It’s November, so it’s time for my yearly “little things I’m thankful for” column.
• At the top of my list this year is “Thank goodness the election is over!” I’m not going to discuss the pros and cons of the major political parties, who I voted for or how I feel about the results. I just want to celebrate that it’s over. Campaigning in this country goes on for way too long and entirely too much money is spent by the political parties and those running for office. I don’t know — is it millions/billions of dollars? But I can think of lots of better uses for that money than politicians flying all over the country for months and months of rallies, glad-handing, making promises they’ll never keep and soliciting more funds.
• At this time of year, I am ever so grateful that spider season is almost over. I realize it’s totally illogical — but spiders scare the heck out of me. It doesn’t matter how big or small they are, how close to me they are, whether they’re poisonous or not, I want nothing to do with those eight-legged monsters. During the fall, when I head out for my evening walk I carry my arachnid-annihilator — a four-foot long twig that I constantly wave back and forth in front of my face when walking along the 30-foot path that goes through a patch of forest at the end of our cul-de-sac.
• At least twice a day, I am ever so thankful for our garage door opener. I’m guessing much of the younger generation has no idea what life was like without an automatic garage door opener, but trust me, they are a blessing. No more wrestling to raise up a 50-pound door before backing the car out of the garage and then having to get out of the car in the wind, rain, sleet or hail to lower it back down. Plus, when I come home from work and push the magic button, as the door goes up, a light goes on in the garage so I don’t have to stumble around trying to find the light switch.
• As many of you already know I am quite frugal and I love to read. So obviously the local library is a big hit with me. I love that their catalogue is on their website and I can search for books (or authors) and reserve a book. Since our Aberdeen library is part of the larger Timberland Regional Library system, it means that books from the other 20-some Timberland libraries are available for checking out. A couple of months ago someone suggested I read the James Patterson series about Detective Alex Cross. The first book, “Along Came a Spider,” was published in 1993 and wasn’t available through the TRL system but card holders can also request books from the interlibrary system. It sometimes takes a week or two to get a book that way, but as long as I plan ahead on the next couple of books in the series, I haven’t been without reading material yet.
• Mike and I have lived in our Central Park home since 2003 and a while back we decided it was time to update the main bathroom. Part of the discussion was how it was getting more and more difficult for us to step into the bathtub for our daily showers. A couple of times, I had caught my foot on the edge of the tub as I was getting in. “How embarrassing,” I thought, “if I fell and injured myself so severely that Mike had to call the EMTs to help get me out of the tub.” I’m guessing the EMTs were used to helping people out in humiliating circumstances, but I didn’t want to think about me being naked in front of a bunch of strangers. We figured out a walk-in shower would be the simple solution. After a lot of research and getting a couple of quotes and we decided on a man from Elma. Oh my goodness. I can’t say enough good things about Ryan. His cost estimate was reasonable, his timeline was faster than we expected and every evening before he went home he cleaned up all of his tools and the work area. And when we found out our kids were coming to visit about a week before the project was due to be finished, he volunteered to work through the weekend so the bathroom would be done before they arrived. The walk-in shower is really, really nice and I’m so glad we decided to do it. And if you’re in the market for a terrific contractor, give me a call and I’ll give you Ryan’s contact information.
Time to start my “thankful” list for next year and hopefully this time I’ll remember to write them down.
