Conflicted Thoughts

Tonight's post was to be about more things I am thankful for - and boy, I do have lots and lots of things I am definitely thankful for... however, tonight Blogger is not one of them!

Oh I am thankful I have Blogger and it's free and it's fun and sometimes - when it behaves properly - it is really nice too. Tonight is not one of those nights.

I'm running late tonight for openers -nothing new about that is there as you know I frequently run late with the blog stuff. But because Blogger is being totally uncooperative -taking forever to open blogs almost every blog I normally read -and then, when I go to comment, it appears to be processing the comment and closes out the box -but with no message that said comments were accepted so most likely the process died in mid-stream and my thoughts, put into writing, were all for naught. So, as a result of that, I decided I will forgo all my reading then tonight - play catchup ball tomorrow with that and I'm just going to post and be done with it tonight.

As I said above, so many things we all have to be thankful for and for me, yep I sure do have a whole slew too.

Starting with Doctors and nurses -like our family doctor and the nurses in her office for being so kind and considerate of my two little grandchildren when we take them in there for a checkup. This morning, both kids had appointments because they've both had nasty residue from the head cold Maya picked up two days after starting pre-school -that was back on September 6th she brought it home and so kindly shared it with everyone else in the house - except for the one person who tends to be a hypochondriac - her Dad! All the rest of us were blessed with this cold - took me almost four weeks to get rid of it and Mandy almost three weeks. Maya has had a really rough dry cough and Kurtis - well his nose has looked like it was bubbling green for almost two months now as well as having a cough that borders on the croupy side.

Maya has just recently become fairly reasonable in her behavior at the doctor's office - last time I had her in there you'll recall she cracked the Physician Asst. up by asking if we would do the "doyay" if she let her check her lungs. Today, she was relatively good - still fusses over the ear-thermometer thing for some reason or other -but other than that, she was pretty cooperative. Kurtis, on the other hand, had decided enough of the being nice and quiet and calm with doctors and nurses and took up the slack Maya had left behind -screamed bloody-blue murder, he did. Before leaving though, because Maya is still in the really early stages with this potty training thing, Mandy wanted her to use the bathroom prior to leaving and she did have a bit of a fit over that. Crying various things like "Mommy go pee in potty" or for Kurtis to do that too -which he has absolutely NO clue about that phase of life's learnings. Eventually though, Mandy won out, got her to go use the bathroom at the doctor's office and when she came back out to the waiting room, the office girls -and the nurses all gave her a big "doyay, good job" and applauded her efforts. For being so well behaved today, the doctor gave her a little packet of M&M's and the nurse gave her a lollipop too. They probably stock in extra for her now out of gratitude that she doesn't scream, kick and fight for the entire visit there anymore! And, for their being so gentle with both these little ones as well as all the times the doctor has been really great with my issues over the past 4 1/2 years now, I am really, really thankful that we have a darned good and very nice doctor and that she has such compassionate people working in her office too.

After running a bunch of errand once we left there, Mandy asked if I felt up to a "buffet." Took a bit before I realized what she meant but she wanted to know if I'd like to have lunch at the oriental restaurant in Philipsburg that has a nice little buffet. Oh my yes! It's a rare day I'm NOT up for that deal and boy, really took advantage of it today too. As a matter of fact, I was darned thankful for the good food there as well as the meatloaf we had leftover last night so I didn't have to come home and struggle to pull a meal together for supper tonight! Actually, all I did was heat the meatloaf and I left Katie fix some pasta mix and peas for something to go with it -really thankful that I all I have left to do from that now (six hours after the fact), is to wash up the dishes!

My son came down and had supper here too - he'll be leaving about 3 a.m. to head down to Hagerstown and start this week's trip - he and the FNG he has to train (F******g new guy that would be -in his words) will then be leaving around 7 or 8 a.m. enroute to Sacremento and points east of there as they begin their return trip.

While he was here, we were talking about how yesterday I had a fun day watching the Comedy Channel Blue Collar Comedy Marathon they were running - I swear I really love all four of those comedians! And, after talking about some of their routines, my son asked if I have ever watched "The Family Guy" - which I haven't. Katie piped up saying she really enjoys that show but then she cautioned me that perhaps I might have difficulty if I were to start watching it now because they apparently do some type of "flashbacks" and I might not know what they are referencing since I haven't watched it before. Then she added that the show usually has, as she so succinctly put it, "Some sort of a mural to each program" and upon hearing her wording there, my son and I both just about fell off the kitchen stools, laughing at her little gaffe there. So the rest of the evening, every chance we got we were picking on Kate for her "mural" vs using the correct word, "moral." Trust me when I tell you this, it was really hilarious!

Then I was trying to convince Maya that she should sing another song she learned recently in preschool - "The Nut" song. It's a cute little ditty - mainly just sings "I'm a nut" and then bops herself or whoever else is nearby on the head when she sings it. Well, she decided she wasn't having any part of showing off tonight for Uncle Clate and to prove it, she came at me, arms stretched straight out, and hit me in the abdomen, pushing me back a few feet (for a four-year-old, she has more strength than you'd imagine) and telling me "No, Gram. Just move, move it!" OK! Now we know who rules the roost here don't we?

But precocious as she may be, you gotta know how thankful I am that she has come that far so quickly! Two years ago, she had absolutely NO vocabulary! Paid no attention to us other than to get her basic needs - food, dry pants, etc - met and had no clue what it meant to play with toys appropriately! Today, she is a regular little chatterbox more often than not and often she does pop off with things that perhaps we shouldn't allow but doggone it, she's just so cute, so funny with the things she comes off with, who can resist that anyway? Again, let me say how thankful I am that she's learning all these things.

Tonight was also "family hair-cut night" here too. That's when our neighbor two doors over from us - who is a beautician by training but a couple years back didn't have the money to renew her license so she can't technically "ply" her trade -comes over and trims or cuts anyone here who wants/needs a haircut! Tonight, Bill, Katie and I all got our "ears lowered" and even Maya managed to overcome her fears of getting her hair trimmed and allowed Karen to trim her bangs and cut about an inch off her hair all the way around. And yes, we all gave her a big round of applause, lots of "doyays" and "Good job" comments going her way there too. But I gotta tell you this -I am really thankful that we have a neighbor who can and will do this task for us for openers but more than that, just thankful we have Karen as a good neighbor on all counts too! She's a very bright young woman, same age as my older daughter, a single mother and is attending a local business college now - should finish up next spring -after she completes an internship and she'll be qualified to look for a job that hopefully, will allow her to gain a whole lot more financial freedom than she's seen over the years since she moved back home. Her Mom just happens to be my life-long friend, Kate, and Karen is one really top-notch individual -like her parents in that way ya know -and yes, gonna say it again, I'm really thankful to have her as a neighbor and a good friend as we go along life's way.

And there you have it - just a few of the things that came to my mind today of the many I have had in the past, still have and hope they continue well into the future too of things for which I am very, very thankful.

Maybe tomorrow Blogger will behave and I can then say I am totally thankful for that too then! It could happen you know.