30 Days of Thanks: Days 25-Day 26

Day 25: The Muppets. Yes, I already said that, but this time I mean the movie, The Muppets. I am also thankful for Jason Segel for making this movie happen. It was delightful. Completely and totally delightful. If I had been watching it in the privacy of my own home I probably would have cried. I wanted to break out into song when The Muppets sang Rainbow Connection.

Brett McKenzie and Kermit singing Life's a Happy song. Also, did you know there is a Muppet Wiki?



On a side note, there is a Toy Story short before the movie called "Small Fry." it is beyond awesome. Seriously. I laughed so hard I had tears running down my face.



Day 26: I'm thankful for the little old lady I saw at the grocery store. She was wearing a leopard print swing coat with a matching hat that was pushed a little too far forward on her head (both the hat and coat had seen better days), gray leggings, and flat. She had a mess of gray curls and she wore a little too much blush. And she was carrying a hobo-style purse and carrying a grocery basket. She was the most adorable thing I have ever seen. She reminded me of how my grandma wouldn't go to the grocery store without earrings and makeup. This little old lady was far from dressed up with her long-john style leggings, but she was trying with her blush and leopard print.

I wanted to take a picture but couldn't figure out how without her knowing. So... I decided to be like Sally and draw a picture of her.

She was adorable

30 Days of Thanks: Day 24

So, for THE Day of Thanks, what am I thankful for? That ability to spend the day doing whatever I want. AKA: I stayed home for Thanksgiving. By myself. By choice. And I'm 100% perfectly okay with that. Don't feel sorry for me because it's been a great day.

Very long story short: Long quarter. Stressful quarter. Lots of bullshit. Lots of passive aggressiveness. Classroom issues involving some stressful situations. And a lot of this has just been in the last few days. By Tuesday I wanted to do nothing more than take Wednesday off so I could have five days away. I didn't quite do that--I took a research day. I got the sleep I desperately needed. I went to the gym. I ran some errands. And then I got some work done. It's gotten to the point where I can't get much of anything done in the office. I have distractions, people drop by, I have a bazillion meetings. You get the picture.

A friend, a good friend, asked if I wanted to come to his place. I like him. I like his wife. I thoroughly enjoy his kids. Normally, yes, I would, and I would enjoy myself. But by the time Thanksgiving came around I knew I needed some quiet time to disconnect and recharge, because I'm exhausted.

So... I watched football. I put up Christmas lights. I cooked. I knit. I ate. I napped. And napped. And napped some more. I have not once felt bad about spending the day this way.

My first year in grad school I had planned on driving to my dad's for Thanksgiving. It was a four-hour drive, but it was the closest I'd lived to him in a long time. I knew I should go, and I was looking forward to it until the week of Thanksgiving. I had two papers due the day before. I was up late the night before I was supposed to leave. After getting only three hours of sleep, I knew I was in no mood to drive four hours for a meal I couldn't eat. So I didn't. I sat on my couch in my PJs, eating what I wanted while watching football. The next day I putzed around town with a friend. And you know what? It was one of the best Thanksgivings I have ever had. It was relaxing and calm and quiet. For the first time in several months I didn't have to be anywhere, do anything, answer questions, fix problems, or do anything of any importance.

This year I decided to repeat that. And it's been great.

30 Days of Thanks: Days 21-23

Day 21: Naps. When I graduated from college someone asked me what I missed the most. What was it? Naps. Naps are glorious.

Day 22: A sense of humor. I've been told by some people that I am too serious and don't have a sense of humor. I've been told by others that I am terribly funny--ar at least entertaining. Some people tell me I'm too sarcastic/mean. Whatever. I'm just glad that I can laugh at myself. On a side note, one friend--who I know reads this blog--thinks I should write a book full of the various stories I tell her: things I've done; things my friends have done; moving from the upper-midwest to the deep south; my one-armed grandpa... Actually, it's the one-armed grandpa stories (like the fact that he taught me to swim) is what makes most people say, "I need to meet your family." They're usually disappointed when I tell them that One-Armed Grandpa died more than thirty years ago. Anyway... I'm not writing a book.

Day 23: Vegan donuts. I didn't like donuts before I became a vegan, but now I love them. My guess is what bothered me about them was the lard. So, after a morning trip to the gym, I picked up some vegan donuts.... canceling out any good I accomplished at the gym.

30 Days of Thanks: Day 20

Today I am thankful for the gym. Yes, the gym. The gym helps save my sanity, and it's a stress reliever. I've been going for more than a year. Have I lost much weight not really... at least not until recently. I started going because the doctor guilted me into it. I went to the gym when I lived down south, but I figured with all the walking I do, I wouldn't need it. But I did.

It didn't take long for the gym to become the place where I went to space out. I get on the elliptical and daydream. I think about nothing important. I zone out. I can be stressed out and pissed off, but after forty-five minutes at the gym, I feel like a different person.

I mentioned that I hadn't really lost any weight until recently. I lost almost thirty pounds a couple years ago but I had gained back about half of that. Recently I began dropping weight. I couldn't figure out why. And then I remembered that the bagel shop in the library had run out of Tofutti cream cheese and wasn't going to carry it again until classes started. A month of not eating a whole wheat bagel with a Tofutti cream cheese schmear once or twice a week? I lost ten pounds. So now how many of them do I eat? I think I have had two of them over the last three months.

And then over the last couple weeks, I lost some more weight. I've been sick, so there's that. But then I realized I was cutting out more sugar and not drinking as much beer. (If I have beer in the fridge, I will usually have one after I get home). I've lost enough that I had to take my belt down a notch.

Will I give up beer and sugar (AKA Smarties)? No. But I will be more conscious of how much I consume.

Anyway... I went back to the gym today for the first time in more than a week ('cause I've been sick and all). It felt great.

30 Days of Thanks: Days 15-19

Day 15: Teaching. It's one of the most difficult, if not the most difficult, things I have ever done. Standing in front of a room of 18-30 year olds trying to get across a point clearly and succinctly is tough. Some days I feel I accomplish this; other days I feel like I give them just enough information to confuse them. Some may say that's a good thing, but I am not so sure about that. I'm also waiting for the day my student realize I am completely clueless. But... I grew up wanting to teach. I grew up wanting to educate. And I am.

Day 16: My cats. Yes, predictable. I have been trying to tie these in to things that happened on that specific day. And what do I remember from Wednesday? Meetings. I fucking hate meetings. But I dig my cats. I got Sasha less than a month after I put down my cat Dmitrii. I'd had Dmitrii for eight years; I got him during my last year of college. Sasha came from a local farm. He was an incredibly affectionate ball of energy. Eleven year later he is still an incredibly affectionate and vocal ball of energy. Alexsi is the fatest cat I've ever owned. He evened out at 18 pounds for years, and then he began to gain weight. Then he lost weight. And then he got sick. Then we switched his food and he got better.... but fatter. He is affectionate when he wants to be. He thinks he can sneak up on you even though he moves with all the grace of a 23-pound eleven year old cat with arthritis. But I adore him. I got him after I put down my young cat Misha ten months after I put down Dmitrii. I didn't want another cat, but Sasha was not happy as an only cat, so I went to the humane society to get a playmate for Sasha even though I didn't want two cats. But the lovable fatass grew on me. I've had them both eleven years. I've moved them four times, twice across multiple states. They are incredibly spoiled. And I think some of my friends like them more than me. But they're pretty awesome.

Left: ten pound cat. Right: twenty-three pound cat. 

Day 17: Vegan cupcakes. I had to be on campus earlier than normal to sit through a 1.5 hour meeting that had to do with stuff that I neither undertand nor care about. As I was leaving I passed a student group having a bake sale, and they had vegan cupcakes. I bought one, of course. A friend asked me how it was, and I said, "Who cares? It was a vegan cupcake." It was as good as one would expect when made by undergraduates with limited funds and baking skills, but that's okay: It was a vegan cupcake.

Day 18: My colleagues. The ones I like. I had a meeting Friday afternoon with a couple of colleagues/friends about an article we're writing together. It's due next month. Have we started yet? No. It's been an incredibly busy fall, and we're just now getting around to thinking about this article. We met on Friday to go over a group of articles that might work for a lit review. The meeting took twice as long because we kept laughing at each other and ourselves.

Day 19: Sun. I wasn't much of a sun worshiper until I moved here. Yesterday a friend asked me if I wanted to walk down to the local gentrified hippie neighborhood to go to a Christmas crafty sale. Sure, it would keep me from working all weekend. It was a lovely cool, crisp, and incredibly sunny day. We spent all morning and a good portion of the afternoon wandering through the little shops, drinking coffee, talking, and eating. The sky was so clear and the sun was so bright it almost hurt. I even got a little sunburned.