Well, so much for NaNoWriMo this year!!
I was behind anyway, and then I got sick last week with some horrible stomach bug with fever. Oh well, maybe next year.
I'm feeling much better but not quite up-to-par. This extremely warm weather is making me think it's spring. I know my body (and mind) will be in for a rude awakening whenever the temperatures start doing what they're supposed to be doing. To cheer us up, here's a picture of Eler Beth and Blaine at the Fall Formal this year.
I have felt bad all day, very tired with a bit of a headache. And although I take anti-anxiety medication, I have been fighting off panic attacks all day as well. Felt like my blood pressure was high, so while I was out this afternoon I checked it at one of those self-check-thingys at Kroger. Yep. High. Very, VERY high. Hmm. Wonder what has spiked it?
I'll check it again tomorrow, and then a couple times a week for a few weeks. If it goes back to normal, fine. If it stays high, even a little high, I guess I'm going to have to buck up and go to the doctor about it. I REALLY don't want to have high blood pressure or go on medication for it. On the other hand, I REALLY don't want to have a stroke or a heart attack. I REALLY need to lose some weight.
On the bright side, I have a sixteen year old daughter here who would just LOVE to take daily walks with her old mom and do some cardio workouts with her. Yep. Guess I'd better be smart about this.
I think I'll do NaNoWriMo again this year. If you'd like to join me, just click on the link in my sidebar to register.
I'm going to plant some spring bulbs at the grave. Jonquils maybe? Daffodils?
A bouquet of wild flowers (weeds), fossils, driftwood, a toy, and a stick will have to mark the site for now.
If you click on the photo, you can see the flowers better.
Heartbroken...
My Scout died this afternoon at about 2:25 p.m. It was a stubborn upper respiratory infection, possibly along with something else. All efforts to save him were in vain, but we tried.
Scout chose me as his own when he was just a baby. He attached himself to me with no uncertainty about it. My lap belonged to him ONLY. If I were going to give any of the other dogs any particular attention, I had to give him his attention first.
He was smart and obedient, and a creature of habit. Once a routine was set, it was set in stone. We did not alter any daily routine if we could help it. And if we had to alter a routine, he would look at me with a slightly disappointed expression. I could almost see him shaking his head and hear him "tsk-tsk"-ing. But he always forgave me.
He was usually up for a game of tug of war with a stick. All it took was for me to say, "Gimme that thing!", (with nothing in my hand) and he'd start looking around for something to run and get before I could. That's how the game started. So I'd make sure there was a stick or toy handy; he'd run to get it, and then he'd tease me with it. I'd tug, and he'd tug. Finally he'd let go; I'd throw it, and say, "Gimme that thing!" And we'd do the whole thing over again.
He was born with a naturally cropped tail. But he was also born with a hip and/or spine deformity. He was a very fast runner (almost as fast as his mother and sister) until he was about 4 years old. Then he started slowing down a bit. He was still pretty fast, though. And as long as he didn't get cold, his hip/back didn't seem to bother him. As long as he got regular exercise, he didn't seem stiff. But if the weather was bad, and he hadn't been for a good walk or run for a day or two, then he'd be a bit stiff for a while. Since I was also born with a bad spine and hips, I always thought it was appropriate that he was my dog. He started getting a lot of gray hair a year or two ago. It happened very quickly; something else the two of us had in common.
I'll miss him. It's been a hard, tear-filled evening. Tomorrow I'm going to buy some bulbs of some kind -- maybe daffodils -- to plant beside his grave.
Miss Little Bit will miss her big brother. I have a feeling she's going to be extremely spoiled for a while.
Eler Beth has been my right hand the past few days -- as she usually is. She helped me give him medicine, coax him to eat and drink, and watched out for him when I had to sleep or do something else. Thomas has shown that he's just a big softy when it comes to the pets; he was as concerned as the rest of us. Scout died right before Thomas had to leave for work, so Andrew came home early from a friends' house to dig the grave for me.
It helps to write this and to look at his pictures. These are the three that I had handy on the computer. I'll try to find a few more to post.
It's going to be hard to sleep tonight.
This morning I made my coffee much stronger than I usually do (not on purpose), and I have been bouncing around my house doing housework for over four hours now!!! I chattered like a squirrel to Thomas when he got up too. NOT like me, first thing in the morning, I can assure you. I'm wondering how the crash will be -- and this is only one cup of coffee...not even a mug...a cup!!
I am not a coffee drinker; I mean to say I do not have to have coffee every day. That makes me a bit alien in my family. I grew up with parents and siblings who did, and still do, have to have multiple cups of coffee throughout the day. I started drinking coffee early, as young as 8 or 9 years old. It used to be the standard thing for children in America to drink coffee, sugared and with lots of milk or cream, probably, on a regular basis; and I believe that during my parents' childhoods in the 20s and 30s, it was still a common thing. So it must not have seemed a bad or strange thing to my parents for their kids to drink coffee early. I never thought about it until I was older and realized that not all kids drank coffee at 8 or 9 years old.
But I never drank it every day, and I never had to drink multiple cups of it. I've never had a "caffeine headache", although at times coffee has helped me with my migraines. I have at different times preferred it black, with sugar only, or with cream and sugar, and currently I prefer it sweet and with real cream. I do not use artificial sweeteners or flavored creamer. I do not like it extremely strong. I don't mind if it's scalding hot, lukewarm, or cold. I will not let a bit go to waste just because it isn't hot, and I won't bother to warm it up either. I drink it when I want it because I like the taste, not to be sociable, out of habit, or because I need a caffeine boost. I prefer to drink from a dainty coffee cup with a thin rim, not a mug or thick cup.
Thomas hasn't had coffee for at least 15 years now, since it started hurting his stomach. He never liked coffee but drank it because he would get a headache if he didn't have a cup every day. Since he discovered that a cold can of Pepsi would take care of his headache, that is what he has each morning to get him going. Neither of my kids drank coffee until just a few months ago when Eler Beth started drinking it. She had discovered cappuccino a few years ago, and had it once in a while, always very sweet and usually with a lot of flavored syrups added to it. She always said she liked the smell of coffee, but not the taste. Sometimes if I made bacon in the morning and it happened to be a day when I wanted coffee, she'd get up, sniff the air and say, "It smells like Mamaw's house!" (That's my Mom.) And she was right. That's the way my Mom's house smells of a morning, like coffee and bacon. I remember when I'd visit my grandfather (Mom's dad), his house always smelled like coffee too. And I would always have a cup when I was there because his water made such really good coffee. He always used Maxwell House. When I was growing up Mom and Dad always preferred Folgers. With their water Folger's tasted better, but at my house, having experimented with several name and generic brands, I have discovered that Maxwell House works best with our city water, even when filtered.
So a few months ago Eler Beth started drinking coffee a few times a week. Now quite often she's the one who makes the coffee in the morning. When she visited my Mom and the girls recently for a few days, she really enjoyed sitting and having a sociable cup of coffee with her Mamaw.
Lately I've been thinking of things I'd like to write about in my blog, and, as one does, I've been composing posts in my head. These have mostly been memories from my childhood, and it seems like almost every one has had something to do with food, or drink, or eating. So I've had an idea for a series of posts, and I might just get around to writing them one of these days. Perhaps this post will be the first of that series. Until then, hope you have a good day, with or without coffee!
Today Thomas and I have been married for 25 years!!
We don't have anything big planned for today, but will be doing something special for ourselves a little later on in the year.
Together we have come through some really tough times, shared lots of joys, faced some ugly hatred, learned from one another, laughed with each other, matured --whether we wanted to or not, taught each other to look at things from a different perspective, and raised two rather amazing children. I love my husband very much, and I know he loves me. Guess there's not really much else to say, is there?
Happy Anniversary Thomas!
He was usually up for a game of tug of war with a stick. All it took was for me to say, "Gimme that thing!", (with nothing in my hand) and he'd start looking around for something to run and get before I could. That's how the game started. So I'd make sure there was a stick or toy handy; he'd run to get it, and then he'd tease me with it. I'd tug, and he'd tug. Finally he'd let go; I'd throw it, and say, "Gimme that thing!" And we'd do the whole thing over again.
He was born with a naturally cropped tail. But he was also born with a hip and/or spine deformity. He was a very fast runner (almost as fast as his mother and sister) until he was about 4 years old. Then he started slowing down a bit. He was still pretty fast, though. And as long as he didn't get cold, his hip/back didn't seem to bother him. As long as he got regular exercise, he didn't seem stiff. But if the weather was bad, and he hadn't been for a good walk or run for a day or two, then he'd be a bit stiff for a while. Since I was also born with a bad spine and hips, I always thought it was appropriate that he was my dog. He started getting a lot of gray hair a year or two ago. It happened very quickly; something else the two of us had in common. 
