The Way of the Wombat

First - I hope all my American friends have a lot of things to give thanks for today - and every day.

Secondly - sneak preview of something for D-d for Christmas - folding shoes that come in a tiny purse, complete with a shoe bag to put your killer heels into to carry home at the end of the night...

Ha! No posts for a week and then two in a couple of hours! I spent a few minutes out in the yard tidying this afternoon; my winter-flowering pansies have stopped, flowering that is, but there are lots of daffodils and some hyacinths in bud. I reckon we've got a good bit more winter to come yet, still, it is nice to think that they will be in bloom soon to brighten the place up.

It made me think that I haven't done a 'grateful' list for a while so -

A few reasons to be grateful, in no particular order:

All my close family seem to be in good health.

The guys from the farm up the road have had the foresight to diversify by turning two of their barns into the Fun Barn and Lazerblast.

Sunday School funds are adequate for us to take all the children to the Fun Barn and/or Lazerblast as a treat!

The presents I bought S2C for Christmas (Neverwinter Nights 2 and some good headphones to wear at his computer) are a BIG hit.

I have this wonderful window on the world called the internet, and especially LJ.

The funds raised for The Leprosy Mission by our Church members over the last year can provide medication to cure the disease in 132 people.

My daughter got up at 8.30 a.m. this morning to travel by bus to the York URC, even though no one makes her and the congregation are mostly old enough to be her grandparents.

The girl at the Blood Clinic managed to take my blood sample at the first attempt.

My Mum gave me flowers.

I have been very remiss, I haven't posted anything to my journal for a week. One reason is that I haven't been doing anything very note-worthy, but the main one is that I am in a constant battle for my computer with the cat. He is determined to either lie across my lap between my chest and the lap-top, or across the front of the lap-top, or beside me on the settee, resting his head on the right hand side of the keyboard and/or the wireless receiver for my mouse.

None of these options are conducive to me being able to write much coherently, and so I opt for either just reading things, or not using the lap-top except when the cat goes out to pee! Currently he has been sitting on the window sill, and has just noticed that I have left a brand new suede bag on the other end of the settee, and has decided sleeping on it might be even more fun than sleeping on the laptop! And in relief I am letting him. (For those who like to know these things, it is a good big size, in a nice autumnal red with black leather trim.)

So - I have spent some time this afternoon up-loading 'Ten Years After' to a new archive site -
Just Rewards at the invitation of Athenewolfe (Of the Fang Fettish Awards) who is maintaining it. It is a site only for award winning fics - so well worth a visit, because even if you don't always agree with exactly which fic wins which award, the one thing you can be pretty sure of is that award winning fics are usually without too many typos, and with punctuation!

Something else I have been meaning to do is to copy my friend beckyzoole who puts up a weekly list of Reasons to be Grateful, which I think is a really good idea. So here is my list of reasons to be grateful this week:

I have a husband I love, who loves me, and we both know this even if we bicker!

I have a beautiful daughter, who is settling into her new life at university well, and who voluntarily rings home sometimes.

I have a mother whose 80th birthday party my sister and I are arranging for January - and she is in good enough health that we know she will likely be around to celebrate!

I can afford to eat enough that I am obese when so many others in the world are undernourished.

I have a laptop computer to keep me in touch with all of my friends around the world.

I have a new red handbag which is keeping the cat occupied.

Today has been a gloriously crisp autumn day, with leaves on the ground to scrunch.

I bought some Whittards "Winter Warmer" coffee and it is wonderfully soothing.

Isn't it nice to have so many things to be grateful for?