Ten Things of Thankful

If you want to help yourself stay focused on positive things, remember throughout the week that on the weekend you plan to write about ten things for which you are grateful.  It helps one to think, do, and see things in a positive way.  By writing about them it gives you some things to review later on when you may be feeling a little down, and in the meantime, there might be someone who reads your list that will see life differently and be lifted and cheered by how you see life.

Here are my Ten Things of Thankful. (I'm linking this in the comments of another Ten Things of Thankful participant this week because we don't have a way to link up this week.)

1.  Although the snow and ice storm last weekend was bad enough here that church was cancelled, there was enough melting of the ice that by Tuesday I was able to get out to meet some other women for lunch.  It is always fun to get together and share things that perhaps we have learned, or concerns we might have.

2.  One evening my husband and I went to a surprise birthday celebration for a friend who was in town visiting relatives.  It had been several years since we had last seen one another.

3.  My husband and I went to see Hidden Figures.  We enjoyed the movie so much that we both want to read the book.

4.  One would think that our neighbors and ourselves were raising herds of deer.  They are an everyday occurrence and the herds just keep growing.

5.  I appreciate so much the patience of the nurses and aides at the nursing home where my mother resides.  People with Alzheimer's present their symptoms differently, and the staff needs the patience of Job to deal with some of these behaviors on a daily basis.  I pray daily for my Mother and the staff who not only cares for her but for the others there.

6.  Finally the last of the Christmas decorations are stored back in the storeroom.  I didn't even put very many up this year, but since there weren't that many, I just kept doing more urgent tasks first.  I'm thankful for those extra days of seeing the nativities on top of my piano.

7.  I started participating in a few blog hops that I hadn't been taking part:  ABC Wednesday, Weekly Writing Challenge, and Sundays Whirligig, and A Prompt Each Day.  I'm thankful for these blogs which help me recall memories in some instances, and in others push me to be more creative.

8.  I finished sending out thank you cards and notes to people I'd heard from after Christmas.

9.  With the start of a new year, I am off to trying to get back in the exercising mode (using the treadmill for more than a family room eyesore and doing some strengthening exercises that will help me get more flexible so when I need to get down to some lower shelves in a store, I can actually get back up on my own in a lady-like manner.  I feel like I'm off to a good start.

10. I am combining my treadmill exercising with listening to the scriptures I am studying this year. It seems that I retain more when I listen while exercising.  There is probably some kind of scientific explanation for this, but I don't know what it is.  When I read a book, my eyes tend to go back on a line and repeat what I have read, and it takes forever to read a book.

***One more thankful is for my husband and his love and support.  This life is so much more enjoyable with him at my side, whether it is to help keep me upright as we walked up a snowy, icy, sidewalk this week, or his giving me the encouragement and compliments to keep doing the things I do.