Hmm.... I'm not feeling ungrateful this morning, but I'm feeling tired and my brain seems to be having one of it's mushy days. It's gray out - AGAIN - and 25 degrees cold.But, still... there is much to be grateful for. I'm warm and snug in my little house. Oddly, even though it's so bitterly cold outside, I'm feeling less chilly at my 60 degree level than I did last week when it was in the 30s. I'm not sure why that is. Maybe because the furnace works harder at keeping the house warm when it's deeply cold... or maybe I just haven't started to feel it yet. As I'm writing this, I'm starting to feel chillier. I think I'm going to experiment with warming it up for a half hour and then going back to 60 and see if that works better with out running my bill too high. Believe it or not my utility bill DOUBLED last month. Yikes. But I'm grateful that I had the money to pay it and that I live in a place where I have access to reliable heat and electric.
Statistically, "technically," I'm poor. Sometimes when I want something that I can't have I feel a touch whiny and poor, but given my situation, I live very nicely. I'm grateful for that. Because people like me live in a relatively spoiled society, I think we often forget what real poverty is. It isn't not having everything you want. There are people in this country who don't have indoor plumbing, who don't have enough to eat. There are people around the world, who live in cardboard boxes, who are grateful to be eating garbage. There are children starving, There are women being raped, murdered, driven from their homes as part of war and genocide in countries around the world, while I sit at my computer, with my TV going, a camera at hand, books to read, a refrigerator full of food, the right to vote. I'm so RICH.
I'd still like to win Publisher's Clearinghouse Sweepstakes, give my nieces and nephew a cut, buy houses for a few people, pay off some mortgages for others. I'd fix my kitchen up and put a washer/dryer in it where I could easily do my laundry. I'd close in my back porch (but with lots of glass for good picture taking). I'd solarize my house and my neighbors' too if they wanted it. I'd get my new TV, pay for Dan and my friend E. to go to college.... I don't think I'd buy a big fancy house, though. I like my little house. I'm happy here.
Ok... I've wandered off the gratitude path, haven't I? Sorry.
Oh... one other thing/person I wanted to give gratitude for. In Australia, there's a healer named Dennis F. Puffett whose website is called the Healing Haven. He's in his 80s, I think and he looks like Santa Claus. If you drop an email ( here are the instructions) to him asking for healing he will send it... and you will know that he has done so. He's really gifted and he works for free. I've been feeling extra creaky and feeble the last week or so and it finally dawned on me to do what I keep recommending to others. Write to Dennis P. I'm not running marathons and my gums are still sore, but my knees don't hurt anything like they did and I'm feeling a touch steadier on my feet. Dennis P. has a page that beams instant healing too that you can just go to each day. I'm grateful for that and hope I can get myself in the habit of remembering to visit. I can't say enough good things about Mr. Puffett. He's good, he's no fuss no muss, he's free... you have nothing to lose by writing to him except some pain.
Oh... one l
ast thing. I'm grateful to Dianne at Forks off the Moment, whose blog is always a good and entertaining read, for saying kind things about me yesterday and giving me something called the Marie Antoinette award. It's pretty. I always think of Marie Antoinette as the "let them eat cake" lady. But this is apparently an award for speaking truth, something which I think is sacred, so I was very honored to be so honored. Let me repeat what I've said before. I really am/was grateful for all the nice awards people gave me that I didn't pick up or quite acknowledge properly, but I'm really grateful that everyone has been kind enough to stop giving me awards. (Marie Antoinette is an exception... I don't think she has any rules attached to her and I love her dress.)And now you can all be grateful that this post has come to an end. And I can be grateful that the sun has just beamed out from behind the clouds. Ah...
7 comments:
I love the snow on the pine tree and thanks for the squirrel shot!
Your squirrel friend looks all fluffy and insulated against the cold. I like that even if/when you win the sweepstakes you would still stay in your little house. That really is a marvelous thing to know about your own home, isn't it.
I love the way a dusting of snow looks :)
I would pretty much do the same kind of things as you would if I won big.
I like your plans for a windfall. In the cold dark of four AM, when the dog had to go out (she's on medication that makes her have to go more often), and afterwards we curled up on the couch to snooze rather than wake my husband too, I put myself to sleep thinking about all the things I'd do for others with my lottery winnings (as if!)...like providing and endless supply of cat and dog food AND coupons from the vet for free spay and neuter operations for the nice lady at the bottom of the hill who always seems to take in strays but never gets them fixed!
Action squirrel!
For not feeling too inspired, you came up with a wonderful post!
I'd like to add that I love Dianne too-she has a delightful honest blog and she is a wonderful blog friend.
If you win the sweepstakes, I think your AZ niece needs a new washing machine! lol!
Nobody deserves that award like you my friend - you are the most honest and truthful person I know in blogworld! Congrats! I also think Dianne is right up there with you. So appropriate it came from her!
Thanks for gently reminding us we should be grateful for what we have because so many don't have even the basics.
Those of us who visit here are RICH because we've come to know you!
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