Made It Through the Holidays!

From this end it seems but a very short time since I last posted on my blog. The good part of that is we made it through with no major illnesses or other tragedies to contend with so the holidays went well and were as pleasant as we could manage to make them. A relief considering our track record of late.

We had a lovely Thanksgiving meal with one of my sweetie-pie's niece's and her family and other relatives, then on to a rather quieter Christmas with a smaller celebration at the Chinese restaurant than ever before without Mike, who really did seem to enjoy the celebrations there on Christmas Days of the past. Although a lot lonelier, it was still a nice Christmas - just very quiet - and we wrapped up the day by going to bed early and then snoozing late the day after.

We stayed home for the New Year in part, I think, due to remembering our last New Year here at home and all that followed (2010). But this year has started slowly and more calmly than that and we both seem healthier...I will hold that thought as I take it one day, one step, at a time into 2012!

There is still so much to do to get the house into shape and our efforts, although continuing in a positive direction, are slow and not yielding much in the way of space and satisfaction for the moment. We plod on.

The birds show up each morning expecting their viands al fresco on our back deck and the two cats seem to enjoy watching them now and again, although they mostly like snoozing in warm spots around the house even more than bird-watching. Fluff is a funny thing and sometimes wanders around the house meowing loudly. It reminds me a little of the wolves at the zoo howling. Sort of an eerie sound; other-worldly and beckoning. I always think of Patty when Fluff does her singing and try to get her to come over for pets and loves, just in case that is what she is missing. Samantha is a sweetie who seems to live for her naps and her munches. She really loves to eat and then goes right back to sleep, snoring softly and squeakily in her corner by my chair. They are wonderful pussycats! I just wish aging was slightly less cruel in its predations on all of us, though.

As for me, on a more personal level, I have been experiencing what I refer to as "luxury" depression. This is the depression I feel over the more ordinary trials of life rather than the incredibly intense traumas our family has been coping with for the past 15, or so, years. I understand why the illnesses or deaths of my loved ones makes me cry, but WHY do I have to feel weepy about the damned Social Security Administration, too???!

I guess my tolerance for poopoo has lessened considerably over the years. I also have more than enough fertilizer for my life's garden and really don't want anymore, so a newly delivered load does tend to frustrate me to tears when it arrives unexpectedly :-(

Here's to hoping your lives are less frustrating, but more challanging, less tragic, but emotionally brighter, than they have been for awhile - as I would like ours to be, as well.

God bless and keep you all.
Izzlebug