I’m thankful today for hanging out with Patrick and wandering around looking for treasures. We found a couple of oddity and vintage shops and had more yummy tacos for lunch.

I’m thankful for another good day starting with yummy breakfast tacos. I’ve missed these. I’m not sure why the tacos are better in Texas, but they are.

Then after a relaxing morning, Patrick, his sister Meg, and I went wandering through a shopping area before going to a place called Fang and Feather. Patrick has been watching YouTube videos from The Whiskey Tribe for a while now, and Fang and Feather is the whiskey tasting room from the show. He’s been there before, but I hadn’t seen it in person, so I was curious to go. It’s in a picturesque location outside Austin on a campus that also includes a whiskey school, wedding chapel and coffee shop.

We had a good drink and enjoyed checking out the grounds. We even met a couple of folks from the show (no, we didn’t ask for a picture).

I made it to Texas! I was immediately grateful for the sunshine, which we haven’t had at home in what feels like years. I’m also thankful for seeing family again after actual years. We celebrated Christmas and had a wonderful meal together. It was a good day. One worth getting up at 3:00 am for.

Today was our holiday work party, and I’m thankful it went well and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. The table decorations were a hit. Somehow I knew bringing toys and balloons would go over well with my colleagues.

It was an early morning with a 6:00 am meeting, but I took a couple hours off this afternoon to finish up a few errands before my trip to Texas Saturday morning. While I didn’t finish everything I wanted to, I’m thankful I got everything done I needed to. And tomorrow is Friday!

Another sad day. It’s been rainy and cold, but at least we haven’t had tornadoes or blizzards, so I’m grateful for that. I also had another massage tonight, during which I found out my massage guy is leaving. (Insert crying here.) He found a job outside of massage and has plans to go back to school for engineering. He was very apologetic about it, knowing I’ll need to find someone new. However, I told him as disappointing as it is for me, I’d never want to hold someone back from something better for them. He promised to look at the schedule and recommend someone else in the practice who can best continue helping me. Sigh.

The downside is that tonight was my last massage with him, and I really liked him. Not only did he know where my trouble spots were, he was genuinely nice. The upside is that he’s already helped a lot, and the practice is primarily for physical therapy, so most working there are used to therapeutic massage, rather than massage for relaxation. I’m sure someone new can continue my healing. And for that, I’m thankful.

It’s been a bit depressing today. Gloomy weather. Friends and family dealing with illness and loss. As much as the holidays can be joyful, it can also be difficult. I had intended to spend the evening watching another holiday movie and wrapping presents, but even the Hallmark Channel failed me tonight. I did get a lot of wrapping done, so I’m grateful for that.

I’m thankful today for puppy snuggles.

I met a friend for brunch this morning, and then spent the rest of the day cleaning and finishing the last of the Christmas decorating. In fact, I was so busy, I didn’t eat again until about 7 pm. Crackers and cheese, chips and dip, and a peppermint ice cream bar for dessert. Mmmm. Patrick will not be proud, but it was good. I’m sore for a day of constant motion, but I’m thankful for getting so much done.

This month is flying by. I had big plans for today that got interrupted by wifi issues. Our provider sent us a new modem that is supposed to work better on the upgraded network. We had started getting intermittent outages that were annoying, so I was anxious to make the switch. Well, pretty much everything that could go wrong, did. The directions simply said to log in to the app and follow directions there. Only the app wouldn’t open. I logged in online and it wouldn’t load my information. I called and they said I had to do an online chat first. The chat said there wasn’t anyone available so I should call. What a frustrating loop.

I finally got through to a person (I’m convinced the auto bot is programmed to detect anger) who was able to start the activation. I spent half an hour watching the light go from orange to green to blue while he kept asking if it was white yet. We never got to white, so he scheduled a technician to come on Monday.

In the hour following I realized just how much we rely on wifi. No TV. No internet. My Christmas tree lights are on an app that works best with wifi. The house was quiet. So I ran a couple errands and realized when I got back that the modem light was white. But it still wasn’t working. When I finally got through the loop again, the girl on the phone confirmed that there was something wrong with the new modem, and she helped me reconnect the old one.

I know I can survive a weekend without tv and probably without the internet. I certainly have enough on my to-do list to keep me busy, and I am a little alarmed at how much relies on technology. However, I’m thankful it got resolved temporarily. The pups and I got to watch another Christmas movie tonight.