Day 39

For Lent I am going to focus on the things that I am thankful for (this is harder than giving stuff up for me I'm not the most positive person in the world):

1. The NICE people with whom I work. Many of the people I work with drive me nuts and they're the ones I tend to focus on here but there are a number of really nice people in my organisation who let me whinge, give me advice and are generally lovely. Our admin manager, careers advisor, membership admin team as a whole and a few others are very kind and lovely people. I'm blessed to know them and to have them laugh at my awful and cynical version of humour every day.
   
2. Children - today I spent 5 hours solid in a room with 10 very angry people who aimed all their venom at me. Although the did all keep saying it was nothing personal and aimed at the organisation and not me it's still tough to sit through. I think I won a few points but it was still an exhausting and very long (over 12h) day. But on the second train home there were a couple with a wee boy and girl. The wee boy wanted to make his wee sister happy (she was crying cos she was tired) so he held his hands up like a book and said he'd read them all a book. He recited about 75% of the Gruffalo book word perfect. He was in a pram and I'd say about 3.5-4 and totally adorable. It cheered his wee sister up and made me smile. There are some very good people in the world and some of them start really young.
   
3. Today I am thankful for the pharmaceutical industry. I have a migraine - magic pink migraine pills are the best thing today. I am also thankful for MrT who is making me endless toast now that the magic pills have kicked in.
   
4. Today I am thankful for the community in which I live. There was a womens' breakfast at church - sounds silly and old fashioned I guess but it was fun. I got there early to help cook bacon, sort out muffins and lots of other yummy treats. There were women of all ages and they all mixed and chatted. As usual at church events I ended up talking to random but right people. I got chatting to someone who's going to get me to talk to her teenage daughter about universities and careers in science for women. After clearing up I went round to someone's house for coffee and to meet her rabbit (Huge and fluffy and didn't make me sneeze).
   
5. Today I have mostly been cleaning. New glasses mean that I can now see the dust and dirt in our house. I think today I'm mostly thankful for eco-friendly detergents as they are also monkey-friendly. It took most of the morning to clean the kitchen and my hands still have most of the skin on them (this is not normally the case with other detergents).
   
6. Today it's all about the lentils. Soup made with lentils filled me up all day (so I was still full running back to the station and felt a bit queasy). 250g lentils, 2 tins tomatoes, cumin, fresh ginger, onion, leek - mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.
   
7. Today I met lots of lovely members of our organisation who were positive, enthusiastic and asked insightful questions. There was no whinging about things that happened 20 years ago and they keen to provide constructive feedback. They're my favourites!
   
8. Today I am thankful for helpful shop assistants. I popped in to a large and famous toy shop to look for some craft kit (pricey but I'm desperate) and they don't stock what I need. The lovely lady with the bubble gun gave me exact directions to a shop that has exactly what I needed. Unfortunately the shop was out of stock in the whole UK but that's not the point.
9. It's early but I'm off for the night for work today and I'm already thankful for something.
   My nice boss. You may remember I used to work for Evil Boss. My new boss is only about 6 months older than me and she's good. We don't agree on everything but we work well together and she appreciates my experience and I hers. I'm going in about 30min late today cos tonight I have to drive up to Northern City for an evening work event and I was knackered. She'll be happy that I got more sleep cos it means that I will be safer driving there. It's unusual to have a boss who actually cares about their team's welfare.
   
10. Today was a pretty pants day. Funerals are not meant to be fun I guess. Today I was very grateful for the Girl Guiding movement. There was a huge number of Guiders present today from all over the country who'd come to say goodbye. The bond between a group of people who had not all met before was amazing. People may mock Guiding but I don't care - I have a few million automatic friends all over the world.
    
11. There've been a few snowdrops around for a while but today we have a yellow crocus in our front garden. Although we didn't have flowers at our wedding I'm a big fan of them outside. I don't spend any time trying to grow them but I like that they pop up anyway. Pretty things remind me to smile.
    
12. Today I'm happy about babies. My friend's waters broke yesterday evening so now it's a waiting game. This is wonderfully exciting and especially given problems they've had in the past. I also met some new lovely people at church today and talked to some babies as well. I'd love to be able to run around in circles just for the fun of it too. UPDATE: Wee boy is born and all is well
    
13. It's the first of March and it's like Spring has almost sprung. It was warm enough to cycle home without my biking layers and I actually could have done with my sun glasses. Yeay for spring!
    
14. On the 2nd of March I met lots of old chemists who knew my old boss so I was very grateful for the crazy interconnectedness of chemists. It's nice when you find common ground with people.
    
15. On the 3rd March I was grateful for the sea. I had a great run in the morning (probably too early) from the hotel along the sea front and it was fab. It was freezing (didn't pack a jumper only a t-shirt), very windy and lovely all at the same time.
    
16. Today I am grateful for TOIL. I get the afternoon off for working Tuesday evening (I worked yesterday evening too and we won't go into that as I may explode again). I had a lovely lunch with MrT and a walk in th gorgeous spring-like park. I'm now going to see the doc for new drugs then spend the evening with MrT not thinking about work.
    
17. Today I am definitely thankful for the glorious sunshine, spring and being at the station at 06:15 in almost daylight! Sun is good - I even went for 2 runs today because it was so nice (freezing but nice).
    
18. Spontaneous socialising - socialising is not something that I'm great at. I generally don't like situations which are unpredictable. For work it's ok but for relaxation I prefer more control. Tonight I was nearly finished making dinner (bean stew to last 3 nights of MrT not being around for dinner) I had a call from a couple of old housemates asking if I fancied dinner at a local foody pub. Now I am the Queen of Excuses but tonight I decided that socialising would be good so I went. It was lovely - they're fun people to talk to and it was a nice meal (I even had chocolate fudge cake!).
    
19. Ooops I forgot to pop this on yesterday - It was definitely a day for the truth. My bro finally told my folks about his girlfriend (they've only been together a year!). Life is better when everyone knows the full story.
    
20. Today I'm happy that occasionally I manage to stop being wrapped up in my own little nuttinesses and can think about other people - I wish it happened more. Tonight I called my Dad even though I knew it'd be a bit tough (he's nuttier than me and is no longer medicated so it's a bit touchy at times and this is not a good time). I called because I thought it might help and I think it did. He's going to come and visit and Easter and me and him are going to build a bookcase together for our house. Dad's are good but sometimes they need looking after too. (tonight I was a little nuttier as I ate some choc with almonds in at Rangers by accident - I'm allergic - luckily I have a (wonderful?) talent of throwing up as and when required so it was out of my system before much swelling/wheezing could occur).
    
21. Today was very very bad - I did a terrible thing over which I had no control (unless I just didn't drive to the station). I did meet a nice lady on the train home who was very friendly and cheered me up. So today I am thankful for kind strangers.
    
22. Sanity checks are good - although I often think I'm just whinging it's nice for people at work occasionally to agree with me that the way some of the committees I work with are treating me is wrong. It makes me feel like I'm not going mad.
    
23. Today I took nearly 6 hours to do a 3 hour drive. 2 Major roads were buggered for most of the day. My long detour took me via the Peak District. I was tired and headachy and hungry. I drive round a corner to be confronted with the most glorious sunset. The hills were beautiful with wee bits of snow still there all basking in the orange glow. It might be cheesy but marvelling at the intricacy and beauty of the natural world always helps when things get tough. Standing back and seeing the world outside my own private series of obsessions is something I should practise more.
    
24. Today I am very grateful for my new job. I spent the day at a massive science event which was like being back in my old job and I hated it. My new job may be stressful but it doesn't involve dealing with kids!
    
25. Today it is SPRING and I love it. I went for my first long run in months and it was fab. It was sunny enough for sunnies, it was warm enough that I regretted wearing a long sleeved top and the air smelled of freshly tilled soil. Yeay!
    
26. Well obviously I am thankful for my Mum today. She has given me many gifts: creativity, determination, stubborn-ness and generally always being right - it's tough but somehow we both manage it.
    
27. Today I am very happy that I finally got to say "I love it when a plan comes together" and mean it.
28. Today I am thankful for academics. I have spent 2 years meeting academics and I'll acknowledge that I probably met those in the Mother Country most but they always manage to act like I'm an old friend. I know that they're practised at meeting people every couple of years at conferences or only a few times in tutorials but it's nice that they're glad to see me. Academics rock!
29. Today I'm thankful for those wonderful tissues with the softifying stuff that makes my nose not go sore and red straight away.
30. Today I am thankful for postal dvd rental. I stayed at home today rather than take my germs to work and to try to actually get better (common sense and also we're going up some mountains at the weekend and that would suck with a cold and cough). We recently signed up for postal dvd thingy and so far my choices keep turning up (not on purpose it's random I guess). My choices are generally not in English and as MrT was at work while I was home sick today I got to watch "He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not" which was fantastic. Audrey Tautou does crazy really well.
31. I'm not sure if this counts but today I'm really happy for 2 reasons: A- I emailed a huge group of people about their lack of committee and within a couple of hours I had 10 volunteers! B- MrT and I will be off walking up some Welsh mountains for the next few days and we've just found all of my walking stuff in the garage. It's been all packed up for over 2 years and to my joy and surprise all of the trousers fit me (last time I saw them none of them fitted - as in couldn't do them up at all). :-)
32. We spent the last couple of day playing in Wales. On Day 32 I was grateful for glorious weather, lovely campsites and amazing mountains to climb with a fantastic husband.
33. On day 33 I was glad that I could tell my fantastic husband that I was not walking any further in the pissing freezing rain and we went back to the car.
34. Mid-week days off. We spent the sunny morning pottering around in town drinking coffee and getting stuff that we needed.
35. Today I'm grateful for nice scientists who take me seriously, realise that I'm good at my job and want me to help.
36. Today I'm grateful for surprises - Handmade (nut free) Easter eggs from my folks in the post (made by family friends who have the most awesome business - www.obanchocolate.co.uk). I also did 3 runs today (station to office, office to station and local station to home).
37. Today I am thankful for living in a country where I have choices. Choices of transport, food, healthcare and numerous other freedoms - it's easy to forget how lucky we are.
38. Today I was blown away by the wonder of the Big Guy. The right stuff happens at the right time even when it makes no real sense.
39. Today I am happy about silly Sunday night tv. I'm not (too) ashamed to say that I'm looking forward to eating dinner (yummy dopiaza made from scratch by me - with only 2 bouts of coughing and wheezing cos of the spices) whilst watching Larkrise to Candleford. It's a bit silly but it's easy watching, it's nice, it's about as inoffensive as a tv programme can be and it makes me chuckle.