Today's thankful: My ninja reflexes

Yah, okay. I don’t really have ninja reflexes anymore, but I am thankful for the ones I do still possess. I was doing dishes this morning and dropped a carving knife. It was headed blade tip down toward my foot. I was able to process the information and jump out of harm’s way. Yay old girl reflexes that still work!

Today's thankful: An occasional night off from cooking

I do like to cook, but once in a while, it is nice to take and evening off. So tonight, I am thankful that my family members are all busy with other things and I don't need to provide an evening meal for more than Tiny Person and myself. Sweet.

Today’s thankful: That funny noise my car was making wasn’t a problem

I was driving Youngest to my sister’s house to get on the bus today, and every time I turned or decelerated, my car made an awful grinding sound. Being me and therefore completely unconcerned about what my vehicle is doing as long as it is moving, I waited until I got to my sister’s driveway to look and see what was making the sound. I was just ice. Big chunks of dirty black ice, stuck in the wheel wells. When the car would move a little when I turned or slowed down quickly, it was just enough to scrape on the ice. Yay! No big mechanical problems!

Today's thankful: My kids aren't bat shit crazy. Yet.

Last week when the media first showed a picture of the gunman in Arizona, Jared Lee Loughner, they showed what must have been when Loughner was 15. He was a normal looking teenager. A few days later, we were shown a current picture of the 22-year-old man. Clearly, in the course of the seven years or so since the first picture was taken, a lot has changed. The current photo shows someone who has, by the look in his eyes, gone completely bat shit crazy. Why, then, does the media continue to show the fresh-faced teen picture? Are they trying to garner support for him? I have always known the media is biased, but they usually try to hide it better than in this instance.

I am forced to ask myself, once again, why I bother to tune into news broadcasts.

Today’s thankful: My babies saw a drunk driver and the possible carnage he was about cause, and avoided being hurt or having to witness said carnage.

One thing I have always been a freak about is letting my kids be out after about 10 at night. My theory is that every hour past 10 that one stays on the roads, their odds of being affected in some way by a drunk driver increase. The kids think I am just nuts.

So last weekend, they went to a movie and were on the way home around 11:30 p.m. As they turned onto a four-lane road separated by a small cement median, they noticed the car in front of them had pulled into the wrong side and was proceeding down the road. They slowed down to stay away from him, and were amazed when he didn’t correct his error at the first opportunity. After passing through a stoplight and not getting on his own side of the road as he started up a hill, another car started approaching from the opposite direction. The kids freaked out, certain they were about to witness a head-on collision. Fortunately, the other driver was alert and had room to get out of the drunk’s way. The kids no longer think I am quite so nuts for not wanting them out late at night.

Today's thankful: TV remotes

I know it sounds lazy, but the television remote is, IMHO, one of the greatest things ever invented. When I was a kid, my grandpa had a remote that would change the channels, but it did so by forcing the knob to turn. There was no typing in the channel you wanted and then magically, silently being taken there. Instead, his version made a metal clank and then the knob would turn one space. My sister could make it go by shaking her charm bracelet.

My parents had a remote of sorts. They would tell one of us kids to get up and change the channel, turn the volume up or down, or move the rabbit ears. Yes, I am that old. I hated that remote.

But today’s version of a remote, that changes everything quickly and silently, is a wonderful little gadget. Could I live without it? Sure. I even have, on occasion, done without when someone has hidden it then left the room. The greatest feature of modern remotes, though, has to be the mute feature. That way, if the phone rings, I don’t have to answer with Jerry Springer blaring in the background.