On my weekly posts, I always try to write at least three things I am grateful for that week. So for NaBloPoWriMo, my weekly gratitude list gets it’s own post.
This week, some things I’m grateful for:
-My sewing machine still working. I sat down two days before Hallowe’en to sew my 12 year old’s costume, and when I plugged it in – nothing happened. I started to despair. Is there anything more despairing than a non-working sewing machine two days before Hallowe’en???? After a moment of spiraling, I unplugged the machine and plugged it into a different outlet. And it worked! Turns out the machine is so old that you have to plug the plug in right side up. I tried to google why this is, but the explanation is too dense for me to process right now. The important thing is that the machine worked and I was able to finish the 12 year old’s Hallowe’en costume.
-Beautiful balmy weather this week. There were a couple days where the weather was in the high 80s this week. Not what I expected for end of October, but the sunshine and warm air was lovely.
-My bike. I had one day when we didn’t have rehearsal so I just went to work to do some paperwork. Since the day was a little flexible, I decided to ride my bike in. I did walk the bike up the big final hill, but other than that, it was a great ride. And then a few days later, because my bike was still at work, I went for a bike ride instead of a run on my dinner break. Running is not so fun for me. Biking is pure joy.
-Text from my 12 year old. There have certainly been some ups and downs and learning curves with getting the 12 year old a phone, but one of the most delightful things is that she now texts me. Sometimes it’s just “hi.” Sometime it’s more than that. Often it’s “When are you coming home.” And then there are lots of pictures – mostly food and selfies. There are parts of the phone that aren’t really working for me, but getting texts from my daughter does make me smile.
-Daylights Saving time ending and getting one more hour of sleep. (Though it’s a little bit of bad timing because I’m about to start tech, which means a lot of late nights. When my body will think it’s 11:30pm and I’ll still have 30 mor minutes of rehearsal to go….)
-Binder Clips. Is there anything as useful as a binder clip? I mean aside from the obvious purpose of holding paper together. We use them in the kitchen to close up bags, like a chip clip. I use them at my desk as a photo holder. I use them when cooking to hold my cookbook open. I use them to clip a bunch of scrap paper together to make a little notepad. So many uses! This week, I discovered a new use – to hold up a music stand. So if you’ve ever worked with a music stand, you know that the top part goes up and down so that if you are standing or sitting, you can adjust the stand to the right height. But… Sometimes with not so great music stands, you pull the top up to be able to use them at a standing height and the weight of your book slowly makes the top sink down again. It’s maddening. Often, we just take gaff tape and tape the stand at the height we like, but this really pisses the prop people off because it can really gum up the shaft of the stand and then it won’t raise or lower anymore. Well, one of my colleagues showed me something brilliant. You can take a binder clip, and clip it to the inner shaft at the height you want and the binder clip with keep the top part of the stand from sinking down. Amazing! The simple binder clip fixed a problem that I’ve had ever since I started stage managing. I’ll take a picture and add it to this post if I can – it’s a little hard to describe how truly brilliant this is.
What are you grateful for this week?
I’m writing this post as part of NaBloPoWriMo – click on the icon below to see who else if participating. You can leave me questions for an upcoming “Ask me Anything” post via this link. Happy reading and writing everyone!
Aren’t bikes grand!! I remember the first ride I took on my mountain bike (which was only about two years ago) and I had the wind going through my hair and I felt like a kid again. I think I was scaring the other trail walkers because I was riding down the hills with this maniacal grin on my face!
Oh my gosh, yes! Going down hill really really really fast is amazing. I’m really intrigued by mountain biking, but I’m also afraid of falling off my bike. I love your bike adventure, though. That sounds amazing!
I think I need a new bike. Mine is a hand me down and hasn’t been ridden in about 10 years, and is REALLY heavy, and is a little too tall for me. I’d like to get a good fit bike. But then my husband would want me to go riding with him, and he likes to suit up and go for long fast rides, whereas I just want to peddle around my neighborhood, so maybe this will not happen.
I love texting with my daughter.
I am definitely not of the “suit up and long fast rides” type. Too much work! I just want to hop on my bike and go fast for bit and then come home and rest.
I definitely prefer the bike over jogging.
But I have opted for more walks in October because of our walking club.
Glad your sewing machine kicked in. Would have been a bummer two days before Halloween.
I think maybe biking can count as walking too? Or maybe just going outside?
I have a day scheduled later this month that I took off and I have NOTHING ON THE CALENDAR. NOTHING. No appointments. No getting someone’s mail while they’re on vacation. No meetings. What will I do with this day? Get an early start on holiday shopping? Address Christmas cards? Go to an art museum? Just stare in the middle distance while laying on the couch. WHO KNOWS? I’m very much looking forward to finding out.
Binder Clips! Genius! I love them and use them for so many things… e.g. keeping my towel in place on my Peloton (to cover the frame and protect it from my sweat drops LOL), clipping my Airpod cable to my shirt (the tiny clips work great for that), and hanging pictures on the fridge. 🙂
I was also very grateful for the extra hour of sleep last night.
I am grateful for the quiet mornings at work. I am usually the first there and I started doing a little bit of yoga before getting started on work. It does not work every day but most days it is. I am jealous of your 12 year old sending you pictures. My kids do text but pictures have not happened yet.
oooh I love quiet mornings too! My office is generally very quiet between 9am and 10am. I think I need to learn to do the intense work firt rather than the interruptible things before everyone shows up.
It’s so funny that on your gratitude list is “weather in the 80s” and I am TIRED of the hot weather. Granted, it’s ONLY been in the 80s (or higher) for way too many months and I am ready for a cool down here in Florida. Gah.
On my weekly gratitude list is NaBloPoMo! I am so glad I decided to do it again and it’s been fun keeping up with everyone.