Finally

I finally have the first crocus blooming in my yard. I have seen them other places along with daffodils and forsythia, but not here. Until now. Spring may come after all.

Thankful Sunday--March 25, 2018

I am thankful for M&M's.

M&Ms always hit the spot for me when I want a treat. I like the crunchy melts-in-your-mouth-not-in-your-hand covering and the milk chocolate inside. They may not be the healthiest choice, but everything in moderation is my mantra. So for colorful, tasty M&Ms I am thankful.

What is a favorite candy of yours?

Spring

Today is the first day of spring and it's snowing. And if the weather forecasters are right, we may have a foot of snow before it's all done tomorrow. As with any weather event, it was the main topic of conversation at work. We checked the weather often hoping we could get home before it got too bad. Among other things we discussed how it is possible to get snow in late March and even early April, but it's rare. Or is it?

For this post, I decided I would post pictures from other years for the beginning of spring. I used pictures within a day or two of March 20--whatever I had. And you know what? The majority of pictures showed snow at this time of year. Sometimes a little and sometimes a lot. I guess the lack of snow we remember, is the snow that melts relatively fast with the warmer days in springtime. Here's what I found.

The beginning of spring through the years.

2018

2017

2016

2015

2014

2013

2012

2011

Thankful Sunday--March 18,2018

My great grandparents. While I'm not sure if they had Irish heritage,
 I can tell you that they produced several red-headed grandchildren. 

I am thankful for my Irish ancestors.

Yesterday was St. Patrick's Day which reminded us of all things Irish whether you celebrated it as a religious holiday or just a fun day to wear green. My red hair suggests Irish ancestors and my DNA results says that is correct with a 48% match for Irish. The DNA results also found a new grandfather for me (with bright red hair) and a new set of cousins I never new I had. And my great grandmother who was born in Ireland, turned out not to be in my gene pool after all. But that's another story.

What I am grateful for are my Irish ancestors and all the others who took a chance on an unknown land and came to America to find a better life for themselves and their children and their children's children. I have benefited greatly from their sacrifices and the long voyage they took across the ocean to settle here. And for that, I am thankful.

Live and Learn

I was thinking about the title of my blog the other day and thought that I should be sharing more things I'm learning. I have done that sometimes in a serious way like when I have learned life lessons from my parents and in a not so serious way as when I studied the size of potato chips in relationship to the size bag they were in. But I thought I'd make my discoveries a regular feature here in a more purposeful way. Maybe you'll find something that's new to you, also.

Which brings me to todays' subjects.

The shape of incisions:
As you may remember, I mentioned here that Ward had surgery on the inside of his wrist recently. There was an interesting discovery when he got his splint off and got a view of his incision. It was a zig-zag. Before the surgery, the doctor came in with a Sharpie and initialed Ward's arm and made what I thought was just a squiggly line where he said he was going to cut. I thought he was kind of sloppy and just showing the general area where he would cut. Well, as it turned out the incision was right along the Sharpie marks. Supposedly when they make the cut that way, they don't have to pull the skin as much which results in easier access and less scarring. This was a totally new concept for me even though it has been around for a while.  (No pictures for this one because not everyone likes looking at recent incisions.)

Have you seen an incision like this?

Pi Day:
Yesterday was 3-14, Pi Day. Bless made a comment on her blog, My Two Cents,  that she didn't grow up celebrating Pi Day because they wrote their dates differently with the day first and the month second. That got me thinking that I certainly didn't grow up hearing about Pi Day either and it seemed to be a fairly recent thing. Once again, a little Googling confirmed what I thought.

It was created by physicist, Larry Shaw, in 1988, on a staff retreat for the Exploratorium (science and art museum in San Francisco.) It took off and each year involved a little more fun. They had a parade started at 1:59 (Pi_3.14159...) eating pizza pies and dessert pies, etc. It was declared a national holiday in 2009 and is celebrated around the world.

However yesterday, since we're trying to eat a little better, we didn't have any kind of pie. Not a chicken pot pie, not a pizza pie, nor an apple pie. It think this needs corrected certainly before next pie day.

Did you celebrate Pi Day with a pie?

First thought, Second thought

Well, I have definitely gotten out of the habit of posting regularly here. When I think about writing something, I can't think about much to say. My days just don't seem interesting enough to write about them. Pretty routine would pretty much describe them. Do the dishes, go to work, get an allergy shot, clean the litter box, pet the cats, etc.

Also, I try to remain mostly positive here. If nothing else, it helps me have a more positive outlook on things. Not always my first nature even without the time change. Here's a few examples of how I work at reframing things.

First thought: Ward is annoying me with the way he eats his cereal.
Second thought: Ward and I were lucky that we got to eat breakfast together this morning.

First thought: I am tired of the pain from my trigeminal neuralgia flare up.
Second thought: I'm lucky that medicine helps with it and I have to be patient while I build up doses to a therapeutic level.

First thought: I'm annoyed that the cats have been peeing outside of the litter box recently.
Second thought: We're lucky to have our elderly cats still with us and as comes with age, they don't always use the litter box.

First thought: I am worried about some stumbling blocks in my kid's life. What if it never works out?
Second thought: I'm glad that my kids are taking action to change some things in their life for the better.

First thought: I am worried about my friend and the rapidly growing growth she has.
Second thought: Don't borrow trouble until she has been to the doctor and gotten more information.

First thought: Another cold, windy day. When is spring going to be here?
Second thought: The snow didn't amount to much last night and we're going to have a sunny day.

First thought: It's time to go to work and I'm not done with this post.
Second thought: Posting something is a good start and it doesn't have to be perfect. How lucky I am to have a job with good benefits.

So there it is. Have a good day even if you don't feel like it. That's what I'm going to try to do.