Thanks

Things for which I am thankful:

• Kevin - I could go on and on about how wonderful Kevin is bc he's just that great!  That post would go on forever, though, so let me just say that I've long thought my favorite things about Kevin are:
  • he's conversational: I noticed that right away on our first date, i.e., that he could hold up his end of the conversation.
  • he's smart: I know this sounds geeky, but I've always thought smart is sexy.
  • he's kind: he has a good heart, he's considerate, generous, thoughtful.
  • he's funny: he has a good sense of humor; we laugh a lot and can have fun around the simplest and/or dumbest and/or goofiest things.
  • and last but certainly not least: he's handsome!
• friends & family - I've been fortunate in having the friendship of several people over many years: decades, even!  And, wrt family, weeellllll...okay, so my birth family is kinda, um, odd, but...hmmmm...it could have been worse.  How's that?  And my family's only been improved by the addition of in-laws!
• my cats - Again, I could go on and on about these sweet little creatures.  And not just my current crop.  I've had cats for as long as I can remember, except for a few years in rentals that didn't allow cats.  I was so happy when we bought our house that I'd be able to have a cat again!  And the idea really was to get a cat from the shelter; somehow we ended up getting three.  I was about to launch into that story, but then I'd have to go into how we worked our way up to five cats, down to four, back up to five and, briefly, up to six cats before backing down to five and then the current four feline residents.  So, I'm thankful for the cats bc they give me a lot of pleasure; they're soothing, relaxing, pleasing, endearing, etc.; it feels good to take care of them (i.e., spoil them).  It's so nice to come home and have a cat or two stroll over to greet me.  If Kevin's home before me, he usually comes down to greet me, but there's always a cat there to greet me first, since they're usually lounging around in the living room.
• home - I really dig my house.  I looooove my front porch: sitting on it, watching the world go by, studying out there...it's so nice to study on the porch on a nice day, with a coupla cats looking out the windows, waving hello to neighbors, etc.  The fireplace: we've been keeping a fire for a few days now.  Another great place to study: hang out on the couch with a coupla cats lazing around; going mobile with my puter; hearing the snap, crackle and pop of the firewood; the smell of real wood logs burning (i.e., not duralfames).
• Speaking of real wood logs burning: I'm thankful to Kevin for cutting up that big maple tree that came down a few years ago!  That, in addition to wood we've gotten here and there, plus the maple tree that came down a few months ago will keep us in firewood for a few winters.
• town - I like our town.  Sure, it's got its problems, but we're pretty happy here.  When we looked for a house, we looked for smallish kinda towns with town centers, transporation to the city, old houses (with decent sized rooms, nice wide moulding, porches, fireplaces, etc.), etc.  It's easy to get to know people around here, just from going for walks, shopping in town, eating in town, etc.  There's always been an odd mixture of businesses and shops in town.  Some are not so odd, e.g., coffee shops, flower shops.  Some are a bit more unusual.  At one point it seemed like we had pairs of some of the odder places: 2 tattoo parlors; 2 costume shops; 2 comic book stores; etc.
• job - My library job is just the right kinda job for me now.  The staff are nice.  I'm surrounded by books.  I get to meet and talk to a lot of different people.  The commute is about 3 minutes by car (and yes, I could walk it, but I'm usually down to 3 minutes to spare before I'm supposed to be there).   
• health & health insurance - Self-explanatory.  I've been pretty fortunate, health-wise.  I had that one bout of CFS, it's almost 10 years ago now.  That stunk.  It wasn't so bad once I knew what was the problem; then you know it's just a matter of time, i.e., that it won't last forever.  Otherwise, a nasty flu here and there and that's about it.  And health insurance: I can't imagine not having it. 
• food on the table - Especially today!  Again, self-explanatory.  Kevin teases me for having these depression-era attitudes toward food.  I make a tuna sandwich about once a year, but I like to have about 6 cans of tuna on hand at all times.  There's this thought in the back of my mind that, if you have certain, basic, relatively inexpensive things on hand, you can put together a meal.  Tuna fish, rice, pasta, potatoes, canned veggies.  It may not be the greatest meal, but you got your basics covered.  Such attitudes trickled down from my parents, who lived through the depression and shortages/rationing during WWII.
• heat - I hear these stories about senior citizens having to choose between heat and food and prescription medicine and so on.  How lucky not to have to choose between necessities. 
• time to do fun stuff - Indeed, free time is a luxury.
• opportunity to study at Rutgers - Ha.  When I decided to go back to school and take a few refresher courses, I thought, well, I guess I could take some philosophy classes at Rutgers.  I mean, it's just a state school and all, but it's close and relatively inexpensive (compared to private schools)....  I had been away from philosophy for so long that I had no idea who's who and what's what.  Imagine my surprise when I learned about a little thing called the Philosophical Gourmet Report!  Actually, I live in between the current numbers 1, 2 and 3 on the report.  I couldn't have been situated in a better place to take these refresher classes.  And again, since I was paying out of pocket, Rutgers was doable.
• car - A lot of people think a car is a necessity.  It does make things a heckuva lot easier, but I still think having a car is a luxury.
• my puter and the internet - so I can blog, waste time surfing the net, shop online so I can avoid wretched malls, email friends near and far, etc.

There's much more stuff for which I'm thankful, but I'll end here for now.