First Light - All White

I was satisfied with the blanket of snow we had two weeks ago so when I heard that we were in for another round of "wintry precipitation" I was ambivalent. Here in the South the media hypes every snowflake so much you never know when to take them seriously.

The last storm we had - you know, the one where thousands of people were trapped on the interstate for 24 hours, children were trapped on school buses on the roads or trapped at school overnight, honestly, I don't think the media was clear enough. I know Al Roker insists that we "were warned" but the line of expectation of accumulating snow didn't really include all of Atlanta. It looked like it was going to be more toward the North. This time they have been very adamant and insistent that everybody is getting SOME kind of Winter weather. There are predictions of up to an inch of ice which is truly catastrophic. I guess people really only process "nothing to worry about" and "complete catastrophe" and nothing in between. So buy up all your bread and milk folks, you'll use it eventually.

In the photo of snowfall totals above my county is mostly yellow, seven inches. That's what's predicted. Since I was too lazy to edit the photo I grabbed from the Atlanta news station, you'll have to find White County on the map on your own. If you go to the far Northeast corner of Georgia, we are the county two in from the Northern border and two in from the Eastern border. We live on the Eastern side of the county. Although this storm has a snow/sleet/ice combo predication, our area is expected to get mostly snow, which is good, less chance of loss of power. Even though I've reduced my screen time lately, I still am very internet/electronic dependent. I also like to be warm and eat.

Our storm preparations included a grocery store trip yesterday and moving the grill from the uncovered deck upstairs to our covered patio outside the Whine Cellar. I live with retired people which means we always have enough stuff in the house that we could be stuck here for a month and never miss a meal. I don't worry much about cabin fever because it's not unusual for me to go a week without leaving the house anyways. We got a delivery of wood on Saturday so we can stay warm, even if that means huddling around the fireplace.

Austin's friend Shaun came over to get snowed in with us. I got a little nervous when it took both boys three trips from his car to move him in - complete with large tv and a piece of carry-on luggage that was bulging like he was heading on a two week trip with Rick Steves. He's a nice kid who likes cats so I don't mind him being here - except for the fact that he never puts the seat back down on the toilet which is a HUGE no-no in my world!

I didn't blog last night because I lost myself in Valerie Bertinelli's book, "Finding It" last night. She wrote this book about a year after the first book. I should have known that there wouldn't be a lot of biographical information and a lot more of her politics and personal opinions since she really had only a year to cover in this book. Her politics are fairly offensive to me. She criticizes Bush and Cheney a lot without ever explaining WHY she feels that way. It's as if she believes her dislike of them is so common that everyone understands what she feels. I don't and it changed my opinion of her for the worse. She's not the girl next door - she's the mindless liberal next door. She did explain a lot of reasons she likes Obama but it was all generic "change" stuff that had no content or explanation of what "change" she was expecting.

My non-ambien induced sleep last night didn't go as well as I had planned. I started getting sleepy around 9pm and I really should have gone to bed then but I was watching the Westminster Dog Show. When I settled in around midnight I had a hard time going to sleep. I went ahead and got up before 7am this morning while I was still a little sleepy, hoping that will make my attempt for two non-ambien induced sleep nights in a row be more successful. And, of course, if I need to settle in for a "long Winter's nap" today, there's no reason I can't.

My plans for today include ancestry.com, lots of Olympic viewing and taking photos of the snow accumulation hourly. It's a much more wet snow this time so the branches of the pines are already sagging with the weight. If ice accumulates on top of that we're definitely going to have some branches fall. Hopefully none of them will interrupt power. I'll be back later with more pictures but for now... this is what we have...

My Sunday

For those who didn't see this on my Facebook the other day... my mom caught a big fish and Oscar went bonkers trying to eat some sushi. I don't know if you can tell but his feet are off the ground here. It's also notable that he is wearing a coat. This dog FREAKS OUT if you try to put clothing on him. He has, however, learned to associate wearing the coat with getting to go outside and he loves to be outside. He also loves fishing.

We've had some beautiful sunny days over the past week but Jack Frost is bringing us a little sumptin' this week. Depending on what weather service you trust, we're getting somewhere between an inch and six inches. There is a "wintry mix" expected between Monday night and Wednesday morning - anything from cold rain to sleet to freezing rain to snow. The worst of it in the state is expected in the Northeast Georgia mountains - which is us. Having already had my delivery of "just one pretty snow" this Winter, I'm sort of ambivalent on this particular storm. If it happens... fine... just don't let us lose power or get stuck for too long. I want a photo op - not a life threatening situation. I mean, if my wishes count for anything.

Last night was another night without ambien and I was able to get to sleep by around 1am. I slept until just before 8am and I'm content with that sort of sleep pattern. I became really conscious last night that I spend a lot of time being sedentary but I don't spend much time being still. I'm constantly staring at a tv or a computer screen or both. When I put the computer down I pick up a book or my Nook. I don't have a lot of time where I just sit and think. That's what I did while I was trying to get to sleep. It took a good hour of laying there and I always start to get a little anxious when sleep doesn't come quickly. I got a little riled up because Little Kitty knocked a glass of tea off of my nightstand trying to stick his paw in it. After cleaning it up it felt like I had to work a little harder to wind down but it happened and I'm pleased with my progress. I think I'm going to try going two nights in a row without and see how that works out. The main thing for me is to not get overtired because all this crazy stuff I've got going on in my body requires a lot of gritting my teeth and hanging tough and soldiering through and other such cliches. If I'm tired it's difficult to "hang in there" and I give in to gloom, despair and agony.

I finished Valerie Bertinelli's first book last night - Losing It. It was an easy read and pretty standard celebrity fare... early life, being discovered, dealing with fame, doing drugs, relationship problems and so forth. I've always found her very likable and reading her book was like listening to a friend spill their guts. I can't say that I found it inspirational or anything like that but it was fine for a free book.

Today I'm reading a big pictorial on the making of Gone With The Wind. As you can probably tell by the description of my blog... I'm a big fan of GWTW, Scarlett and the whole strong Southern woman theme. The home where the woman believed to be Margaret Mitchell's model for Scarlett, her grandmother Anne Fitzgerald lived was in the same county where I grew up. When she talks about the rolling hills of Clayton County, I get that. I'm always interested in any behind the scenes glimpse of any production so this is a fun read for me. There are also a lot of pictures so it's a quick read.

I'm also trying to work on my family tree again today. So. much. to. do. It's hard to stay focused on just that one thing when there are so many other places in cyberspace where I want to hang out and it's hard to plug away at it with no end in sight. When it starts feeling like a chore, I stop.

So far my favorite Olympic event has been the Team Figure Skating competition. It's nice to see that camaraderie in a discipline that is usually divided up to individuals or duos. The little Russian girl was so much fun to watch that I didn't mind that she beat the American girls. The old Russian guy was sort of cocky but still an interesting character. I'm crazy about the American Ice Dancing team, Charlie White and Meryl Davis. I saw a biography piece on them that showed that their moms are good friends and spend almost every day together. It's really the human interest background stuff that makes Winter sports interesting for me.

Pop made country fried steak and gravy for lunch and I'm still full from that. Ugh. Austin just reheated some Captain D's that we had leftover from dinner last night and it is slightly nauseating. Reheated fish just never seems appealing.

Anyways... that's about it for today... hope you've had a lovely weekend and are rested up and ready to start the week! Love and hugs, y'all!

And The Short Of It

I wrote a novel about living with pain if you're interested. It's right below. If not, here's a shorter blog entry about what's going on around here.

I'm in the process of weaning off ambien. I cut the dose in half and was doing fine with that. Now I'm trying to just take the half dose every other day. The first night I was up until 6am and slept two hours that night. The second night I was up until 4am and slept four hours that night. Progress! Ambien is the only medication (besides blood pressure meds) that I was taking daily and the only reason that I was having to go to the pain doctor every other month. They won't prescribe more than two months at a time. My income being what it is - or isn't - I've got to cut back on medical expenses. Being able to live without ambien will be HUGE. Plus, it's a really unsafe drug but that's a much longer story. Anyways... the sleep disruption has made me less bloggy this week.

Yesterday I went to the library and checked out another five books. I took back the three I had read since Monday. Yes. Three books in four days... which happens when you don't sleep. I'm reading Valerie Bertinelli's two books Losing It and Finding It. I checked out a book about the making of Gone With The Wind, an old pictorial biography about Prince William and a history of Saturday Night Live. Reading is such a great escape for me. Our local library is small and they don't have a lot of newer books... they literally have the King James Version of the Bible on the new release shelf. I'm not joking. But there are definitely books there that I haven't read and I'm having fun exploring there.

This morning I made a trip to the grocery store for snacks for our Olympics watching. I fell asleep during the Opening Ceremony last night. I nodded off after the parade of nations and woke up as they were lighting the cauldron. I slept through all that Russian History propaganda in the middle. I was just so glad to sleep that I didn't mind. Today I've been watching ice skating and speed skating and skiing stuff and I've just been in Olympic Heaven!

I've added ads to my blog. When I had them on before I made about $5 a month.... which isn't much, right? But I have more readers now and heck, $5 a month is more than I'm making otherwise. I hope they're not a distraction and don't make it feel too commercial here. You only have to open this website for me to get credit - you don't have to click on the ads - so come visit often!

AND that's the short story! Happy Saturday!

The Long...

I sprinkle a lot of whine in my blog posts so I feel like anyone who reads here regularly pretty much gets the picture that *eyeroll* I live with a lot of pain. I thought it might be interesting to share exactly what is different in my life now than what my life was like three years ago before I boarded the Pain Train. (Wouldn't that be a great name for a band?) It not that I'm looking for sympathy. I think most of my blog readers are here because they have at least some mild interest in what happens in my life. I also would bet that you probably have someone in your life (other than me) who has similar differences and maybe knowing what I deal with might help you help someone you love.

I think I have most of my diagnosis' listed in the sidebar but for a summary, my back is whack. I have an extra vertebrae which, by itself is not a big deal and is fairly common but in my situation it put extra pressure on the other vertebrae causing some of the effects of aging to occur sooner than usual. Over the course of my first forty years of life I have been overweight for half of that time, was in a couple of auto accidents where I was hit from behind, took a dozen or so significant falls (once while holding two kids - the kids did NOT hit the ground!) and in general just was not kind to my spine. As a result I have developed osteoarthritis in my spine, some bulging discs, some nerve damage, my spine is impinging my spinal cord and certain positions are particularly painful. There is instability in my spine which makes any repetitive movement - walking, climbing stairs, etc - cause pain. The greatest point of pain is my lower spine - right where the tailbone starts - which makes sitting upright in a regular chair anywhere, regardless of how well padded it is, extremely uncomfortable.

There are a few other things that complicate things - chronic migraines, scar tissue in my lungs which makes me susceptible to respiratory illness and mildly restricts my lung capacity. I have a COPD diagnosis but not in the sense that I'm walking around with an oxygen tank, it just means that there's stuff in my lungs that make them not work as well as they should. There's a fibromyalgia diagnosis which means that at odd and random times I feel like I have the flu - everything hurts and it's a huge, huge ordeal to do anything and everything. Seriously - walking from one side of the room to the other is like running a marathon. I have piriformis syndrome which feels like someone is putting a hot poker against the nerve that runs down the middle of my butt cheek and causes pain that radiates down into my leg. There is nerve damage that extends from basically the waist down which causes several different issues.

Still with me? There's one more issue that doesn't have a definite diagnosis and won't until I have some kind of medical insurance in place. I get this ungodly pain in my lower left belly. It's occasional - not every day - but at least once a week. It's bad enough that the strongest pain meds that I have for my back only take the edge off it. My pain doctor is guessing, just based on the description of the pain and the location, that it is a hernia and I have instructions of what to watch for and when I absolutely have to seek medical treatment for it. It's just one more layer to the onion for me and one more thing that hinders me from time to time.

When I talk about the "pain of the day" it's not a dramatization. There truly is never a day that I don't have some kind of discomfort somewhere. What this means is that no employer anywhere wants me on payroll because there is never a week that I wouldn't have to miss a couple of days. Even when I tried to work only a few hours a week, it didn't work. So I would say that the main difference between myself and the average person my age is that I'm not able to work.

Because my pain is so positional, anything that involves sitting in any other way other than reclined is painful. Depending on other factors (the weather, for example) that pain can vary between being just a little distracting to being absolute miserable. Sitting in a reclined position has it's own discomforts. It tends to aggravate the piriformis syndrome and I have to be very careful not to impinge any nerves by crossing my legs or I completely lose feeling in my feet. I can't work mainly because I can't sit.

One thing we determined with the Function Capacity Evaluation is that climbing stairs is a big problem. I live in a 3 story house but am very blessed to have just about everything I need on the bottom level - including a gorgeous view. Our kitchen is one story up and for now, I make the trip up the stairs for most mealtimes. Occasionally, especially if the pain is really bad, I just eat things like granola bars or other shelf stable things that I keep here in the Whine Cellar. Eventually, if I ever get the backpay from my disability claim, I'd like to have a kitchenette put in here on the bottom floor and there's a perfect space for it. One day... But for now, I avoid stairs like the plague!

I can walk but I can't walk far. To give you an example... if I go to the grocery store for an average sized grocery trip, by the time I get back to the car I'm in a good bit of pain. On days that I go to the store that's pretty much my ONLY activity for that day. I would never attempt to take a shower AND go to the store on the same day because the combination would be too much time up and around.

I can't stand in one place. The instability of my spine is such that when I stand still there are nerves that are compressed and it doesn't take long for me to lose the feeling in my feet. It's better if I can lean on something but it still gets uncomfortable fairly quickly.

I can't pick up anything heavy. Technically I have the strength to pick up things that weigh up to twenty pounds but it immediately results in pain which doesn't go away for several days. Today I picked up Austin's girlfriend's baby and... that did it. (It was totally worth it, though!) I can't do any repetitive lifting. I can't carry anything of significant weight for any distance.

Because I can't sit without pain, I can't go out to eat or to church or to a movie... without being extremely uncomfortable. There is a part of me that feels like if I was a better Christian I would suffer through the pain to go to church. The reality of it is that there is a threshold of pain that once crossed, I no longer hear anything around me, I can't concentrate, I can't articulate... I really am not there. There may come a time when I give it another attempt but for now... I'm homechurched.

Fear of pain drives a lot of my behavior. Even on days when the pain is better and I really *might* be able to go somewhere or do something, the anxiety of being uncomfortable and the desire to remain comfortable on a rare "good day" makes me reluctant to do anything. Being unable to do things both because of the financial restrictions of not having an income and the fear of pain is isolating and depressing. My social skills are really rusty and I'm much more awkward than I used to be.

If you are still reading, thank you. If you have someone like me in your life there are a lot of things you can do to make life easier for them... in my case, I'm very fortunate to live with my parents and to have a dad who loves to cook. When it was still just me and Austin living on our own we ate a lot of cereal and frozen food and take out food. During that time there were a few times that people brought meals to us and that was a huge, huge blessing! If you know someone who struggles with pain, take them a meal every now and then! I love when the fam goes out to eat and brings me something home. If you're going out, why not drop off a doggie bag for your friend? For about ten bucks you can pick up a rotisserie chicken and some sides. Make an extra lasagna. Share some of that batch of chili you made. It's easy and I wish I had been more sensitive to this when I was young and healthy!

I can't pick stuff up off the floor. I can't sweep/mop/vacuum. I can load the dishwasher some days but other days it hurts to do the bending. I can't stand for a long time to chop/prepare food or to keep vigil on a pot that needs watching. I can't lift the crockpot. I can make my bed and I can do laundry as long as I don't have to tote the basket (but I almost always end up toting the basket of dirty clothes because Austin is usually not around when I'm ready to do laundry). I can't take out the trash. Bending over to scoop out the litter box hurts like the dickens but I do it when I have to. (Like when one of the old cats leaves a little offering in the middle of the night smelling up the entire Whine Cellar). I've never been great at housework but if it's your gift... stop by and run a vacuum if you have a friend in need. Offer to take out their trash. I don't know what I'd do without Austin, even if he does need a litter prompting every now and then...

Over the past three years I've really dropped out of view. I'm so grateful to have access to the internet so that I can keep in touch with folks. If you have a friend that you haven't seen in awhile, maybe check in on them... go visit them. I'd never classify myself as a "shut-in" because in my mind that's an old person in a hospital bed who needs help going to the bathroom but honestly, other than the grocery store, pharmacy, library and doctor's office I never go anywhere. I miss three-dimensional people. I'm not always good company, especially if it's a more painful day but I would love to see people. I bet you know people who while maybe not shut-in, aren't able to get around great. Stop by and say hello to them.

If you have a loved one who can't do much, why not do what they can do? Go with them to the grocery store. Or the doctor's office. My friend Stasha knew that I didn't feel like doing anything except work back when I was working so she would come have lunch with me. I had to eat! It's the person that matters, not the activity. The most mundane things are better with a friend.

And if they say they don't feel like doing something, don't push. There are times that I hurt but I get tired of telling people I hurt or explaining exactly what hurts. I had a mother-in-law who famously had migraines any time she was supposed to do anything. Back then it felt like a cop out but now I realize it was probably, at least some of the time, legit. People who live with pain feel bad enough about themselves because of what they are missing out on... try not to add guilt to the equation for them.

Most of all, just remember that we are not all the same. Try not to judge. You can't feel what anyone else is feeling. You can't walk in their shoes. I was really down on myself a short time back because this lady who was dying of cancer was doing more than I was doing. Of course... she was probably on better drugs... but we can't compare pain. You just can't know what someone else is going through. Unless you're the person working on their disability case or somehow supporting them, it's not your job to figure out how legitimate their illness is. I used to try to Nancy Drew alleged situations to determine if people had the right to complain. Why? I don't know. There is nothing to be gained by failing to extend compassion. There is nothing lost in extending compassion, even if the person is not deserving. Even if they're not entirely legitimate, ESPECIALLY if they're not legitimately hurting, there's something missing in their life that leads them to have to use illness as shield/crutch/way to attract attention or whatever.

This is far too long but I hope it's been helpful in some way to you. Thanks for letting me put all that out there. I'm about to do a short blog entry with some other non-related stuff. Love and hugs, y'all!

The Past 24 Hours In Bullet Points and Parenthesis

In the past 24 hours I have...

• slept 2 hours - I've been tapering off ambien for the past few weeks and I decided to go without last night. EPIC FAIL!
• read 2 complete books (one of them was by Tori Spelling so I'm not sure it counts)
• started reading a 3rd book - the one by Julie Andrews
• watched 2 episodes of How I Met Your Mother (and caught my parents watching it - it's contagious - and it also comes on before Grey's Anatomy)
• watched 2 episodes of Grey's Anatomy
• been visited by 2 red headed girls who performed a magic trick complete with showmanship
• got the sweetest hug from over the back of my chair from my niece Jamie when it was time for her to leave - she's always the brightest spot in any day
• entertained Austin's friend who spent the night
• pondered why Austin's friends want to chat with me when I'm Archie Bunkered in my chair
• been tempted to create a Facebook movie but decided to buck the trend
• stressed over whether Sochi Russia is ready for the world - will this Olympics be ruined? I mean, who knows if I'll be around to enjoy South Korea 2018!
• looked at a couple hundred wedding photos from a sweet girl I know from theatre (also, her mom used to cut my hair and was THE BEST hair stylist I've ever had)
• worked on my family tree - you wouldn't believe how much work I still have on it even after almost two years
• had THE BEST bacon sandwich on a slice of homemade bread with garlic (as opposed to homemade garlic bread) that my dad made (he made the bread, I made the sandwich, in case that wasn't clear)
• had black beans and rice over tortilla chips with cheese and sour cream, my favorite meal of the week
• had to discipline my Little Kitty for being too aggressive with Stubby, the 3 Legged Wondercat (I took his straws away - that's his favorite toy - he got the message)
• pondered why Austin's friends can't put the seat down on the toilet - obviously this is a female dominated Whine Cellar - there are STUFFED ANIMALS in the living room, for goodness sakes
• watched the wind whip the water around on the lake - practically white capping here!
• checked the weather report a half dozen times to see if we're getting more wintry weather this year - we are *probably not* although there may be a dusting "in the mountain counties" (which is us) "above 1500 feet elevation" (which we are not - the lake is approximately 1350 feet) before the weekend
• walked Lily out the back door and told her to "go find Mawmaw" once (but my mom also took her at least once)
• fetched a runaway kangaroo cat (Eddy) from the shed
• ate four Hershey's kisses with almonds which is a huge improvement from last Winter when I was eating about four bags of them a week
• changed from my pajamas into clean pajamas when I got dressed this morning
• combed my hair but didn't really style it (and it's still cute!)
• skipped makeup
• and lotion

this is the new photo over the fireplace

admired the new frame Pop bought to hang the girls' picture over the fireplace (it was from several years ago but it still a huge family favorite)

And that's about it, y'all. Happy Wednesday!

My New 'Do and Other Pictures From Today

I did it! I got about twelve inches cut off my hair. It's a super cute little manageable style and I'm thrilled with it.

The stylist suggested that I donate it to Locks of Love so I came home with this wet dead animal looking chunk of hair to mail in. I was afraid that it wasn't healthy enough since I NEVER get it trimmed but she thought it was fine. My whole plan of washing less often really does make a difference in the health of your hair, I guess.

Anyways... this is my hair back in January. And this is today...

It's a bob, just below chin length, stacked in the back. Some of the layers in the back are really short but it seems to work pretty well even in high humidity. Today was misty/rainy all day.

I also went to the library today after stopping by Ingles to pick up some canned goods. Our library lets you pay for your fines with canned goods which they donate to the local food bank. Having been a recipient of the bounty of that particular food bank, I am a big fan of this payment method. In effect I used my food stamps to pay my library fines AND helped a hungry person. Win/win! I bought good stuff, too... canned chili... because one can only live on noodles and canned green beans for so long. Been there, done that.

Front view.

So that was my morning. This afternoon was the typical Farmville2 playing / Grey's Anatomy watching day. I'll be putting the old laptop away early this evening and losing myself in a book. I read three books in a week last week... I got five books today. I don't have plans of finishing that many books in a week but I'm delighted at the possibilities. Today I picked up:

CelebraTori - Tori Spelling's book about planning parties. Because, you know, I have so many gatherings.

Home - Julie Andrew's autobiography about her early years. That's what it says, "A Memoir of My Early Years". I guess there's a part two out there somewhere.

The Mountains Within Me - by Zell Miller. He was Governor of Georgia for a spell. The book was written well before then. I guess this is sort of Zell Miller - A Memoir of My Early Years. A theme.

Lest you think that I ONLY read biographies... I also picked up Dixie After the War - Social Conditions In the South During Reconstruction. History, post-Civil War. Maybe this will help balance the fluff in my brain from reading CelebraTori.

And finally... I borrowed The Day Diana Died. Having just read the book written by the bodyguard, it will be interesting to get another view of it.

That's this week's (and probably next week's) reading list. I'm also still working through the Beth Moore book that I never finished and 12 Years A Slave that I haven't finished on my Nook.

My nieces came over after school today. Jamie has sort of become my buddy in the afternoons and Sarabeth tends to stay upstairs with Mawmaw and Pop playing games on the computer. Pop made homemade pizza for them and I also had cherry pomegranate pop-tarts which Jamie snacked on. She's only supposed to have pop-tarts on Saturday which I sort of forgot. I'm such a bad influence. The pop-tarts were at least organic. We watched a Pound Puppies / My Little Pony marathon.

Notice the box on the shelf in the background? That's where these pictures of the cat came from... he loves straws and boxes and being up high so this is pretty much Kitty Nirvana.

And that was my Tuesday. At least so far. Hope yours was good. Love and hugs, y'all!

Monday Updates

• In 26 days my youngest will be 20. My age never makes me feel old but my kids' ages do. 
• Tomorrow is my daughter-in-law's birthday. She'll be 24. Happy Birthday Marquee! 
• The Olympics start in four days and I'm so excited. Living in a fairly mild climate, I have never participated in Winter sports - I can't even ice skate - couldn't even when I was young and fairly fit - but I still enjoy the pageantry of it all. 
• I think it's terribly sad that Phillip Seymour Hoffman died from heroin overdose. I've been in some really low spots in my life but I thank God that I've never battled with substance abuse. I don't understand what makes people vulnerable to these kind of things but my heart hurts for them. 
• We've had mild weather today and I've enjoyed it. You guys up North can have your snow. I'm ready for Spring. 
• I love stepping out on my patio and soaking up a little sun. I need to do that more often.
• I'm planning to get my hair cut this week. Serious, many, many inches cut. Maybe even tomorrow. The season of marveling at the quantity of hair I can manufacture is officially ending. 
• I also need to go back to the library because I've finished the three books I picked up last Tuesday. None were really that good but it was a nice "change of scenery". 
• Besides, who doesn't love a place where you can get stuff for free? #librariesrock
• Austin cooked dinner tonight- french toast and bacon. He is the BEST french toast maker! 
• My cat did the CUTEST thing this morning - he was sitting on the bathroom counter after my shower and raised up on his back legs to look in the mirror. The mirror was steamed up so he took his little paw and WIPED THE MIRROR! Once he could see himself, he was satisfied. He jumped back down and waited for me to finish drying off. He's the most human cat I've ever known! #crazycatlady
• Not cute was Lily the old dog who woke me up this morning barely past daylight. She wandered downstairs which she will do from time to time when she thinks we have food. She can go DOWNstairs but can't go UP the stairs so we have to walk her up the hill outside. She's done this so often that I can open the back door and tell her to "go find Mawmaw" and she'll walk up the hill by herself. I just holler up the stairs for someone to let her in. This morning Pop was deep into bread baking and didn't hear me. I walked upstairs to let her in... and she had wandered down the hill toward the lake. SOOoooo... I walked back downstairs and called after her and she fortunately followed the sound of my voice back up to the back door. Once she got there I walked her up to make sure she didn't wander again. She's old. It takes me awhile to work out the kinks in the morning so two trips upstairs right out of the starting gate hurt like the dickens. I'm remembering all the places that are not working right on me today.

And... that's Monday. Hope you had a great weekend! Love and hugs, y'all!