Thursday Thirteen #33: A's

It's been months since I've participated in Thursday Thirteen and I was saddened to see it wasn't there. I did a search, though, and I see a new temporary (?) home for it and sure hope the meme continues! Today I'm taking the easy way out and writing about A's and me.

1. Apples: I love them, the crisper the better. I love picking apples right off the trees. When you buy them at the store, you have to be so careful not to get mushy ones. My favorites: red delicious, Granny Smith, Gala, and Fuji. I also like the brands you make into pies although I'm not very good at making homemade apple pie.

2. Airplanes: I hate them. I enjoyed my first ride on a plane, from Baltimore to Orlando, FL. On the return flight, though, we had a bumpy ride and I felt really dizzy and sick. On one of those puddle jumper ones between Baltimore and LI, I became very claustrophobic and after that, flying always brings on panic attacks. I have not been on a plane in over 20 years. Have no plans to either.

3. Austria: I have a couple of friends there. Once I had an open invitation to go and stay with a friend in Vienna and I'm so sorry I never had the money to take her up on it. She died a few years ago. I would love to go someday. Austria looks like a beautiful country and I would love to go sightseeing there.

4. audio books: They seem to be a great thing and many people enjoy them. For some reason, I can't stay focused when I listen to a book instead of reading it. My mind wanders and I totally lose the gist of the whole thing. Bummer.

5. Anger: Anger's always been a very big issue for me although I've learned to manage it better over the last years. I can become very angry very quickly and yell or scream. I used to hold grudges. Sometimes the anger would simmer away inside me for hours or days and it really made me sick. Now I try really hard to "count to 10". Maybe I misheard or misunderstood. Maybe I'm reacting to another trigger. I'm not perfect but I think I'm better at not flying off the handle so quickly. I definitely do better at letting it go faster and not sweating the small stuff. It just ain't worth it.

6. Animals: They just have a way of making me feel better, especially cats! I enjoy going to open zoos like the one in Washington DC. Animals are still penned up but they're more in a natural habitat and I enjoy watching them. They're so beautiful. And I dearly love my kitty cats. I have a dog, too, and I like him as well.

7. Arthritis: Over the years, I've gotten arthritis in my neck, shoulders, fingers, and spine. I might have it in my knees or hips but I don't know. Arthritis just sucks, there's no other way to say it. I take anti-inflammatories and just try to push through it.

8.Abilities: Here's one of my self-affirmation exercises: I go over my abilities, all the things I can do. Among them: writing (blogging, stories, posts, etc.), cooking nice meals for everyone, interacting with my sweet little grandson, interacting with my kids and TB and friends and family, figuring out solutions to problems, taking pictures...I try to make as long a list as I can.

9. Ark: We bought a Noah's Ark for Little T one Christmas. It comes apart and there are all these animals inside. He'll bring it out so we can play with it--it's one of our favorite games. We take out all the animals and pair them up. We march them all into the ark and make noises like the animals would make. Noah's always the last one aboard, to make sure all the other animals are aboard safely. Then he leads them all off again. It's repetitive but T loves it!

10. Autism: I was afraid of it. I didn't understand it. When I learned that T was on the autistic spectrum, I did feel scared. If he'd been deaf, I would have been well equipped to deal with it. But autism...it was something I knew absolutely nothing about. I've been learning over the years and it's not scary anymore.

11. Agita: The word actually comes from heartburn or intestinal upset but it's come to be slang for stuff that gives you more aggravation than you can stand. I've been getting agita lately reading posts on some support forums I visit. Sometimes I can just tell when a post is going to be upsetting and so I don't read it. Why go there? But other times I'll be reading a post that seems okay and then in the middle of the thread, there's insults, verbal abuse, bullying or what have you and that's where the agita comes from. So I probably should take a vacation from reading any posts since I can't be 100% sure they'll be "safe" for me. Huh. Sissy me.

12. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn: Ah, one of my most favorite books growing up. Written by Betty Smith, I read it so many times I practically know it by heart!

13. Alaska: It's so far away and so lovely looking and isolated I think I would really enjoy a cruise there with TB. Now, we just need the money for it!

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