The alarm went off, as it usually does at 6:27 this morning.  I have only recently started letting my little dog JJ sleep in my bed with me.  I roll over to quiet the music and JJ stretches, does a jaw cracking yawn and then licks my face.  Not being a morning person used to mean never having to smile that early, but I can't help it.  No matter what the day will bring, I know that it won't be all bad if the day started with a doggie kiss. 

Dog, woman and cranky cat saunter into the hall and dog and woman stumble down the hall so JJ can hop on Max's bed and give his face a little lick as well.  Cat wouldn't lick one of our faces if it was covered in ocean whitefish and tuna!  Morning has broken at the Mangigian home!  Max awakens very much like I do but while he stumbles into the shower, the Mangigian parade continues down the stairs with me holding the rail as dog and cat vie to see who can reach bottom first.  The old saying that they fight like cats and dogs only applies here if the saying means that the cat rules and dog hides behind his owner!

Lest you all think I am a sunny dispositioned Polly-Anna, the week was off to a very bad start on Monday.  I found out on Friday that my health insurance is increasing, if I don't make any changes to my current deductibles by $436 PER MONTH!!  I knew I had to make some changes to my deductibles but I wanted to stay with my current plan which is Personal Choice.  Jack has insurance (that would be my husband) through Keystone at his work, but I am not ready to go to an HMO.  On Sunday, Jack asked me if I wanted him to have his insurance guy call me and give me prices on an HMO.  I said no, don't have him call me.  I don't want an HMO. 

8:00 AM the phone rings at my house.  Hello, is this Susan?  Jack asked me to call you to discuss our HMO's.  If this wasn't something that happened all the time around here, maybe I wouldn't have been quite so mad.  But when I say no, I mean no.  If I wanted to talk to someone about an HMO, I would pick up the phone.   I did learn that the reason for the huge increase this year was because I had turned 50!  As added insult to injury, the week was off to a rocky start.

But as is my nature, okay I can sometimes be a sunny dispostioned Polly-Anna, I got to work, and after bitching and complaining to anyone who would listen and a few who have heard it all before, I started to feel a little better.  I went to lunch with Liz Facenda, who always makes me laugh and life got back to normal. Until yesterday when I went to buy pants and realized that my scale isn't broken, I have put on too much weight.  Ugh.

Such is life.  I will have to start watching what I eat again, so that I can fit into the clothes I have.  And stepping up the cardio workouts, which I have been letting go in favor of weight lifting which hasn't done much for the spare tire I'm starting to grow around my middle.   

Yesterday, I went on line, adjusted my deductibles to a point where I'm not really all that comfortable, but got the payment down to only $165 more a month than I was paying last year, making my health insurance for my boys and me only slightly less than my mortgage payment. 

I looked out the window yesterday morning and there were 50 balloons on my neighbor's lawn!  I laughed and knew right away that her older son had driven over during the night and put them there.  I laughed even more when she called me and thanked me for doing it!  I am thankful today, for Nora, my next door neighbor, who turned 50 not long after me.  She's a great friend and we are going to breakfast today to celebrate her birthday. I'm guessing the diet starts next week because I am also going to lunch later today, after delivering meals on wheels and to dinner tomorrow night with some friends! 

I guess my point is this.  There will always be things to bitch about. Life can be a bowl of cherries and sometimes you are going to break a molar on the pits.  It just is.

So today, I am thankful for Nora.  We'll have a ton of laughs at breakfast.  I am thankful for all of my friends, who can always tell from my facial expression when I am having a bad day and who never seem to tire of listening to me until I feel better.  I am thankful as always for JJ and even more so now, for my morning kisses.  I am thankful for my health club because I have friends there who made me feel better last night when I was bitching and complaining over there about my weight gain!  You can do it, they said.  Yes, I can.  I just didn't want to have to!  But, I'll be thankful that at a time when some families don't have enough to eat, I managed to eat enough food and drink enough wine to have something to whine about.  I am thankful that my college boy bestowed the honor of commenting on my facebook last night.  That's always nice.  Oh, and I am thankful if you managed to stick with this all the way to the bottom!  I thank you!

Go out and find something to be thankful for today. 

Carpe Diem!