Daily Dose

I’m Thankful for Amazon Prime

I remember when I first got Amazon Prime, I thought it was kind of silly and maybe a waste of money. Years later, it turns out it’s not.

Amazon ships quickly but they really really ship quickly with Amazon Prime. Sheesh.

I ordered a gift for JMP (or maybe for his dad?) yesterday at like 5:30pm – it was in the Lightning Deal box. The gift showed up today at about 1pm. How crazy is that?

With as much stuff as I order from Amazon every year, it totally pays for itself without even thinking about Amazon Prime movies we’ve watched via Roku.

Thank you Amazon Prime. You’re one of my favorite things.

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I Wish Buster Was As Thankful…

I’ve learned to really appreciate baby gates and dog crates.

Skeeter learned pretty quickly that a closed baby gate meant she needed to stay behind the baby gate and she ended up not really needing to be crated when we weren’t home. She stays in the kitchen, behind the baby gates, and she’s good ’til we get back.

Lola jumped the baby gate within the first hour of being in our home but quickly learned that when the baby gates are closed, she needs to stay on the other side. She, unlike Skeeter, likes her crate and goes there when you tell her to or when anyone looks like he/she is going out/in the front door.

Buster has learned nothing. Not one thing. Except to go to his crate for breakfast/lunch/dinner or some other special treat he might get when we’re going to leave for awhile. He’s also learned how to open his crate and how to open the baby gates. And if he can’t open the baby gate, he just barrels through it.

I’m really thankful for the gates and the crates. I’d be more thankful if Buster appreciated them just a little more.

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How Many People Are Thankful For Their Landlord?

Seriously.

I’ve rented a lot of houses in my lifetime, in a lot of different places, and I’ve never really liked my landlord much less LOVED my landlord until we found ourselves with Jerry.

The dude is awesome. Period. The end. Just awesome.

He fixes things quickly. He never gripes or moans about thinks that are broken. He doesn’t get mad when we come home with prairie dogs or an extra puppy (or three.)

He spent most of his yesterday getting rid of all of the leaves in our yard, driveway and sidewalks — just in time for the first snowfall.

The dude is just plain awesome. He’s pretty much the only thing I’ll miss when we leave here in 2 1/2 years.

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What Would I Do Without My Awesome Library?

Seriously. What would I do? I cannot imagine what my life would be like if I didn’t have my library. I’ve read about 200 books already this year, from my library, and TW’s probably read twice that many. TW’s mom has probably also read twice that many. Yes, there was some crossover between the books I read and the books TW read but still… that’s hundreds and hundreds of books that we would never be able to afford to buy — even on Kindle.

I don’t know how people who don’t use their library manage. Do they really have that much money to spend on books? Or do they just not read? Both things kind of freak me out, ya know?

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I’m Thankful For PTO and Clean Floors

I’m on PTO right now (paid time off) which I almost didn’t take because our original plan to go to Lake Geneva for a couple of days got sidelined by the adoption of Buster. All of the funds for a mini vacation went to his adoption, his vet bills, his extra dog food and all of the darn toys he eats. (Well mostly Skeeter eats them after she takes them away from him, which causes him to need more toys for Skeeter to take away and eat. Vicious cycle.)

I decided to go ahead and take the PTO because gah, all of the things have become ALL OF THE THINGS and I figured I could at the very least sleep a little later, read a few more books, work on JMP’s stocking, take the dogs to the dog park, get some stuff to the post office and maybe even do something fun in the city with TW.

I’m not sure how many of those things I’ll get done but they’re all still on the table. But first, I realized I needed to do some housework. There was no way I could sit in the living room and watch Dawson’s Creek (or Superman) marathons and work on the stocking while the living room was trashed with aforementioned dead dog toys and all of the sand tracked in by these mutts from our backyard sand pit.

So I’ve spent the morning on that. It didn’t take much more than an hour to do the floors in the cold room, office, kitchen, our bedroom, our bathroom, the dining room and the family room. The Dyson DC56 makes it pretty quick and easy. I was feeling all good about how clean everything was and getting ready to turn on the first of my tv marathon when I realized Buster was covered in mud.

Of course he is.

It’s raining and he was outside trying to chase Skeeter around the mud pit in the backyard. My clean floors will only be clean for about another ten minutes so I’m probably going to have to do the floors again tomorrow morning before I settle in with the stocking and the video marathon watching.

Thank goodness for PTO, right?

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“Yikes, I’m In Trouble”

When one of your children messages you saying “Yikes, I’m in trouble!” It can make your stomach do horrible, horrible things.

Thankfully, it can also make you laugh when you find out the reason your child is in trouble is that her son, your grandson, is totes adorbs and she’s in trouble because you’ve sent her the link to the Toys-R-Us Black Friday ad and your grandson needs ALL. OF. THE. THINGS.

I’m thankful for that kind of trouble.

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You and you and also you….

Today’s prompt is “a person who lifts you up” — a person. Impossible.

Certainly I could talk about JMP all day. It just takes a silly photo or an update from his mom to make my day. But it’s also TW who’s always been able to lift me with a tree joke or a mint on my pillow or topping off my coffee at just the right moment.

Or my kids, who even when I’m sure they’re trying to see which one of them can make me nuts the fastest, are also the ones who make my day every single day. Or my parents, who always seem to call me or text me on the very same day (still).

Or the people I work with who can make me laugh when there’s really not much to laugh about. Or the bloggers I’ve met and those I’ve never met who make my life better with their words and their photos and their desire to make connections and share their lives with me (with all of us.)

One person who lifts me up — impossible. I’m grateful for all of you.

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Strong Enough

Today’s prompt for 28 Days of Celebrating Thanks is “A Time When You Were Strong” — oh boy. I’m reminded of why I never answered my own community building questions back in the old message board days.

Seriously though, I’m pretty emotionally strong and always have been. I’m good at grinding my way through and keeping a level head when people around me are falling apart and losing their shit. I’m not one to #catastrophize.

I’m thankful for that. Very, very thankful.

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