Tag Archives: thankful Thursday

Thankful Thursday

Posted in California, cooking, Gratitude by

It’s been a good week. Nothing too out of the ordinary.

I am thankful for being able to walk in the morning and my knee improving. I went to the gym yesterday and I think I overdid my knee as this morning it’s aching a bit.

Thankful for having little fires now in the fire pit in the evening. We don’t sit out too long, maybe an hour, and then go inside.

Thankful to be doing my Sashiko and my quilt is coming along. I asked on Pay it Forward if anyone had a quilting frame since the quilt is a little bigger than I thought. Someone has offered me one their father made. I don’t have it yet but I will update when I do.

I’m grateful to be swimming in the indoor pool again. I did have to share a lane after the first 20 minutes of swimming with someone who did NOT know how to swim and was flailing all over the lane:( grumble…. Still grateful though…

I’m grateful I can menu plan and it does save on groceries to know what I’m cooking for the week.

Thankful Thursday

Posted in budgeting, budgets, California, Gratitude by

I’m grateful our weather is much cooler and that fall is in the air. We’re only using the window coolers for a few hours mostly for some air circulation. I am still closing windows in the morning and then opening in the evening. But now we’re partially closing some windows as the night air is very cool. It looks like this weekend our temperatures are going to drastically drop into the 70s.

I’m really excited that the indoor pool is opening next week. I’m thankful the other pool has been available and is quite nice but it is an extra 10-13 minutes both ways so it adds to my drive. Still, I love swimming and am so glad there is this option.

I’m thankful my knee is improving and I’m almost back to normal but not quite. I’m still not using the treadmill at the gym but I did manage 3 rounds at the park today so that’s an improvement. I’m still taking ibuprofen so when I stop that I’ll know it’s probably healed. Still, I’m grateful it wasn’t worse.

The garden was a huge success this year and I’ve had lots of tomatoes, onions, garlic, zucchini, and peppers( so many jalapenos). I even just froze a few bags of tomatoes as it wasn’t enough to can a batch. I’ll wait till I have at least another box. B has a nice crop of grapes so I think I’m going to try some grape jelly. I’ve never made that and I’ll need to watch some YT to see how much pectin/sugar I need to add. I’m not a huge fan of grape jelly but I’m willing to try it since he’s got the crop.

I’m thankful the budget is set for September and everything is covered. We just got our auto insurance and that went up $300. It seems odd since these are not new cars at all. My son’s Subaru which is a 2006 went up the most to over $500 for 6 months. He’s still on our policy as it would be ridiculous what he would pay if he had his own. At least 3x was the quote I got. When he’s ready to buy another car then he’ll be on his own with that. He does pay us in full so it’s not a problem.

Thankful Thursday

Posted in books, California, camping, decluttering, minimalism, Uncategorized by
  1. I’m grateful that our week in Bodega had nice weather. It wasn’t warm, but there was relatively no wind( always a plus on the coast), making it extra nice. The day after we left it got very windy.
  2. Now that we’re home, the weather was warm for the beginning of the week but now I’m grateful for the spring rain we’re getting. Everything is so green.
  3. After 50 + years, I’m grateful that B and I enjoy each other’s company. We always have fun on our adventures even after all these years.
  4. That are barn kitties, now house cats are fun to watch and add to our lives. They( all 5 including mama cat) have distinct personalities . Chester makes 6 and he’s probably the biggest character since he just showed up one day and then practically the next he was on the couch sleeping.
  5. I’m grateful for my lifelong love of reading and books. The little library in Highland Mills, NY started me on that journey. That library is now a historical building being built in 1923. It was stone and very tiny. the roof was not red though LOL.
  6. https://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/woodbury-public-library-rushmore-highland-mills
  7. I’m grateful that our journey into simplifying has been so rewarding and that B is on board with continuing to let go of things that take up space and that we don’t really need. Last week I gave another 2 bags of books to the library including my Ina Garten books. They’re nice to look thru but if I need a recipe I almost always just google it.

Thankful Thursday

Posted in California, camping, Gratitude, Uncategorized by

Photo by Sitraka on Unsplash

I love rock cairns. I’ve always been a rock collector and love doing this in our yard. These are lovely granite rocks.

I am thankful our woodstove is keeping us warm since it’s freezing out!! This whole week is cold and there’s been a north wind which makes it colder.

We may NOT go to Napa because it’s supposed to rain on Tuesday and we’re supposed to have snow here at home on Wednesday( that’s the day we’re supposed to come back). I’m not one for camping in the rain even though technically we’re in an RV with heat but still. It’s not quite my thing. We’ll decide by tomorrow.

I’m thankful I finished the taxes and it’s done. I guess I could have just waited to pay in April but since it was a small amount, I went ahead and did it. So Done!!!

We just found out our one neighbor who has lived here since the 1970s( we think late 70s.) was evicted. We were kind of shocked as we just figured she owned the house. It’s in terrible shape and she’s a classic hoarder. Around 10 years ago, we tried to help her when she was addicted to oxycodone but it didn’t go anywhere. I went into her house to see how/if I could clean up for her but it was too far gone for me and I was quite traumatized but the piles of boxes everywhere. Stuff everywhere. One room was so piled up with boxes you couldn’t get into it. A number of years ago, her father died and left her some money and she did put a new roof on since she had it covered in tarps for years. She also must have blown thru the money if she’s now evicted. I hope she is somewhere safe at least. I guess you never really know.

Because of that, I’m grateful that even though we still have a mortgage we can pay it with our SS. When one of us goes and we only have the higher SS it will be a different story but for now, we can manage. As long as our kids chipped in we’d be fine( whoever is left, I mean).

I’m grateful to be able to swim (as always). I love the water and gliding thru. Of course, I’m a slow swimmer but still, I’m grateful I can do it. I imagine a time will come when I’m not going to feel like driving to Roseville to swim. But it is not now.

Thankful Thursday

Posted in Gratitude, home stuff, Uncategorized by

Over on the Frugal Girl’s blog, she wrote a post the other day on 15 things she liked more about her new rental than her old house. She recently left a marriage of 25 years and is starting over in many ways. I admire her positive and generous voice and she is moving on from a challenging situation. Even though there are quite a bit of ‘God’, ‘prayers’, and Christian stuff from commenters, it doesn’t bother me because she, herself, is not proselytizing. Lots of her commentators do though and I just ignore those. She really does walk her talk and is genuinely a good person. Ok, enough, my point is I wanted to write down what I’m grateful for in this house even though it is old, small, and has some serious foundation issues, there’s still a lot of good here.

We moved here in 1995. My son was just 1 year old and my daughter 9. It really was a rundown house and we bought it as is which is probably why no one wanted it. Plus there was so much junk everywhere. It literally took years to clean it up and take down old buildings.

So what I’m thankful for here:

  1. The house sits on top of a small hill in our town and we have almost a 360 view even though there are still lots of trees. When I first came to look at this place what struck me was the light all around.

2. The house is at the end of our driveway so there are no houses behind us. I have issues with things behind me ( I absolutely hate people walking behind me). So this house has our one neighbor( Leo who is like a million years old but still alive( we think). But we don’t really see his house straight away. The jerk who built the garage is behind our barn but initially that was just an open field. Then we have the hoarder and while we can’t see his house but can see some of his junk and that’s where we’ve been putting up the fence. The newest neighbor’s ( around 3 years now), house sits at a diagonal and we only see the back of their house.

3. We have a lot of space outside. I need space around me and this house has lots of usable space.

4. The kitchen is small but functional and when we moved in we gutted the kitchen and replaced everything. So 28 years later it’s still in good shape but we do need to redo the counters. But it works for me and I have no clutter in there.

5. I love the sunporch and sit out there almost every day at 4pm for wine time. It’s the one space B built that actually has no problems and as you know, if you read my blog, we replaced the 4 windows last year and that was so worth it. I’m thankful for this lovely space with plants and sunlight streaming in.

6. There are only 2 bedrooms but they work and our bedroom is just the right size. The area where my office is and now the cat room too was used as a bedroom for my son at some point. He now sleeps in the Tuff shed studio. That was our homeschool classroom and is insulated and has electricity. I’m thankful we have that extra space for him.

7. Our floors are wood and I prefer that to any carpet. We have an area rug in the living space. I’m thankful I can vacuum the whole house in 10 minutes tops.

8. I’m thankful we were able to put a new roof on a while ago( maybe going on 5 years now). It was expensive even for such a small house but we were able to afford it.

9. I’m thankful we have a wood-burning stove that keeps us warm.

10. As we have become more minimalist and have gotten rid of any excesses our space feels more open. And I love my white Ikea couch. It’s showing some age now( it’s probably 10 years old) so I’m not sure what Ikea couch I’d replace it with but that’s not anytime soon.

11. Having one bathroom is a challenge but it’s still a bathroom. When we were in our trailer in Foresthill we had an outhouse so indoor plumbing is very nice. Of course, we were young then and it was all fun then. So I’m very thankful for a bathroom with a clawfoot tub!!

12. We have a big old barn that does hold things we don’t use all the time, mowers, weedeaters, tools, etc. It mostly has my son’s tools and hobby things. ( Way too much for me!) B’s Triumph is stored out there too and the prepper pantry is on one wall.

13. I love that I don’t need curtains on the windows as no one is close enough to see in. I do keep curtains in the bedroom but only to keep the cold out.

I’m sure there are lots of other things but that’s a start.

Imbolc

Posted in budgeting, budgets, California, cancer, Gratitude, home stuff, husband, Uncategorized by


Imbolc or Imbolg, also called Saint Brigid’s Day, is a Gaelic traditional festival. It marks the beginning of spring, and for Christians it is the feast day of Saint Brigid, Ireland’s patroness saint. It is held on 1 February, which is about halfway between the winter solstice and the spring equinox. Historically, its traditions were widely observed throughout Ireland, Scotland and the Isle of Man… Wikipedia

· Imbolc is a pagan holiday celebrated from February 1 through sundown February 2. Based on a Celtic tradition, Imbolc was meant to mark the halfway point between the winter solstice.

February 2nd is cross-quarter. I always feel the earth slightly shifting. Perhaps it’s the sap starting to run in the trees or possibly the sun’s angle. Right now we’re getting light still in the afternoon at 5:45pm and walking in the morning, predawn is 6am. I love when this change happens.

I had a good Dr. appt. Nothing new to report. My increase of 3 points is still very low and he actually had gone back and looked at when my numbers started doubling. So at one point, it went from 90 to 180. So that’s what I won’t let happen again and he’s well aware of that. Still, he’s the medical oncologist and knows what he’s doing. But it was a good drive into Sacramento with not tons of traffic just the normal.

I had thought of going down to the pool this morning but will wait till tomorrow. Driving out 2 days in a row is a lot for me. So Friday will be my swim day. I’ll probably go to the gym on Sunday then.

The pantry challenge is winding down as I am running out of ideas. I will check the freezer this morning and see what I can cobble together. I still have plenty of shell stable meals so I may do a couple of them. I know I have some salad stuff to use up today.

Thankful Thursday:

That I have an oncologist who knows me and is attentive.

That it’s sunny out even though it’s cold.

My husband who does SO MUCH around here and is always willing to stop at the store or drop things off for me( returns).

That I feel good overall and love swimming and going to the gym and that I CAN do it.

That we get SS and that almost covers all our bills including still having a mortgage:( . Then I’m thankful our kids pay ‘rent’ and that covers the rest , food, misc, etc.

I’m so thankful they both have excellent jobs and love them. We never got the job thing right( not for lack of trying) but first, in the mid 70’s there were NO jobs that we could get( plus affirmative action knocked Barclay out of the job pools with the US Forest Service. and always we resorted to some kind of self employment. He did Shiatsu massage for years and I did the whole ‘spiritual’ healing/counseling mumbo jumbo. Later we opened the metaphysical bookstore in Old Town Auburn but that was in the late 80s.

Lastly, I’m thankful Barclay is healthy again!!

Thankful Thursday

Posted in Gratitude by

I am very thankful it is NOT raining today!!! We’ve just been inundated with rain and wind so this is a nice break.

I’m thankful that the pantry challenge going well especially using my shelf-stable canned goods. This has been interesting and fun so far. By the end of the month, I’ll see what I still want to try and use up. I’m definitely not spending lots on groceries although at Costco yesterday we did pick up lettuce, cucumbers, coffee, and a few other things but minimal.

I’m so thankful to LLS for funding my health coverage. Our premiums are not cheap so this is a big help. I have to reapply in March so I’ll have to see if funding is open for Myeloma. Last year I had to wait about 6 weeks for funding to reopen.