The Out-of-the-ordinary Thanksgiving List

On facebook I'm doing a countdown to Thanksgiving of the things I'm most thankful for, but this is a list of those things that might not come immediately to mind for most people. I'm a bit strange, and here's proof.

1) Washing Machines: I lived in the Philippines while serving a mission for the LDS church. For many reasons that I won't go into here, we hired someone who bought most groceries, cooked, and did laundry. But there were plenty of times when we did our own or we stopped to help someone with their laundry. I learned to use a washboard or my knuckles and a bar of soap to get my clothes clean and I can definitely say, I appreciate washing machines. (I'm the one on the right.)

2) Kitchen Sinks: When my husband and I married, we were both poor college students so when my uncle offered to let us live in the 1940's house/office building that had once belonged to my grandfather, we gratefully said yes. Unfortunately, the kitchen had no sinks, stoves, or any appliances besides a refrigerator. We used a hotplate and crock pot to cook and we had a couple of little blue tubs that we could just fit under the bathroom faucet to fill with hot water so we could wash our dishes. I still have one of them.

3) Pooper scoopers: I've bought all the fancy ones. They break. The one we have now is like something from an old 50's movie, where the guy goes around with the garbage bin that flops to the ground and the person sweeps garbage into it, only we use a rake. May be archaic, but it beats grabbing the stuff with a plastic grocery bag.

4) Toilet paper: See time spent in the Philippines from above. 'Nuff said.

5) Disneyland: No reason. I just love Disneyland.

Anyone else? What are the unusual items on your gratitude list?

A Short Shout-out

Yesterday was Veteran's Day. I spent the day with my family, thankful to live in a free, thriving country. If you question that second part  then I suggest you visit a third-world country, or one run by a dictator. We have our problems, but we're still relatively free to do with our lives as we please, to strive for opportunities and make of ourselves what we wish.

As far as I know, no one in my ancestry served in the armed forces. My dad was recruited for the Vietnam War then turned away because of a funky metal plate he'd had in his chest since he was a child. And yet, I'd always been raised to respect the men who have fought for our country and our freedoms. I was raised in the 70's, so I wasn't raised to respect the women who fight for our country, but I equally appreciate their work and sacrifice.

I don't want to go on and on today, but in the month of Thanksgiving and veterans, I just want to raise a civilian salute to all who have served and do currently serve. I have friends among those ranks, and thanks to my nephew's enlistment last year, I have kin among the few, the proud, the marines. Thank you for your service.

Funded! A Scary Halloween.

Kickstarter, Kickstarter, Kickstarter. Yes, you could say that word has dominated much of my thinking for the last 4+ weeks. I find it somewhat ironic that we reached our Kickstarter funding goal for Noble Ark on Halloween day. That's not irony, you say? No, it's not, but my terror at reaching my goal could go into the is-it-irony debate arena. Don't get me wrong, I'm thrilled. It's just that I'm also terrified. All of these people have stepped up to the plate in absolute support, and I have to deliver what I've promised by the time I promised.

Can I do it? Yes. Everything is in order. I've talked to the artist and though the contract isn't signed yet, she sounds eager to get started. The contract is signed with the editor. I'm in the process of self-publishing a small short story anthology as practice, and if that doesn't go well, I have several typography quotes from reliable companies and I can hand the mess to them for some money out of my pocket. It's all good, but I'm still scared because this is something I've never done before.

I think this hits all of us a few dozen to thousand times in our life; the step into the dark unknown. The point where all our preparation comes down to one thing...doing something we've never done before. Without human being's ability to risk and try, none of us would know how to walk, throw, swim, or a dozen basic things that we do in life. At one point, we decided the risk was worth the cost of failure, and we tried. It amazes me how many of us lose that ability to risk. Of course, we don't want to risk death because we'd like to try flying from a building. There are stupid risks that shouldn't be considered, but so many times we won't try something new, or attempt to learn a skill, or make steps to improve ourselves. Is it a fear of failure or is it fearing the responsibility we associate with success?  For me, I think it's a little bit of both. I should have started this Kickstarter months ago, but I had to work up the gumption to risk the consequences.

Now, it's time for the next risk, to publish the book. Again, I'm not sure which I fear more, failure making me obscure, notorious success, or some mediocre level in between. I know this, the risk is worth the rewards. If there's anything out there you want to do, learn, or become, I hope you can gauge your opportunities with a level-minded, hopeful eye, put fear aside, and take the risks that move you in the right direction.