Things I Am Thankful For
A week late, I know. I guess the thankfulness takes a while to get over the border. It's on account of the long lines of cars filled with American groceries and holiday presents.
1. The Renaissance Woman worked a late shift today so she spent the morning SWEEPING AND VACUUMING THE ENTIRE APARTMENT, doing the dishes, and putting away all the laundry. The place SPARKLED when I got home, I tell you.
2. The Mermaid Girl--omg, I should write a whole post just about her--but for now I will just say that for the last two or three weeks she has been MAKING HER OWN LUNCHES. Yes! It was her own idea; she came home one day grumping about how she didn't like the lunch I made her and she was going to make her own darned lunch, and we were all, live it up, kid! So she has been.
She scuttles about the kitchen gathering things out of the fridge and off the counter and packing them into her My Little Pony lunchbox, which she then submits to me for inspection. Mostly I say yes; sometimes I make her put in another slice of turkey. She gets to put in a piece of Halloween candy as an incentive, and that seems to do it.
It helps that she doesn't like sandwiches; when I used to make them for her she just left the bread and ate the bare lunch meat slices. So now that's all she puts in. My little self-sufficient carnivore.
3. Also, she sat herself down ON HER OWN before dinner on Monday and started right in on her week's homework packet. After I picked my jaw up off the floor from whence it had dropped, I looked over her shoulder and saw that her handwriting has also miraculously improved while I wasn't looking. She got the whole thing done pretty quick, too.
4. I have a good job that I like. Two good jobs, actually; I haven't been writing much about the second one, since it's very part-time. But it's about to start taking up more and more time, and while that's making me hyperventilate a bit it also means I'll be able to bill them for more money. And more money is good. (No, wait; I have three jobs! But the third one is even more part-time. But I guess it counts.)
5. The two very-part-time jobs can mostly be done at home, in pajamas even; one of them requires occasional jaunts into downtown, which is dandy because it gives me a chance to take the SkyTrain. The close-to-full-time job does have a commute, but it is a sweet little 20-minute reverse-commute with traffic that's usually not heinous. Since my last job had a commute that got steadily worse and worse each year, until by last year it was regularly taking me over an hour to get home in the evenings, this is something for which I am exceedingly, sobbingly thankful.
6. I have good friends, both online and in person. And some of them even live in my town, and that is very very good. And they seem to like me even after witnessing me at my most spazzed-out and frantic. And that is very, very, VERY good.
7. I think I have most of the holiday presents taken care of. And the cards came; I just have to get the address labels out. And the photo of us doesn't even look that bad.
8. I may have found a place that sells Chanukah candles and might even still have some available.
9. MG loves her school. And her teacher. And she has friends. She's in a split Grade 1/Grade 2 class, I might have mentioned, and most of the kids are actually in Grade 1, so she does a lot of leading and helping. She told me the other day that the teacher put her next to Kellie in the Reindeer Rock song so that she can help Kellie remember when to stand up and lean over and also when to be quiet, because Kellie has Special Needs. There was another kid next to Kellie before, but the teacher said it would work out better for MG to be there.
Warms a mother's heart, that does.
10. Also, she loves her after-school-care lady, a kind Italian grandma who gives her cookies and lets her watch TV after 5:00 and whose extended family including baby granddaughter lives there too. More about her another time. I could spend a whole post on her. But for now, just: I have to tear MG away whenever I pick her up, and not just because it's usually right in the middle of Hannah Montana.
11. And once a week my cousin picks her up from school and hangs out with her and takes her to circus. Extended family! Helping with childcare! On a regular basis! For me, this was only something that happened in fairy stories until now. It's like a beautiful dream.
12. Our apartment has an incredible view out of all the living room and kitchen windows, and even sort of out of our bedroom window. On clear days we can see all the way to Downtown Vancouver, and even the islands beyond, not to mention the huge mountains to the North and also the far-away mountains to the West.
We were totally not looking for a view, it's not why we picked the place, and in fact I've never understood why people make such a big deal out of Views, since I never ever in my life before have lived in a place that had a view of anything but the driveway and the house next door. But now I get it. It's like a huge breath the freshest air every time I look out the window. Even when I'm stuck inside, I feel connected to the whole city, not isolated and holed up, because I can see it all spread out before me. I'm going to miss it when we do move, but I'm trying not to think about that now.
13. My B.C. Health coverage starts on Saturday! Can we hear a fist-pumping Yes!!
OK I am off now to spit over my shoulder and utter imprecations against the Evil Eye after reeling off all this bounty. But maybe I'll be protected by the Meme Fairy, since I seem to have unintentionally completed my very first ever Thursday Thirteen.
Oh, but wait, maybe not, because I just thought of one more:
14. November is almost over!
1. The Renaissance Woman worked a late shift today so she spent the morning SWEEPING AND VACUUMING THE ENTIRE APARTMENT, doing the dishes, and putting away all the laundry. The place SPARKLED when I got home, I tell you.
2. The Mermaid Girl--omg, I should write a whole post just about her--but for now I will just say that for the last two or three weeks she has been MAKING HER OWN LUNCHES. Yes! It was her own idea; she came home one day grumping about how she didn't like the lunch I made her and she was going to make her own darned lunch, and we were all, live it up, kid! So she has been.
She scuttles about the kitchen gathering things out of the fridge and off the counter and packing them into her My Little Pony lunchbox, which she then submits to me for inspection. Mostly I say yes; sometimes I make her put in another slice of turkey. She gets to put in a piece of Halloween candy as an incentive, and that seems to do it.
It helps that she doesn't like sandwiches; when I used to make them for her she just left the bread and ate the bare lunch meat slices. So now that's all she puts in. My little self-sufficient carnivore.
3. Also, she sat herself down ON HER OWN before dinner on Monday and started right in on her week's homework packet. After I picked my jaw up off the floor from whence it had dropped, I looked over her shoulder and saw that her handwriting has also miraculously improved while I wasn't looking. She got the whole thing done pretty quick, too.
4. I have a good job that I like. Two good jobs, actually; I haven't been writing much about the second one, since it's very part-time. But it's about to start taking up more and more time, and while that's making me hyperventilate a bit it also means I'll be able to bill them for more money. And more money is good. (No, wait; I have three jobs! But the third one is even more part-time. But I guess it counts.)
5. The two very-part-time jobs can mostly be done at home, in pajamas even; one of them requires occasional jaunts into downtown, which is dandy because it gives me a chance to take the SkyTrain. The close-to-full-time job does have a commute, but it is a sweet little 20-minute reverse-commute with traffic that's usually not heinous. Since my last job had a commute that got steadily worse and worse each year, until by last year it was regularly taking me over an hour to get home in the evenings, this is something for which I am exceedingly, sobbingly thankful.
6. I have good friends, both online and in person. And some of them even live in my town, and that is very very good. And they seem to like me even after witnessing me at my most spazzed-out and frantic. And that is very, very, VERY good.
7. I think I have most of the holiday presents taken care of. And the cards came; I just have to get the address labels out. And the photo of us doesn't even look that bad.
8. I may have found a place that sells Chanukah candles and might even still have some available.
9. MG loves her school. And her teacher. And she has friends. She's in a split Grade 1/Grade 2 class, I might have mentioned, and most of the kids are actually in Grade 1, so she does a lot of leading and helping. She told me the other day that the teacher put her next to Kellie in the Reindeer Rock song so that she can help Kellie remember when to stand up and lean over and also when to be quiet, because Kellie has Special Needs. There was another kid next to Kellie before, but the teacher said it would work out better for MG to be there.
Warms a mother's heart, that does.
10. Also, she loves her after-school-care lady, a kind Italian grandma who gives her cookies and lets her watch TV after 5:00 and whose extended family including baby granddaughter lives there too. More about her another time. I could spend a whole post on her. But for now, just: I have to tear MG away whenever I pick her up, and not just because it's usually right in the middle of Hannah Montana.
11. And once a week my cousin picks her up from school and hangs out with her and takes her to circus. Extended family! Helping with childcare! On a regular basis! For me, this was only something that happened in fairy stories until now. It's like a beautiful dream.
12. Our apartment has an incredible view out of all the living room and kitchen windows, and even sort of out of our bedroom window. On clear days we can see all the way to Downtown Vancouver, and even the islands beyond, not to mention the huge mountains to the North and also the far-away mountains to the West.
We were totally not looking for a view, it's not why we picked the place, and in fact I've never understood why people make such a big deal out of Views, since I never ever in my life before have lived in a place that had a view of anything but the driveway and the house next door. But now I get it. It's like a huge breath the freshest air every time I look out the window. Even when I'm stuck inside, I feel connected to the whole city, not isolated and holed up, because I can see it all spread out before me. I'm going to miss it when we do move, but I'm trying not to think about that now.
13. My B.C. Health coverage starts on Saturday! Can we hear a fist-pumping Yes!!
OK I am off now to spit over my shoulder and utter imprecations against the Evil Eye after reeling off all this bounty. But maybe I'll be protected by the Meme Fairy, since I seem to have unintentionally completed my very first ever Thursday Thirteen.
Oh, but wait, maybe not, because I just thought of one more:
14. November is almost over!
posted by elswhere | 10:15 PM
7 Comments:
Yay for all this---and for November being nearly over.
PPB
You know, it has never occurred to me that a view was even a factor in real estate--maybe because I've always lived in cities without much going on in the way of view. But this reminded me that in the little trinity I had in Center City, I could see Philadelphia's most beautiful skyscraper (Liberty Place) from the window by my bed. I'd forgotten that, but I missed it when I first moved here.
MG is cracking me up with the luncheon meat.
Those are all very good things!!!!
Yay for November being almost over! And a clean apartment with a view!
Also, let me welcome you to B.C. Health coverage. I really hope the bureaucracy doesn't wear you down. The secret is: If you are covered, never, ever change your financial details with them. Also, never take them seriously, unless your info concurs with theirs. They're about three years out of date, and you'll hear nothing from them for a long time, and then suddenly, they'll start demanding money, based on some taxes you filed three years ago, and your finances have changed.
About five years ago, I got a series of letters from them, alternately detailing that I owed them $8.11, and then that I was owed a refund of $8.11. I think there were two of each.
Liz, thank you!
And as for your warning: I may live to regret these words, but I believe I'm more than prepared for BC Health's inefficient yet (I hear) essentially at its heart benign bureaucracy after dealing with the mercenary, patient-screwing-on-purpose hell that is the U.S. healthcare system for my entire adult life.
Crap. I'm going to be sorry I wrote this, I'm so sure. Hubris and karma and the evil eye and all that. But somehow I can't bring myself to delete this comment. Here goes...
You!!! Come over here and visit sometime!
Note that my guest room is nicer now, and the hot tub hotter than ever!
YES!!!!!!!
I am very glad to hear all the good news - especially about Sarah. And you, of course. Sounds like life is settling down/into something like what it should be. Yay.
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