Ten Things of Thankful

As the weeks roll around with all the ups and downs that life brings to everyone, it is my firm belief that remembering to watch for the good that is happening, taking time to learn from the lives of others as well as from the lessons we are given strengthens us. That is why I am here. . .again to link up to Ten Things of Thankful hosted by Kristi of Thankful Me.

 

1. For being able to watch an inspiring movie called Touch of the Light which is based on the true story of a blind prodigy pianist from a rural village in China 

2. For the Good Life Project podcast

3. For being able to spend most of the day at the temple one day this week

4. For the song - What a Wonderful World

5. For the cheerful toddler who waved at me and said "Bye" as I was leaving the store with my groceries

6. For my husband discovering the real reason for my near mishap when lowering the deck of our treadmill earlier in the month 

(It was caused by user error. . .mine! I thought the treadmill had a broken mechanism, but in reality, most likely because of my lingering right shoulder/arm weakness, I am just not strong enough to lower the deck by myself anymore. I’m glad he discovered that before a repairman came to replace something that didn't need to be replaced.)

7. For being able to watch the televised proceedings of the impeachment hearings

(It is good to watch and hear for oneself rather than just depending completely on whatever the news stations report.)

8. For a daily email that awaits me when I wake up each morning that includes a scripture, an uplifting quotation and a short inspiring video

(It is a great way to begin the day.)

9 For being able to screen phone calls, especially on days like today when we received so many spam calls

(I did have to laugh when I heard for the umpteenth time another message being left by a Social Security spam which ends every message with “Have a blessed day.”)

10. For how easy it is to discover things we have in common with other people, a knowledge that becomes apparent through conversations

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Ten Things of Thankful

This week my post for the Ten Things of Thankful blog hop hosted by Kristi of Thankful Me are rendered as ten completions of the sentence, "I am thankful . . ." They popped up quite quickly into my mind. It is my hope that each of you are able to think of at least one thing for which you are thankful each day. Expanding one's "gratitude horizons" seems to have in some way a correlation to one's happiness.

Source

1. That I live in a nation which is a republic through which the prime positions of leadership are attained through a democracy

2. That I live at a time where it is possible for nations to have the ability to communicate with leaders of more nations than ever before and in a much faster way

3. That I live in a time when women are being given more opportunities to pursue almost any career, to hold leadership positions in businesses, city, state, and national government, and to speak freely in their communities in an effort to improve the areas in which they live

4. That there are laws to protect our freedoms, privacy, safety, and rights

5. That I am free to worship God and attend church

6. That I can travel freely within my country 

7. That this world is made up of families and that I have my own family with whom to live, learn, and grow in knowledge and understanding of how to live and love

8. That I have the freedom to read and access books

9. That so many advancements have been made so many fields of study

10. That being able to change and improve is possible

Now it is your turn. "I am thankful. . ."

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Six Sentence Stories - Reach

Why do I continue to try to write a story each week using just six sentences? Perhaps it is because Denise of Girlie on the Edge's Blog invites blog hop participants to do so, but for me it is more than that. I kind of look at it as a writing challenge, even though in the sphere of writers I . . .well I'm not even going to go there. I just like stretching whatever bit of creativity I have, and I landed at this writer's blog hop. Denise is the host of Six Sentence Stories and the prompt this week is "reach." Newcomers are welcome. Just click here for details.

The surface of the large panoramic photograph hanging on the wall was smooth making it impossible for her fingers to feel again some of the textures of the columns seen throughout the national park.

As her steps were carefully being measured on her treadmill trail, she pictured herself again carefully making her way along a well worn path in the national park with some of the most colossal rock formations she had ever seen. 

Time passed almost seamlessly from the now to the then, from the almost mundane of just attaining the daily physical fitness goal to one of the most awe inspiring alfresco experiences she had ever had.

Although she couldn’t physically step from the deck of the machine, to which she was tethered at the moment, into the photo like those who having the ability of feeling they are in a different plane or state of existence just by putting on a pair of goggles to enter their chosen virtual reality, she could reach with the tentacles of her mind and almost feel she was there.

The sky above painted with the puffiness of cumulus clouds, mazes of salmon colored hoodoos jutting heavenward from the valley floor, and imagining what it would have been like to inhabit such a place carried her away from what she found monotonous.

Now feeling rejuvenated physically from the exercise of her body and her mind, she was ready to get on with her day after once again connecting with the grandeur of the world.

Ten Things of Thankful

Flowers in mid-winter is enough to cheer anyone! Most of my Christmas cacti didn't bloom in full force at Thanksgiving and Christmas the past couple of months, but now have decided it is time to show their faces. With the sound of pounding rain and winds outside, it is nice to this delightful scene inside.

Christmas cactus with bright red
blossoms

Now that our Internet is back up, I can post my Ten Things of Thankful. Kristi of Thankful Me is our host and has been busy playing Grandma this past week, so I don't know if she will be linking up, but some of her co-hosts (Clark, Dyanne, Lisa and myself) will see that the link is opened so you can share those things that make you feel thankful. I cannot say enough good about this little practice of considering those things since there is a lot going on in the world that could drag a person down if you let it.

1. For experiences that bring enlightened understanding and clarity

2. For safe travel coming home from the temple one day this week when we were driving through  a squall

3. For a couple who came one evening to our home to watch a movie a movie with us

4. For my husband’s good report on a medical test he had done over two months ago (always a good sign, when there isn’t a phone call within days of a test)

5. Committee meetings where people can freely share ideas

6. For being jarred to do a couple of things that were on the calendar, but were overlooked on the day I’d scheduled to do them, but since I’d allowed a couple of grace days on my scheduling, I was still able to meet the deadlines

7. Listening to that thought that maybe I should go back and rephrase the question to the clerk one more time 

(Sometimes it pays to not accept the first answer. In this case the clerk called the customer support number and got the “real” answer.)

8. For the first step taken toward achieving a goal within our home this year

9. For being able to move quickly backwards and out of the way when I released the treadmill lever to lower the treadmill deck and it suddenly slammed down on the floor barely missing me (time to call a serviceman to see if this is even something for which a new part can be obtained)

10. For being able to start my year-long writing goal (going through my Mom’s journals and gleaning lessons from her life)

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Six Sentence Stories - Epic

I feel like my Ten Things of Thankful post this past weekend ended up being my epic fail today. Some of you may have seen it before I decided to try to take care of a weird background that was showing up on my post that WAS NOT there when I first posted. I have no idea what caused the problem, but I only made things worse when I went in to edit it. Since I do not have a photographic memory, what I originally posted is just GONE.

Now that I have vented a bit, I do have a post to link to the blog hop Six Sentence Stories - Epic. Thanks Denise, of Girlie on the Edge's Blog for continuing week after week to host this blog hop.

Placement was critical as was the intensity, but that came through practice, otherwise the end result might be an epic failure.

It was late, but she wanted to do as many drawings as possible, and she actually enjoyed this artistic venture even though she was a novice in such an attempt as this one.

As she turned her attention back to the quick sketch she had made in the classroom and then to the paper waiting for her final strokes, she took a deep slow breath and then lifted her pen.

Carefully she dipped the nib into the container of black India Ink, but as she lifted the pen to finish her drawing of a paramecium she had seen under the lens of the microscope, the worst thing possible happened.

As the too heavily loaded nib was ready to touch the paper, a splat of ink dropped and spread like a fast moving amoeba away from the fine penciled guide line, causing her to immediately feel what could only be described as despair knowing this paper would have to go into the trash.

She had been looking forward to wrapping up this project and then getting some sleep, but now she faced the realization that unless she wanted a lesser grade, she would be up until almost midnight, unless of course her next one met the same fate.

Ten Things of Thankful

The host of the Ten Things of Thankful blog hop is stepping away from here for a short while, because she is giving some extra attention to her grandchildren. That is their gain, and our loss, but she will check in as soon as she is able. We hope Kristi of Thankful Me is having a grand time with the little ones.

In the meantime, her co-hosts, Clark, Dyanne, Lisa and myself are here to make sure the link is open and you are able to post the ten things that made you feel grateful this past week. . . or longer. We also tend to carry on a conversation in the comments section of the blogs, because often as we read the posts, we just visualize carrying on a conversation with the bloggers in our living rooms, or maybe at the beach in another season. We seem to gain a blogging family. You are invited to post your ten things of thankful on your blog, link up to this blog hop and become part of the family.

1. Screen time learning

Sometimes with the updates, it seems it isn't as easy to locate things. Of course the data is still there, but perhaps called by a different name, and accessing the info is in a different place on the screen.

Other times, there are the aha moments like when I was working on Ancestry.com and I felt like I'd entered a certain person into my family tree already. Well come to find out that person was already in the family because he was the ancestor to a different great grandchild. After a little visit with "Mr. Google," I found out how and where to do the merge of the identical individuals.

The most challenging and frustrating screen time situation for me this week was getting my new Fitbit tracker set up. (I lost my old one in October when it fell off my wrist at a cemetery, and I didn't know that it was missing till later.) It doesn't work with my phone's most recent update, but it does work with my iPad. There is more to this story, but in the end, I was able to do what needed to be done. It just stretched my mind and patience.

2. Discovering a second cousin once removed has recently started a blog called My Contagious Life

While at this point she is not participating in blog hops, I am loving reading her story and what brought her to this point in her life.

3. Friends coming over for dinner and conversation

4. Finding an old recipe I'd clipped from a newspaper. . . so long ago that the newspaper had turned brown

Like many recipes I have clipped in the past, not all of them made it to the "make it" stage. This week I tried this one out! For lasagna lovers and sports fans, this might be one to consider. What I liked about it was having the lasagna taste, but instead of using lasagna pasta, you substitute frozen beef ravioli. So much easier.

Lasagna recipe that uses frozen beef ravioli in place of lasagna pasta

Note: For those of you who read my TToT, today (1/7/20) I noticed something weird about the background color from the recipe on down the page. When I went in to fix it in the way I normally would have taken care of that kind of problem, I completely wiped out the remaining TToT. If you are wondering. . .no I didn't copy it before trying to make the change. I'd copied the caption to the recipe, but that was all. There is a first time for everything.

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Six Sentence Story - Crystal

Considering it is New Year's Day and all, I was a little surprised by what didn't come up at the top of my Google search for our prompt for the Six Sentence Story today. It is also an indication I suppose of my naiveté. Just so you know, I decided to write a Six Sentence Story - Crystal without going the direction of what I was expecting to come up on the Google search, nor what actually did appear. I am thankful for this little Six that surfaced and am looking forward to reading your creative works. Thank you, Denise, of Girlie on the Edge's Blog, for another year of hosting this blog hop hop!

You just don’t understand, because I have read the entire book, and the majority of it is as clear as mud.

What did you do to prepare yourself, knowing ahead of time that you would be undertaking such a course of study?

What do you mean, what did I do to prepare myself? I’ve gotten excellent grades and people tell me I am capable of achieving great things.

Not everything is crystal clear in life, as you have discovered while wallowing in despair when the understanding didn’t come as quickly as it did for you in the past.  Maybe now is the time to exercise a little faith in the possibility that there is a higher being who knows you better than you know yourself and is just waiting for you to ask for his guidance as to what to do about this predicament you have.