Things to be thankful for

1.  My dear mother.
This past week my mother celebrated her birthday.
Now, let me tell you about my mother.
She may be one of the most generous and kind women I have met.

Let me back up.
My car started having some issues.
Like a bit of smoke coming out of the turn signal
and my brights never shutting off.
So, she was generous enough to lend me her car.
Her brand new car
with heated seats.
Hallelujah.
And satellite radio.
Hallelujah.
And non-smoking turn signals.
And the new car smell.
So that I wouldn't have to drive to and from work in a car that has the potential of internally combusting at any moment.
AND
not only did she lend me her car, but she took mine to the car mechanic.
Twice.
And waited for a gagillion hours for them to do tests.
How many mothers would do that?

THEN.
I went to her house Friday morning before work to exchange cars.
It was her birthday morning.
And, she had snickerdoodle muffins waiting for me and my coworkers.
They.were.still.warm.
Who does that?
Makes muffins for her daughter on her own birthday?

AND TO TOP THINGS OFF.
I returned to their house to pay them for my car repairs after work.
And, since they knew it was Friday night and the last thing I wanted to do was cook?
They had gotten D and me Indian food for dinner.
Seriously.
I could not drive home fast enough.
It was delicious.

So, on her birthday, my mother made me muffins and bought me dinner and returned my broken car to me.
Who does that?
Besides an amazing mother?

I hope that I can continue the tradition of generosity and kindness with my kid(s).
She is an amazing woman and mother and grandmother.
And, she is the best cook ever.
Well, her and my dad are tied.


**Sorry- no pictures available.  I snarfed those muffins and that Indian food down.**


2.  D and I get to go to Vegas!
He gets to go to a vet conference for continuing ed in February and I am lucky enough to get to go along for a long weekend.
And what's even better?
I am missing a day of school but it is a School Improvement day.
What does that mean?
NO SUB PLANS.
If you're a teacher, you totally get what I'm gettin' at.
That's freaking awesome.
That just saved me several hours of my life.

So, we are staying at some hotel. I forget which one.
And now we are thinking about going to a show.
Recommendations?
Restaurant suggestions?

Just don't recommend the Beatles Show.
Don't hate us,
but both of us are not Beatles fans.
At all.
I think we'd rather go see Celine Dion.
Seriously.

I'm pumped.

3.  We met another neighbor.
Yeah, the one with the pool.
His name is Hank.
He told us, "We'll invite you over to come swimming.  Or, come over whenever.  And we can have a beer."
My summer is planned.
Done.
Since we have no grass, I don't have to worry about mowing.
(Oh, and this guy has a rider.  Do you think he would be willing to knock down the fence between our houses and let me just borrow/have his?)

4.  We bought the tile for our backsplash.
That's our project for next weekend.
If you'd like to pray for us, that would be great.
Pray that we are not divorced after doing a home reno project together.
I'll post pictures if it doesn't look like crap.

5.  Remember that issue with our insurance?
Yeah? That huge bill we got in the mail back in July?
Just a reminder, the bill wasn't even from Maggie's birth.
It was from February, when she was still alive.
And it was for a large sum of money.
So, D went ahead and became that guy on the phone who complained to the insurance company.
I wasn't sure if it would work.
(I know, I should have totally trusted my knight in shining armor.  Ahem.)
I thought if it did work, we would still have to pay part of the bill.
Well, thank the good Lord up above.
He called the Clinic last week
and the bill is now zero.
Nada.
Cero.
Zero.
Zilch.
We don't have to pay anything!

This is fabulous news!
And we are so thankful that we can use that money to pay for other medical bills.