Author: Shawn

Posted on

Gratitudes 2018, Day 54

  1. Cities Sports Connection. I know, I know—it’s only been a couple days since it was on my list of gratitudes, but it was only a couple days between registering for their fall league as a free agent and ending up on a soccer team, so there ya go. I’m grateful that I’ll get to play soccer again and I’m grateful that CSC is making it happen.

  2. Playing soccer. See: above.

  3. Sunflower seeds. A few weeks ago, we found a sale on sunflower seeds if we bought two 50-pound bags, sooooo… store one in the garage. The hole in the bag with seeds spilled out around it is how we confirmed that there was a mouse in the garage.

  4. Fleet Farm. A store filled with all sorts of random products. If you’re looking for something out of the ordinary, odds are good you could find it there.

  5. Mouse traps. Fleet Farm has those, too. And it only took one night to officially confirm that it does trap mice. In this case, by the head. I’m pretty sure the strength of the spring that snapped the trap shut meant it died quick and easy.

  6. Dead mice. One down, how many more to go…

Posted on

Gratitudes 2018, Day 53

  1. Bonnie’s birthday. My niece Bonnie turned 5 today. That’s really old. Just ask her.

  2. High-fives. “How old are you? [holds up one hand] 5? Gimme five!” [slaps your hand as hard as she can… because that’s how five-year-olds roll]

  3. The Hilltop. A quaint little restaurant in Edina, MN that’s great for small family birthday parties.

  4. Harmonized Eggs. Scrambled eggs with ham, green onions, cream cheese and hollandaise. If you’re trying to lose weight, don’t even breathe next to it.

  5. Wrapping paper. Aside from its ability to conceal gifts from the birthday girl, that stuff is seriously fun to tear to shreds when opening said gifts.

Posted on

Gratitudes 2018, Day 52

  1. Extra sleep. After a few days of struggling not to fall asleep at work, it’s good stuff.

  2. Carpooling. Someone else can drive, you can have a conversation with someone besides yourself and it saves gas money.

  3. Checks. Because we haven’t achieved a paperless society yet and not everything can get paid online or with a credit card.

  4. Blu-ray players. I thought my laptop could play movies on blu-ray. I was wrong. Thankfully, we have a player hooked up to the TV, so we can watch movies on a big screen instead.

  5. Our king-sized bed. We used to have a queen-sized bed for two humans and two small dogs. There was almost enough room for all four of us… almost enough room…

Posted on

Gratitudes 2018, Day 51

Thank God it’s the weekend! Which isn’t to say that there’s nothing to be grateful for at work…

  1. Employee of the Month awards. It’s a way to recognize employees for all of their hard work and dedication to the organization.

  2. Employee of the Month wall displays. In the case of my work, they leave all 12 months on the wall. You can go back and look at October through December 2017, then January 2018, February 2018, March 2018, April… 2017. So either that’s the month that management stopped caring about the award or all of the employees started sucking really bad in April and haven’t improved since then.

  3. National Peanut Day. It was actually yesterday, which is the day we all got an email to let us know people would be delivering bags of peanuts to celebrate the event. (I chose honey roasted. Because they’re yummy. And is this the proper place to make a joke about someone putting nuts in my hand? I think so, too.)

  4. Tailgating. We were getting ready for the Vikings-Packers game on Sunday, so there were burgers and hot dogs, s’mores, lots of chips and desserts… also yummy.

  5. Wind. The cardboard box holding the napkins kept getting lighter as more people kept taking them. Then there was a sudden gust of wind, the box tumbled off the table and napkins went everywhere. Some caught another gust of wind and I’m pretty sure they’re sitting on top of the building right now. Maybe not great for the environment, but still good lunchtime entertainment.

Posted on

Gratitudes 2018, Day 50

50 days. I have no idea how many gratitudes that is. (If I’d been restricting myself to only five a day, the math would be easy. However, I’ve never made a point of making things easy for myself—why write five when I can write seven or eight?) But since 50 is a big, round number that holds some significance, I think I’ll write about something else that holds just a teensy-weensy bit of significance: Teresa Smith, the lady I’m gonna marry in January. Because I’m super-duper grateful to have her in my life.

This list won’t be the usual “I’m grateful for [blank]”, but bear with me. See, a few months ago, we were driving to Teresa’s parents’ house and listening to a message from Pastor Louie Giglio. He’s a good speaker with a lot of good insight, so when we’re spending a few hours on the road, listening to him is a good way to pass the time. In this case, he was talking to the guys in the audience. So guys, I’m passing along his message to you, so you might want to write down the list when I’m done. (If any ladies write down the list and give it to their significant others… sorry if I’ve just raised her expectations for you.)

See, anyone can say “I love you.” It absolutely has significance and everyone should appreciate it when someone tells you. However, a romantic relationship requires a lot more than that. You can tell her “I love you”, but when’s the last time you said “I like you”? That seems like a pretty important part of a relationship, right? I hope it’s not something you’re overlooking (“We barely tolerate each other’s presence, but at least the sex is good!”), but just like “I love you”, there are things that are really important in a relationship that women should hear from time to time. Consequently, I try to remind Teresa about these five things once in a while. They’re a good basis for our relationship and I’m grateful that I can say them truthfully to her every time. Okay, guys, ready to start writing? Here’s the list:

  1. I love you.
  2. I like you.
  3. I enjoy spending time with you.
  4. I think about you.
  5. I want to help you achieve your dreams.
Posted on

Gratitudes 2018, Day 49

  1. Modern medicine. I saw a Facebook memory from three years ago along these lines this morning, which I had labeled “Time”. The problem then was I had a bulging disc in my back that was pressing against the nerve going down the back of my left leg and it hurt. So I was glad that I wasn’t in the past and they were able to fix the problem instead of cutting off my leg to release the evil spirits.

  2. My left leg. I use it. A lot. And there are no evil spirits in it (that I know of…).

  3. Cities Sports Connection. I know I mentioned it when talking about soccer, but it’s relevant here because I found out that the male side of the roster is full on my old Mad Dogs team. However, I was able to register with the league as a “free agent”, so we’ll see what kind of players I get teamed up with. Hopefully pleasant and relatively hygienic—that’s always a good starting point.

  4. Pacemakers. (I got sidetracked after #1… I’m sure it’ll never happen again.) I know several people who have them and I’m grateful that their hearts are still beating instead of doctors opening up their chests to release the evil spirits.

  5. Hospital food. Because you can usually get it and bring it back to a patient’s hospital room. And there are no evil spirits in it (that I know of…).