Leaping lizards, I have no idea where that came from. How could I have never done this? I’m thankful every day! Every minute. Alas, this is my hybrid Finish the Sentence Friday/10 Things of Thankful post. And we all know how much I love Top Ten/10 Things post. I practically wrote the book on them. So much to say and even more to say. I’m trying to save it for the thankful edition, though. And I only have five minutes to do it because this is a five minute free-writing post and I don’t even want to cheat, as usual, and go way over five minutes! So I’m going to do this as best as I can. I compiled the photos.

1 – I’m thankful that Astro’s surgery went well. For those not in the know, he had a bilateral ulnar ostectomy. You can Google that one! It was in both of his front legs and it was a congenital condition that caused limping that was only getting worse. Operating while he’s still growing is a great idea and he’ll now have a normal, active life. My poor little guy, though! We didn’t even know that he’d be away from us overnight. And we got him back with the “Cone of Shame”, two bandaged legs, and booties over those bandages because it was raining. He was also on a few types of drugs/remnants from sedation.

The good news is that everything went swimmingly. And that with the bandages, he’s even cuter than before. Like too much to stomach. We had him sleep in between us on his first night home because we didn’t really know what else to do. I fell asleep spooning him and he gave one of those deep belly sighs that dogs do when they’re content. Or gassy. Or confused by being spooned by humans. And when I woke up in the middle of the night, he had his bandaged legs sticking straight out at me like a stuffed animal, Dalek, T-Rex. In fact, he looks like a stuffed animal being stuffed into clothing. Cannot. Handle.

Scarlet climbed into our bed on the second night, and she never does that. I thought she was sick. Anyway I pulled him into bed with us too and woke up the next morning to this cuteness. He’s sleeping with his legs straight up in the air!

I totally already used up my five minutes to write about Astro, but oh well. I can’t seem to not do it! It’s still free-writing. And free-finding cute Astro photos for you to see, even if some of them are a bit indecent. His stomach was shaved!

2 – I’m thankful to have steady work – more so than I ever imagined – doing the things I kind of did always imagine I’d do. Photography. Writing. Editing. Although it’s not in the ways I imagined, but who am I to judge myself?

3 – And I’m thankful that this heavy workload paid fully for an expensive surgery. No, we didn’t have pet insurance..

4 – I’m thankful for healthy parents and siblings. It can be a tough world out there. We may not always talk a lot but I can’t fathom not having that chance to talk to them all. My friend just lost her sister and it haunts me.

5 – I’m thankful for Merci Chocolate. I’ve been going through them while editing fall foliage photos all week.

6 – I’m thankful for heavy cream in coffee and heavy butter in mashed potatoes.. along with heavy cream. I’m thankful for dairy. I’d be SO cut if didn’t eat dairy. It won’t happen, though. I’d rather have my mini love handles.

7 – I’m thankful that even though I get so bummed when sick, like during the last week, it’s because I’m not used to feeling sick. Anxiety can make me feel awful but it’s fleeting when it’s happening and I know I don’t HAVE to feel that way.

8 – I’m thankful that telling myself I don’t have to feel that way makes it go away.

9 – I’m thankful that my family and Cassidy’s family feel the same way politically, for the most part. It’s a hard pill to swallow to have in-laws who voted a different way, much less parents or siblings! I couldn’t do it.

10 – I’m thankful for the night owls like me – creating, reading, writing, eating – all tethered together by these strange internet wires.

This is me linking up, as one of my favorite things to do, with Finish The Sentence Friday. This week’s topic is “Thanksgiving/10 Things of Thankful 5 minute Free-writing.” Come link up with your spin on the topic HERE.