Mawwiage

Last night, while talking to my daughter on the phone, one of my favorite movies was playing in the background: The Princess Bride. As usual, couldn't help cracking up at the marriage ceremony.  Well, okay, in several places.  This morning, DD sent me this link: 

http://www.flixxy.com/wedding-ceremony.htm

I believe this marriage has enough humor to survive!

Tribute

It's the midst of my 4-night off stretch, and I'm working on trying to accomplish something.  Anything. 

I did get a bunch of scrap fabric cut into strips yesterday, but there are tons more where that came from.  But I needed something rather mindless to work on.  Something I could do through teary eyes and not worry if I messed up.

DD had to put her cat to sleep yesterday.  The grumpy old man.  The cat who, as a 5-month-old kitten at the pound stuck his paw through the cage and summoned Jack over to his side and convinced my husband he would be the perfect cat for our 15-year-old daughter.  The feline with more personality in one paw than I have ever seen in any other cat. He would have been 17 years old in May.

In his life, he lived in 3 different states, traveling from New Mexico, to New York, and finally to Virginia. He made 9 different moves, once living with 4 females, 2 other cats, a dog and a rabbit, to living only with my daughter and being totally miserable while she spent long hours away from home, studying.  He was happiest when there were lots of people around to do his bidding.

He loved ice cream and yogurt and tuna, and hated DD's singing.  He loved a fire in the fireplace and watching birds out the window and hated cat carriers.

He survived being hit by a car twice, an abscess on his head (unbelievable hole!), a near-amputation of his tail, being locked in someone's garage for 10 days and innumerable brushings. Under loud protest, he has spent the last 7 years as an indoor cat.  A talker, he had many long conversations with DD about why he was no longer allowed to go outside.

He "saw" DD graduate from high school, then college, then law school, finish a clerkship, and finally settle into her dream job.  He was a little part of her past, a little part of our home that could be with her when her Mom and Dad couldn't. 

But he was tired, and sick, and decided he'd done all he could do to raise her.  It was time to cut the apron strings. She brought him home from the vet Fri. evening for one last night at home.  She built a fire in the fireplace, and he slept on his bed in front of it all night, with only a few moments with her on the couch to give a few more purrs before resuming his place in front of the warm fire, his emaciated 6-pound frame constantly needing heat. 

Sat. morning she and a friend drove him to the vet, while he protested feebly from the cat carrier.  To make him happy (he loved to complain), she sang a few tunes with the radio.  He grumbled.  Refusing to take death lying down, he sat, and leaned against her until he could no longer sit and had to be helped to lie down. Independent to the end.

Well done, Cyrano.  Well done.

Through Rose-, er, Green-colored Glass

Back again, and feeling so much better than the last time I posted.  I really think I have been under the effects of S.A.D.--Seasonal Affective Disorder.  Despite having been born in the South and remembering November and February as the grayest months of the year, 20 years of life in New Mexico, Land of the 350 days/yr of sunshine, has left me ill-prepared to deal with all the cloudy skies again.

Nothing interested me.  I could sit for hours at the computer and play Farmville, because it didn't take much effort and I could forget everything else.  But movies? No. I've had the same 2 Netflix movies here for about 4 months.  Sewing? No.  I'd walk into the sewing room, and just turn around again and leave. I can't even remember the last time we went out to eat, but it had to be August or September. 5 bins of Christmas decorations still sat in the living room, ready to be packed up and put away in the garage.  It was all I could do to go to work.

I was just about ready to make an appointment with my physician and ask for anti-depressants.  In the meantime, I started back on my routine vitamins, and added 2000 IU of Vitamin D daily. It's only been 7 days since I did that, but I am feeling SO much better. The Physician's Assistant for my gynecologist tested my Vitamin D level in Dec. and they have been trying to get in touch with me to give me prescription-strength Vit D ever since, but we have conflicting schedules, and I just never got around to calling them the pharmacy I use.

Two weekends ago, it was warm and in the upper 40s, and I did some early spring cleaning--opened up some windows and cleaned half the windows in the house.  Took down some curtains to wash, did detailed vacuuming, etc.  (Of course, I might not have done that had I not smoked up the house with stuff that bubbled over in the oven and then burned toast the NEXT morning!) Got the Christmas bins put away and bought flowers at the grocery store to put in a couple of vases in the house.  This was before the Vit. D, and it helped some, but the difference in my energy level and just all-round well-being has been in the last week. 

According to my PA, Vit. D has been determined to be a big influence in boosting our immune systems, fighting some forms of cancer, regulating sleep irregularities, and even has an effect on cardiac  problems and insulin resistance.  As I am obese, diabetic, and a night shift worker, it stands to reason I would be deficient in Vit D. I know Cathi, who lives in Canada, says she takes extra vit D from October to June every year. Makes sense to me!

Okay, so that's your public health service announcement for today. In other news, here's the latest weather around Scrapsville:

This was all yesterday, when we were served another helping of winter snow--almost one year to the day from the last March snowfall.  (And yes, those trees are still down.  With the weather and my sleeping schedule, the guys just haven't been able to get them all up yet)

Tandi was having a grand old time in the loose, powdery stuff.  She came in with huge snowballs plastered to her ears and chest and belly--so much so that I had to plop her in a bathtub of warm water to get them off her, because they just weren't melting fast enough--and she was getting snow all over the carpet and sofa.  Baths are not her favorite thing, but I rewarded her with peanut butter doggy treats I baked yesterday, and she was satisfied.

This morning the sun is out, the sky is blue, and the wind has the chill factor down to 22, though the thermometer says it's 33 degress out there.

Most of these pots sitting on my back deck hold chives, and they were just starting to poke their little green heads through.  Don't know if they'll still be there once the snow melts!

The birds were more than happy to feast at the feeders

but this little guy was using his feet to dig a hole and look for seeds that had fallen below:

To help the spring come along a little more quickly, I put my spring tabletopper on the kitchen table, along with a thick-glassed old green pitcher I bought off eBay a few years back.

I love the way it looks with the sun shining through the glass.

Life is looking pretty good right now.  Amazing what a few vitamins can do.

I may even make it into the sewing room this weekend--and stay awhile!