July, Thanks!

How is it August already?! Remember when you were a kid and every day seemed to last forever? That is certainly not the case now!

This thank-you post is going to feature some awesome food via our Louisville/Nashville trip, so let's get to it!

July, Thanks!

1) Thanks to the Goose Creek Diner in Louisville for feeding us. A LOT.

That's a Hot Brown in the second photo...


My Fried Green Tomato BLT with baked sweet potato & HUBS' Chicken Fried Steak

2) Thanks to Savannah's Candy Kitchen for helping to make a long walk around downtown Nashville a late-night surprise.




3) Thanks to the Pancake Pantry of Nashville for making a long wait in line worth it.

My Sweet Potato Waffle, his Swedish Pancakes


My sides and the Cinnamon Cream Syrup that accompanied my waffle

4) Thanks to easy road trips.

5) Thanks to Walmart for always having what we need even when we're in another city.

6) Thanks to my job for opening up my free time.

7) Thanks to specialists for helping me get to the root of my many annoying health issues.

8) Thanks to my last big check for making things more possible than before.

9) Thanks to $4 movies tickets for new releases.

10) Thanks to my intense money saving skills.

What did July bring you?

Music Monday: June, Thanks!

There's nothing like an Elvis pig to brighten your day...

Vacations are awesome things. You see new sights, eat new food and see new people. Sometimes you also sweat like a pig, eat dinner at 1 am, drive the wrong way down a one way street and get pulled over by a bicycle cop, but, you know, such is life.

I've got one big Thank You for June, and that is that HUBS and I made enough cash to take a two day trip to Louisville, KY and Nashville, TN last week. It was fun and exhausting. We went out late at night and mingled with drunk, sweaty Nashvillians. We walked down dark, abandoned streets. On my way to the bathroom a clown covered in balloon animals told me to cheer up and I smiled at him even though I was thinking Fuck you, clown.

We partook of July 4th activities. Like when we stayed at home and the ghetto heathens of our neighborhood set off what must have been professional grade fireworks. They were pretty, but, really, I wish they would have stopped that shit by midnight instead of 2 am.

Saturday evening we took the train downtown to the last night of Fair St. Louis. We saw a free show by the Counting Crows, watched fireworks under the Arch, walked amongst the drunk, sweaty denizens of Laclede's Landing and ate an expensive snack at the Drunken Fish.

June's money got us there, people. And I am really thankful for that.

Music Monday: May, Thanks!

Wow, how sad is it that I'm having a hard time remembering good stuff that happened in May? The month shot by so fast I'm barely registering the fact that it's June now.

Alrighty, time to put on my thinking cap, 'cause here we go...

May, Thanks!

1) Thanks to the commitment to saving money, which helped me buy a new purse.

2) Thanks to men who know how to jackhammer a basement, drill holes in each cinder block, install a drainage system and hook up a sump pump.

3) Thanks to the office manager who works with those guys for giving me a $25 discount because of the light bulb they broke and the door frame they busted up.

4) Thanks to a reasonably cool start to summer.

5) Thanks to the note taking app on my phone for helping me keep track of my daily you-must-leave-the-house jaunts.

6) Thanks to Lila, my car, for still running after 15 years.

7) Thanks to my ever growing gardening skills for giving me onions and fresh basil.

8) Thanks to Tummy Drops for keeping my sensitive stomach happy.

9) Thanks to online clothes shopping.

10) Thanks to therapy.

OK, that was actually easier than I thought it'd be!







What good stuff happened to you in May?

April, Thanks!

This isn't a thank you, just some sad news about a young dude.

We have had a lot of stuff going on over here. We've have to go down the home repair rabbit hole to fix our toilet and the rotten floor underneath. The roof needed some work, our basement is going to have to be torn up and we've found out that most of our kitchen is fucked.

I've been having a lot of days where I feel like I'm on the verge of a panic attack for hours and hours at a time, so I really need to think about what I'm thankful for in April. Can I come up with at least five things? Let's see...

April, Thanks!

1) Thanks to brand new cat mothers for coming back to our yard and getting their newborn so HUBS and I didn't have to try taking care of it.

2) Thanks to getting paid so I can help buy groceries and pay for home repairs.

3) Thanks to motivation for helping me finally get my sister-in-law's article written.

4) Thanks to the universe for making sure we looked into the toilet issue before it fell into the basement with someone sitting on it.

5) Thanks to donuts.

6) Thanks to chocolate.

7) Thanks to work I can do at any time of day or night.

8) Thanks to soap operas for making sure I know that life could be much worse without anyone actually having to suffer and me feeling guilty for being glad I don't have someone else's problems.

9) Thanks to the piles of magazines around my home for helping me see that I subscribe to way too many of them.

10) Thanks to my local libraries for helping me read, listen to music and watch cable TV and movies without having to spend any money.

Look at that. I made it all the way to ten!

What good stuff happened to you in April?

Music Monday: March, Thanks!

It's hard to believe that a week ago there was over a foot of snow on the ground in Missouri. Well, Spring's a-sprung for now and here's what made me happy in March.

March, Thanks!

1) Thanks to the Sandman for helping me get 12 hours of sleep I didn't know I needed on Friday night.

2) Thanks to my niece for sharing some of her Easter candy with me.

3) Thanks to my sister-in-law for being patient with me and the project I'm working on for her since I got my job.

4) Thanks to my hair for annoying me less as it continues to revert to its natural state.

5) Thanks to Avon for having stylish, and yet fairly cheap shoes.

6) Thanks to the USPS for delivering my first new-job paycheck.

7) Thanks to the creative genius who invented the fantasy genre for keeping my reading life interesting.

8) Thanks to the magic combo of natural peanut butter, honey & cinnamon for being great on toast or animal crackers.

9) Thanks to recyclebank.com for allowing me to subscribe to way too many magazines for totally free.

10) Thanks to turkey cutlets for being an awesome substitute for fried chicken.

Enough about me, let's enjoy some tunes...

Music Monday: February, Thanks!

Well, 2013 is moving right along, ain't she? Things are looking up for me, and I hope, for you too.

February, Thanks!

1) Thanks to the job gods for hooking me up.

2) Thanks to free workouts on HULU for making it easier for me to get in shape.

3) Thanks to tax refunds for helping us fix our plumbing.

4) Thanks to good plumbers.

5) Thanks to coffee for keeping my mornings grumpy-almost-middle-aged-lady free.

6) Thanks to chips, cheese and salsa for making me happy when I don't feel like cooking.

7) Thanks to HUBS for cleaning the kitchen LIKE A BOSS.

8) Thanks to HUBS for working his geek computer magic and getting more memory on my smart phone.

9) Thanks to GetGlue for making tv/movie watching even more fun.

10) Thanks to washing machines for seeing to it that I've never had to beat dirty clothes against a rock by a stream.

11) Thanks to eshakti.com for extending the discount code from last week. It's now good through 3/20/13!

This is a very good list, if I do say so myself! Now, let's dance!









What made you happy in February?

Music Monday: January, Thanks!

Ok. So, that was January. Not bad. Got some things done. Fell behind on some others. Learned some things, made some plans. All in all, I do have some things to be grateful for.

January, Thanks!

1) Thanks to laying out some clear plans for things I wanted to get done.

2) Thanks to learning that change isn't as easy as making plans.

3) Thanks to the wisdom of an ear, nose & throat doctor.

4) Thanks to my plush eye mask for sealing out light while I slept on the couch.

5) Thanks to a shelf full of crappy bath towels for being available to wipe up plumbing mishaps.

6) Thanks to free therapy.

7) Thanks to macaroni & cheese for keeping me happy on cold nights.

8) Thanks to yoga for being there when I need it.

9) Thanks to half.com for making reasonably priced gifts a possibility.

10) Thanks to Halls cough drops, tissues, cold medicine and my sinus rinse for getting me healthy sooner.

Hey, that's kind of a lot. Not bad, right? Now, let's stop talking about me and entertain you!









What are you thankful for in January?

Music Monday: December, Thanks!

Well, I trust everyone had pleasant holiday times with family and friends. Now it's New Year's Eve. Didn't that happen fast? It was a year ago today I lost my writing job. I am determined to live happier and more fully in 2013. Toward that end, here's my December appreciation list.

December, Thanks!

1) Thanks to nature for letting me harvest some of the cauliflower I planted late this year. It survived a couple of frosts and then grew during the crazy, inexplicable mini heatwave we had in November.

2) Thanks to Purina Farms for the dog show. It was nice to do something different.

3) Thanks to HUBS for helping me bake our Christmas gifts. We've been buying stuff for people for so long that none of it feels like it matters. I might make gifts from now on.

4) Thanks to my wonky car battery for needing me to drive everyday to keep it charged. I tend to let myself get stuck in the house for days at a time, but, this way, I get out and I've seen more of my city than I have in years.

5) Thanks to my sensible nature for being able to talk my precision-minded mom down when she called me freaked out about getting paid an extra $1.52 on her last check. She's so weird! PT thought she couldn't use her money because of it! I convinced her to put aside that amount in change at home and then act as she normally would. That way if her company wanted their money back she could just give it to them.

6) Thanks to nature (again) for snowing during the holidays.

7) Thanks to fashion magazines for finally giving me an idea of what to do with my increasingly wild natural hair that actually works.

8) Thanks to Zoloft for not wrecking havoc on my internals as I try to feel better.

Now, let's do music!









Tell me, what are you thankful for in December?

Music Monday: Thanks!

We miss you Skyler, but this is better for you.

As part of my on going struggle with depression, anxiety and cynicism, I'm going to take some time at the end of each month to think about all the things that made life a bit easier for four weeks. Gratitude as an idea is overused, (and sounds too hoity-toity to me, anyway) so I'm just calling this my Thanks! list.

November, Thanks!

1) Thanks to the nice old white man at The Original Pancake House who tapped me on the shoulder before he left and said, "You sure can wear a hat!" a day before my birthday.

2) Thanks to the Humane Society for having room to take in little Skyler kitten so we could get him off the street.

3) Thanks to nature for easing us into winter with stupid mild days that feel a lot more like Spring.

4) Thanks to my aging body for forcing me to bed early, but not so early that I have to be done with dinner by 6 p.m.

5) Thanks to Walmart's Equate Anti-Itch Plus for cleaning up my acne-ridden face and neck like a true beauty champion.

6) Thanks to the giant owls who've invaded our neighborhood for keeping the hooting to a minimum and (hopefully) not snatching up any kitty cats for dinner.

There! That feel good to say. Now, ready to get down?









What made you happy in November?