Extracurriculars

As can be readily seen my attempt to blog every day this month has been less than stellar. While my blogging as been lax, life has been anything but. Outside of the normal working days, my extracurriculars have gone into overdrive. On the first of the month my new niece was born and on the 20^th was the shower. My current class, Systematic Theology I, is kicking my butt. The reading is very difficult and my memory retention these days is not what it used to be (as my quizzes are showing). I had a quick trip to Memphis to pick up the kitty that has since adopted my mom. The dynamics between the two cats has been less than ideal. To top it all off Daly had two seizures in less than two weeks which resulted in two middle of the night emergency vet trips (Tufts in Grafton is amazing!), lots of tests and expenses, and a diagnosis of idiopathic epilepsy. She started what will become a lifetime dependency on anti-convulsion medication this weekend. Thankfully, she is still as cute as ever even if she is shaved in some funny places Daly’s epilepsy is pushing me to find an apartment closer to work as soon as possible. She has to be given her medication every 12 hours and since stress is a contributing factor to seizures, having her and Titai live in separate homes will reduce the stress for everyone involved. Unfortunately, I am now more anxious for her in addition to trying to cope with the new levels of anxiety that have come as part of my move back to Massachusetts.

My goals for the upcoming month are to (start and then) finish my paper on the Theology of the Doctrine of Creation a little early, register and pick out my classes for next semester, have my house in Memphis prettied up enough (new carpet, etc) to get rented out before the end of 2011, find an apartment closer to work, and move (with Daly). Of course I have little control over the Memphis items, but have signed on with what appears to be a good property management company so I’m praying that it goes according to plan. Not being able to have any impact on what is happening is quite frustrating for a mild control freak like me.

Daly

Here is my sweet girl. She's had a hard time adjusting to the new feline in the house. Daly is such a scaredy cat that at times her attempts to flee from Titai's presence are amusing. But she is forever and always my baby girl.

Still Searching

I am still searching for the cure to my sinus and throat issues. The fever seems to be gone but the running sinuses and scratchy, burning throat are a constant. I've ruled out an uptick in allergies with the addition of another cat as last night they were still bothering me and I stayed at a friend's house. I'm hoping that two cups of the Sleepytime Throat Tamer with honey will help tonight. Of course cuddles with Daly are on the menu as well.

Accomplished

Feeling very accomplished tonight. Even though I am still fighting sickness I decided to join my friends for breakfast and a study hall. I was sad that I missed the sleepover. (Mom was worried about my pallor and lingering sore throat due to my history of strep so we had a date with Urgent Care last night. Good news is that it isn't strep. Bad news is that I just need to wait it out.) Thanks to the prodding of my friend P, I picked up bagels and made my way to the morning after party. What a nice treat to see friends from NH, NJ, and ME.

I even got enough reading done to write up my discussion board and take my quiz. Thankfully I got 100% on the quiz. I totally credit the study notes that were provided. I should've used them last week. Lesson learned.

Surreal

Have you ever had one of those moments that you think of as only happening on TV or in the movies? It happened to me today. I had just left my office building and was walking towards the street to cross over to the parking garage. My hands were tucked in the pockets of my buttoned up grey pea coat with the brisk November wind streaming across my face. I was listening to the sound of my high heeled boots on the pavement, thinking about my life and wondering if some of my recent decisions were the right ones as I know many of my past ones did not turn out as expected--not necessarily for the better. Walking in the deepening darkness I was suddenly struck with the thought that at that moment I was living out a scene in an Adele video.

Has that ever happened to you?

Slacker

I have been slacking off with regard to my NaBloPoMo duties. It is amazing how far behind you can get when travel and sickness make it onto your agenda. (Not to mention a fairly boring life filled with commutes and fighting cats.) I am finding it very hard to believe that today is Friday. I'm also behind in my reading for my current class, Systematic Theology I. That is some difficult reading. I am a girl who prefers plot lines and character development, so reading about types of criticism, theology, and philosophy and how they are interact is very slow going. But I must carry on since I have a quiz and discussion board posting as well as my research paper topic to submit this weekend. This morning I also realized that I've been slacking off on my coffee drinking. The last cup of coffee I had was Monday morning just before hitting up the airport to come home. This is surprising because, while I've givien up coffee at various times in the past, I have fallen back into my 2-3 cup a day habit. Darn you, free K-cup coffee at work! I started to notice that if I skip my coffee on Saturdays, then a mild headache starts on Sunday. Never a good thing to be so reliant on any substance except for air and water. But due to greatly disliking airplane coffee and then being sick for two days, coffee was just not on the menu. Though yesterday was my first day back at work, I was still feeling icky and opted for Green Tea with honey. Same with today. While I am not going to be so bold as to say that my love affair with coffee is over, I think it is time to make it a special treat and not a daily fix. Wonder how long my determination will last?

Comfy

Titai is adapting quite well to her new surroundings. She is soaking up all of the attention and is very good about not advancing when Daly notices her. Daly's anxiety is kicking in and she will stare, growl, hiss and run away when she sees her new sister. Hopefully, it will not be much longer before they can tolerate each other without the sound effects or bushy tails. I'm currently getting over my usual seasonal transition sickness that takes over my throat and sinus. I was out of work for two days and am having a hard time keeping track of what day today is. If only I was better about not procrastinating on my reading homework. I'll be cramming theology this weekend.

Weekends

There really isn't much that is better than just doing nothing with friends knowing that they expect you to be only what you are. It is that feeling of relaxedness. The ability to just be yourself without the stress of being "on" and the feeling that no matter what you say or do you will remain unjudged and loved for who you are. The ability to vent about the frustrations of being a responsible grown up knowing that they too refuse to live a life of ignorance by choice. How I've missed this.

Titania: a polydactyl purring queen

It seems like Titai remembers me well. She came running across the room when I called her to come to bed. It is nice for all of us to hear her purring a mile a minute. I hope she is just as happy when we go home. It will be a very bittersweet and weepy goodbye for all of us.

Trying something new

Since I decided to try to post every day this month and this month has been super busy already, I just downloaded the Blogger app. So I am doing this post on my iPhone while listening to Wil Wheaton read Ready Player One. Of course I should be reading my homework and packing for this weekend's visit to Memphis. I am making a quick trip down to bring back my dear friend Titania - a beautiful 13 year old cat who never adjusted to family life with a now 3 year old human and a couple of dogs. I am honored to be trusted enough to adopt her and anxious for her to accept us and the move.

NaBloPoMo

Since I have once again been sorely lacking on the blogging front, I think it is time to participate in the annual NaBloPoMo like I have in the past. As per usual, I'm starting a bit late. But I have a good excuse. In addition to being without power at home since Saturday night (if you are keeping track that is 4 nights and 3 days, and counting), we also welcomed a beautiful new addition to the family. My brother and SIL had their little girl K yesterday morning. The fun part of this is that she was born on her older brother D's 9th birthday. I was able to stop in at the hospital for a few minutes to meet her and help my brother and his wife change baby K's diaper. And it was totally a 3 person job!

Here's hoping that when I get home from my intro to belly dancing class sometime after 8:30pm tonight that we will have power restored. We are the only street in our neighborhood--that I noticed anyway--to still be without power. And since we have electric heat and there is snow on the ground, it is making for a very chilly house.