I’m fickle! The name Attitude of Gratitude isn’t going to stick. I didn’t like the attitude part. Just recognizing that we have things to be grateful for is the most we can strive for sometimes, so my weekly posts will simply be called GRATITUDES! (I realize this isn’t really a proper word, but I like it! It has a bit of an, shall I say, Attitude! ha! Feeling a big cheeky today aren’t I?) Now, on with the GRATITUDES!
I have so much to be grateful for this week!
Not to say that there haven’t been challenges, but this post is going to focus on the many things that I am so very GRATEFUL for!
Hubby is working!!! This week Stuart started a part-time contract position. It is a position that he is very excited about, doing something that he wants to do. The company is new, so it’s not full-time, yet, and we don’t know when it will be. There is more about this that I will tell later…..right now, I just want to say…..I am so grateful that my husband has a job, and it’s a job he is excited about.
My father’s tumor is GONE! My father was diagnosed with liver cancer this winter. He has been undergoing chemoembolization treatments. He went in for tests on Thursday, before setting up his final treatment, and there was no tumor to be found! He will need no further treatments. He does have to go back in a few months for an MRI just to be sure, but all looks great. I’m amazed at this treatment. Each treatment he has gone in, had the chemo delivered straight to the tumor, and has gone home the next day. He feels icky for a couple of days and then he’s fine. He had 3 treatments. He says he feels great, just old. : ) Also said, he wants to lose 10 pounds, and he’s thrilled he still has all his hair! How many 81-year-old men can say that? I’m so grateful my father’s cancer is gone.
Baby Bunnies Safe. Stuart was mowing the lawn this week and uncovered a nest of Baby Bunnies! He was so upset. He just fretted over these poor little things. He actually mowed right over them! They didn’t really move, acted like they didn’t really notice. He covered them with an upside down flower-pot. Then he asked me about it. He thinks since I grew up in the country I know everything about all woodland animals and plants. I know a little…like the fact that baby bunnies are called kittens, and they have their babies in a nest, but that’s about it. So off to the internet! He was afraid mama bunny was going to abandon babies. He found out that the mama only visits during the night a couple of times to feed the babies. It said to cover them with loose grass or straw, we had dried corn husk so he put that over them. It said if there was any sign that there was any digging around then she had been there and all was good. (He saw digging, and the second night, he even saw mama bunny, he was so relieved!) Since the ears are up, and eyes are open, these bunnies are about the go on their way all by themselves. I told Stuart he was a good Bunny Daddy. He said NO, he wasn’t their daddy. I said, Step Daddy….he looked, shook his head and said….Foster Dad. I liked that. Bunnies are safe, and the nest is just right outside our back door. Might be a good thing we don’t have a garden this year. (our back yard does back up to woods so these bunnies will have a perfect place to grow up.) I’m so grateful that the bunnies are safe, and that my husband has such a kind and compassionate heart.
I had a BATH complete with washing hair and shaving legs – this may sound like a little thing to many, but this is a VERY BIG DEAL FOR ME! I have a very hard time taking baths and showers. Showers are worse than baths for me. I have to stand in a shower, the only thing helping me stay stable is my feet and my hands on the walls. If my hands are on the walls how am I supposed to wash myself? So stability is not very good. Falling is very easy. Shower has equaled many disasters. (I have tried a shower chair, it was not a success.) I can only take a shower if Stuart is with me, unfortunately this is not nearly as much fun as it used to be! (darn) A bath is easier, but still a challenge. This week I did it! I will tell you all a little secret. This is the first time I’ve washed my hair in 6 weeks. Yep. That’s right. I washed my hair the week right before my Walmart expedition. Then I had weeks of having vertigo on and off and constant disequilibrium, I couldn’t wash my hair during that time. My personal hygiene consisted of washing up at the sink or sponge baths. Therefore, I am very grateful that I was able to take a bath, wash my hair, and shave my legs!!!
More things I’m grateful for this week!
Picnic with Ants 
I am grateful for you and the hope you convey in this post. I am also grateful that I have been able to get past the vertigo which was threatening to mess up my plans. It was nice to me this time and just stopping there, I am grateful. And I am grateful I can shower and shave. And I am grateful Stuart got a happy job!
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lisa….you have ben having vertigo? I am very grateful if it has stopped! I am very grateful for you!!
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Wendy, I love your efforts to find gratitudes in you life. I am hoping your attitude will rub off on me. Happy to read your blog today!
mo
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Mo….this week was easy. Sometimes it’s very hard. However, I can usually find something. I do try every night before I go to sleep to say something I was grateful for that day….even if it was the fact that I was able to stay in bed. Watch a cartoon, pet the cat. Have my husband tell me he loves me. *luckily I can use that one a lot* and another I can use ofthen…..I’m grateful I have some really grate friends I’ve met through my blog!
I’m glad you came by today!!
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Wonderful Gratitudes blog. I’m so happy for you, Stuart and your dad. My gratitude is that the weather has been co-operating so far and I’ve been able to build my stamina and go for longer walks. I know the humidity will come soon enough but then I can use my stationary bike. Grateful I have options.
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Yay for building stamina! I need to do that! sounds like I have another gratitude….grateful for the encouragement to do just that! So keep up the encouragement!
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Great! I like your new name. There are actually double-blind research studies that show if we focus on gratitudes – with or without attitude – depression lifts and there are positive physiological benefits. How cool is that!
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pretty darn cool!
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Lovely!
warmly,
Marcy Westerling
http://livinglydying.com/
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Marcy,
thank you for coming by and commenting.
you are a very strong woman to blog so openly about your experiences with cancer.
best to you!
wendy
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I love this!! I have been absent so long… I really am wanting to change that 🙂 So when I got on here and checked my emails (the 1st time in forever!) this post was at the top! So glad. I have missed writing to you and seeing how you are doing. I love this gratitudes posts idea! So glad to see how you are doing and I am so happy to hear about your Dad!!! That is such wonderful news. ♥
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bipolarmuse
I too have missed you! think of you often! We must catch up. I’m glad you liked the post….now I must write a post bitching about a few things. haha.
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lol.. I do know how that goes!! Yes!! We will catch up soon!!
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Hugz Wendy!!! I’m so glad you had an “easy” week.
For your hair when you can’t get into the shower/bath, try a powder shampoo or a no-shampoo treatment (http://livinginanotherlanguage.com/blog/2013/03/17/i-dont-use-shampoo/) look @ the bottom of her post, she has links.
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Terry,
I’ve tried the no-poo before, I have to have a conditioner. My hair is so dry. I should have said in my post…yes it had been 6 weeks but with my hair in a pony tail you could tell it. Only the roots were greasy. I loved her hint about cocoa powder. Never new that. I’ve tried corn starch but having darker hair…well some of it now. ha It was hard to get it all out, I looked funny. She said she used Biosilk to condition, that’s an idea. since I’ve gotten older, and hormones have gone wacky (or maybe it’s my food issues, not absorbing enough vitamins), my hair is thinner, on top, so I’ve been using a volumnizing shampoo. My hair tangles a lot more now though.
Ahhh, me and my hair. a love hate relationship.
thanks for the tips!! I will be sure to try the cocoa powder. I’ll smell like chocolate. Oh, I’ve tried the powder shampoos, but they all have smells and my asthma doesn’t like it. Yes, I know, if it isn’t one thing bothering me it’s another. What are we going to do with me? Love me???? OK! love you!
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My gratitudes this week: no cavities and teeth not hurting next day; parents’ bringing fledglings to our yard; baby squirrels exploring their world; and most of all, I’m gratitude for this blog and its blogger!
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