30 Days of Gratitude - Day 6 - Morning Caffeine

I love Oregon Chai. I've made the hot version in the winter for several years, but had never thought of trying it iced. I somehow had a Starbucks gift card, and tried theirs, and really liked it, so I did some looking, and found that Oregon Chai also offers a concentrated liquid version. I believe Starbucks uses Tazo, but I like Oregon better. It comes in one of those aseptic containers, and I mix it half-and-half with 2% milk, add some ice, and bring it to work with me.

It provides my necessary morning caffeine, it's cold, and it's hopefully healthier than Diet Coke. I buy the Original, although they also have caffeine-free, sugar-free, and less sweet versions. They also have a Peppermint version, although apparently only during the holiday season. I'll have to remember to try that this winter!

I'm grateful that I discovered this. The 32 oz. carton costs around $5.00, and I get about five or six uses out of it. The milk costs something, of course, but the total cost is a LOT less than buying one from Starbucks every morning, so it makes me feel thrifty while still having a tasty drink. I bought a Starbucks insulated reusable cup, which makes me happy, and saves throwing away a cup every day. I do use a throw-away straw rather than the permanent one, since I never feel like I can get those clean.

Photo: 9/6 - Hydrate

30 Days of Gratitude - Day 5 - Family

My parents are always on the list of things that I am grateful for, for the fact that they are in pretty good health, and are doing well.

I talked to them tonight. My mom had taken a small fall, and I got a call from the service that monitors that. I got the call while I was in the grocery store, and I didn't hear the phone ring, I only saw that I had missed the call when I checked my phone later. The message said that my dad was there, and everything was fine. I'm grateful to know that the service works, that they call to report even if everything turns out okay, that my mom is fine, and that I had the opportunity to speak to both of them.

I also talked to my sister, who I am also grateful for. She's the one who took on the task of finding the fall monitor people and equipment, testing it, and setting it up.

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This wasn't what I had in mind when I put "morning routine" on the list, but I forgot to take a picture this morning. When I got to the office, Olive was right there, sitting beside my desk, wanting a treat, and I thought, yep, morning routine.

I had actually intended to take a photo of my morning smoothie, or my chai tea, but I was running late this morning and didn't make either of those things--I drove through McDonald's for an Egg McMuffin and a Diet Coke. Fortunately, not a routine, but an aberration.

Photo: 9/5 - Morning routine: Treat, please.

30 Days of Gratitude - Day 4 - Canine Companionship

One of the things that I am always grateful for is the fact that we are a dog-friendly office.  There are two dogs that are always there -- Dave's two, Jojo and Connor -- and several that are there almost every day.  Clark (pictured here), Olive and Dexter, Ranger, Maggie, Sunshine, Dolly and Dixie, Jake and Elwood.  I adore the dogs, every one of them. 

I wasn't thinking specifically of the dogs when I wrote out my list of photographs for the month and wrote "Comfort" as the subject for today, but they really are a comfort to me, so I think it's appropriate.  Sometimes, when I'm having a bad day, Bob will call, and he'll say, "Go pet the dogs, you'll feel better."  And I do.  Dogs give you unconditional love, and are non-judgemental, although they can definitely tell me about it if I'm not quick enough with a treat, Olive in particular.  She has a huge personality for such a little dog.  And, I suppose, their affection is easily bought with a treat or two.


Still, there's nothing quite like the feeling of getting up to go to a meeting and having Jojo come with me, or having Olive look to me to save her from Ranger's over-enthusiastic affection, or having Clark come in and settle down in my office at the end of the day.

So many people come to our office and are delighted to meet the dogs, and say that they wish they could have dogs at their office.  I know we're lucky, and I'm grateful.

Photo: 9/4 - Comfort: Yes? Can I help you?

30 Days of Gratitude - Day 3 - Abundance

I am not immune to envy or jealousy, although I don't like to admit it. When I feel envious toward someone else, I try to remind myself of how lucky I am, and how much we have compared to most of the rest of the world.

When I walk into a grocery store, or especially Target, where I do most of my grocery shopping, I think of how amazing it is to have big, clean stores where you can buy almost anything for a pretty reasonable price. Food, toiletries, cleaning products, clothing, even basic furniture. Yes, it costs money, but even though I don't always have enough money to buy everything I might want, I do generally have enough to buy anything that I need.

And such a variety! Maybe fifty kinds of bread and bread products, a dozen or more kinds of salad dressing, crackers and cookies and ice cream, and beautiful fresh vegetables and fruits and flowers. Cheeses and frozen dinners, milk and butter, candy, and even a Starbucks right in the store. Today I bought bread, peanut butter, saltines, bagels, cream cheese and yogurt. Staples for breakfasts and lunches next week. I try not to forget to be grateful for this abundance, and to give thanks when it is consumed.

Photo: 9/3 - Home: I'll leave the light on for you.

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I'm trying an experiment with ads on this site. I never done that before, but I figured it was worth a try. So far it's bringing in about two cents a day, and they don't pay out until it reaches $100, so I may give up before it reaches that point. Hopefully it's not too intrusive. Running this site isn't expensive, but it does cost, and running the ads might be a way to recoup some of that cost. We'll see, I guess.

30 Days of Gratitude - Day 2 - Sleep

I'm so grateful for sleep.

I've never really had trouble sleeping until the last few years. I can fall asleep pretty easily--I usually read until I feel sleepy, then put down the book (iPad, lately), lie down and go to sleep around 10:30 or 11:00, only to wake up at 2:00 a.m. I used to try to fall asleep again, and if I can't in a half hour so, pick the iPad or iPhone up and read, but Bob said it bothered him, so without any distraction, I would just lie there and think of everything in the world that I might have to worry about.

I know that my mother takes a sleeping pill every night to sleep, but I've never wanted to do that. For one thing, I'm fairly susceptible to drugs, so they make me feel groggy in the morning. But I was feeling kind of desperate, and felt like I was getting almost no worthwhile sleep. So I started taking an ibuprofen "PM" every night (generic for Advil PM). The bottle says to take two, but I only take one. It's just enough to help me sleep through the night--if nothing wakes me, I'll usually wake up around 5:00 a.m., get up and go to the bathroom, then go back to sleep pretty quickly until my (or Bob's) alarm goes off.

It doesn't drug me enough that I don't wake up if, for example, Dinah starts to throw up--that sound will make me sit straight up in bed, turn on the light, and grab for something to put under her, or knock her off the bed if that's where she is. But even then, if I have to get up and deal with that, I can fall back asleep, no problem.

Sleep is very important. It knits up the raveled sleeve of care, etc. I'm very grateful that I've found something that helps me get a better dose of it.

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Almost all of the reading I do now is of the digital variety. I follow a couple of blogs that list a few free Kindle and/or Nook ebooks every day. I don't download every free book that comes along, but I get a lot of them. If a book sounds even slightly interesting, I'll usually go ahead and download it. I have hundreds of books in my account that I haven't read, but I also have a lot of free books that I have read, and that have turned out to be great.

I also get some of the $.99 or $1.99 ones, but in those cases I always download a sample and read it to see if it's something I really want to read. Even if it's only a dollar, I don't want to throw it away.

Amazon has a "Kindle Daily Deal" where they offer one or more Kindle books at a discounted price. They are quite often tied to upcoming releases -- today's deal was "Shelter," by Harlan Coben, a YA novel starring Myron Bolitar's nephew Mickey. The second book in the series, "Seconds Away," comes out in a couple of months, so they are offering the first one to build interest. It worked for me, I bought it for $2.99.

Amazon also has a monthly list of around 100 books under $3.99. There aren't always a lot that I am interested in, but there were a couple of $1.99 ones this month that sounded good. It always pays to check the list. You can often get a book that you would have paid full price for at a significant discount.

Photo: 9/2 - Reading material: It's all digital lately.

Links:

Pixel of Ink - Free and bargain Kindle books

Books on the Knob - Bargain reads, free ebooks and book reviews for the Amazon Kindle, nook, Kobo, Sony and other ereaders

Kindle Daily Deal

What I'm Reading