One day more

There are very few monsters who warrant the fear we have of them. ~ Andre Gide

The day after thanks

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving.  Mine was indeed fabulous, thanks for asking.  I went to a friend's house who does an annual "orphan Thanksgiving" and had a marvelous time.  I really needed to recharge my social batteries with conversation that did not revolve around training or work related things. 

After dinner I went to work and was forced to do overtime.  During the 4 hours before I was relieved I dispatched and kept track of over 30 collisions.  It was beyond crazy.  Its wintertime, people...watch out for black ice!!! 

Of course, as I was driving home, I was the jerk going 10 miles under the speed limit because I didn't want to join the legions who were sitting in the ditch.  I'm sure people had some choice words about me, but I'm okay with that...I got home safely.

I do have some last minute things to shop for due to my move (like my stove light that just went out - convenient!), but I think I'm going to wait til tomorrow.  Tonight is a packing night, then a 12 hour shift, then I'm going to do a walk through and get the keys tomorrow...then sleep...then finish the rest of the packing...then move Sunday morning at 9am!!!  Whew!

I told a friend yesterday that I have a strict budget of my time already laid out from then until next Wednesday evening the 30th and if anything happened I hadn't budgeted for it would throw a major kink in the works.  Well, I already had to work overtime this morning, which threw off my sleep schedule because now I'm up and have a feeling I'm going to be punchy from lack of sleep for the rest of the night.

Two more weeks til I'm on vacation.  I tell you, that time cannot come soon enough. 

Thanksgiving feast.  Grace moved when I tried to take her picture

The dessert I couldn't wait to eat...

The power of accurate observation is commonly called cynicism by those who have not got it.
~ George Bernard Shaw

Thankful (10)

Right now I'm thankful that all bad things must end.  Eventually. 

Right?

The lake at my work yesterday.  Today its all dried up.

I'm looking forward to some good coming back into my life.

Thanksgiving, man. Not a good day to be my pants. ~ Kevin James

Thankful (9)

So...what shall I be thankful for today?

The eye headache I've had for the last 15 hours?
The embarassing moment I had last night that literally made me blush from my toes to the tips of my ears?
The gray, dripping skies?
The crack in the sole of my shoe I discovered AFTER I was out walking Atticus in the rain?
The 3 hours of overtime I did this morning?
The lack of sleep I'll get today due to said overtime?
That weird sound my car is now making?

Sometimes its very hard to find something to be thankful for.

So, today, I guess I will be... 
Thankful that I can see despite the headache. 
Thankful I can smell the scent of wet grass and muddy fields. 
Thankful I can feel the water seeping into my sock. 
Thankful I can hear my music covering up that weird sound. 
Oh, and very thankful I can taste the breakfast wine I'm now settling down with.

All that we behold is full of blessings. ~ William Wordsworth

Thankful (8)

So, let me tell you a little story for this one.  The story might have my parents freaking out a little, or maybe saying "I told you so". 

About 3 years ago, I went to the doctor because I had difficulty breathing.  The doctor, not even paying attention to the fact that I had untreated Graves disease, sent me to an array of specialists, where I ended up with a lung doctor outside of my HMO, Dr. E.  Dr. E was not only a lung doctor, but a critical care doctor.  Critical care is also like long term intensive care, which requires organ support and a lot of monitoring. 

Anyways, on my first appointment, Dr E listens to my lungs and my heart for a long time and then sits down with me and laid out the facts.  He told me that my resting heart rate was too high (about 120 BPM), and it was working so hard that it had started to skip beats.  He said my heart was directly affected by my graves disease, and if I continued with it untreated, in about 6 months I would start having to see him again, only this time as a critical care patient.  Once I was a critical care patient, I would be one for life. 

"Get your thyroid treated, Alicia".

Well, I hated my current endocrinologist, so I went back to my HMO and asked for another one.  I disliked the new one they gave me, but not as much as my old one, so I stayed with him and followed his directions and got my thyroid treated.  This year I added exercise to the mix, for many reasons, one of which was I could actually handle physical activity without being bent over double gasping for air.

Two weeks ago I went to the doctor.  She listened to my heart for a little and asked if I exercised at all.  I told her yes, I did, 5 days a week if possible.  She told me she could tell, because I had the healthy sounding heart of an athlete.  My resting pulse rate is now about 60-70 BPM.

So, for all the wonderful intricacies and mysteries of the human body, I am grateful.  And most of all, I am thankful for my heart, for scaring me back to the doctor, for putting up with my abuse, and for keeping me alive and well.

Why yes, that is a Trader Joe's 3 cheese organic pizza!

Nothing takes the taste out of peanut butter quite like unrequited love.
~ Charlie Brown

Thankful (7)

Despite all my complaints about packing and having too much stuff, I am thankful that I am in a position to have such stuff.  I have a job that provides for me, my dog, and my craft habits, with some left over to spare.

Its not everyone who can say they have over 20 cubic feet of craft supplies (no, this isn't including fabric). 

It is the eye of ignorance that assigns a fixed and unchangeable color to every object; beware of this stumbling block.
~ Paul Gauguin

Thankful (6)

Today I'm thankful for the light at the end of the tunnel.  Though I don't quite see it yet...

Time is the fire in which we burn.  ~ Delmore Schwartz