Thankful for __________.

Today, I am thankful for

Senses of Humor

I tend to surround myself with people who have pretty intense senses of humor. I like them all: the dry, the slapstick, the bitter, the quirky.....all of them. I get a kick out of people who can use humor in their words. Sometimes I can just laugh at the way people phrase things. They may not even be trying to make me laugh, but they do.

Sarah has a very good sense of humor - which is a good thing since she falls prey to many of the butts of my jokes/antics/pranks. I get the biggest kick from Sarah because at times she can be the most ridiculous person I know and I have no choice except to laugh at her. For example, you may have read about Sarah's ingrown toenail (I never knew I hated that word so much until I had to type it). I am no surgeon. I am no Dr. I am not fascinated by the health care industry or biology. With that said, Sarah wanted me to help her with this toenail issue. I have lived with ingrowns my entire life and it's not a nice picture, my feet are, but this issue is not.

So as Sarah sits atop the vanity of our bathroom, I warn her that the next step could be painful. Her reaction was not only confusing to me, but borderline hysterical. I mean, I didn't say to her, "I'm sorry, but someone is here to take Celie away from us forever" or "I hate to tell you this but I was involved in a drug deal and now I'm going to jail" or "All of your relatives were just killed in a car accident while they were in a caravan to the Grand Canyon." Nope - nothing like that, but her reaction was the same.

She begins shaking, sobbing and doing the ugly cry. You know the ugly cry, when your lips get all swollen and you have to only breathe from your nose because your lips are so tightly puckered, but that to is complicated because your sinus cavities have just released a river of nasal moisture and when you open your mouth finally, all that comes out is a very high-pitched tone that fluctuates going sharp to flat? Yeah, that's what happened.

I was so very confused. Drool was seeping out of the side of her mouth, snot coming out of her nose, her face was as brilliantly red as a freshly polished apple and all she could do was make this strange sound that mimicked the sounds of whales under water.

I say to her, "what is wrong with you???" She says to me, "It hurts."

That's it....."it hurts." I mean, I've had these things my entire life and I've never been driven to "it's the end of the world as we know it" kind of crying. I started laughing because it was the most flamboyant performance I've ever witnessed....and that's saying a lot because I watch The Real Housewives of Atlanta. She was completely out of control and on the verge of a nervous breakdown.

By this point, I'm laughing so hard that I think I tee-tee'd on myself a little bit. I gain composure and request that Sarah do the same. Once she becomes moderately coherent, I have no choice but to begin talking about how her toe could get gangrene and fall off - (I couldn't resist). Then the wailing begins all over again.

I say all this to say that Sarah has a great sense of humor and there's no one on earth who is more fun to harass, pick on, joke with, laugh at/with, prank, scare or even trick than her. My mother is tied with my grandmother for second place in this category - that's an ENTIRELY different post.

Laugh today - (preferably at someone you love!)

Thankful for _________.

Short post today...

I'm thankful for my insurance!

Thank you "current employer" for providing such great insurance. I'm off to get my eyes checked now.

Thankful For__________.

Today, I'd like to say that I'm thankful for

Our Military

I'm so thankful to live in a country where we have the freedom of speech and religion. We live in a democratic society where our votes count and it's the men and women of the armed forces who fight and protect that right everyday.

They protect the right of those who find it ok to bash the current president. They protect the right of those who find it ok to burn our flag. They protect the right of those who find it ok to to bash Christianity. They protect the right of those who picket and protest. They protect the right of those who think it's ok to have printed and Internet pornography. They protect the right of those find it ok to terminate a pregnancy. They protect our rights and freedoms and for that reason, I am thankful for them.

We can never truly thank them enough for all they do for us.

Thankful for _________.

I'm taking the lead from Sarah on this.

I'm going to try to blog every workday for the month of November something for which I am thankful. Please keep in mind that I am not trying to win a Pulitzer Prize on this blog, nor am I trying to sound prolific in any way (like other bloggers) by writing these grandiose diatribes about morals, politics, Roe v. Wade, our nation, the youth of today blah, blah, blah.

Some of my thankful blogs are going to be silly, stupid, funny and even annoying. Also, please note that topics of thankfulness are random. Should I write about Food Network today - it doesn't mean I am more thankful for it than my family.

With the rules stated, my first Thankful blog is about:

Salt

I am so thankful for salt. That's right, good 'ol NaCl. Think about it....where would we be without it? Food would taste horrible, or New England-like. My personal preference is Kosher. It's more delicate than standard table salt or iodized salt. I think it's also my preference because it makes me feel like a Food Network chef...you know, using my hands to get it out of the cute container and holding it high in the air, letting it fall atop my uncooked food. sigh. It's wonderful.

Let's talk about salt's many uses, shall we? There's the most important food seasoning. Then we have other uses like, using salt as a mild abrasive, an aid to a sore throat, soaking aching body parts, using it during the production of homemade ice cream, killing slugs (not that you should do this, but it does work), using it in your swimming pool and even protecting our northern friends on icy roads.

Salt is amazing and I'm so glad to have it around - some of us more than others, but all in all....

I'm thankful for salt.