Thankful: Final Installment

I promised in my last blog not to be too serious in this blog posting…but I am thankful for the normal things everyone else is thankful for: my husband, our family, our house, our church, my faith, being able to live in the great city of Alcoa, living in a free country…you know, all the normal stuff. But when I think about it all, I realize I’m thankful for other things, too…so let the thankfulness begin!

I’m thankful for flameless candles. As many candles as I have in my house, you’d think it was a Catholic Church minus the statues. And all the candles are the kind you must light with a match or lighter. One exception: the candle in our bedroom. Hubby and I both wear masks hooked to C-Pap machines when we sleep. With the hoses and headgear we resemble the characters in the opening bar scene of the first Star Wars movie. (Get frisky and we'd electrocute one another!) But my hubby has to have oxygen along with the forced air from the C-Pap. If I decided to set a romantic mood and light a candle in our bedroom, it could turn deadly with a lit candle and oxygen. Hence, the flameless candle…a battery-operated, slightly scented, mood setter.

I’m thankful for multiple pairs of eyeglasses, reading glasses and contact lenses. You wouldn’t think I could be thankful for them at all because I lay them down and lose them on a regular basis. I don’t need them all the time so I might need a little GPS device that will take me to them when they’re lost...of course, unless a pair is on my head, which has happened many times.

I’m thankful for my dog, Dobie. He starts his day curled up in my lap as I lay in bed reading the morning paper. When I come in the door after being gone for five minutes or five days, I still get the same greeting…as if I am his favorite human! Then when my hubby comes in, I am reminded of who Dobie’s real favorite human is.

I’m thankful for nail polish. It fixes things. Runs in stockings…broken teacup handles…bumpers. I had a navy blue van that got a little crunch on the back bumper that was terribly visible, so I used my daughter’s navy-colored nail polish and hid the mistake I’d made by backing into someone’s sedan. The only damage on the other car was a little navy blue paint on their bumper.

I’m thankful that Skyline Chili was created.

I’m thankful for make-up. If you saw me in the mornings without it, you would understand why.

I’m thankful for Ore-Ida coming up with those frozen potatoes that I can steam in the microwave, mash them with a little butter and milk, and have people think I worked a lot more than I did to make that side dish.

I’m thankful for Sam’s Club. Where else can I buy 18 rolls of paper towels in a pack or a 24 roll package of bathroom tissue? My hubby is thankful that when we shop at Sam's while all the food samples are out, he doesn’t have to take me to a restaurant on our way home.

I’m thankful for pre-lit Christmas trees…peanut butter…my recliner…my Verizon phone with navigation, a guitar tuner, and a rubbery plastic cover around it because it gets dropped so much.

I’m grateful for facebook because I’ve been able to reconnect with friends from childhood, former churches and my family

I am grateful for my “MacBook Air for Dummies” book…for seat warmers in my CRV (except when I don’t realize I’ve dropped a piece of candy that ends up being melted into my pants when I’m on my way to a meeting)…for good neighbors…hair products…and Intuition Razors because I shave my legs every day and they don’t cut me to shreds. (Yes, I shave my legs every day. If I don’t, I can’t get to sleep at night. Maybe I’m OCD about this, but my legs always feel good when I climb under the sheets!)

I’m thankful someone thought of belly-button rings, because I may need to have my belly-button pierced, so I’ll have someplace to hook my bra a few years from now!

I’m thankful for Reese’s Peanut Butter Minis because I don’t have to waste time unwrapping them. I can just zip open the bag and chug! I’m thankful for our gym where I can walk on the treadmill, ride the bike and hopefully work off some of the calories I’ve consumed from the aforementioned bag.

I’m thankful for Panera, Cheddars, Olive Garden, Cracker Barrel and Five Guys. I’m thankful that my husband doesn’t expect me to eat at Chick-Fil-A every time he does. I’m thankful my daughter and son-in-law are cooking Thanksgiving dinner and I’m not.

And I’m thankful for those of you who actually read to the end of this blog…and not because you might be OCD and just had to finish it.




Always remember that if you have a pulse, you have a purpose…so make your life count!