Ten Things of Thankful: Live from Oregon Edition

Pink buds prepare to open on a horse chestnut tree

On Tuesday, the texts and calls started flying between my Dad, brother, sister, and I. Mom had fallen and hurt her wrist. Spoiler alert: she will be OK, but did break her wrist.

1. I'm thankful for the ability to stay in touch.

2. I'm thankful for a relatively calm phase of life at the moment, which makes it easy to help when needed.

3. I'm thankful for my siblings, who although their commitments are more involved than mine right now, are always willing to come when needed.

4. I'm thankful for working vehicles. Yes, vehicles. Plural. The car that had been in the shop since December has finally really been fixed. We still drove the newer car to Oregon, but we had options.

5. I'm thankful for uneventful travel.

6. I'm thankful that our frequent vacations have made packing quick and easy, and we were able to throw together our bags without too much thought--and (as far as I know) we didn't forget anything important.

7. I'm thankful for my parents, who were happy to see us. My mom is a doctor's dream--the most compliant patient ever. She is definitely doing all she can to have a speedy recovery.

8. I'm thankful for our son and his girlfriend, who are always so cheerful and willing to hold down the fort (including feeding Drexel, our dog) while we're gone.

9. I'm thankful for our other children.

10. I'm thankful for John. We've had fun reminiscing this week. Happy 38th anniversary to us!

What are you thankful for this week? Leave a comment and, if you're so inclined, write your own blog post and link up!

Ten Things of Thankful: Last Two Weeks

Grand Prismatic Spring in Yellowstone National Park, as viewed from an overlook I apologize for not commenting on your blog posts this past week; John and I took a vacation to Yellowstone National Park, leaving behind our computers and, to a large extent, cell phone service. We escaped the outside world and just spent time in nature. Though we have friends near Yellowstone (who we love to visit) we made this trip just about us, so please forgive us if we were nearby and didn't stop by. The crowds were minimal (though we did mask up whenever we passed someone on the trails) and we spent our days hiking, taking photos, and watching geysers erupt. Today, we are back home and back to work, and, in the case of my computer, back to old shenanigans like not letting me import my photos. (I was able to add the above photo by using blogger on my phone, but that isn't my preferred method.) I want to write about Yellowstone and have photos I want to share, but will leave that for another...

Ten Things of Thankful: Autumn Edition

It's autumn time, one of my favorite times of year. I just couldn't leave this weekend as a one-post weekend.

Monday Mentions: Equate Crutches

Have you ever needed crutches? I hadn't, until a week ago. I'm pretty sure I strained a muscle while running a half-marathon. (That sounds kind of cool, doesn't it? I'm not actually that cool; the last time I strained a muscle it was from carrying too many shopping bags at once.) In any case, I found myself in need of some crutches. I sent my husband to the store to get some. Photo: A pair of crutches leans against a wall Not that crutches are all that complex, but because I hadn't used any before, I wondered if I could figure out how to adjust them to fit me properly. I shouldn't have worried. John came home from Walmart with their generic store brand of crutches, complete with instructions. First, I needed to take out a long bolt that went through the hand grip. Then I needed to find my height range, push down two metal pieces, and slide the crutches until the little metal pieces came up in the hole near my height range. (Having two people for this...

Samantha BryantApril 26, 2025 at 4:44 PM
That's a good list! @samanthabwriter from
Balancing Act
messymimiApril 26, 2025 at 9:32 PM
I pray your mother does have a speedy and uneventful recovery and I wish you and your sweetheart many happy returns of your anniversary.

Thankful Me

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