Monday Blog Game and Contest Winner!

Today’s first order of business:

Congratulations to K.B. Owen,

winner of the $20 Barnes & Noble Gift Card in my Cover Reveal Giveaway!

I’ve already contacted K.B. by email – so congratulations on your prize! Also, huge thanks to everyone who stopped by and commented on Friday (and every other day…I love your comments!). I sincerely appreciate all the support and kindness surrounding the cover reveal. Thank you all!!

And now, the Monday Blog Game. Today’s topic: Appreciating the Little Things

With Thanksgiving almost upon us, it’s natural for our thoughts to turn to appreciation and gratitude. At this time of year, we focus on family, friends, and the things that matter in our lives.

But today on the Blog Game, we’re talking about the smaller things we often overlook.

Me? I’m grateful for coffee.


I love it hot. I love it cold. (I’m going to pass on “in the pot, nine days old.*) I love coffee ice cream and coffee-flavored candies. And if the Gingerbread Latte isn’t actually the best-tasting beverage on the planet, I challenge anyone to persuade The Snarks That Live In My Head otherwise.

But I love coffee for another reason, too.

I have an essential tremor (aka “benign familial tremor” or “kinetic tremor”) that causes my hands to shake involuntarily. If you’ve seen an elderly person with trembling hands, you get the idea – though my tremor isn’t quite that bad. Not yet, anyway.

Many years ago, a fantastic doctor who disfavored prescriptions when she could avoid them suggested I might try hypercaffeination as a treatment for the tremor. It occurred to her that elevating the rest of my nervous system might balance the overactive firing in my hands and minimize the shaking from the tremor. (It’s a similar theory to the one that recommends Ritalin – an upper – for treatment of hyperactivity in some children.)

Remarkably, it worked.

For the last ten years, I’ve been almost (though not completely) tremor-free. When I’m off the coffee for two or three days, the tremor returns, but resuming my coffee consumption takes it away again within a few hours.

I’m grateful for coffee – on grounds of its general awesomeness and also because of the added benefits it gives me.

Your turn: what little thing in your life are you grateful for? Please share in the comments or let me know on your own blog and link back so I can include you!

4 thoughts on “Monday Blog Game and Contest Winner!

  • November 12, 2012 at 1:14 pm
    Permalink

    I too am a person who drinks caffiene for medicinal purposes. I suffer from chronic migraines and coffee with an excedrin can actually send mine away faster than a prescription. It was explained to me by a Chinese neurologist that it affects the dialated blood vessels that are making me so miserable. Yes, I get a bit shaky afterward but a little shaky is much better than suffering for 4-6 hours before I can retire to a dark room. So, I applaud coffe, in all it’s OTC forms.

  • November 12, 2012 at 1:25 pm
    Permalink

    Congrats to K.B. Owen too! It was great to be part of the contest, and I absolutely LOVE the cover.

    One of the little things I am grateful for is having learned to let go of things that bother me and which can’t be changed. In other words, I’m grateful for learning to change my attitude when I can’t change the thing that’s triggering my attitude. It’s a fantastic lesson in life that is serving me well. And–maybe–not such a little thing.

    Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family Susan, if I don’t talk to you before then!

  • Pingback: Monday Blog Game: Appreciating the Little Things « The DeAubreyDigest

  • Pingback: Monday Blog Game: Choose your Own Adventure « The DeAubreyDigest

Comments are closed.