I cleaned out the fridge

…and that’s the recycling that’s left. You understand, there were also plastic storage containers and glass jars that went into the dishwasher (and, curiously, a plastic bag half full of cooked noodles). I realized a few things:

1. I should actually finish the Heluva Good dip before I buy more.
2. I shouldn’t buy cream cheese nearly as often as I do. Or I ought to buy bagels more.
3. Since I don’t like sweet stuff for breakfast I really need to get in the habit of having delicious Noosa Yoghurt as a snack later in the day. Seriously! It’s much too good to let go to waste!

The Blue Moon is from after I finished!

Hockey post with a side of ADD

Point #1:

Sometimes it's helpful to see things from the other side. I'm now following Paul Stewart on Twitter, and he offers some insight into what's going on with the officials on the ice.

We love to hate them (and they sometimes really have it coming). Sometimes they make us laugh. Mike Leggo is beloved by Dallas Stars & other NHL fans because of this.

I don't usually think about the fact that the officials have a history with the coaches and team management as well as the players. Paul Stewart doesn't officiate on ice any more, but this entry in his blog does illustrate how the refs and linesmen might have some preconceived notions about a particular team.

In 1978-79, he played for a very shaky, now-defunct AHL team, the Philadelphia Firebirds. He calls it "a terrible team," "filled with gutless players," who were "not just mediocre in skill (even for the AHL level), they also lacked work ethic and were a bunch of pansies on top of it." He describes this one incident:

The fighting duties were left to me. In 16 games, I scored a pair of goals and had 92 penalty minutes. I wasn't too happy about it, either.

One night in Portland, we were playing the Maine Mariners; the Flyers' affiliate. They were a tough team filled with guys who fought regularly. I tried in vain to fire up the team by stirring the pot before the drop of the puck. Big, big mistake.

I got jumped by a gang of Mariners and was left all alone on the ice to get my butt kicked. I was a bloody mess but screamed at the Maine players to keep bringing it on. They did -- mercilessly. By the end, both of my eyes were swollen shut and I was still standing with my fists cocked, with my own blood streaming. I could only swing blindly by that point. When it was finally over, Coates helped me off the ice.

Not one of my teammates came to my aid. The most anyone did was pair off and hold onto a Maine player away from the six-on-one.

Then he adds:

One of the Firebirds players who stayed as far away as possible was Mike Gillis -- then a Rockies' first-round pick making a brief AHL stop on his way to their NHL team, and now the general manager of the Vancouver Canucks.

I'm guessing that, later on, he wasn't kind to the Canucks when he officiated at their games.

Point #2:

At the game last night I really, really wanted to tell the Stars players two things. First, Dillon, honey—if you're going to spit during the national anthem, you might want to make sure you've not on camera, on the giant Jerry Jr. screen, before you do it. Secondly, to everybody who played in the third period: Your "go to" play (picking up the puck in your own zone, taking it up the boards on the west side, getting pressured in the neutral zone until you dumped it, chasing (without, you know, hitting anybody) and gathering it up on the east side of the Devils' goal, then getting it taken away from you) didn't result anything positive the first forty times you tried it. Were you thinking that the 41st time's a charm…?

Point #3:

Stars Director of Customer Service, Daniel Venegas, commented at a recent STHC meeting, "No matter how bad you [the fans] feel after the team loses, the players feel worse." Okay. That's worth keeping in mind. [sigh]

So I take it back about the sad level of play last night.* But not about the spitting thing. Really!

*Except to agree with head coach Lindy Ruff, who told reporters, “In the third, I thought for a long while if there was a shot on goal people would give us a standing ovation.”

Holidays

I started to post this on Facebook, as a comment on a friend's post, but realized it was going to be too long. She said,

"I’m always bemused by those few who think that this time of year has always been and should only be about the celebration of their personal savior's birth -- those publicly decrying others who shamefully celebrate the season for other reasons or in a more secular fashion. The spirit of the holiday is being lost in the name of the spirit of the holiday.

Actually, their early church came late to the game -- usurping the sacred time and traditions of Druids, Romans, Scandinavians, and myriad other cultures celebrating the winter solstice -- that yearly turning point, bringing promise of the renewal of the cycle of life. 

I say, keep the win in winter.

It must be the agrarian mother cultist in me."

Hear, hear! Yes, I do celebrate Christmas. But the thing is…

First of all, the Santa Claus holiday has nothing to do with religion and, frankly, it annoys the heck out of me when people put up a Christmas tree, open presents and act like they're taking some kind of a stand for Christianity. The Santa holiday is secular, for all to celebrate, and doesn't mean you're endorsing any religious beliefs. It's about good will, for crying out loud, and everyone can support that, surely!

Secondly, if you're really approaching Christmas as a religious holiday, make sure you're doing something religious to celebrate. Going to church? Studying scripture in connection to Advent? (Which is NOT a festive time, BTW, it's a reminder that the world needed a savior because we were lost, drowning in sin. Uh, whoopee…?) Again, decorating a tree, wrapping presents…not religious.

And, while we're at it, Christmas isn't a big Christian holiday. Easter is the big one. Christmas celebrates Jesus being born, and everybody was born. If you believe that Jesus was who he said he was, then what you want to celebrate is the fact that he overcame death. (See, not everybody does that.) I've read that we actually started celebrating Christ's birth because there were all kinds of celebrations going on around the Winter Solstice anyway, and either we wanted to get in on the party or were trying a little under-the-table proselytizing. ("You have a party in December? You must be Christian! No, really, that's when Christians have parties, so….")

And, yes, okay, I can understand my friend Barry's objection to "holiday trees," and "holiday parties" that just happen to coincide with the Christmas season. He's Jewish and pretty religious, and he's not offended by other people celebrating Christmas but he doesn't celebrate it himself, not even when it's thinly disguised as non-Christian. His response to the reasoning in that first paragraph above is that the basis for Christmas is Christian. He gets that it's largely secular now, just like Valentine's Day or Halloween, but can't bring himself to join in. I can respect that, but…(keep reading).

Finally, could we all agree, no matter what our spiritual beliefs are, that it's nice to have one month a year when people think they ought to be nice to each other? Can we all get behind that? If you celebrate a holiday during that time, great. Happy whatever-is-appropriate-to-your-beliefs. If you don't celebrate any other holidays, then call it End of the Year Time of Reflection, or Beginning of a New Year of Hope and Opportunity. Just don't get your nose out of joint because other people don't believe the same thing you do.

As long as we all agree that the calendar changes and a new year starts in January, it's a worldwide holiday. Everybody gets to play. So unpucker and show a little good will.

Sorry for the long silence

Sorry to be away so long. I actually had posts for those last few days of November, but we were visiting my family in San Antonio, and I was having too much fun to take time to post.

Right now we're in the middle of Icegeddon, the second time in a few years that the DFW area (population 6.6 million) has gotten serious ice storms and been shut down. I'll be back when I have something to say that doesn't involve cursing. (My nerves—and Rich's—are starting to wear thin. If I disappear, he did it. If he disappears, he probably just ran off. Yeah, that's the ticket.)

Just one more day

This is the second time I've written this. If Blogger (or Safari or my ancient iPad, whichever is responsible) loses it this time, this is just going to be a blank page.

I'm afraid today I'm still focused on my funny, entertaining family. After spending the day with them, I'm still gratified and very thankful for how witty, warm and gracious they are. And we DO love to cook together! So, like, Thanksgiving is a pretty good time for us.

Tonight, Al heated up the ham left over from last night, Suzanne made a delicious kale salad with Caesar dressing, and I made…

Cindy's Savory Kugel von Turos Csusza

Ingredients:

16 oz noodles
4 (or more) slices of bacon
2 cups sour cream
1-1/2 cups cottage cheese
2–4 eggs

Garlic powder
Onion powder
Salt & pepper

Pinch of sweet smoked paprika

Directions:

Cook noodles to al dente stage, according to package directions. Drain and set aside. While noodles are boiling, cook bacon until crispy. Crumble and set aside.

Mix noodles with sour cream, egg(s), cottage cheese and bacon. Add garlic power, onion powder, salt & pepper to taste. Pour into a 2-qt baking dish. Sprinkle paprika on top.

Bake at 350 degrees for about half an hour.

And good luck with all of your Thanksgiving goodies tomorrow!

26th Day of Thanksgiving

…or T-minus just 2and counting.

Today I'm thankful for these people:



…well, I never could get them all grouped together to take a photo. Take my word for it, they're lovely, and a warm, witty bunch.

I'll try again tomorrow.

25th Day of Thanksgiving

T-minus 3 and counting! How did Thanksgiving get so close? Where was I?

Today I'm thankful for…you know, this is kind of hard. Not that I don't have a great plenty to be thankful for, it's just kind of hard to find a completely different thing every day for 28 days. When I start writing an entry and think, "Now, what am I thankful for?" I tend to come back to the same handful of things over and over: my health, my family (including the ones I married), the pets I love so much (and the fact that Biddy is doing so well), my good luck in being born and living in the circumstances I enjoy…that's just the basic good stuff. There's so much more that's just gravy!

So today I'm going to say I'm thankful for an embarrassment of riches when it comes to having things to be thankful for.

(No, that is not cheating!)

24th Day of Thanksgiving

I'm thankful that I get to be with family and friends on Thanksgiving. (And that Lydia & Jake will be taking care of our house and all our babies.)

Yeah, it's going to be short and sweet 'til I have a minute. Sorry!

So maybe I'm just going to do two every other day.

23rd Day of Thanksgiving, or T-minus 5 and counting. Yeah, I didn't get around to it yesterday.

So, yesterday I was thankful for changing seasons, and having some winter-like weather. Don't get me wrong—I've lived in the deep south all my life, and I'm very thankful for that (hey…!). But I do enjoy living in a place that gets snow a couple of times a year.

I could live without the sleet and ice storms.

Anyway, our plans have changed because of the winter storm moving in today. We had planned to leave for San Antonio tomorrow morning, but the roads are supposed to be icy most of the day tomorrow. So we'll be delaying 'til Tuesday. That was pretty good news, I guess, for the fabulous Lydia, our petsitter, and her husband Jake, who are gracious enough to move in while we're gone. (That makes all the difference in the world for us—for me—when we travel, knowing that they're here, especially since Biddy was so recently sick. And all our animals adore Lydia, so they're really happy about it, too!) On the one hand, she gets to sleep in her own bed for another night. On the other hand, she gets paid for one fewer days. Life is nothing but compromise, isn't it?

Anyway, I'm glad for some variation in weather, and the ice will clear up.

Everybody stay warm!

22nd Day of Thanksgiving, or T-minus 6 and counting

Today I'm thankful for humor. In fact, I'm pretty dependent on it.

I laugh a lot. I laugh at clever things, silly things, obscure things, absurd things. I look for humor, I find humor in everyday situations every day. More often, though, I find it without even looking. I guess you could say it finds me.

For example, a few days ago I had had a tiny eyelash floating around in my eye for about a day or so. I finally found it and got it out, and later that day I happened to touch my eye. I thought, "Oh, yeah. I had that eyelid in my eye, but finally got it out." Yes, 'eyelid' is what I thought. And that made me laugh for several minutes.

Yeah. Like to laugh, like that I can find things funny. My sister Linda and I have often commented that we're so easily amused that we sometimes seem simple, but we're happy. Fair tradeoff, I'd say.

So I'm grateful for that sense of humor, and being open to being amused. And speaking of amused…

Until today, the second-funniest thing I'd ever seen on or around an NHL bench took place in a game we attended in February, 2011, New Jersey Devils at the Dallas Stars. Our seats are on the penalty box side, so we're facing the benches, and by sheer chance I just happened to glance at the Devils' bench right at a shift change. The three players leaving the ice went in through the door, and the three coming on the ice stepped over the half wall. (They do that all the time, if you're not familiar.) This time, though, all three players coming over the wall caught a skate or something, and all three of them tripped and tumbled onto the ice, at the same time. It was amazing, and I remember thinking, "Well, that's not something you see every day!" I've search high and low for video that might have caught it, but haven't found anything. So just take a moment and picture it….

The funniest thing, until today, was this gem. We're Marty Turco fans anyway, and this kind of thing is just one of the many reasons. (And it's not that Marty Turco didn't close the door. He opened the door.)

Cracks me up! Also kind of cracked Polak up, too.

But today, both those moved down a place. This is now #1. I saw it on Sean McIndoe's excellent entry on the excellent sports blog, Grantland.

Here's the full post. And he's right: I've watched it about fifty times and I'm still laughing out loud. (This is Sean's own blog and, BTW, you should buy his book. Hockey and humor. What could be better than that?)

Take a moment to laugh, this Friday afternoon, and be thankful for it. I am!

21st Day of Thanksgiving

I'm very thankful for all the resources with which I've been blessed. God knows they're a pure gift—I haven't earned them!

But I am grateful, and I'll do my best to use them wisely.

20th Day of Thanksgiving (T-minus 8 and counting)

Today I'm thankful for Not-Net.

Years ago, my friend and business acquaintance, Joe Paul, started a networking group. It met at 7am every Wednesday morning, and participants would have breakfast and network — talk about their business, develop strategy, make contacts, set goals, and like that. I became a member, and we met every week at Central Market Café in Southlake. It was called NorthEast Tarrant Networking, or Net-Net.

After a few years, the group kind of petered out (I think most networking groups have a lifespan and this one had just run its course). Joe bowed out, and the rest of us weren't sure whether we were going to continue or not. I decided I was going to use that time to blog (if you read some of my very early entries, you'll catch references to all this), so I announced that I'd be coming to breakfast at the same time and place as always, and anyone who wanted to was welcome to join me.

There turned out to be five of us who kept coming: Debbie Clark, Barry Klompus, Linda Montgomery, Dorothy Culberson and me. We talked about our businesses some, but mostly it quickly became breakfast with friends. We started moving around. (There's a flurry of emails and texts back and forth on Tuesday night, as we decide where we're going.) Our meeting time moved back, and I now set my alarm for 7am Wednesday mornings, the time we used to need to be there.

Eventually we dubbed the group Not-Net.

The five of us became incredibly close. It's hard to say how close we would have been if it hadn't been for that regular meeting. But we had that, and we became such good friends. It was like therapy, getting together for a few hours every week with these people I value so much! It did and still does wonderful things for my outlook on life, and was a very important part of my week.

But, as all things do, things changed. Dorothy moved to San Antonio to be near her aging mother. Linda's husband got the job offer of a lifetime in Los Angeles, where they had lived before the Metroplex, and they moved back. Barry, Debbie and I still meet, though, and—I hope—will continue to meet.

We've been through and gotten each other through a lot. Facing cancer, the loss of loved ones, layoffs, new jobs, slow economies, family crises, crazy relatives and more of life's difficulties, we've given each other lots of laughs, neverending support and encouragement—and every now and then some silliness.

So thanks Barry & Debbie! Thanks, Linda & Dorothy! (We miss y'all so much!) You're something I'm very, very thankful for!

19th Day of Thanksgiving

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I forgot again.

Today (or yesterday) I am (or was) thankful for the education I was fortunate to receive. I didn't always take advantage of it the way I could and should have, but it was there.

I went to kindergarten (circa the dawn of time) at the First Baptist Church of Prichard (Alabama). Then 1st through 4th grades at Glendale Elementary, across the street and down the block from our house. I just read online that Glendale closed in 2008, and they announced three years ago that it would be torn down. I'm guessing it's gone now, but it was a nice school way back when.

It looked better before it was painted white & boarded up. BTW, do you see those steps? When I went to school there, the "handrails," the concrete slabs angled down on either side, represented a major milestone of childhood: you had to be big enough and have enough nerve to slide down them. (I never did. We moved away before I developed nerve.)

In 1966, after I finished 4th grade, my family moved to San Antonio, and I finished elementary school at Thunderbird Hills Elementary. I walked there, most days. According to Google Maps, it's only a mile. It felt longer. (My favorite teacher there—possibly my favorite teacher of all—was Mrs. Slovacek in the 5th grade.)

After that, Sul Ross Jr. High (yes, children, that's what it was called in those days). It was a good enough school, I guess. My memories of it are hazy, my brain awash with a tsunami of hormones. Adolescence was not an easy time for me. I owe a great deal of thanks to all the teachers and staff at Sul Ross back then, for allowing me to continue living.

High school was Oliver Wendell Holmes. It's the round one. Obviously built in the 60s, "the round one" is how everybody identified it. It was (and I'll bet still is) a school joke to tell freshmen to go to the end of the hall and turn right. See, round school…halls don't have an end…uh, okay, moving on…

My spotty college career started right after high school at Angelo State University, studying Theatre. After a year there, my parents decided to move back to Mobile, so I transferred to the University of South Alabama, where I took every Theatre course they offered, then dropped out. That was College, Part 1.

Years passed. I moved back to San Antonio, went to work and eventually got married. My well-employed new husband asked if I wanted to finish my degree. I got copies of all my transcripts, took them around to all the colleges and universities in San Antonio (there are a bunch), saying, "Here's what I've got. I don't care what I major in. How fast can I graduate?"

So College, Part 2, began at Our Lady of the Lake (where an admissions officer casually mentioned that my ACT scores would have gotten me a full scholarship if I had gone there after high school—as I entered the last few years of paying off my student loans). I quit my job and enrolled. Rich got laid off three weeks later. But, since he had seen the handwriting on the wall, he had already applied at Southwest Research Institute, and started work three weeks after I started class. Yeah, sometimes things work out.

BTW, going back to school made me want to kick myself for the way I did things in Part 1. I discovered that ninety percent of making good grades—possibly more than that, really—is showing up and following the instructions. And, also, no matter how I tried, I simply couldn't make my school work take up eight hours a day, every day. I'd read and re-read and take notes and do assignments and RE-read…and five hours would have passed. It might have been different if I had been studying medicine or nuclear physics or something, but the fact is that going to school (just going to school, to be clear, I was NOT working at the same time) is not the same as a full time job.

See that flat area between the buildings? That's a second-story
 courtyard, and I spent many happy hours there, studying. There's a
big loquat tree on the other side, away from the camera, and you could
tell how far down students could reach by how far up the ripe loquats
stopped. Loved that spot!

A year and a half and $8000 later, I finally graduated. I have a degree in Media Communications, from the last year they offered it as a degree. (I also had a minor in—what else?—Theatre, and possibly History, too, because it turned out I had taken a bunch of history classes. Go figure.)

Having a college degree has opened doors for me, and it actually happens to be in something that I've found myself working in over and over. So I'm grateful for the opportunities I've had—even though I wasn't quite astute enough to take full advantage of them.

My very clever niece could have easily graduated from high school early, but said, "It's a free education. Why wouldn't I get as much out of it as I can?"

Wow. Wish I had been that smart!

Friends

Today, the 18th Day of Thanksgiving (T-minus 10 and counting), I'm thankful for friends. I've had (and have) some dynamite ones!

Tina, who shared my childhood. Nancy, who grew up with me (we were besties in high school and were in each other's weddings, and kept in touch all those year since then — even before Facebook). Cindy N., Kathy, Pam, Chuck, Robin, Linda C., Linda G., Diana, Cindy W., Patti, Erik, Hessu, Matti, Galen, Rusty, Jean, Wendell, Nicole, Carol, Barbara, Lisa, Mary, Joan, Mike, Elizabeth, Jen, Maria, Carolyn, Bob, Elaine, Connie…how could one possibly list everybody you've ever considered a friend?

It's a fortunate life when you've been lucky enough to know so many good and great people to share your life and times with. And I'm thankful for that!

The Founder's Chapel

On this, the 17th Day of Thanksgiving (T-minus 11 and counting), I'm thankful for the Founder's Chapel at White's Chapel UMC.

White's Chapel is a very large United Methodist church, the only one in Southlake. It's too big for me, and I have some problems with how they spend their money, but the Founder's Chapel…oh, the Founder's Chapel!

Small, simple. Beautiful. Talented and dedicated musicians, faithful lay leaders, readers and ushers, a small but above average congregation. (Okay, the pastor joked about it today, relating this: the lovely woman who leads the singing asked him if he wanted to review the service before it began. He said, "Well, is there something extraordinary about it?" She said, "Besides me? No." He had to agree with her that she is, and then went on to tell us that the Founder's Chapel is White's Chapel's Lake Wobegon.) We take communion every week, they ring an actual church bell at the beginning and end of the service. Plus we're outta there by 10:30am!

We have a different associate pastor preaching each month, and they cancel our service anytime there's anything else going on. But it's a fine, personal, get-down-to-basics service. (And at White's Chapel, where everything tends to be an extravaganza, that's doing something.)

So I'm thankful that I found it. And that might be me sitting on the right side in the photo…:)

16th Day of Thanksgiving

Seriously, I wrote this yesterday, on the 16th. After a lengthy pause to go search for the quote, I kept working on it, then stopped when it got to be time to make dinner. I thought, "I'll come back later and put in all the links." Uh, no. I remembered it after I was already in bed. (But, anyway, I'm going to count it as being timely.)


Today I'm thankful that I learned how to knit.

I've been looking, fruitlessly, for a quote (I believe from one of my very favorite writers, Peg Bracken) that explains one aspect of it. She (I think it was her) was telling about a woman who talked about the quilts she pieced together by hand. The woman said that those quilts contained a whole lot of anger, hurt feelings, disappointment and whatever other negative emotions she had been experiencing when she sat down to work on them. Somehow, working on the quilt took all that away. Exactly. It can be a very Zen thing.

 People who don't knit (and, yes, we do call them muggles) often say, "Oh, I don't have the patience to do that." They've got it backwards. The patience comes from doing it.

And you end up with simply bitchin' gifts, particularly baby gifts. The items themselves might not be great—might not even be good, and I've given some of those myself—but as the wise and hysterically funny Jeanne Robertson points out, "You get a lot more credit if you make it yourself." She was talking about food, but the same thing applies to baby booties or hats or anything that the recipient doesn't actually register for at Babies R Us. They know you were thinking of them, even if it's something they may not use. (And, seriously, they're going to use bibs and diaper covers like crazy, and knitted ones are actually extremely functional. Go ahead. Just make it out of cotton and try not to make it too ugly.)

Finally, it's useful. I believe I've mentioned before, knitting has less to do with grandma sitting in her rocking chair than it does the preppers and people choosing to live off the grid. We know how to make things. Many, many knitters and crocheters branch out to spinning and weaving, and we do tend to get into hunting and raising chickens and canning and otherwise living a little more self-sufficiently than the general population. We know how to make stuff, and we know what a good thing that is. (After the apocalypse, only knitters will have socks. I think I've mentioned that before.)

I think—I vaguely remember—my grandmother teaching me how to knit when I was about eight years old. It didn't stick. I tried to teach myself many years later, when my mother was in the hospital for about six weeks, and I was spending most days with her. That didn't really stick, either. It wasn't until many years (again) later, in 2005, when I took a class at Michael's, that I actually learned. (BTW, the class was $15 for two hours, and I was the only person in it. I paid $15 for a 2-hour private lesson. You can't beat that!)

That time, it stuck. I took off. I knitted scarves, hats, slippers, gloves, mittens, afghans, more scarves, shawls, stuffed animals, more hats…everyone I know has gotten something knitted as a gift.

I love my little Stitch 'n' Bitch group. We meet at Cafe Express on the first, third and (if there is one) fifth Thursdays of the month. Despite the name, we're a group of nice women who support and like each other. Feel free to join us. We'll teach you!

It satisfies me. It keeps my hands busy. It helps me get over things I need to get over, and I end up with something tangible afterward. I'm very glad I learned to knit!

15th Day of Thanksgiving (T-minus 13 and counting)

Today (or, actually, tonight) I'm thankful for a quiet, cozy home life. I know a lot of people like to go out, and we go out sometimes (mostly to hockey and baseball games, because I can't help myself), but I really, truly enjoy spending time at home.

I've always been something of a homebody, even when I was dancing with Fire on the Mountain, and averaged 150 shows a year. I loved it, and cherish the experience, but I do love my time at home, too. Fortunately, Rich feels the same. (I guess, though, we probably wouldn't have ended up married if he didn't, right?)

So tonight we'll be having homemade chili (both red and white), then hunkering down on the couch with all the animals snoozing around us, watching TV. Rich will no doubt also be pondering and (using his iPad) reading up on a problem a client has asked him to help solve (I pointed out to him today that's one of the drawbacks of being smart—people come to you for answers), and I'll be knitting. I just realized that, in addition to the new team color gloves we both need, I have a couple of Christmas gifts to get done, so I have some serious knitting time coming.

It's not just an okay evening. It makes me happy. Really and truly happy.

And thankful!

Dang it!

All right, I forgot AGAIN. Dang it!

So, let's say that yesterday, the 14th day of Thanksgiving (or T-minus 14 and counting, man I'm sorry I missed that), I was thankful for the Interwebs. It's useful.

Personal computers were just becoming commonplace when I was twenty-something. I actually learned how to use a terminal on the UTHSCSA's mainframe, and I would tell you all about it if I could remember that far back.* I quit that job in 1987 to go back to school, and my electrical engineer husband built me my very first personal computer (with a 12" VGA monitor!) to use for writing papers. The first modem I remember using was a 9600 baud, and was the envy of some of my tech-savvy friends.

But today I use Facebook to keep up with old friends and some relatives I don't get to see very often, so much so that I feel like I'm involved in their lives. I get information and news from Twitter. I do research (for money) on it, I compare all kinds of goods before I order something and have it delivered right to my door, and I can find out for sure if Jabo's Hardware has a dowel the size I need before I bother driving there (at TalkTo.com; you should try it). I see photos of enchanting gardens in all kinds of exotic places all over the world, search thousands of knitting patterns to find the one with the exact details I want. I find out where else we've seen that woman from that episode of Elementary¹, what started the fire in Milford, whether Sarah Michelle Gellar's second child was a boy or girl², who it was Jamie Benn collided with last night³, and what the heck is up with Rob Ford⁴.

It's an amazing world. And I'm thankful I get to see it.


*Really, all I remember is that the various machines were named after Lord of the Rings characters. So you worked on Frodo or Bilbo, etc. Yeah, those were the days.

¹ Independence Day.
² Boy
³ Hudler
⁴ Oy!

13th Day of Thanksgiving (T-Minus 15 and counting)

And you thought I was going to forget! (Again.)

Today I'm grateful that my little Bidula is doing much, much better. We have one more appointment for sub-q fluids, on Saturday, which will be her seventh appointment in thirteen days, and every penny I've billed this month will just about cover her vet bills, but she's much better.

And, really, I can't tell you how thankful I am for that!

She's on a special kind-to-the-kidneys diet now, so now the three cats eat three different foods in, of course, three different rooms. And Rocky has been trying to make me lose my mind, resisting that. He's all affectionate in between feedings, but come time to coax him out of the kitchen and into the master bathroom to eat, he disappears.

Rocky, not hiding from me at mealtime. Yes, they DO look alike.

Well, he did, at least. He's finally starting to understand that we're not actually planning to kill him once we get him in there (that must be what he thought, judging by the way he was acting). So we're getting back into a routine, and Biddy is feeling better and acting like her old self.

So, whew! And thank God!*











*And thank Garry O'Neal of Golden Triangle Animal Hospital, for his expertise and kindness. Both he and Steve Ruffner are great, and everyone even remotely near GTAH should take their animals to them. Seriously.

Oops

Uh, so for the 12th Day of Thanksgiving (yesterday)…

Okay, I forgot. I even looked at this stupid blog a few times and it just never registered I needed to mention something I'm thankful for. So now….

For yesterday, I'll say that I'm thankful for all the good people in the world. In particular, the ones who work tirelessly to help animals who are abused and neglected. I couldn't do it, myself — the grief and anger at how cruel and stupid some people can be would overwhelm me, and I'd have a gun pointed at them or myself in no time flat. But I'm very, very grateful that others are willing to take it on, and I support them as much as I can.

(Speaking of which, Noah's Arks Rescue in Okatie, SC, is a great one! If you click here every day during the Shelter Challenges, they have a chance to get a sizable donation. The site will even send you reminders every day. Please click for them!)

These people are so good, and so knowledgeable! They have incredible patience, as well as resilience, perseverance and commitment. It takes a certain personality, a particular type of person, to do it. And that's true of so many things! Hospice workers, who tenderly stand by their patients at their most vulnerable. Some politicians (I know, I know, but I'm acquainted with a few local politicians who actually serve because they feel like they can do some good). Oncologists. "Community leaders," the ones who keep charities and good causes going, who go to endless meetings and spend countless hours doing things that solve problems for other people, just because it needs to be done. Aid workers who go all over the world to help recover and rebuild after disasters. Pediatric medicine specialists. I once knew a United Methodist pastor who was a retired pediatric intensive care nurse, and I asked her if she couldn't have just hit herself in the head with a hammer instead. She responded that throughout her career she had received so much more than she had ever given.

That. That type of person.

That's what I'm thankful for. I'm emphatically not one of them, myself, but I'm infinitely grateful that they exist and that they do what they do.

These people might just be the reason that good keeps outweighing bad in the world, even if sometimes it's just barely. They're there, and I'm thankful for them.