Ten Things of Thankful #66

SO, my lovelies…last week I got all caught up in the mad/genius idea of ‘selling’ my writing in return for donations to your favourite cancer charity, and an incredible FOURTEEN people bought into the idea, which made me very, VERY happy, and made you guys ROCKSTARS in my eyes (cos everyone was completely and supportive and encouraging; even those who weren’t in a position to donate) and made me feel like I’d made blogging WORK FOR GOOD! Which is totally awesome. So that’s, in fact, my very FRIST Thing of Thankful this weekend. And the first guest post is already WRITTEN, and almost good to go 😀 YAY!

SECUND is my new friend in a Facebook group for book lovers, who keeps on finding *gorgeous* quotes and inspiring me to turn them into Pintrest thingies. Which I do, willingly, because the quotes are stunning, and it’s FUN! I also feel like I’m learning new things, and am trying to pay attention to some of the wisdom from…yaknow…wise people. And it’s helping.

THRID – cooking. Because on Saturday night last week, my friend and I tried making ‘Murican cake from a box. It was so, so, gorgeously very pretty and terribly exciting, right until the point where we added the wet ingredients to the dry, and it started to smell a bit…chemically. And then we tried licking the beaters once the cake mixture was in the pans and…we both stopped after one lick, because it tasted a bit chemically. So we cooked it anyway (as you do) and it came out, and well! One pan exploded as I tried to take the cake out, and as it broke, CRUMBS came flying out EVERYWHERE across the kitchen. So in between fits of giggles, we pulled the cake out onto the cooling rack and tried the other, which by then had started to cool in the pan, and was kinda…bouncy…when I tried to get around the edges of it with a butter knife to take it out. And then the cake which was broken shrunk its halves into TWO DIFFERENT SIZES (which is weird and creepy and NOT LIKE CAKE) and then…we tried the crumbs and spent THEE LONGEST TIME deliberating and trying a few more crumbs, with our noses crinkled on one side because it did not taste, look, smell, feel, or behave like cake.

In the end we couldn’t bring ourselves to eat it (in spite of the helpful Facebook comments suggesting we just layer on the icing and then it would taste fine – UMNO! – because if it’s just there as a bad-tasting conveyance for icing, then frankly I’d rather have a spoon! So we made fruit salad and sat watching Betty Crocker baking videos on YouTube, and rhapsodised about vitamins and food that TASTED LIKE FOOD. And the next day I made apple and raisin pancake stacks and topped them with the icing. And they were A-MAY-ZING. (FOURFF)

What else? It’s been SUCH a beautifully good week, both inside and outside. Some struggles and challenges, as everyone has, but on the whole, mostly PEACE, which is delightful. I spent the day on Sunday with my Sis, at our beach, where there was cake (cut with a library card, because it was an impromptu picnic and we hadn’t a knife, and the library card was the most lick-cleanable), sunbathing (until the blanket I *had* been leaning against the wooden thingimajigger-edge-of-the-beach, on, got gusted by the wind and flipped over my head and buried me completely), long talks, and more Fairy Stones (seriously, y’;all, you miss a LOT if you don’t catch my Instagram). (FIFF)

And actually, the Fairy Stones gave me one of my BIGGEST highs this week – because as we sat there, having both coloured and designed and Sharpie’d to our hearts content, and lobbed the prettified stones and shells across the beach, we saw a kid find one!!! Ohhhhh it was the most BEAUTIFUL moment – he can’t have been more than about seven, with big wellie boots, shorts, and scruffly brown hair, and he was scooching around, picking up stones and chucking them into the ocean. Then he came across one of ours, and we saw him pause, do a BIG double-take, bend down and pick it up, with just this *look* of amazement on his face. He ran straight over to his mum, yelling about it, and then went back to scouring the beach with even more fervour to see if he could find more. I think he did even get a couple more, but we were on our way out in the car by then, so we couldn’t stay and watch, but it was INCREDIBLE to see, and so gratifying. Absolutely perfect (SIKSF)

Ohh there are so many happy things this week, I don’t know if I’ll fit them all in! Which could almost be a Thing in itself!

My Soulie and I have started writing Actual, In Fact, Letters to one another (because she got fed up of Facebook and deleted it, and we needed to stay PURPOSEFULLY in touch) – I’ve had two, gorgeous letters so far, and I’ve sent one. I have another to write to her, and it feels like back when we first met, and used to write to one another allthetime, just because we DID and it was fun. But now we’ve the added dimension of texting one another about having gotten the letters, and what ideas/plans we have for jazzying up our next effort. And it’s so lovely. That’s what, SEVENF?

AYTF is that I’m really, REALLY enjoying boxing. To the point where I feel all strong and accomplished and like a bit of a rockstar when I can manage the ladies class after the mixed class on a Thursday, and when I can keep up with most of the guys. I’m still not anywhere near good, and there *was* the whole ‘oops, I did so many sit-ups I rubbed holes in the skin over my spine’ debacle, but…it’s GREAT. And because borrowed boxing gloves are a) STINKY and b) heavy, and c) REALLY STINKY, I went out and bought my own pair. And used them for the first time, and they’re FUN!

Then today, because I’m a Grown-Up, and didn’t want to just ‘write my name on’ them, I coloured in the logo in rainbow Sharpie (LOVE my Sharpies) and then because it’s silly and fun (for me), I interrupted Husby at what he was doing and got him to take a pic of me looking (allegedly) Bad Ass, just for kicks and giggles. Or hits and giggles, whichever *grins*

I should add, Samara said some truly *wonderful* anatomical compliments about deltoids (that I didn’t understand) after seeing this pic, and I felt very pleased and confused 🙂

NYNF is that there is a mysterious package waiting for me at the local post office place where they take the parcels after they try to deliver them when you’re inevitably at work. I have an *inkling* what it might be and whom it *may* be from, in which case I shall be THE MOST EXCITED EVERRRRRR (and if not, then, well, it’s still interesting and awesome and cool to get a parcel).

And finally, my TENF Thing of Thankful this week has to be messaging technology, which enabled a conversation with TwinDaddy (which ended with me and him, in our respective houses, zooming our Millennium Falcon bottle openers around the room, shouting “Nyaaaaaoooowww!!!” (and I got laughed at by Husby)) and also some gorgeouswonderfullovely messages back and forth with Sunset, who is one of my favourite people to WhatsApp with, and some lovely emails with Sandy and Mandi (whose names I like saying together, cos they rhyme) and Zoe. So YAY!

Oh gosh there are SO MANY MORE, good things, though, but I feel like I’m taking up all the space, and all your time reading, and you’re gonna have to definitely leave me a HUGE gorgeous comment to just take in and marvel at all the wonderfulness (OH! And also, I played a not-quite-a-trick on the blogging group I’m in on Facebook, and I like-baited over 50 likes for my pinned thread comment, where I told them I was assessing responsiveness, and then told them I was kidding, and they still mostly all liked it, which was AWESOME, and made me feel popular and a bit victorious and also rather silly and glad they joined in and had such good senses of humour).

OH and the SUN SHONE TODAY, most gloriously, after raining and thunderstorming, and it was LOVELY. I just walked around smiling because of it and singing Johnny Nash’s ‘I can see clearly now’.

YOUR TURN! Go! 😀

<a href=”https://summat2thinkon.wordpress.com/?s=Ten+Things+of+Thankful&#8221; target=”_blank”><img src=” https://summat2thinkon.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/d8fc4-tenthingsbanner.jpg?w=700&#8243; alt=”Ten Things of Thankful” style=”border:none;” /></a>

Your hosts

A Fly on our (Chicken Coop) Wall, Amycake and the Dude, Considerings, Finding Ninee, Getting Literal, I Want Backsies, Mother of Imperfection, Rewritten, Thankful Me, The Wakefield Doctrine

Join the Ten Things of Thankful Facebook Group