While the majority of posts to this blog will capture the trials and tribulations of my journey towards recovery after Hurricane Florence, I promised that I would highlight the blessings too. At least weekly (hopefully more often), I will share the more positive things - no matter how small.
Some might think I'm focusing too much on the bad experiences and that's dragging me down, but I have my reasons for penning it all here, so you'll just have to trust me that this is what I need to do. 😉 But it's equally important that I share the good things too, so without further ado ...
Previous posts covered the hiccups encountered when moving to this new room in the hotel, and the lingering aftereffects, but now that the stench is all but gone, I can find just a little spark of positive things about my new digs.
- The shower is much better. The old room had a very slow-draining tub, and it was pretty much clogged by the time I left. The drain here is free-flowing, so no more soaking my feet in nasty gray water while showering!
- The kitchen sink is much better. The water flow is much stronger than the other room, and while I don't use it often, the garbage disposal works more efficiently too.
- The burners on the stove here are better, heating up much more quickly than the other. It now only takes a minute or so to boil water for my morning tea.
- The cheap vinyl flooring in this room is holding up better than the last. The way the room is set up, there is a peninsula/counter that separates the kitchen from the living area, and that's where my behind is planted in the chair the majority of the day. The dogs have claimed the small couch, but the layout works for me as I can work on my laptop and still see the TV, and the stove and sink is within arm's reach behind me, so I can easily tend to what I'm cooking. But because I'm up and down a dozen-teen times an hour, the computer chair moving about put a strain on the cheap vinyl on the floor in the other room, and the casters were tearing up some of the planks. While it's the same material as the other room, the flooring here isn't already compromised, and so far it's holding up to my abuse.
- While the same layout as the other room, I've found that it provides me a way to keep moving. With both TV and laptop in front of me, I can scoot the chair aside and step in place, and I usually have a crochet hook in hand while doing it. For the last several months, it's been a struggle to get 5-6,000 steps on a good day, and that's not nearly enough. Now I have no trouble making at least my 10,000 step minimum goal and this last week have done several thousand over that every day, all while keeping my hands busy crocheting dishcloths. I'm hoping to increase that to closer to the 20,000 steps daily that I used to do with little effort. My foot still hurts, but at least I'm not out on the street worrying about being able to walk back home without further injury. If I need to take a break and sit for a bit, the chair is right here. And my stack of dishcloths to gift and/or sell is getting higher 💲💲💲 (holler if you need some!). The small kitchen counter behind me is also the perfect height for counter push-ups, so I've been doing several sets a day.💪
A couple of other niceties happened this week that didn't involve the hotel room.
While walking back from Walmart early one morning, I encountered a young man standing on the corner. I usually don't engage with anyone asking for handouts, but something about his voice when he asked if I had anything to spare at all had me pause and look in my wallet and pull out the two dollars that I had there. He thanked me profusely, and was still tossing 'God bless yous' in my direction as I walked away, even asking my name so that he could pray for me specifically (which I didn't tell him, saying that God knew who I was). I have no way of knowing whether he was really a Christian and truly thanking/praying for me, but that's not for me to judge. I just did what I felt called to do at that particular moment. Well God did acknowledge the small thing I'd done to bless someone else, and returned the blessing to me, greatly magnified. Later that day, I received word from the Red Cross that I was eligible for another check for hurricane relief, and it was posted to my PayPal account immediately upon my confirming that I was in fact still displaced. Now that amount won't be enough to put a new roof on my house or anything else significant, but it was sure a lot more than the two bucks I handed off earlier, and right now every penny counts. God is so good, amen?
Another blessing this week is a new (to me) raincoat. Like a lot of the country, we've had quite a bit of rain lately in coastal Carolina, and there's surely more to come. I have to walk the dogs several times a day, and the raincoat I had was really stiff and also too big, making it cumbersome to work around while handling dogs going in two different directions. I have a poncho, but that wasn't working out too well either. I've looked in every store locally and most didn't have anything suitable, and the few that were available were $35 and up. Nope. I'll gladly get soaked rather than pay that amount of money.
I checked eBay and Amazon and still wasn't able to find what I wanted at a decent price. Then for whatever reason, I thought of Poshmark. I'd never used it before, and when I signed up, they gave me my first order for only .99 shipping. Works for me! It took a bit of searching, but I found the perfect raincoat that fits well, is a much more flexible, rubbery type of vinyl that doesn't restrict movement, has a hood that isn't so big that it hangs over my face yet still allows room for me to wear a ballcap, and even has elastic cuffs, so they don't get in the way. It's also big enough to wear over a hoodie when it's chilly, but light enough that I won't swelter on days it's a little warmer and I wear it alone. And it has pockets. Must have pockets (I'm a responsible pet owner and carry several doggie poop bags in every outer garment I own). And the best part is that it only cost $12.99. Score!
I'm sure I'm forgetting some, but those are the positive things I can recall right now that made my life just a little easier this week. I've experienced many more during this journey, both big and small, but you'll have to keep reading to hear about them.
What has been a blessing to you this week?
~ Marie Anne
If you haven't already, please read my first post that explains my mission for this blog.
Some might think I'm focusing too much on the bad experiences and that's dragging me down, but I have my reasons for penning it all here, so you'll just have to trust me that this is what I need to do. 😉 But it's equally important that I share the good things too, so without further ado ...
Previous posts covered the hiccups encountered when moving to this new room in the hotel, and the lingering aftereffects, but now that the stench is all but gone, I can find just a little spark of positive things about my new digs.
- The shower is much better. The old room had a very slow-draining tub, and it was pretty much clogged by the time I left. The drain here is free-flowing, so no more soaking my feet in nasty gray water while showering!
- The kitchen sink is much better. The water flow is much stronger than the other room, and while I don't use it often, the garbage disposal works more efficiently too.
- The burners on the stove here are better, heating up much more quickly than the other. It now only takes a minute or so to boil water for my morning tea.
- The cheap vinyl flooring in this room is holding up better than the last. The way the room is set up, there is a peninsula/counter that separates the kitchen from the living area, and that's where my behind is planted in the chair the majority of the day. The dogs have claimed the small couch, but the layout works for me as I can work on my laptop and still see the TV, and the stove and sink is within arm's reach behind me, so I can easily tend to what I'm cooking. But because I'm up and down a dozen-teen times an hour, the computer chair moving about put a strain on the cheap vinyl on the floor in the other room, and the casters were tearing up some of the planks. While it's the same material as the other room, the flooring here isn't already compromised, and so far it's holding up to my abuse.
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| Who needs dishcloths? |
A couple of other niceties happened this week that didn't involve the hotel room.
While walking back from Walmart early one morning, I encountered a young man standing on the corner. I usually don't engage with anyone asking for handouts, but something about his voice when he asked if I had anything to spare at all had me pause and look in my wallet and pull out the two dollars that I had there. He thanked me profusely, and was still tossing 'God bless yous' in my direction as I walked away, even asking my name so that he could pray for me specifically (which I didn't tell him, saying that God knew who I was). I have no way of knowing whether he was really a Christian and truly thanking/praying for me, but that's not for me to judge. I just did what I felt called to do at that particular moment. Well God did acknowledge the small thing I'd done to bless someone else, and returned the blessing to me, greatly magnified. Later that day, I received word from the Red Cross that I was eligible for another check for hurricane relief, and it was posted to my PayPal account immediately upon my confirming that I was in fact still displaced. Now that amount won't be enough to put a new roof on my house or anything else significant, but it was sure a lot more than the two bucks I handed off earlier, and right now every penny counts. God is so good, amen?
Another blessing this week is a new (to me) raincoat. Like a lot of the country, we've had quite a bit of rain lately in coastal Carolina, and there's surely more to come. I have to walk the dogs several times a day, and the raincoat I had was really stiff and also too big, making it cumbersome to work around while handling dogs going in two different directions. I have a poncho, but that wasn't working out too well either. I've looked in every store locally and most didn't have anything suitable, and the few that were available were $35 and up. Nope. I'll gladly get soaked rather than pay that amount of money.
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| My new-to-me Misty Harbor raincoat |
I'm sure I'm forgetting some, but those are the positive things I can recall right now that made my life just a little easier this week. I've experienced many more during this journey, both big and small, but you'll have to keep reading to hear about them.
What has been a blessing to you this week?
~ Marie Anne
If you haven't already, please read my first post that explains my mission for this blog.
God is so good! Amen!
ReplyDeleteHe truly is! I make sure to remember the blessings, but need to do better about announcing them at least as loudly as I grumble about the problems.
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