Gratitude list for April, 2017

I love two-ply toilet tissue! Yep, once I bought some one-ply, which was on sale and made myself use it up. Awful stuff!

I love my patrons of pottery.  Friendly folks (some of them friends before purchasing my pots) to whom I feel so grateful for their support of my ideas in clay.

I'm grateful for a safe cozy home, which totally meets my needs.  Just look at all those pots! It's great to have these built in shelves!

I continually am grateful for my health, which is right now at it's best in maybe the last 5 years.

And friends who are interested in similar things to do, from a Spanish class to going to pottery shows, to walking along waterfall trails, to sharing about goddess interests, to reading similar books.

Family of course, is up high on my gratitude list.  There are at least 4 relatives having birthdays in the next couple of months, and they are all so wonderful and talented.  I wish we lived a bit closer so I could hug them and talk with them all in person more often!

Facebook is surprising to add to my list, because that's my information source for much of what is happening with family members.  I also like sharing some of my own interests and meeting new folks who contribute their ideas which they have in common.  I honestly avoid confrontational discussions. It's my choice.

Internet, which is the source of much of my communication these days...not only Facebook but emails, and Ancestry research.  I'm sorry now there is less privacy here, but actually had felt like "big brother" was already watching over my shoulder whatever I shared. Google has collected my words for years in order to shoot some advertising my way.

Being able to write a blog daily! About whatever I'm doing, or am interested in. And there are a few other folks who also write blogs that I visit almost daily...it's another great community of people with very diverse interests!

Living in an environment which is beautiful and has clean air and water, and access to a senior recreational site including a COA lunch site where I get low cost nutritious food Mon-Fri, and can walk to get some exercise or join an exercise class to keep healthy.

Having animals in my life which give pleasure and are not too high maintenance...I don't do a thing for the Canada Geese or Mallards except enjoy them. My own tropical fish (guppies) have spawned a fish with a disability, it looks like scoliosis.  She has survived and thrived for several months, so her strength outweighs the disability.  I've never seen anything like that before.

My cat needs to sometime have surgery to remove the little cyst on her chin.  Unfortunately, even with some assistance from the local Humane Society, it's too costly for my income at this time.  And the vet refused to offer me a time payment plan. (Since I don't have credit, I can't obtain the credit plan they do offer.)  I can pay the bill from my last year's stay in a hospital by monthly payments over 2 years, but not a vet.  Strange attitude for health care providers. But we don't get health insurance for pets either.  Mixed bag.

I'm grateful to be an American.  I've been able to vote, make choices as to my own lifestyle, and even support others who don't have my views but know that this freedom is the important thing, not the decisions they make.

I'm grateful to have a public library which provides so much of my ongoing education and entertainment!

I'm glad to have transportation which is reliable. And roads that are mostly reliable! And gas that I can afford...though I'm all for reducing reliance on fosil fuels.

Did I miss anything?  Yes, at least twice as much as I have listed.  And this has taken about 20 more minutes than I thought it would.  Now the chores around home are calling me...so I guess I've procrastinated enough for today.

Today's Quote:

“I believe alien life is quite common in the universe, although intelligent life is less so. Some say it has yet to appear on planet Earth.” Stephen Hawking

Serenity

Find it where you can, these days.

I turn off the news, the computer and Facebook, or at least "hide" the postings which are political or screaming at me in some way or another.  If you're my friend on Facebook, you may notice I share mainly pretty things and animals. I admit to having decided who I plan to vote for in November, and have published a few things about her, but I refrain from any of the criticism of the opponents, aka mud slinging.
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Food.  I start by thinking of how food is a source of serenity.  If I just cut back on caffeine, which I have been able to, I do have lower sense of stress. If I listen to my knowledge of nutrition rather than my tongue which loves sweets and salty things, I can merge the two in a balanced eating pattern.  Then when I step on the scale I am within my expected range, which sure makes me feel pretty good about myself...a bit of serene acceptance.

Activities. I can do things that make me feel good, or things that make me feel pretty bad.  Hanging out with people that I enjoy, who give as much as they take, and with whom I can truly be myself...oh yes!  A bad activity is like an addiction.  I leave it feeling worse than when I started it.  And I might keep doing it, but know that the outcome isn't really going to change if it's an addictive behavior.  And on the same note, the action of not doing a thing and being lazy is a choice which also gives the result of my not feeling particularly good when I do it.

Creativity.  If I can make something (usually in clay, or at least glazing some pottery) then I feel a sense of fulfillment.  When I don't, I know I'm not being the person I am capable of being.

Meditation? So far this is a good activity that I haven't quite gotten the habit of doing.  I have in the past, much as I have been a vegetarian in the past.  Perhaps it will come along again in my life.  In the meantime, I do spend time thinking about the Source of everything, and affirming my beliefs in my daily life.  One thing I remind myself of frequently is that

"Only Love can Defeat Hate."

Scenery.  Since I look out my windows at mountains and trees, I tend to look at beautiful views all the time.  I am terrifically grateful for these views.  And I can drive or walk to other wonderful places which take my breath away.  Nature is surely the mother of us all, offering so much beauty that soothes the soul, and gives me a breath that is deep and cleansing.  I also look for beauty in small things.

Health. It all comes down to this, since I've reached elderhood.  I kind of like that term.  And having good health depends a lot on what I do and how I think, my own serenity level, as well as the genetic foundation I inherited from my parents and theirs.  I have to give my body a break every once in a while, where 10 years ago I would have pushed myself to continue activities when I didn't really feel like it.  Now I also have to pay attention to health professionals more often than I used to.  They are my health team.

Time management. When I worked, I had my hours pretty well mapped out, including what I did when I wasn't getting paid.  Now that I'm retired, I've gotten pretty loose about things, and don't want to have every hour committed to something every day.  So for me to feel "serene," I have maybe 2 things scheduled a day.  If there are 3, I make sure to have some alone time as a break between them.

This is what works for me. Is there anything important you'd like me to remember?

Oh rabbit, rabbit, for the first of the month!

Quote for today:

“Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind.”

there are some nights like this

Wednesday night I had a fair to poor evening.
Tried reading a book on the computer [not on line, but downloaded via a new app (er, they used to be called programs) from NC Digital Library called OverDrive...and I remember that being one of the gears that cars had, past third I believe....]  I don't have one of those tablets, so had the laptop on my lap.
Ugh, it gets heavy.  Back to the desk.
Then just quit and read another book that's the regular paper kind...ah.

But then I made a phone call, and started coughing.
It was about my usual bedtime, and the cough might start in the evening, and especially when lying down, for which I take Musinex...but this time it didn't seem to help.  I'm missed some window of treatment that works.

I didn't have any more of the "Breathe Easy" tea which usually works.  Remind self to go buy some more.

I tried the rescue inhaler, since I was having real pain in my lungs.  It helped a while...had to use the inhaler about 3 times though.

Everything I did didn't work, so I was sitting up reading or playing solitaire on the Idiot-phone till the wee hours (you know, not double digits) had come around.

So when I finally got to sleep, I didn't rest as long as I usually do until the cats said it was dawn.  There's actually a bird in the bush by the window that thinks dawn is around 5 am...which cues the cats.   I fed cats and crawled back into bed for another hour of dreams....

Panther

About cats.  And a new mall with little antique booths, and how I was going to rent the tiny one furthest in the back to sell pottery, and hopefully get another potter to share it with me...and then the cats were in my arms (both of them hate each other) and I was trying to get them through hallways, and then I noticed I had the wrong cat, this wasn't mine...so I was going all the way back through the walkways to find my right other cat, and about then the space for my booth in the back had doubled in size...and I thankfully woke up.

Muffin

Today dawned eventually and I'm looking forward to it, but have to acknowledge that my body didn't get enough rest (I usually have 9 hours) and will need a nap.  So I called a friend (Pat, thank you so much) to help with my volunteer work at the BMCA studio.

If you've read my blog through the years, even sporadically, this coughing is chronic and persistent, recurring and not anything that I can do to absolutely stop it.

For now, I'm not coughing.  I was saying that it could be asthma, according to one doc visit.  So I should take the inhaler regularly, rather than just when coughing.  That doesn't make sense to me.  So far I haven't done it.  But so far I have more bad nights than good ones.  When I have a good one I can actually spend the next day doing pretty much what most people do.  Otherwise I feel like a wet dishrag, just dragging around with little interest in anything.

I've almost finished the Physical Therapy for my shoulder, and feel so wonderful when I do the exercises he gave me...my whole body is flexible again.  Until you're sedentary like I've been lately, you don't know how great I feel to move most of the muscles in my trunk...hips, shoulders, twist, bend, turn...oh it's glorious.

Moving and breathing.  I'm so grateful when I'm able to do both.