Musings on a Small Life

I've been thinking a lot about emotional resiliency over the past number of months, mostly because I don't seem to have it. Parental divorce, various moves, job changes, my own split from my ex, the brief rebound, loss of friends, Chumley's sudden death, then Annie's mysterious health problems and death....All these have taken me years to recover from. I'm still working on getting past Annie's loss, of course, still break down every now and then into sobbing fits. Yet I read various blogs on the Cat Blogosphere and elsewhere, see that they experience the loss of beloved fur (and human) family members (using fur family for example--loss comes in myriad forms of course), and still seem to bounce back and readily embrace another adoptee, knowing full well that in the future they will experience another agonizing, heart-wrenching, soul-destroying loss. Only they don't seem to view it that way. They seem able to accept the losses and changes and embrace the s...

Yesterday I had intended to go out and do something, anything , given that my Saturday was spent painting and working in the house. But my body just wouldn't cooperate. I can remember the days when I could contort my limbs into bizarre positions while doing home projects without significant repercussions. Alas, those days seem to be over. I was at absolute full stop yesterday. Up at 4AM as usual, went back to bed at 8AM and didn't get up till after 10AM (!), then lounged around and read (mostly outside) all afternoon. Drank beer (okay, it was a lite beer). No chocolate, I polished that off on Saturday while doing the painting. Today's been another matter. I knew , coming in, that things would be a bit crazy. I have a number of projects, or pieces thereof, that are on the go and when I got in, there were too many things at once for 7AM on a Monday. Plus my boss is off tomorrow, heading out of province on a conference for the rest of the week. Can you say frazzled ...

...isn't exactly scintillating. Coat #1 is on the kitchen ceiling now, as well as the walls, and I'm just twiddling my thumbs waiting to re-coat. The ceiling patches will need a third, possibly fourth, coat. Getting ready to sand the final patches of mud on the ceiling, prior to painting. I would not recommend my handyman for mudding in prominent spots. Just sayin'. As always, Nicki's a great help. If you're grossed-out by middle-aged, fat feet that never have had a pedicure, look away now. I was covered, head to foot. Paint on my nose, Paint in my  hair. Paint on my toes, Paint everywhere! (That's my effort at a childish ditty. Heck, even a young child could do better. LOL. )  I love my painting apron. My mom made it for me several years ago, complete with asked-for pockets, which come in very handy. It's a very sturdy cotton (canvas?) fabric and has held up really well. Thanks, Mom! And since I can't teleport myself over to Catherine's for a...

Janet, from NineHundredandSeventyTwelve Recipes has included me on her "tag" list for one of those Q&A "things." Gee, thanks, Janet.  :-P I can't recall how I came to follow her blog...Probably she saw one of my cat posts and left a comment. Or perhaps it was vice versa. Janet has cats of her own, as well as a human family, all living in New Zealand, and is the most marvellous cook. Every time she posts recipes and the accompanying photos, I drool. I wish I could beam myself over for dinner, since everyone knows I despise cooking, with "despise" being an understatement. LOL. So, since I hadn't planned to post anything for today, I'll give this a go! 1. Do you think you're hot? I have to say, what the hell kind of question is that? Some idiot straight guy came up with this one, right? Anyway, no, I've never thought I was hot...unless I was actually hot from exertion and/or humidity. What other people might have thought of me...

I spied these lovely blue bottles hanging from this tree yesterday, on a lunch time walk. The first thing I thought was that they were homemade hummingbird feeders, but maybe they're just meant to be decor? Any ideas? I hope everyone's day is humming right along. LOL. I'll be humming a cheery tune come 3PM -- quitting time! Universal Blessings and Light to All Beings.

I thought it was hilarious that yesterday evening, around supper time, the boys were so tired from the day's activity that they snuggled up together in the cat tree ( very rare for them to do that, and if they do, it's not more than a minute or two until one or the other gives up the spot). They actually slept that way for a long time, dead to the world. Eventually Nicki jumped down and went to his foot stool and there they both stayed, not moving, even as I did my usual nightly thing and finally went up to bed. They were totally wiped out! I think the world could have ended yesterday and they wouldn't have blinked.   Nicki doesn't even seem to mind that his nose is next to Derry's butt. Just who did the work in the house yesterday? Apparently "snoopervising" the human and napping in the sunshine in the garden is grueling work. Anyway, I got a real kick out of them. I wish I had slept as well last night as they did. LOL. I hope none of you has had a gr...

Yes, my body understands why it's called pain -ting! Almost every muscle, and definitely my back, is protesting. LOL. That's what you get for 8 hours of physical labour, save for two short breaks. No shopping in between coats today, just laundry and vacuuming and other house work. I'll probably end up falling asleep under my desk at work tomorrow, snoring loudly enough to rattle the windows. Wouldn't be the first time. The chaos...   The supervisors... But it's done! Okay, the living/dining area is done. I have the kitchen to do, though I'm not sure I'll want to tackle that next weekend. It's not a large space, just finicky. I have almost a full gallon of paint remaining....Would it look really stupid to paint the ceiling and walls with the same shade? I hate to waste the paint, I can't take it back now that it's open. The kitchen area is very tiny, a mere 7 feet by 7 feet 9 inches, wall to wall. I suppose I could paint the ceiling the same sh...

I had gardening on my agenda yesterday -- I'm now done with purchasing and planting (in containers) annuals for this year, am happy with what I have. Chose to go with shades of pink and white this year. Double impatiens, I believe. Looks like a rose, so pretty! So today I hauled out the paint cans and started on the living/dining area. Got a lot done, just the long wall against which my dining table and couch are, and the north wall with the window and patio door left to do. Maybe tomorrow, if I feel ambitious, otherwise next weekend. The colour looks nice and creamy next to the stark white of the ugly stipple. After my ex moved out I swore I'd never have beige in my life again (in ever way, because he was so beige), but the reality is that when you're beige, you're beige (i.e. personality, life), so you might as well embrace your beige-ness. At least it's not builder's beige. And what did I do between coat #1 and coat #2? I bused up to the shopping centr...