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| My cat, George, does this. He sits on the table near to meal times in the vain hope we might not notice him and then he can eat from our plates like the frog prince. It hasn't worked so far! |
I did a post like this a couple of years ago, and I thought I'd resurrect the idea.
Whist my US friends tuck into their turkey and pumpkin pie, the rest of the world (except Canada which has a Thanksgiving too, just on a different date) look on, bewildered at a tradition we do not share. So in celebration of the fact that this is NOT Thanksgiving day for me, here's a list of things I am not thankful for today.
1. The hurt that's been caused in and around the m/m community in the last few weeks.
2. The fact that I didn't get to go to Gay Rom Lit and probably won't get to go next year either.
3. That a dear 80 year old lady from my Church has been diagnosed with bowel cancer and the doctors are messing her around whilst they discuss how to treat her. Why this takes over three weeks is anyone's guess.
4. My youngest daughter practicing endless Christmas carols on the fife, over and over again. If I have to hear Away in a Manger again I may scream.
5. That I've gained 24 pounds this year. Why do I seem completely unable to keep off any weight that I lose? Why am I so weak? Sometimes I despise myself.
6. When my cat wakes me up at 5am every morning by sitting on my head and purring loudly whilst digging his claws into my neck. If I shut the bedroom door he either miaows loudly and wakes up the whole house or he goes and sits on the kids instead and wakes them up. *sigh*
7. Novels which have sneakily been divided up into chunks and passed off as short stories - and I'm not talking about upfront serial novels like The Rifter - thus meaning that readers part with three times the amount of money a novel will sell for.
8. Bits of Lego all over the floor of my living room.
9. The endless foggy weather we've been having recently which has made driving down some of the high up country lanes near me a complete nightmare.
10. That my youngest son (aged 8) is turning into Sheldon from The Big Bang Theory. Today he cornered me over breakfast and proceeded to tell me all about his ideas to create robots who can spread a virus to other robots. I hadn't even had my first cup of the tea at that point and so wasn't able to form coherent thought yet.
However, what I AM thankful for is my good health, my family, friends and all of you my internet buddies!
Happy Thanksgiving to you all and feel free to chip in with anything you are NOT thankful for today :).
Happy Un-Thanksgiving to you. :-) I do think there are a lot of people here celebrating because weirdly I was able to park on the first floor of our parkade this morning when usually I have to go to the second level. Hmmm.
ReplyDeleteI agree with #1 and my own willpower is sadly lacking. You don't wna to know how much of my money is whistling in the wind as I DON'T go to the gym I paid for. And defintely #7.
I'm not thankful for the snow we got yesterday (although it should all melt this weekend), nor people at work who are annoying me and making more work by not checking things first, nor the fact that I have to go to my ex-bosses funeral this afternoon, nor doctors who have still not given my uncle a date for his open heart surgery, nor my cousin who is teaching her young sons to hunt and kill things and is so proud her oldest killed his first animal.
Probably more but I shan't rant. However I am thankful for an amazing kid who never causes me too much stress, a good job, a warm safe home, food on the table and amazing friends from around the world, including those that will be in a turkey and pie induced coma later today. :-)
I'm not thankful for the lack of sleep and having to get up at 5am almost everyday because I'm working 2 jobs.
ReplyDeleteThat's why I'm so thankful for the 4 day weekend and bloggers like you, fabu dinosaur who make me smile and laugh.
Happy roar!
*BIG HUG*
ReplyDelete*sigh* I hear you on the weight. At least I know myself well enough to not bother buying a gym membership that I won't use...
Sorry to hear about your friend from church. :(
And #7 - oh, I hear you. Grrrrr.
#6, ha, ha! That definitely sounds like the way cats are. Our would be doing all that, I'm sure, if he wasn't an outdoor cat. As it is, he likes to stare urgently in the window, hoping to get in.
ReplyDeleteand #10, what 8 year-old isn't obsessed with robot? He sounds like a great kid!
Hmm, on reflection that whole post came out more downbeat than I actually intended. I must just be feeling that way out today :).
ReplyDeleteTam: I tried joining a gym once too. I did great for a couple of months but then stopped going as often. I realised that I was actually starting to dread my 'gym days' at which point I wondered why I was punishing myself and cancelled the membership.
Snow already! This time last year it was snowing here but that's very unusual.
I'm sorry about your ex-boss and your uncle.
Yes, food on the table is good, but I'm not at my best today so I think it's take out pizza instead of the spaghetti bolognaise I was going to make. I Obviously need to add being a lazy arsed wife and mother to my list of things not to be thankful for ;).
Hi KB/KT
ReplyDelete*roars back*
Getting up at 5am sucks big time. At least I can go back to sleep once I've chucked George off my head.
Hi Chris
ReplyDelete#7 is one of my pet peeves at the moment.
My church lady friend is bearing up fairly cheerfully. She wants to have the operation to remove part of her bowel but her docs are wary of operating on a lady of her age, despite the fact that she's very fit and healthy in general.
A very happy un-Thanksgiving to you too, my dear friend! One thing to be *very* grateful for is the chance to meet you and other friends over the last year. Long may that continue!
ReplyDeleteUn-thankful: I probably won't make any of these MM events again either :(. At least we'll have the UK Meet!!!!
I refuse to talk about weight. It owns me, I despise it, it just laughs scornfully and settles back on my muffin top. I'm just thankful for jeans with Lycra.
No pets to share, except my psychotic goldfish who - like Pavlov's dogs - butts his head on the tank side to attract my attention for food when I sit down to write.
#7, gosh yes.
#8, ours only went up in the loft this summer and my boys (all 3 including hubby) pretend to have outgrown it.
#10, I love this. We adore Sheldon.
^___^
Hi Val
ReplyDeleteHe's is a great kid, really. He just gets these ideas and then becomes a little obsessive over it :).
I can set my watch by the cat sitting on my head. It was cute when he first did it. Now it's getting a bit old after 10 months!
Hi Clare
ReplyDeleteYes, thank goodness for the UK meet!
Every time I lose weight I say I'm never putting it back on. But on it goes. Why can't I be one of those people like hub who burn off fat with nervous energy and stay forever thin? *sigh*
I love Sheldon too, especially his shirts :). There's this great website where you can buy shirts like the ones he wears in the programme. I'm sooooo tempted.
As a European I'm also Thanksgiving-free ;-).
ReplyDeleteWeight has been an issue also for me in the last few months: maybe it's an epidemy? Now I'm reading ''The Self-Compassion Diet'', which - title notwithstanding - is not a diet book, but is very helpful for losing weight. Warmly recommended! See here, where you can read some pages as well: http://www.amazon.com/Self-Compassion-Diet-Step-Step-Loving-Kindness/dp/1604070757/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpt_1
The book teaches the opposite of despising oneself.
LOL, well seeing as I blogged this morning whilst in a happy optimistic frame of mind about things I was thankful for I shall add my un-thanks here....
ReplyDelete- no thanks to the local kids who use my garden as a run through rather than walking round the corner
- un-thanks to my neighbours heating system which comes on at 4.45 am waking all the dogs up
- un-thanks to the idiots who decreed that the 5 perfectly acceptable never used disabled parking space outside the offices were no longer for staff (after 3 years) and make us now park much further away.. my knees in cold weather may come back to haunt them.
Yeaah, happy un -thanksgiving too. I was in town (Amsterdam) earlier tonight and they had this big do on Damsqaure because they were turning the Christmas lights on, in the streets and on the walls of the Bijenkorf (big shop like Harrods).
ReplyDeleteReason I was in town that the American bookstore had a Thanksgiving sale. All card holders got a 7 eur gift card! So in a way I celebrated too.
ditto on #2. The Uk meet sounds more plausible
Ouch on #4 and #8 :D
Unhappy Unthanksgiving to you too, Jen.
ReplyDeleteI'm so sorry to hear about the lady from your church. Sometimes the medical system, especially doctors, completely baffle me. *sigh*
And I'm in total agreement about #1. It makes my heart hurt.
I'm unthankful for: not having a magic wand that will make everything immediately better; for not having a transported that will allow me to see my friends in an instant; and, for Karma hating my guts.
I'm VERY thankful for the support of my family and friends. I know that it is only because of them that I'm here today.
Big BIG hugs to you ... xxxxxxx
ReplyDeleteSorry about the church lady too. My mum had the bowel cancer treatment about 5 years ago (she's 81 in Jan) and it was absolutely fine, so I think they should just go for it. These old ladies are tough old boots anyway. Mind you, my mother is perfectly well aware that this old cancer thing isn't going to get her - she is determined to meet her end being smothered to death with a pillow by her beloved only daughter (um, that would be me then) on her 90th birthday because she JUST WON'T STOP TALKING!! We've already planned it ... :))
Anne
xxx
Hi Antonella
ReplyDeleteThank you for the book rec. I've not heard of it before. It certainly sounds like something I'd like to try. The idea of fostering a sense of self worth seems much better than the ups and downs of loss and gain that I can't seem to break out of.
Hi Kate
ReplyDeleteUrg, we once had a postman who used to walk across our yard rather than down the path, until I collared him one morning and asked him to stop doing it. It was especially irritating because we had grass seed growing at the time.
This cold, gloomy weather is definitely no good for the joints!
Hi Ingrid
ReplyDeleteIt would be great if you could make the UK meet! We had two authors who came from The Netherlands last year.
The Christmas lights go on in Leeds around the beginning of November. They've even got the on in my village high street already!
Yay for Thanksgiving sales! I hope you spent your voucher on something nice :).
I blew it on some sci-fi /fantasy novels! Coz I can't get them in e-book form (!@$##! american publishers)
ReplyDeleteKris:
ReplyDeleteI think we all could wish for a magic 'make it better wand' at times.
((hugs))
Hi Anne
ReplyDeleteMy friend wants to have the surgery and has told all the doctors this but they're still fannying around 'discussing' what to do. She's very frustrated as you might expect.
You're mum sounds like a blast!
Ingrid: I've asked for some of those for Christmas for the same reason :).
ReplyDelete