Ten Things of Thankful

Ten Things of Thankful is a weekly blog hop that has been a blessing for me, because it causes me to really reflect not only on the big things that I'm thankful for, but the less significant things too.  Click on the link at the beginning to see what others on the blog hop have shared and link up the next weekend, if you want to join in.

My Ten Things of Thankful for this past week

1 - 4  Okay, I'm going to begin with some little things such as wooden skewers, kitchen shears, metal coat hangers, and very large screw drivers.  I know that is quite a strange list, but they have proven to be so invaluable to tackling some tasks that could be quite harder to do without them.  I'm thankful for these four tools. 

I don't even remember why I'd bought the wooden skewers, but they were just taking up a little  space in a drawer when I began to recognize their value.  There have been so many little tasks where they have proven so much than their monetary worth, like reaching down to get some lint under the dryer lint screen.  In my dryer, this isn't an easy place to reach and sometimes all the lint doesn't get caught in the screen.  I've even duct taped two skewers together when I needed to get a skewer into a deeper place.  

I'd never owned a pair of kitchen shears, because I just couldn't imagine why I would need them.  Surely my knives would work for whatever chore the shears would handle.  One time I was invited to help out in preparing food for a wedding reception.  A number of us were gathered in the kitchen working.  The kitchen shears were in high demand in that kitchen for cutting up bunches of grapes into small clusters.  That was just one way we used the shears.  After purchasing a pair of my own I've used them numerous times to cut meat into small pieces.  They work great for cutting raw bacon into little pieces before frying the bacon to use for toppings.

Metal coat hangers are so handy for so many things.  Of course, in using them they have to be undone somewhat.  One of the most helpful ways that we have had to use a metal coat hanger, was trying to unclog a toilet (sorry for the unpleasantry).  Note, you must be careful not to scratch the porcelain in the process.

Years ago very elderly neighbor told me about the benefits of a very large screw driver in removing dandelions from the her yard.  I tried it, and found she was so right.  Our large screw driver has probably been used for that job more than any other.

5.  For a few weeks we were experiencing some annoying television reception.  We would completely lose the reception and get a message on the screen.  At the beginning of the week my husband contacted the people that installed the dish.  Tuesday someone came out to take a look, since following the directions of the tech person over the phone didn't fix of the problem.  The company ended up replacing our receiver.  Fortunately the dish was fine.  Easy fix and now the reception is great again.  I thankful for those who are able to quickly respond to a need and access what is wrong.

6.  A couple of health related appointments this past week, revealed that the YAG surgery in may on my eyes took care of the problem, and I have a partial answer to what may be going on with my knee.  I'm starting some physical therapy to see how my knee responds to the therapy.  That is the first step.  If the therapy doesn't work, he thought the next step would be an MRI, but I really feel like it's going to get better without having to get an MRI.  (I was given a blessing about a week before my PT appointment and I have been noticing way less pain in my knee.   I do see the need for the PT in order to gain strength and mobility though.) 

7 - 8  I'm thankful for being able to learn just a little more about how to change things a bit on my blog.   Note the change in colors and fonts to my blog this week.  It's not fancy, but it is a beginning. For those of you who don't know, I started my blog several years ago, when my daughter helped me get started, i.e. probably did it for me, and I don't remember how she did what she did.  Since beginning to blog again, she has been my encourager and my "tech person."  Now however, I'm getting a little braver and trying to access the resources on line to learn more and do more without having to make yet another long distance phone call and disrupt her day with a computer question.

The other computer bit of knowledge that I gained this week, is finding out that with preview I'm going to be able to do some other things with my photos that I was wondering how I could do that.

9.  Today when I visited my mother I saw the most amazing tomato plant in the Therapy Garden.    It is a huge tomato plant that has the tiniest little ripe tomatoes I have ever seen.  Online I discovered that there are several kinds of these tomatoes.  The link shows at least one kind of tomato that is the size of the tomatoes on the vine I saw.  I would hate to be the one picking them, but they would certainly be great for salads and kid size snacks.  I'm thankful for the large variety of fruits and vegetables that are available for our nourishment and strength.

10.  I'm thankful for my husband's love and support and recognition of what would make me happy.  We have had another fun date on Friday---movie and dinner.  One of the things I really enjoy about being with him is his sense of humor.