#AtoZChallenge - Xanadu

Welcome to the Blogging from A to Z Challenge for 2026!

My theme this year is simply things that I’m grateful for.

It’s a broad and varied theme but was surprisingly easy to fill in each letter!

Xanadu

We're not talking about the movie with Oliva Newton John from 1980 or the palace in Inner Mongolia that was used as Kublai Khan's capital and was written about by Marco Polo in 1298.  The ruins are now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

(oh, the things you learn when doing research on ~other~ things!)

According to Merrian-Webster, Xanadu is an idyllic, exotic or luxurious place.

This definition could be many different things, based on who you're talking to! 

Funny story - I had just written this post and scheduled it, and I saw a video on Facebook from a horse sanctuary someplace and one of the horses they had just rescued was named Xanadu and they used almost the exact same definition I did! 

#AtoZChallenge - Work

Welcome to the Blogging from A to Z Challenge for 2026!

My theme this year is simply things that I’m grateful for.

It’s a broad and varied theme but was surprisingly easy to fill in each letter!

Work.

Ugh.  I've been with the same company for almost 26 years now!  

I've been in the billing department of said trucking company the whole time. 

Me & my manager during the eclipse in 2024

I guess I need to be grateful for the family that originally started the company 100 years ago - when I started there in 2000, the owner was the 3rd generation.  However his kids weren't interested in taking over, so he sold out to a corporation.  

There actually used to be 3 companies in one - one was for local routes, one for regional routes and one of over-the road.  There has been a LOT of changes over the years, mainly all 3 of the companies slowly oozing into one.  It's actually easier for me, since before - all 3 companies required billing the customers a different way!  And the owner was very old-school and didn't take to change well.  Once he retired, I feel we came into the modern times. 

#AtoZChallenge - the VFW

Welcome to the Blogging from A to Z Challenge for 2026!

My theme this year is simply things that I’m grateful for.

It’s a broad and varied theme but was surprisingly easy to fill in each letter!

The VFW

aka the Veterans of Foreign Wars

I joined my local post back in February 2018 and still am only a handful of women who attend twice-monthly meetings and events with any regularity.  I'm not 100% sure if I can say exactly WHY I joined. 

I checked into all the other veteran's organizations and at the time, the VFW seemed to be the only one who treated female veterans as equals.  Other groups placed the female vet in the auxiliary with the wives & family members!  This was a huge red flag in my book.  Hopefully they've caught up with the times.   

I carried the post flag in the 2019 Labor Day parade 

I think they were short on honor guard members that year, because ever since, I've ridden in the wagon. 

I am also the newsletter editor, social media peep, website admin and the chairman for the VFWs Voice of Democracy / Patriots Pen programs and also for our post's annual scholarship. 

I am kept busy!