Hi everyone. It’s been a while since I last joined Ten Things of Thankful (#TToT), but today, I feel like it. Here are my gratefuls for the past week.
1. Baking a cake. Earlier this week, I decided to use up the second of three cake mixes I’d gotten from my parents for my birthday. It was raspberry cake. Unfortunately, I found out today that the third mix had an expiration date in April, so I threw it away. Now I do think the other mixes probably had their expiration dates at the same time, as they came in one package, but oh well.
2. A long bike ride. On Wednesday, the staff and I rode the side-by-side bike to the nearby town to get groceries, only for me to realize then that I didn’t know what groceries I’d wanted to buy, so we decided to just bike around. It turned out I’ve broken my record for the longest bike ride at 19.3km.
3. The night staff. I’ve been needing their support a few times lately and often feel like a burden. The night staff used to make that feeling worse by telling me to “just try to sleep”. Thankfully, recently they’re telling me that I am not a burden and they’re there for me as much as they are there for everyone else. Even if they don’t fully mean this, it helps me feel more comfortable.
4. The staff having cooked chicken and noodles for us on Wednesday.
5. An institution cafeteria sandwich on Thursday.
6. Green tea. Always, green tea. I’ve been requesting it in the evening more often lately and that’s been feeling good.
7. My having been allowed to play DJ again with the home’s large Bluetooth speaker. I mostly played ABBA songs, but did one MARINA song too, realizing only when it’d started that it was rather explicit. Oh well, most of the residents don’t know English and the few who do, just chuckled at it.
8. Mini candy bars. A fellow resident’s parents brought them yesterday and they are yum! I only found out that they were from Aldi today. If I’d known earlier, I’d have asked my spouse to drive by there on the way from Apeldoorn to the institution so that I could pick up a bag myself.
9. Diarium, a diary app. Recently, there was a discussion on Reddit about journaling and I decided to give this app, which is available on both Windows and iOS, another try. It has a lot fewer features than Day One, but Day One’s web-based interface (there’s no PC app) honestly sucks.
10. The weather. We’ve been having lower temps this week than last week and I’ve had to wear my jeans again and even put on a jacket some of the time. Still, it’s been warm and sunny enough.
A Multitude of Musings 
It sounds like there’s a lot of good stuff happening. Fingers crossed that it continues! Do you say that “Fingers crossed”?
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Thanks a lot! And yes, the expression “fingers crossed” makes sense to me, we use it here too.
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It’s wonderful to see you joining us again. I hope your husband can get you some of the candy bars.
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Thank you.
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You have been busy and what great things to be grateful for. Oops to the Marina song. hehehe I am glad it gave those who understand English a chuckle.
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Thanks so much for commenting. Re the song, I honestly don’t know how much these residents actually understood and how much was just them reacting to the staff’s and my awkwardness. Regardless, they’re adults and besides, it’s not like I really have an obligation to protect them from any explicit language.
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I wouldn’t have tossed the expired cake mix but I am not one who thinks expiry dates always means something has gone off. That was a long bike ride and yeah Aldi does have some nice chocolate
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Thank you. I don’t think the cake mix had gone bad indeed, as neither had the two I’d already used. Thanks for commenting.
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Hey! Astrid! Good to ‘read’ you again!
(thanks for the chuckle on the song lyrics thing… truth is, imo, unless a person really likes a particular artist, lyrics tend to fly under the radar.
Can’t tell you how long it’s been that I’ve been on a bike! (Hint: long enough to resist the temptation! lol)
Fortunately, the Summer here (n southern New England) is warm and so I can get out everyday and work in the woods and the yard for exercise.
Funny about candy bars… I remember as a child how I used to think, “When I’m an adult I’ll have candy everyday.”
Alas, just don’t have the same… interest as I did then. One of life’s main ‘Not Fair!’
Have a good week
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Thanks for your comment. I totally relate to not paying much attention to song lyrics.
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Being new here, I checked out your About page and understood the DID part as my partner has NDID – Non-specific DID and is a t present, profoundly depressed – so it is great to read about the things you are grateful for – I hope you will share some pictures of your projects too…
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Thank you so much! I’ve shared pictures of my craft projects here and there, but haven’t been crafting much lately. I’m sorry to hear your partner is going through depression right now.
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A good full list! How is it going with Diarium? I have wondered about an PC or phone journal to jot down notes on days here and there. I haven’t looked into any of what is available yet. Mmmm, raspberry cake and chocolate! You’re making me hungry! We have had a big cool down here too. Back to jeans, haven’t needed a jacket yet, but there has been no rain for about a week and it is not in the near forecast either. Enjoy those bike rides while it is not so hot! Hope you have a fabulous week!
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Thanks so much for your kind comment. I’ve tried literally dozens of journaling apps on both my phone and PC and so far Day One and Diarium are the best. There was one that was better (it was called Dyrii), but it no longer exists. Re the bike rides, I prefer walking but for some reason it exhausts me more during the hot weather than does cycling. Probably it’s to do with the facct that it’s an E-bike. And re the cake and chocolate, I just had dinner but still I’m currently looking at all kinds of recipes and it’s making my mouth water.
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You’re welcome.
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Some of our local food pantries will take shelf-stable food that is 1 or 2 years past its expiration date, which makes me think that expiration dates are most likely “best by” dates rather than “use by” dates.
Our temps are starting to cool down a bit, too, which is welcome.
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I think you’re right about expiration dates, though some products here actually do have “Best before” written on the label (eg. my vanilla extract). I’m glad your weather’s more comfortable now.
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It reads like you’ve had an interesting week. I like visiting towns for sight-seeing or shopping. The range of products is better.
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Yes, true. The institution town doesn’t even have a supermarket, so I need to travel to the next town even for groceries (or have my staff order them online at the company the institution works with).
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baking a cake sounds fun! I use diaryum! I like it! X
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Thanks for commenting. I use both Day One and Diarium now, because Day One lets me have multiple journalls. Do you know whether Diarium now easily allows multiple entries per day? It didn’t use to, but maybe it’s changed.
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