my washer and dryer, but I want to know. I don't get cold often, but I am always a bit cold in theaters. I'm just wondering. If you have a brilliant answer to that, (or any answer, really), let me know.

Fourth, would be sunlight. I don't always think about the light that is always there. I tend to take it for granted. I love the way it shines in my windows in the morning, and makes me happy for the rest of the day. I even love it in the afternoon, as it shines in my kitchen window. Our faucet in the kitchen always has one drop of water hanging from it, like a rain drop about to fall, but it just stays there. Not enough gravity in that particular area, I guess. As the sun gets lower in the afternoon, it shines through that drop, and it looks like a crystal hanging from the faucet. You have to catch it just right, though, because the sun moves too quickly for it to last. Shortly after that, the sun is shining in through the window, and lighting up the opposite wall. This is the time we avoid the kitchen, because of all the accidents. Nobody can see. It is blinding and causes many crashes from walking into things... and people. I have run into the counters, and bashed my forehead far too many times. As if that isn't bad enough, you turn around to get away, and there it is again, blinding you from the reflected glare on the stainless steel refrigerator. You're hungry? Too bad. Suffer. I am not going in to fix dinner until I can see again. I hope the damage to my retinas heals quickly.

Lastly, my closet. I love that when someone unexpectedly comes over, I have a closet with doors that close. It hides many things that I do not want out for public viewing. Ok, I am talking about the pile of unfolded laundry, and undies that always seems to spend more than it's fair share of time on my bed. All the lonely socks that can't find a mate, the shirts that have stains on them that I didn't see until AFTER I had washed them, and are now taunting and laughing at me, because I have to deal with them all over again. Into the closet they go, until I get a chance to take them out the next day, and add them to the already growing 'new' pile on the bed. Do they ever go away? YUP! They can taunt me all they want, because I know something they don't. Eventually, they will have to be replaced, because they will be outgrown or lost somewhere (probably under a shoe in my closet, I have big feet). Let's see them laugh at that.

Gimme a break, I had a terrible headache that had just reduced in size from an ostrich to an emu, and Doug was coming down with the flu. We had a good time, though.

Things to be thankful for......

I have been thinking all month that I should be writing about all the things I am thankful for. It is November, after all, but the month started out against that idea. Our internet went down, and to make a long story short, we found a new provider. By then, it was a good week and a half into the month, so I missed the opportunity to do a full month of Thanksgiving. As my second option, I decided to do seven days of Thanksgiving, instead. Today is day one.

Number 1:

The first thing on my list this year must be: MY HEALTH. I have had a couple of rough years, and it is nice to start feeling human again. I am not one hundred percent, but it doesn't matter at this point. There were too many days when I wondered what the outcome would be, and I am happy to be moving in the right direction. Those days aren't gone, just farther and fewer between.

Number 2:

Talents. The talents I have, because I enjoy the things I can do. As we all should. I do not mean that you should all enjoy the things I can do, although I would be ok with that, but that we should all enjoy the talents we have been given. Sometimes I don't think it's that big of a deal, until someone says thank you. Then I have a reality check.

Number 3:

Toothpaste. Seriously, think about it. 'Nuf said.

Number 4:

Computers. I love the opportunity to learn new things, and lets face it. Computers are about the only thing that change faster than fashion and hairstyles. I love finding new things I can do with them, and being reminded of things I used to do, but forgot about. Let's just leave all the card games out of the equation.

Number 5:

Internet. I know that it probably falls under the computer heading, but I have very different reasons for being grateful for this, especially since we were without it so much in the last few months. I love that I have found so many people that I lost track of. I have moved so much, there are so many I drifted apart from. How fun is it that you can find long lost friends, and talk to them every day? The ability to see pictures of them makes me realize that we are still those little kids, that even though we have many more years behind us, we are still the same people. I also love that you can find the answer to ANYTHING. I dare you to come up with a question that you can't find something about. I double dare you. I triple dog dare you. (I know, slight breach of ettiquette, but I am going for the throat.)

That's it for today. There will be more Thanks - Giving tomorrow, so check back in. Same turkey time, same turkey channel.

He gave me the Bird.

Friday morning, I was in the kitchen waiting for Doug and Miriam to come down for breakfast, when suddenly there was a really loud THUMP on the living room window. I knew exactly what happened, because it's been happening a lot lately. There are so many birds around our neighborhood, and for some reason they find it funny to fly into my windows during the day, just to scare me to death. I always worry about the bird, and go running outside to see if it is injured, only to find that there is no bird to be found. At some point, I wondered if the neighbors were just harassing me by throwing rocks, but a couple of times I have been looking out the window, and saw it coming. You would think that the blinds or curtains would make them stop, but NO. There is even a bird that flies into my neighbors house when their back door is open. I always wonder if they even know it is happening. I better get it on video before I tell them.

Anyway, back to the thump. By now, I just figure the stupid bird has flown away with a massive migraine or concussion, to be ridiculed by the other birds in the neighborhood. So off goes my family to school and work, and I closed the garage behind them. I didn't go out the front door until later that afternoon to get the mail. There in the middle of my porch is the poor, stupid, little bird. He is flat on his back with his little bird legs straight up in the air. He may as well have been napping with his eyes wide open. I thought it was funny, and as I was walking back to the porch, Miriam rolled up on her scooter from school.

I felt it was my duty to gross her out, so I pointed out the bird on the porch, and her fascination surprised me. She felt so bad that he died, but thought it was funny, too. Then she looked closer, and thought he still looked alive. "It's freakin' me out mom!" We left it for Doug to take care of.

A while later, Doug came home early, and thought it would be funny to put him on the railing. He set up the carcass, and came to see if he could shock us by showing us the bird that doesn't fly away. He was disappointed that we already knew that it was dead, but that didn't stop him from trying to freak out Miriam's friend. I decided we needed a picture of the event, so I took a few. Now I am weirded out over the fact that I took pictures of a dead bird. The thing is, it looked so peaceful. I went outside a few times, and had to pause for a second, because I expected him to fly away. You would think that someone used the Avada Kedavra curse on him, or something, because he looked so perfect.

We left him on the railing until he fell off, which was the next morning. I went out to take another picture of him, and then about 10:00 or so, we noticed that he had fallen down. Time for a proper burial. Too bad Doug disposed of him in the trash. We could have buried it and had a memorial service and everything. Miriam could have made a headstone for it, and we could've taken flowers to it on Memorial Day. Please. As if. Don't we know the Burrell's well enough by now?