October 2018 – *the gratitude-a-thon

gratitude-a-thon day 2036:please vote

October 28, 2018October 28, 2018UncategorizedLeave a Comment

This has been a horrific week in America. However, I have found some things to be grateful for in the horror, but first, a recap.

All week, the country was on edge as we watched prominent Democrats, each who has been critical of the president, receive pipe bombs in the mail. Nobody knew who would be next, or just how many of these packages were already en route. When Cesar Sayoc was captured on Friday, he was described as a racist, bigot, anti-everyone, except Donald Trump, who his attorney has said he looked to as a father figure. The van, in which he lived was covered in pro-Trump/Pence stickers. Pictures of President Obama, Hillary Clinton and Michael Moore with crosshairs over their faces were plastered on the van, as well as a “CNN Sucks” sticker. He has been described as someone who used political rage as an identity.

And as if that wasn’t awful enough, terrifying enough to make you want to stay in bed, yesterday, a man walked into a synagogue in Pittsburgh with an AR-15 rifle and killed 11 worshippers, injuring six, for no other reason other than they were Jews. Robert Bowers was an anti-semite who believed Jews were evil.

Gratitude? Where could I possibly find gratitude in these abominations? I am grateful for the helpers, the police, FBI, law enforcement personnel, the medical teams, the ordinary citizens who always step forward during these kinds of unspeakable events. These are the good and selfless, the rescuers who act from their hearts.

I saw Joe Biden on Friday and he spoke about the midterms by saying that we are fighting for our country’s soul with this election. And I believe this to be true. I am grateful he said it, because this election could be a turning point for a broken country being run by a president who is encouraging acts like those that occurred this past week.

Make no mistake, the negative and bigoted rhetoric and constant lies of Donald Trump are making haters feel empowered. Trump wants us to believe in “fake news,” but the truth is, good journalism keeps us informed, keeps the truth available. Our president is inciting and promoting white supremacists, neo-nazis, those who are anti-women/LGBQT/Muslim/Latino/minorities.

Please carefully consider your vote on November 6. There is another way. There are good and true people running for office that can help us get out of this ugliness. But only if you vote for them. It won’t be easy, but it is possible.

gratitude-a-thon day 2035: floored

October 26, 2018UncategorizedLeave a Comment

My floors turned out to be pine, under the horrible orangey brown color that I’ve hated since we moved in. Who knew they could be this gorgeous blonde?

There are bombs being sent to Trump critics. Nobody knows who is sending them. I’ve certainly made my feelings known about that guy with the weird hair who Russia put into the Oval, so I’m not answering the door! (Just a little levity during a dark time in our country.

But back to your regularly scheduled dose of gratitude.

My floors.

Or rather, the floors in my bedroom. Or rather the company who sanded the floors in my bedroom. Them. Gargantuan gratitude over here.

So, after living in my house for 22 years, we are finally getting a master bathroom! PARADE! It as taken quite a long time to build this baby, but we’re coming down to the wire. But, last week I found out that my contractor couldn’t do the floors, which looked like they hadn’t been sanded since 1882, when the house was built and were actually stained the ugliest color ever–think a lovely shade of what your pumpkin looks like if you don’t get rid of it by Thanksgiving. I had to find someone to do them myself. Panic at the disco. Who would I find to do them quickly, to keep the job moving? But not so quickly that they came out poorly? After almost seven months of construction, I just want to get back into our bedroom (WHY do renovations take 50,000 times longer than they should?) Anyway, I got a name from one of my clients, I called and they called back! (Believe me, this doesn’t always happen, that people even bother calling you back, so right there, yahoo).

Anyway, Jay has been nothing but super helpful and really nice, since the moment I spoke with him, including that prompt call back. He also jammed me into his schedule! Again, joy to the world. His guys have been friendly, professional, neat and considerate. AND the floors look fucking awesome! I didn’t even know they were pine!

So, shout out to Jay at JJ Hardwood Floors. It’s so nice when you work with people who treat a customer like they matter. I will give this company’s name to everyone I know because damn, great customer service and good work are super hard to find.

gratitude-a-thon day 2034: you are not alone and you just gotta vote

October 23, 2018October 23, 2018UncategorizedLeave a Comment

Well, I mean, that’s what I’m hoping, anyway.

The midterms are just 13 days away (16 hours, 20 minutes and 53 seconds, but who’s counting). The president is out there blaming the Democrats for the migrant caravan, which he claims is a terrorist organization. He calls Democrats “an angry mob.” (angry, yes, violent, no–we’re the anti-gun party, remember. We don’t even know how to use a gun). The garbage spewing from this sad and pathetic human (and I use the term loosely) is a non-stop festival of lies. Lies. Untruths. Human waste. And yet, if you say something, anything over and over and over again, people will believe it (ever heard of that guy named Hitler).

And so, as a Democrat, I give money (while I work at my computer) to the tight races, in hopes that we can flip the house (I’ve been flipping off the house for two years). And yet, I can’t help but wonder if we do win, if the GOP, lead by the head elephant will somehow delegitimize the election. In fact, it’s already happening. You know how this man hates to lose. So, get out your goggles and umbrellas, because the lies are coming your way faster than the wind of a hurricane, cat. five.

Powerful Hurricane Irma Slams Into Florida

But for any of you living in fear like I am, there is this: more people didn’t vote for Trump than did. When despair comes lurking, I have to remind myself that I am not alone in despising the blatant lies, bigotry and inhumanity of this administration. There are lots of us. We are not by ourselves. (And I am grateful for every one of you!) We are strong and we are out there. And we are going to the polls to try and right the ship.

This makes me feel 10% better. Thirteen days. Please vote.

gratitude-a-thon day 2033: egg in your face

October 19, 2018October 19, 2018UncategorizedLeave a Comment

aapfqrjiromx7x1m6rgy — That is a big bowl of possibilities.

I am an egg person. In fact, I am a breakfast person. If I had to eat breakfast for breakfast, lunch and dinner that would be A-ok with me. And if you threw in some pasta, bread and a potato chip or two, I’d think I died and went to heaven and that was the menu and they should really advertise the food because egg people would be ecstatically elated. Yee-haw.

First of all, all sorts of gratitude for the versatility of the egg. They are the Swiss Army Knife of the food world. You got your scrambled, sunny side up, over easy, your broken yoke, poached, hard and soft boiled, your omelet. They love a vegetable in their midst. They make the finest sandwich with bacon and cheese and avocado. Mix with mayo and onion and celery, and egg salad nirvana. Some people do the whole egg on a burger. which gets a no vote from me, but it does speak to the egg winning the moniker “Miss Versatility,” right?

Lately I’ve been all about egg sandwiches. Every morning I make a broken yolk egg with a slice of cheddar melted on top, a crisp piece of turkey bacon and put it all on a super toasted gluten-free Glutino english muffin, which looks like it wouldn’t be good, because it’s yellow, but is equally as scrumpdillyicious as a Thomas’, not even kidding. This thing not only keeps me going, it gets me outta bed. It’s like coffee in food form. And in these days of political strife, anything that not only gets you outta bed, but makes you smile, bam, is worth its weight in egg.

gratitude-a-thon day 2032: when gratitude fails

October 17, 2018October 17, 2018UncategorizedLeave a Comment

My gratitude tracker has been off. I have let the state of affairs in the country trip me up and away from the good stuff out there.

I focus on the crisp fall weather today, as I walk my dog. I look up at the very blue sky, the October light, which is different and I think more beautiful than any other light during any other month. I take in the bright red-orange on the tree around the corner–the color is as deep as the ocean, a candy apple combined with Kraft Macaroni & Cheese. I get small. I buy Mccoun apples because my sister tells me they are her favorites and when I bite into one, I realize they are actually, like, the sweetest thing I’d ever had in my mouth. Did I just get a cavity?

How do we keep ourselves up and balanced when things aren’t good? We have to stop and breathe gather our wits and good sense.

We have to notice what we have. Even when we don’t want to. Even when we feel lost in the woods. The stove, indoor plumbing, soft toilet paper…….

Gratitude is like air. I walk myself back. I pluck out a few things from the plethora of good I can choose to focus on today. And I smile.

gratitude-a-thon day 2031: fighting back, or how to resist laying in traffic

October 8, 2018October 8, 2018Uncategorized6 Comments

My first instinct was to lay in traffic. On. The. Mass. Pike. Then I thought of my family and friends and how unfair to leave them…….

Then I decided we should all lay in traffic.

I tried to get my husband, but he was in a meeting. My son was another problem, he was in California. Plus he just started a new job and I thought maybe his boss might not like it if he told them he was going back East to lay in traffic with his mother. My daughter was at soccer practice with no phone, but she wants to be a lawyer and she would probably want to convince me she could help save the country if she could just go directly to law school and stop with her useless undergrad studies. My friends were hard enough to wrangle for a dinner together, so I didn’t even try.

Instead I decided to just lay on the couch. And cry. And then cry some more.

Here’s what I really did and gratitude for each and every thing, because every step helped me feel just a little bit better about the political shit show going on right now:

261750-13404618131438339-George-Acs

–I turned off the news. I am a political news junkie. I get six news alerts on my phone, I check online constantly while I work. I have the car tuned to MSNBC, CNN and NPR. I had to just turn it all off. It helped not to have to watch. Sure, was I pretending it wasn’t happening? Yup. But sometimes out of sight, out of mind is exactly what can help you get back on your feet.

—I sat with my husband on Friday night, not watching the news for the first time in two years and had a giant vodka & tonic with a splash of lemonade and discussed the week that was. We decided the country should break into two countries. It wasnt the vodka, we think it’s a really good idea. That’s how divided we are anyway. We’re only 200 years old, we can create something new. Who’s in? Anyway, just quieting ourselves and being together helped.

—I connected with friends and family and like-minded people. This is as good as it gets in terms of healing yourself and finding the chutzpah to move on in the best possible way. I am not alone and neither are you. There are many of us who feel alienated and despondent and angry and want to eat a truckload of potato chips (oh, maybe that’s just me). Reach out. Don’t go it alone. I messaged with a friend during the initial vote and even in our despair, we made ourselves laugh (a little bit).

–I noticed the trees. I went to my daughter’s soccer game on Saturday in the formerly great state of Maine, that traitor and all-around miserable Susan Collins’ territory. I gave the side-eye to every ME license plated car. But I also took in the changing colors of Fall and allowed the sun to hit me in the face without sunscreen on and just tried to breathe deeply and think about the natural beauty around me (and not how the powers that be are trying to ruin it). Seriously, nature is never a letdown and can help a tortured soul like nothing else.

—I sat down and decided to figure out exactly the best way to help Democrats slaughter the GOP in the midterms (I will take a close race, too, no need to be greedy). I signed up for all sorts of organizations that can tell me what I can do. I am considering where I can canvas, who I can give money to, and possibly holding a community party where we can commiserate and get on computers and give to candidates that need our help.

I still feel like I want to throw up everything I’ve eaten since kindergarten, but I know I am not alone and if we all work together to fight this, we can (I’m not really sure of this, but I’m going to act as if here, so play along).