Six and Seven

I'm so grateful that my cousin's grandson was able to celebrate finishing chemotherapy for leukemia.  Two years ago, it looked like he wouldn't make it this far.

Yesterday, I was very grateful for two generous nurses who shared their food with me.

I am grateful for clean drinking water.

And Here We Have Day 5

Grateful for:

The good behavior of our kitten, so far.

Such a good planning meeting for the ward Christmas party.

Inspiring thoughts and talks that give comfort and ideas about how to comfort others.

Twenty-five or so years ago, I never thought that I would say that I was grateful for my job in a bank.  I would have been a lot happier if I had been grateful back then, but I am always finding ways that job helped me.  I am particularly grateful for the kajillion customer service training meetings I was required to attend.  Those skills are priceless in my current job.

Ollie, Ollie Not Exactly Free

Before I tell the story of Oliver, I want to express my gratitude for friends near and far.  I'm grateful that we ran into the Asburys and the Gefroms at the pizza place this evening.  I'm grateful to have had a good old chat with Jacy and Amy.  They are amazing women.  I'm grateful for the spiritual strength of my friend, Amberly.  Thanks for sharing about your new nephew's struggle so that we can all add our prayers to the Banks' and Hunt's.

I'm also grateful for my dear husband.  He spent quite a bit of time getting cat supplies, then three hours at the Humane Society today, all so I could have a cat.

Okay, and now Oliver Hammond, our new housemate.  We wanted a Russian Blue cat, because they are on the list of less-allergenic cats, plus they are cute.  The Humane Society had a five-month-old kitten and a mature cat, so we dropped by on Sunday afternoon with our friends, Mimi and Herb, to check them out.

The San Diego Humane Society building is beautiful, by the way.  I thought it would be more of an industrial building, but it was very airy and clean.

The Russian Blue kitten, Seymour, was in a room with six other kittens.  Seymour was curled under a chair, taking a nap.  Several other kittens were gamboling around the room.  One in particular, Oliver, a cute little black-and-white kitty, was being particularly playful and cute.  Seymour did wake up for a couple of minutes, and man, was he adorable--the perfect Russian Blue.  He seemed to be very skittish, though.

This morning, Rowdy and I decided that he would go to the Humane Society during the day and check Seymour out one-on-one.  If everything went well, we'd get him.  We even thought of an awesome name for him, Oslo Dahlstromovich Briccovski.

Unfortunately, Seymour blew his audition.  He didn't want to be petted.  He was much more interested in trying to nurse on the other kittens than play.  It was just a disaster, really.  If we wanted a cat that just curled up under a chair, we would  buy a stuffed cat.

I was able to leave work a little early and meet up with Rowdy and the cats.  Oliver won me over, even though he makes me sniffle and wheeze.  A $125 payment to the San Diego Humane Society, as well a a good chunk of money spent at Petco, and Oliver was ours.

He is getting acclimated to our house in our upstairs bathroom for the next couple of days.  We're trying to get him to bond primarily with me, so I brought him home in my car, introduced him to the bathroom and have been in to play with him.  He has let me pet him quite a bit, but he's not ready to let me pick him up.  He only cried for a few seconds after I shut the door.

We thought of calling him Oslo, but it doesn't fit him.  So he's Oliver Hammond, after Richard Hammond of TopGear and the little car he named Oliver.  Too bad, though, because Oslo Dahlstromovich Briccovski is a pretty dope name.

Grateful, Grateful, Grateful

I'm very grateful to have had an easy call weekend.  Last week was mentally and physically brutal, so an easy weekend was needed.

I'm grateful that my mess-up with the topping for our chicken pot pie for company wasn't a total fail.  It was still good--not as good as when it has a biscuit crust instead of an "impossible pie" crust.  The filling is what saved it.

I'm grateful for the chance to get to know a new couple in the ward a little better, and to have the Elders over for dinner also.  

Bonus grateful:

I'm grateful that Rowdy didn't shoot his eye out.

Grateful Days

Little things that I am grateful for today:

Cell phones, to be able to keep in touch with Rowdy while he's away at a pistol competition.

A healthy body that can run, a pretty pathway to run on, podcasts to make the time go faster and good weather.

That lady that I always see running around Lake Murray with a big smile on her face.  Okay, she looks a little cray-cray, but she's having a good time.  It makes me smile and enjoy my run more, too.

Rowdy's Granny, who always had candy at her house. Some people have a candy drawer.  She had a candy ROOM.  It was a bedroom that had stuff stashed everywhere--dresser drawers, the closet, maybe even under the mattress.  I don't know. I saw boxes of thin mints and cordial cherries at Dollar Tree that reminded me of her today.  The thing is, they have to be properly stale to really taste good.  These boxes will not be properly aged for a few more years.

And speaking of grandparents, my great-uncle Hubert passed away last week at 94.  After reading his obituary, I went to Google Maps to find the church house in Pocatello, Idaho, where they will be holding his funeral.  Then I followed the map to my grandpa and grandma Dahlstrom's, then "walked" the few blocks to Grandma Bright's, then down the street and around the corner to Great-grandma Dahlstrom's.  My grandmas were different in personality from each other (and "different" in some ways, I guess), but they were loving and I am very grateful for them and for the ways they loved and shaped me.  Grandma Dahlstrom's house smelled clean and fresh.  Toast with really good butter on it, buttered popcorn and a Coke, lilacs, rose bushes and crossword puzzles make me think of her.  Grandma Bright's house smelled like baking.  Quilts, delicious baked goods, pancakes with bacon in them, rooms with lots of beds for the grandkids to have slumber parties in, temple work and service make me think of her.  Great-grandma's house doesn't have a particular smell memory for me, but she was definitely the type of grandma who had a big clump of ribbon candy in a bowl in her living room.  She had kind of a high, reedy voice, and she was very gentle.

One more bowl of chicken rice soup for breakfast.

The love of education, which is making a little thought brew in the back of my mind.  I'm starting to think about perhaps getting a Master of Health Administration degree.  I have no desire to be a hospital administrator (they are the devil and nobody likes them), but I'm interested in what is going on in healthcare these days.  Sometimes people (patients, friends) say things that come from frustration, illness and misinformation.  I'd like to be able to really understand the issues and the system to be able to at least try to educate them.

The glorious feedback loop that comes from expressing gratitude for all of the things that God has given us.

And here's Elder Russell M. Nelson of the Quorum of the Apostles to tell us more:

Thanks, Elder Nelson!

Gratitude Month, Day One

So, today is the first of November, and time to blog daily about the things for which I am grateful.  Here's a somewhat novel one for my first entry:

Patience.

Last month's YW topic was "Becoming More Christlike".  Interestingly, one of the weekly lessons was titled, "How can I become more patient?"  Perhaps I hadn't realized the importance of patience as a Godly quality.  But after all, how in the world would God be able to deal with us and our whining and complaining without perfect patience?

I think that I can be pretty patient overall, but I have been trying to improve over the past week.  Of course, since I was trying to improve, I felt very tested.  The last two days at work were particularly trying.  What I found was that my day went much more smoothly, no matter what was happening, when I was working hard to exercise patience.  Who knew?

Please enjoy this terrific, short video with President Dieter F. Uchtdorf.  Would you be the kid who at the marshmallow right away, or would you wait?  I think that I was a pretty obedient child, and I don't really like marshmallows.  I'm pretty good at delayed gratification.

The Best Ingredient! #4--Food!

Since I burned 8,738 Cal extra during the Muffin Man, I made the most of my caloric intake.

First of all, the gels:

My friend, Stephanie introduced me to this flavor.  It's now my favorite.

A seasonal flavor from Gu that is amazing.  No weird aftertaste, just pure peppermint goodness.

If you eat this with a Chocolate Outrage Gu, I swear you will think you were eating German Chocolate cake.

I always had water and a bottle of Endurox on my bike or in my car for after runs.

I prefer the Tangy Orange flavor.  The Fruit Punch has kind of a fruit-punch-flavored barf smell and taste.

This gave me the chance to indulge in two of my favorite restaurants, East Village and Tender Greens.

A Monk's Bowl at East Village.  It's really bi bim bap.  So marvelous with the rice and the meat and the veggies and the egg. 

Tender Greens' salt-and-pepper roast chicken, spinach salad with goat cheese and hazelnuts and mashed potatoes.  They make really lovely mashed potatoes.

I had some good home-cooked meals, too, and lots of deli turkey with crackers or as a wrap or something.  I also had a burger and fries at Smashburger with a scoop of Baskin-Robbins' Peanut Butter and Chocolate ice cream for dessert.  On another day, I had a Peanut Buster Parfait from Dairy Queen.  It was a very good week for food.

And the piece de resistance!  Homemade blueberry muffins on Saturday morning to celebrate!