Friday, April 5, 2019

Ten Things of Thankful

Are you ready? It is link up time to the Ten Things of Thankful blog hop hosted by Kristi of Thankful Me. I've been feeling thankful all week, so I think I can do this. If you have felt grateful off and on during the past week, jot those thoughts down on your own blog and link up, but just on the chance you don't have a blog, never fear. When you click here, you can just write your thankful items in the comments section at the bottom of Kristi's page.




1. New tastes for my palate
While waiting to get new tires put on the car, I walked to a nearby restaurant that serves Lao-Thai food. I just wanted enough to satisfy my hunger, but not a full-blown meal. One of the appetizers, satay chicken served with peanut sauce and a side of sticky rice, sounded like it might be just right. It was very tasty.

2. Getting new tires for our car and the helpful salesman 
He did an excellent job of explaining the different features of tires that would fit on our car. I ended up getting tires that might not give me quite as good mileage, but which would provide better traction when traveling in the snow and rain.

3. Mom was able to manage part of her meal time by herself rather than needing assistance.
Mom was able to hold a spoon and eat some of her pureed meal by herself. I was so surprised to see that she was able to do this. It has been a long while since I have seen her doing that. In general during that visit with her she seemed more alert, at least for a while. So it is in the world of Alzheimer's where people fade in and out. Since she is in the late stage of this disease, being able to see a few moments of lucidity lifted my spirits.


4. Flowering plum and cherry trees in full bloom

I believe these trees lining this cemetery
are very old flowering plum trees.

5. Babies and memories

This week I wrote a StoryWorth story about my own birth as had been told to me by my mother at different times during my life. I loved thinking about what it must have been like for her to give birth during the WW2 era and how different her hospital stay was compared to my own when our children were born.

Later in the week, I attended a baby shower, and I thought back to all the baby shower cards mom had saved when I was born.

Very old gift card to go with baby gift for me

6. Terminology
While listening to the radio, or perhaps a podcast this week, I was impressed by a term I had not heard. It is "task saturated" or in other words, a fancy way of saying "I'm swamped!" (I am well aware that I am showing my age. :-)

7. Youtube plus instruction manual
In this case, I needed both in order to achieve the best results while hemming a couple pair of denim pants. I wasn't satisfied with how the first pair turned out. Since I was expecting the end result to not only be functional, but to look perfect, I knew I was going to have to resort to Youtube before working on the second pair. I found what I needed, but then turned to the instruction manual for my machine to see if my machine even had such a button that would allow the presser foot to sew easily up and over a very thick seam. I was in luck!

The little black button at the back of the
presser foot is not just decorative when
sewing over thick denim seams.

8. Something that made us feel the beat
When my husband was listening to some music by a singer we enjoy, he came across this. John McCutcheon at about 18 minutes into the video demonstrates hambone. Are you ready to give it a try?

9. Oregon Grape
This is our state flower and this time of year it is in full bloom around our place. Do you think your state flower should be another flower, or do you like the one your state chose?

Oregon Grape with holly-like
leaves and clusters of yellow
blossoms

10. My husband who knows what music makes my head turn and for his recollections being put into writing that make me love him even more.



8 comments:

  1. You just taught me something, too! I'll have to see how that knob works on my sewing machine.
    I've been enjoying the Story Worth answers so much!

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    1. I am not going to attempt to take out all the stitching and some hand sewing on the first pair. They are too well hemmed at this point, and no one is going to care, AND it is only noticeable to the sewer. LOL
      I just knew that the machine and I could do better. I was so much more satisfied by the results on the second pair.
      Glad that you are enjoying the Story Worth answers.

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  2. Just wonderful thanks all around!!

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  3. totally love the youtube as visual re-enforce/planation of instruction from printed manuals.
    New tires... a special kind of fun, at least for the first few days when you can feel the difference.
    terminology! the land of rogerian expressions!
    (rogerian expressions are a, perhaps unintentional, gift from our rogerian brethren. it is a special way of abusing language and the primary characteristic is that, upon hearing it, one cannot help but to burst into shocked laughter. my personal favorite: I was reading a blog about real estate. The writer was clearly a roger. He made the following observation: "In our business, I feel that many agents are too self-absorbent...")

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    Replies
    1. My learning curve sometimes needs double enforcements. LOL
      The new tires worked like a champ handling the very wet roads this weekend.
      The rogerian expression you shared made me laugh. Sounds too much like a description of some kind of paper product.

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  4. I am going to throw the phrase "task saturated" around all the time now! So nice to have your mom able to feed herself. What an awful disease, probably worse for family and other loved ones. The flowering trees are gorgeous! Spring is such a beautiful time of year - so much hope in all those blooms! I'm not sure what the Missouri state flower is, although I once did. It's either the hawthorn or the dogwood. One is the tree and one is the flower. I can't say that I know what a hawthorn even looks like, but I do love dogwood blooms!

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    Replies
    1. I just knew there would be some, beside me, who would enjoy that phrase.
      Spring blossoms my sag when torrential rains arrive unexpectedly, but they just as quickly return to their original positions when the sunshine reappears.
      There are some hawthorns trees here too. . .sweet smelling little white blossoms, but very sharp thorns on the branches.
      I love the flowers on dogwood trees. Both are native trees here.

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