Hi everyone. I hope you’re well. Last week, I said I’d like to make gratitude lists a weekly habit again. Here goes. As usual, I’m joining in with Ten Things of Thankful (#TToT).
1. My mood being slightly better than it was last week. I seem to be slowly climbing out of the pit of depression and overload. I am still in crisis multiple times a week, but it’s no longer an almost-daily occurrence.
2. St. Nicholas. This is celebrated today here in the Netherlands. Usually, kids get gifts then. We no longer celebrate it in our family and my niece is probably too young to understand the concept too. We don’t really celebrate it in the care facility this year either. However, we do have lots of special St. Nicholas candies.
3. My mother-in-law. She visited me on Thursday, which was good. I really had a good time.
4. Reading. Like I said earlier, the second novel in Kenneth Oppel’s trilogy is out this week and I immediately downloaded it off Bookshare. It’s a true page-turner.
5. Playing cards. I love to play the game of mau-mau or “bullying”, as it is called here.
6. A rainbow-colored ball. I can’t remember how I got it, but it’s among my toys. I have been loving throwing it back and forth with the staff.
7. The snoezelen® equipment we got at the home now. I may have said before that there’s an empty room that the staff had turned into a snoezelen® room when the day center closed. Then we got a client temporarily placed in that room, so its sensory equipment had to be removed. That client left though and it’s unlikely we’ll get a new placement anytime soon. So our staff bought some more sensory equipment. We now have a special sensory bed with speakers installed in it. I lay on the bed yesterday and loved feeling and hearing the soothing music.
8. Getting to the psychiatrist sooner than expected. Originally, I heard me appt isn’t till sometime in January. Thankfully though, the psychiatrist had a cancellation or something, so I was fitted in for December 22. Though my mood is slowly lifting, I am still glad I can see her.
9. Essential oils once again. Okay, I’ve shared about those before, but I keep discovering new blends. Yesterday I had one that included geranium and I hated the smell. I quickly emptied the diffuser though and then tried another blend.
10. Sleep. I haven’t had nightmares in a week or so. At least not ones that haunt me during the day. That’s definitely a win!
Yay, I got to ten. I know some are repeats, but that’s okay. And at least I didn’t include a ton of food-related thankfuls.
What have you been grateful for lately?
A Multitude of Musings 
That’s a really nice list and I’m glad your appointment got bumped up earlier.
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Thanks! 🙂
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I am grateful for family, friends like you, my dog, my therapist and psychiatrist.
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These are all great gratefuls. Thanks for sharing.
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Welcome 🙂
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Hey Astrid glad you joined us again… as you surely know, we have a new host, Dyanne, who took over from Kristi… will be interesting
good to hear that your sensory bed (and equipment) back… remember your telling us about it from before…have never tried one sounds really kinda cool
good to hear that your week was better than the one before…
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Thank you so much. I saw Dyanne took over indeed. Glad the TToT continues.
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I’m so glad you’re feeling a bit better.
Even though in our family it’s only Zofijka who is still a child, and even she is a teenager now, we still celebrate st. Nicholas’ day and even Misha and Jocky got their presents.
Ohh I love those beds with speakers in them, haha!
That’s good news you’ll be able to see your psychiatrist earlier. 🙂
Food-related thankfuls are good too! 🙂
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Thanks so much for your kind words. Unfortunately, depression hasn’t left me yet, as right now I’m crying and have been for the past two hours. I do love the sensory equipment though. Re At. NIcholas, we celebrated it in my family until I was 20 and my sister was 18. The only reason we stopped celebrating was my admission to the psych ward.
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Oh no, I’m so sorry to hear this! Sending hugs to all of you and hoping things are better by now, or if not that you’re getting some support. Things have been rather difficult here too for the last couple days here so I feel ya.
Oh, I’d say that’s sad that your admission was the reason for you stopping to celebrate it, as I don’t really see much of a connection between these two things, and I think it should be even more of a reason for trying to celebrate some nice occasion like this as it’s always such a difficult event for everyone involved for sure.
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Thank you so much. The reason we stopped celebrating St. Nicholas was that my parents were afraid I’d run away from their house if we celebrated it while I was still in crisis.
Thank you for the supportive words. I’m sorry you’re struggling too. I’m feeling slightly better.
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That’s good news! 🙂 Hope it keeps up this way.
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I’m so pleased you are continuing to feel better, and how lucky that you will be able to see the psychiatrist earlier than you thought you would! Having St. Nicholas candies sounds terrific! I don’t like the smell of geraniums, even though I think they’re pretty, so I imagine geranium essential oils wouldn’t be my favorite, either.
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Oh yes, I do think geraniums are pretty indeed. I should have remembered I don’t like the smell of the actual flower before buying the EO. Thanks for commenting.
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I am glad that you are having more restful sleep and not having nightmares as often.
To be able to see your psychiatrist sooner than expected is a plus.
A favorite essential oil blend for this time of year is called Holiday Joy. You mentioning the essential oils, reminded me get mine out and start using it.
I hope you have a good week.
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Thank you. I’ll look up that essential oil blend.
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Yay for better feels! I didn’t know you are in the Netherlands. That’s where my beloved is from. This will be the first year we won’t have chocolate letters since mama isn’t able. It’s been a long tradition.
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Oh that’s so cool that your partner is from the Netherlands. I’m so sorry you won’t have chocolate letters this year. I didn’t think I’d have one this year either but then my sister-in-law left one at my husband’s for me.
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Aww, now see, I am jealous! 😀 Enjoy your letter!!
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Thank you so much! I’ll definitely enjoy it.
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