Several of you have written to ask if I’m still on the planet. I am. I’ve been a bit under the weather. That two week business trip, Share A Square (see the Share A Square FAQ if you don’t know what that is), and a nasty head cold have knocked me flat on my rear. I’m recovering slowly, but I’m getting there. Today being a Thursday Thirteen day AND Thanksgiving, I decided to try to muster a post and wish you all a happy day. I DO wish you a happy day, even though I’m a bit cynical about “Thanksgiving.”
The holiday seems to have morphed from a simple day of giving thanks into a day of overindulging in food, watching football on television, and getting a jump on Christmas shopping at the Thanksgiving Day sales. I consider every day that I wake up a day to be thankful, so I’m unclear about why it needs to be a holiday. However, it means a day off of work for my husband, so I’m thankful for that.
I’m thankful for other things as well. In no particular order (and with tongue occasionally in cheek) I offer you
1. I’m thankful to those of you have been checking on me. Your kindness means a lot to me.
2. I’m thankful that I don’t have to cook a big turkey for Thanksgiving! I know it’s un-American, but I don’t particularly like turkey. We wouldn’t have to eat it if Benjamin Franklin had succeeded in making it the National Bird. We’d be stuffing a bald eagle instead.
Perhaps my dislike of turkey stems from the time my grandfather’s Tom Turkey jumped on my back and started trying to peck me to death. More likely it’s because a few years ago I planned Thanksgiving for my whole family and we had to cancel because of an ice storm. I got stuck with 30 pounds of turkey. Turkey Tetrazzini, Turkey Salad, Turkey Goulash, Turkey Sandwiches, Turkey Enchiladas, Turkey Chili, Turkey Stew. Ack! I overdosed on turkey.
3. I’m thankful that I found one of the few men in Texas who doesn’t care for football (perhaps because he is originally from California). I’m not fond of football either. I know that makes me even more un-American than not liking turkey. Worse than that, it makes me un-Texan, but it’s a fact. The only attraction it holds for me is seeing muscular men in tight pants. Don’t tell my husband I said that!
4. Though television newscasts bombard me with the woes of the world, and sometimes fill me with sorrow, I’m thankful that I have an “off” button on my remote control.
5. I’m thankful for a roof over my head (even when it leaks), for clothes on my back (though they are not always stylish and are sometimes ill-fitting), and for food on my table (even turkey). I know I’m fortunate.
6. I’m glad I know that, and feel that I have enough abundance to be able to share it. I’m thankful that my husband feels the same way.
7. Alka Seltzer Plus Cold Relief medicine makes me very thankful. My friend SusieJ had suggested apple cider vinegar as a cold remedy. Susie, honey, I tried it. But, you had suggested mixing it with water and sipping it. I couldn’t stand the thought of drinking that much nasty tasting liquid, so I slugged it back like a tequila shot. I may never be able to look a shot glass in the eye again. It didn’t work, but Alka Seltzer did!
8. I’m also thankful for Vicks Vapo Rub. I know it smells nasty, but at least by using it I was able to breathe. I promise I won’t wear it as a perfume.
9. I’m thankful for The World Wide Web, which connects us to people we would never otherwise be able to “meet.” It’s pretty amazing, isn’t it?
10. I’m thankful when Charter Cable allows me to actually access the internet (stupid cable company).
11. The people who have contributed to Share A Square make me very thankful indeed. You can see what they have been doing on the Share A Square Update. In fact, anyone who volunteers for any charitable organization makes me thankful, for they restore my faith in the inherent goodness of human kind.
12. I’m thankful for the blessed bunch of people in my family. They are happy and healthy and a delight to know.
13. Yes, I’m thankful for many things. Not the least of which is that the Good Lord saw fit to create bacon! I’m sorry, it’s the only redeeming quality that pigs have, and it had to be said. I told y’all I love bacon!
Leave me a comment if you would like (whether you are playing Thursday Thirteen or not) and you will be magically linked. Then you can visit some other Thursday Thirteen participants. Have a Happy Thanksgiving, y’all. Use your powers for good. And, come back and sit with me on the porch another day.
Technorati Tags: Share A Square, Turkey, thankful, bacon
Bacon’s good stuff. Your list is even better, though.
Happy Thanksgiving, darling! Maybe next year you, me, and my neighbor up the street will realize her ambition to have surf and turf for Thanksgiving dinner!
Yeah, that bacon is pretty marvelous stuff. I’d love to just go eat Mexican food! Hope your Thanksgiving was great!
This is a wonderful gratitude list! Wishing you and yours a lovely Thanksgiving. (Amen! to #13! Hehehe.)
Thanks, Nancy! I hope your Thanksgiving was a blessed one, too! Yep, I had to throw in the bacon bits.
I’m thankful for your love of bacon too. Ever since that famous post I grin every time I see a strip of bacon
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Happy thanksgiving, and I hope that cold finds its way OUT of there real soon.
I think of you when I think about bacon, Robin! In a good way…Because I think you are the first person who ever asked me how to cook it
I thought that knowing how to cook bacon was just a natural thang…but since your momma doesn’t eat pork, I guess that explains it.
happy thanksgiving
Same back at you.
Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you have a wonderful day not over-indulging and not eating turkey.
“I consider every day that I wake up a day to be thankful” I agree with you completely!
Well, I really did cook a turkey breast, but I wrapped it in bacon
I hope your Thanksgiving was delightful, too.
And thank you, Shelly, for making so much effort for the good of so many.
Nah, Jeannie. Thanks for the “thank you,” but you know that sometimes ideas just grab you and you have to go with them. I might be doing it for others, but don’t think I don’t get enjoyment out of it.
I’m reminded of a commercial in the UK where a woman was listing a vast range of recipes for turkey leftovers, in a desperate voice.
It ended with turkey curry.
Bacon is good.
We don’t watch football either. Boooooooooooooooooring!
Of course, I’m an Anglo American, so I don’t have to worry about not being full-blooded American.
Happy TT. This made me smile.
I KNEW it wasn’t just me who won’t sit still for football! Thanks for the affirmation
Thanks for visiting. Never thought of turkey curry…but it doesn’t sound any better than the rest!
Shelly, I’m sending you hugs for your cold. And I love bacon. (My TT was about cornbread topped with bacon — if you’re into that sort of thing.) Back to the cold, give the vinegar about two days to “kick-in.” And what a kick, by the way that straight shot of vinegar is! Nothing can describe it. I, like you, do it in a shot glass, straight.
I came up with a virgin hot toddy recipe, with honey, that makes the vinegar much easier to take. My Dad, who was skeptical, but now swears by the vinegar remedy, says the vinegar gave him heartburn. The honey helps immensely.
Happy Thanksgiving, and I hope you feel better soon.
I never get to host a holiday and don’t stay long after the meal at my mom’s/in laws and so I actually wish for turkey leftovers. This year, I made a turkey anyway and have had more than enough leftovers for quite a while. I hope that you have had a good Thanksgiving.
Shelly - I hope you are feeling better by the minute. Today I give thanks for YOU!!! - for your great blog & your commitment to Share a Square.
Ah, Ann…you are too kind. I think that the nasty vinegar finally kicked in! I’m feeling much better…but I gave it to my spouse. I’m all about sharing, you know
I’m a bacon lover here too! Did the turkey today as well and for once, we had leftovers but not tons and tons of turkey! Enough for some turkey salad for sandwiches and a meal of turkey tettrazini -which will make the little granddaughter happy since that involves “sketty” noodles ya know! She had a hissy fit at dinner today -aka “meltdown” -because there were no noodles or mac ‘n’che for her! All she really was interested in - pumpkin pie, of course!
We all do have much to give thanks for -just don’t always see how fortunate we are at times. I have several squares done - need to get tags for them -hopefully will get a few more completed for you too though and then, ship them out your way.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Nice list. I hope you had a great Thanksgiving. I prefer bacon to turkey too, and never, ever watch football (or sport of any kind)!
There you go! That’s my kind of person!
I admit I sometimes watch bowling on television (how dumb is that?). But, football–NEVER! Turkey wrapped in bacon is not too bad, by the way! Hope your Thanksgiving was a good one.
yes, I wondered where you were. sorry about the cold, though—I was going to say that the best treatment is a hot toddy, then I remembered that it actually ISN’T. I’m with you about the football; it’s one of many reasons I am glad I married a Brit!
In fact, I had some pretty stout eggnog, and it made me feel much better. When you say “one of many reasons,” you make me want the rest of the story!
I was here, but I’ve been seriously off my game. A hot toddy might not be the best treatment, but it helps you forget your misery
I still love the smell of bacon best of all though I don’t eat it anymore, and I, too, smile, when I see or hear of bacon, after that other post of yours. I, however, loved turkey almost as much as bacon. And, in spite of being a vegetarian, nearly grabbed a plate of Honey Baked Ham and turkey yesterday… it smelled so good.
Hope you are feeling better, you must have been desperate to chug vinegar as a remedy! Wouldn’t it work as well poured on black eyed peas or something? I love that… you could have added bacon to the peas.
hope today is finding you feeling MUCH better. Colds - ack!
just got back from the Post Office - box on its way to you - be sure to check in between the afghans for your favorite color.
If you’d like to send a few more - I am up for it after Christmas.
Shelly….I’m glad to see you’re feeling a bit better.
I love your Thursday 13…there is so much we should be grateful for.
#8 is great…Vicks does work…and it also helps if you’re not in an amorous mood. If you are…then just rub the bacon on your chest.
Whoa…you Texans are tough…using vinegar as ’shooter’s?
Hey, I didn’t think up the idea of using vinegar as a shooter. It was all SusieJ! You make me laugh…I would not waste good bacon grease (and my husband would probably decide I should cook instead of…whatever). Besides, do you ever feel amorous when you can’t breathe? Well, I sure don’t!
Yep. We do have a lot to be grateful for. This is only the tip of the iceberg.
You just had to *slobber* end with the bacon!
And I was so proud of me for passing by that aisle today at the grocery story.
Am. Now. Kicking. Myself.
I’m so sorry. I couldn’t help myself. I’m just a bacon loving fool. We should invent a holiday where you eat bacon. What could we call it?
I just stopped in to say thanks for those kind words on my blog. You groupies sure see me differently than I see myself; I’ve got a lot on my mind tonight (and it’s good, or else I wouldn’t be saying thanks!).
Kisses and bacon for ya…