Today’s list of things to be grateful for or appreciate:
Getting a better night’s sleep. I think I only woke up once.
Rani was fine with us not meeting up today.
The frost has come down and stuck, and it’s made everything look as thought it’s been dusted with icing sugar. The asparagus fern in the garden looks especially pretty.
Lovefilm have sent me some more DVD’s. One, The Bridge, is one I’ve been looking forward to seeing for a while.
Hot Teeccino.
I don’t have to leave the house today. It’s -6° here today.
Yesterday, for the first time in my life, I was grateful that all of my immediate family were safe and well.
I have some leftover Chinese food for lunch.
I’m off work all day today.
Warm clothing. I need it today.
I was lovely and warm in bed last night. I slept on top of one duvet, and under another, with my pyjamas on and a wheat bag.
Getting mom to the Doctors was a lot easer than I thought it would be.
She’s got a prescription for something to help shift her chest infection.
Watching The Bridge was somewhat cathartic.
Smodging on Wenna. I love that dog of mine.
Next doors smoke alarm is now completely disabled.
I am very grateful for stable moods today.
Getting started on the Yearly Roundup.
I’m going to celebrate New Years with The French tonight.
Mom saying that she wanted to take a stick to next doors smoke alarm during the night.
Please keep in mind that The French has 7 clocks in his house, none of which tell the correct time. Some are fast, some are slow, and at certain times of the year they’re an hour fast/slow, due to Daylight Savings. This is plus the original discrepancy. Also, please don’t forget the backwards clock in the kitchen. All the numerals are backwards, and the mechanism goes in reverse. Anyway, getting to the funny bit, we were sat on the sofa earlier, at about 20 minutes to midnight, and I suddenly realised the time. The French started to panic, because he hadn’t got prepared. I made the comment that it didn’t really matter whether we missed it or not, because there was probably a clock somewhere in the hosue that still hadn’t reached midnight yet.
Today’s list of things to be grateful for or appreciate:
Getting enough sleep last night.
Realising at 3AM that I could go sleep on Nat’s bed to get away from the noise of the smoke alarm next door.
Using pzizz to get to sleep last night. The new version, that I got today (2.6, I think) allows you to shut down the PC once you’re done listening.
Realising in one of those 4AM conversations that thoughts don’t just float up. They follow a strictly defined path, and that I can change that path.
My lovely warm dressing gown.
Realising that if Nat gets back from Spain early, I can sleep in the living room. It’s on the other side of the house, too, which muffles the smoke alarm a lot.
I’m off work all day.
Coming across a clever idea that will allow me to schedule backups on my sites. My host doesn’t yet have cron support, so I have to log in to each site daily to active the backup script. I can use a site uptime monitoring service to check if my site is active, and thereby trigger the script.
Chocolate. I have some left from yesterday.
Remembering that it’s not about me, it’s about them. A wounded animal will attack because it’s in pain. Or because that’s all it knows how to do.
The neighbour is coming round to shut off the smoke alarm.
No matter how loud/annoying the alarm is, it’s not as bad as it used to be at the old house.
That no matter how bad my life gets, it will never get as bad as it used to be. I now have several “protocols” in place for dealing with negative things, which I find really helpful.
My life just seems to be getting better and better and better.
The smoke alarm has been turned off.
The neighbour has left us her keys so we can shut the alarm up ourselves.
Hot Teeccino. Vanilla flavour. Mmm.
Playing with Wenna on my bed. At one point she had a mad fit in a very confined space.
That long ago I decided to be me, and nobody else.
A nice hot shower.
I get to choose what food I have to eat today.
I don’t have kids or a mortgage. In this financial climate, either one would be a large drain.
Having more than one towel.
A surprisingly tasty meal of egg fried rice, bacon, peas and soy sauce. I quite enjoyed it, though I think next time I’d use fresh cooked rice, rather than something microwavable.
Firefly fanfic. It’s like crack. I have to limit myself to 10 stores or less.
I’m having a lot less negative thoughts float up. Those that are are vanishing quickly. I’m not holding onto them.
A nice nap. I’ve wanted one since I got up this morning.
Hot soup.
Watching an interesting film.
The guy on the other end of the row has found a solution to the smoke alarm - hit it with a stick change the battery!
Today’s list of things to be grateful for or appreciate:
Getting plenty of sleep last night.
Realising that going to sleep 2 hours early will really mess with the delicate balance of my sleep cycle.
I had lots of weird dreams, one of which involved an encounter with 3 other people.
Next doors smoke alarm is going off again, but it’s not bothering me as much as it did.
J2O for breakfast. I will eventually have some food, but I woke up with a dry mouth and I just can’t face it right now.
This Youtube video that has a song I really like, and I think the guy is cute too:
M is no longer a part of my life. Neither are Jayne, Debbiesausage, or Sue.
I’m going out for a drive with The French today. And maybe another one on New Years Day too. I can barely contain my excitement.
I have time for a shower and food before I go out.
I’m not in work at all today, or for the next 3 days.
Getting an insight last night into what might have caused the indigestion I’ve had for the past few days.
A nice hot shower.
Breakfast cereals.
Figuring out a way to save all of the photographs from Nat’s SD card, yet clean it all off so I can use it today.
Not getting milk on the keyboard.
I can borrow Nat’s car again today.
I have some cash on hand to pay for fuel and food while we’re out.
Websites with relative instead of fixed values. Blogs especially seem to suffer from “middle of the screen” syndrome, where the page is squashed into a thin section of the window. Some bloggers realise that this is a problem for those of us on TFT monitors, and adjust their templates accordingly.
Safe driving.
I had a fun time while I was out with The French.
Green & Black’s Maya Gold chocolate.
Some tasty organic apple juice.
I managed to get a couple of shots with the camera, but it was very cloudy the entire time we were out.
Seeing some nice countryside.
I avoided the cold a lot. It was quite severely cold out.
Catching up with The French was cool.
Free parking.
Fish and chips.
I might be able to save The French some money on his internet bill.
Managing to get AOL working for The French so he can get at his emails. Apparently, signing in and putting his password in was too complicated.
Getting home before it got dark.
Chicken and vegetable soup.
Reminding mom that she asked me where I was going before I went out, and I told her. When I got back, she complained that I hadn’t taken The French’s trifle to him “because she didn’t know I was going to meet him”. What is wrong with this picture?
Smodging on Wenna.
I spoke to Rani earlier and we’re going to meet up on Wednesday to exchange Xmas presents.
I have the rest of the evening to myself.
I’ve had £10 paid into my Quidco account, so I should be getting that soon.
I don’t have any children. Or a mortgage. With the current financial climate, both of those things are something to be grateful for.
Watching Wenna on my bed. She’s dozing with the throw off the bed draped over her.
Finding another fun SNES game to play. Krusty’s Super Fun House. I’ve spent a fun few minutes playing it tonight.
Working hard to find 50 things to be grateful for the other day has made me really able to find 40 easily. It’s just a matter of pushing oneself.
Being jealous of The French’s eldest son’s house. It’s given me more inspiration to get my own place.
I’m off work tomorrow.
No coffee today, and no indigestion whatsoever.
Spaghetti and cheese on toast.
I can see in colour. Very few species on the planet can do that. Just imagine what life would be like if everything was greyscale. Painters and decorators would be out of business for a start. Seriously, though, I am glad I can see in colour, if only to be able to admire a flowering plant.
My very cheap blog host: NearlyFreeSpeech.net. They do an amazing job for literally pennies a day.
I found a cool plugin that will automatically highlight any comments I make on this blog, so if you’re looking for my replies to something you’ve said, you can see them easily.
I can listen to a hypnosis tape tonight. Well, I can do this pretty much any night, but I listen to them with headphones, so I don’t listen to them the night before I go to work.
Some tasty clementines.
My lovely warm bed that I can snuggle into tonight.
Today’s list of things to be grateful for or appreciate:
Getting a good night’s sleep.
Weird dreams. I was in a country where lots of people were sleeping rough, cars were everywhere, and people were being taken off the street. I’m glad I don’t live there.
Breakfast cereals. No trifle this morning.
The alarm on my phone, and the snooze button too.
Remembering to turn the light on to help me wake up. I can get up so much easier if the lamp has been on.
Being able to close a window to keep the cold out.
I can borrow Nat’s car this morning.
I’m only working 6 hours, but being paid for nearly 9.
Dinky is in today, which should be a good laugh.
I’m doing the news scanning, not serving on the till.
My new dressing gown is nice and warm, as are my slipper socks.
I’ve finally decided to start saving towards a house. Anything I buy from now on is going to be filtered by the idea of “is this worth more to me than my house?”.
I get to wear my own clothes today.
I’ve noticed that it’s frosty out, so I don’t have to panic now when I go to the car and see that it’s covered with ice.
The scraper for the car. Saved my bacon this morning.
Getting fuel was quick and easy, once I figured out how to get the petrol cap off.
Having some cash on hand to get some fuel with.
I was still early to pick K up, despite getting fuel.
Work was nice and easy. I got all the scanning done in time, with K’s help.
Laughing with K, G and Dinky.
I needed to get a SCART lead for the TV, and it was less than £1. Very cheap. I was expecting to pay about £2-3.
I also managed to get some cheap but effective de-icer for the car, just in case, and some other food to eat. The only frivolous purchase I made was a box of Jaffa cakes.
Getting a money bag from work to store some money in in the car.
I spent £2 on a new toy for Wenna, and if the look on her face as soon as she spotted it was anything to go by, she loves it.
Having the option, even if I didn’t exercise it, of leaving work early.
Playing with Wenna and said toy.
Playing on some more SNES games.
I’m off work now for 4 days.
I might be going out with the French tomorrow. Which would be nice.
Not having to eat a meal with the family.
I get to have a bath again tonight. I’m quite looking forward to it.
Remembering to floss.
Hot coffee.
Having a clean and tidy room.
I’m still feeling positive about the future.
A nice soak in a hot bath.
Getting a very useful emotional insight.
Eating a large bowl of strawberry flavour jelly.
The woman who helped me learn to read and encouraged me to focus on what I was doing.
Hippo and Guffo, two people who, despite their rather negative qualities, continued my education. Without them, I wouldn’t be where I am today.
A very rude book I found at work, called Pets with Tourettes. It’s grossly offensive, but the juxtaposition between the cute dog and “**** ******* ***” is rather avant garde. OK, who am I kidding? It’s just a book of swear words, but it made me laugh.
Things I want to manifest:
A quick, pleasant day at work. MANIFESTED.
Things I’ve done for others:
Pulled a window in so it’s not so cold inside the house.
Today’s quest is to find 50 things to be grateful for. Here goes…
Today’s list of things to be grateful for or appreciate:
Getting a good night’s sleep. 9 hours seems to be a good amount for me.
Being able to get to sleep at a sensible time. I seem to have moved past the phase of not sleeping properly.
There are no relatives due to visit today. I definitely do better when not forced to deal with people.
My nice warm comfortable bed. I still have 2 summer duvets on, and it’s lovely and warm at night. Within 30 seconds of me jumping in I’m like a piece of toast. Not in the burnt way, you understand. I don’t handle being spread with butter very well. Well, there was that one time, but I needed the money…
I’m not in work today. Nor tomorrow.
I am physically and mentally capable of washing, feeding and dressing myself.
Smodging on Wenna. She’s been lying on my bed this morning, eating biscuits and trying to climb into my lap. I love this dog of mine.
A nice hot shower. I love the fact that I can flip a switch and get hot, clean, safe running water. I imagine that chopping wood to light a fire to boil water would lose it’s romantic glow very quickly.
Doing a bit of creative writing last night. Partially cathartic, partially fun, it was certainly beneficial. And it’s nice to know that I can write. I’ll never be short of that skill.
Being able to type fairly quickly, without looking or thinking about it. It’s taken me a good few years to learn how to do it, but I finally can.
More trifle. Mom made 3 this year, and we’re still only on the second one.
Lemon tart. I don’t know who makes it, but it’s delicious.
Hot coffee. Even if it is instant. Some is better than none. I’ve improved it with vanilla flavour syrup.
I still have some chocolates left from 2 days ago. It’s a thing unheard of.
Seeing a sparrow drinking from the water butt lid. We get them pretty regularly now, which is very cool.
I don’t have to leave the house today. Not that that would bother me, but sometimes I do like to hole up, pull up the drawbridge and barricade myself in.
Coming up with some more ideas for the creative writing last night.
Remembering to floss.
I live in a climate controlled house. There is insulation all around me, and double glazed windows. I can open and close them to help regulate the temperature. I can even add extra heat from central heating or free standing fireplaces. I don’t live in a shack that leaks or doesn’t keep the cold out. I have a pretty good house to live in, when all is said and done.
I turned out pretty well, considering. My curiosity has really helped me develop.
Playing some SNES games.
Getting some more suggestions for SNES games.
Dinky has texted me to ask me if I can work tomorrow. I’ve said yes, 10-4. This gets me out of a very early start on Monday, when I was doing 8-2:30. Plus, tomorrow I get time-and-a-half.
Playing with the new vacuum cleaner. Yes, I always was an odd child… Mom has had one of those new bagless vacuum cleaners, and it’s amazing how much grot it picks up. Mom hoovered through yesterday to get ready for everyone coming, but it’s still pulled up an amazing amount of rubbish. I am of course fascinated by this.
Hoovering Wenna. She comes and lies by the hoover now to be done every time someone gets it out. Mad creature.
My lovely new slipper socks. They’re really good at keeping my feet warm.
I get to choose what food I want to eat.
I really enjoy keeping this blog going. My life has improved so much for having done it. I’m no longer depressed or suicidal, I have stable moods and I’m generally feeling better about myself and life in general. If I stopped doing it tonight, my life would still be better for having done it.
I have enough smarts to fix up a TV and digibox. I love that I can do stuff around the house like that. I don’t have to rely on someone else to do it for me.
I am hopeful and optimistic. I’m looking forward to the future for the first time in a long time. Wild Oat?
Lovefilm have sent me another DVD.
I can borrow Nat’s car to get to work in tomorrow.
Indoor plumbing. I am so grateful that I don’t have to go outside to use the toilet.
That Peter McWilliams wrote so many useful, funny books, and then made them available to the general public. Even more, that he made them available for free on his website. Like Life 101, for instance. Funny, clever advice on making life better for oneself.
A tasty jacket potato.
Training Wenna to fetch. She doesn’t do it very well as a rule, preferring to chew the toy rather than bring it to me. Today I was throwing her ball for her, but she didn’t get the concept that I wanted the ball. She spotted the rabbit toy that was by my feet, and picked that up instead, and then dropped it.
I have the opportunity to create money. Lets face it, I have lots of opportunities to make money. I live in a country where trade is encouraged. I even have access to the internet.
I’m earning some good karma points by picking K up for work tomorrow.
Cold fresh water to drink.
That I’m not motivated by consumerism. I have no desire for a flash car, expensive jewellery or a big house. I can think of enough things to spend my money on without wasting it on stuff like that.
Roadside recycling. It makes life so much easier. I bet it’s going to be busy after Xmas with glass bottles and such.
Laughing with mom when she nearly fell while trying to get off the sofa.
Ordering some more glass fuses off ebay. The correct amperage this time.
Tidying up my desk & clothes pile. I always feel better once this is done.
Cold milk. It’s helping shift my indigestion.
I don’t have to take some books back to work, because mom hasn’t read any of them. This is also good because I can’t find the receipt.
My new gel handwarmers work much much better than the other one I have. They keep their heat for much much longer.
Wenna: pulling faces at me while lying on my bed, looking indignant at the fact she isn’t comfortable, chasing about with her & when she was trying to look at me but didn’t want to move her head.
At one point she had a mad fit in a very confined space. 
I always feel better once this is done.
