A wonderful thing about May, June and July in Minnesota is that around the summer solstice it is light until after 9:00 in the evening. That is a super great time of day. It's calm and the birds are singing. It's so peaceful. Tonight was such a perfect evening.

Good news. My brother emailed that his recruitor called to say one of the companies that he interviewed at is interested in making him an offer. He has been unemployed for a while so I'm hoping that this works out for him. It would mean that he would have to move, but I think he is ready to do that.

Mom and I went to breakfast this morning. When we came home we had a message from my aunt so we called her and talked to her for a while.

It is a sleepy day even though the sun is out and it's really quite warm. Don't know why I just want to sleep today.

I had a productive day today. Something I have been working on went over well at work with the users. It feels good to be validated.

It's a humid night. There is lightening flashing in the distance. Wonder if we will have a thunderstorm overnight.

I have the next 4 days off of work. I'm looking forward to relaxing and getting some things done around the house. And spending some time with my cats and Mom.

We have a birdfeeder in front of our house. Last week I saw a bluebird at the feeder. It was beautiful. I have never seen one in Minnesota before. It was a pretty cool sight. Mostly we get finches and chickadees but I have seen one female cardinal

I haven't been too achy this week but I've had some weird knots in my back that I've had to massage out. Icky.

I am so amazed by my new iPod battery. I listened to my iPod a lot today and I still have at least 3/4 of the battery power left. It's great! I'm so glad that I replaced it. I listened at work and actually got a lot of work done while listening to my 70s music playlist.

iPods Rock!

Another glorious day. Sunny and beautiful. Downloaded the Dixie Chicks' single "Not Ready to Make Nice" even though I'm not a big fan of country music. It's a good song. Also downloaded "Rhiannon" by Fleetwood Mac. Thought I grabbed it off my CD before I got rid of all of them. That's one of many good things about the iPod. No CD collection cluttering up my space. I must have had about 200 CDs that I donated. I probably had at least 50 vinyl albums that I purged too. Another thing I like about the iPod is that I'm not forced to buy a whole CD if I'm only interested in a few songs. That probably hacks off the music industry but too bad! Maybe if more albums had mostly good songs people wouldn't have that attitude. They gear so that one or two good songs get constant airplay but when you invest in the whole album you end up with a bunch of duds and one or two good songs. I used to fall for that ploy all of the time when I was younger but not anymore. I like being able to listen to clips of the songs before I buy them.

Lilacs

The lilacs are blooming in front of our house. The are so incredibly fragrant. When you walk into the den, if the windows are open, you can smell them. Tulips are also in bloom but they are starting to die off. It was a glorious day here today, sunny and warm but not too warm. Tomorrow it is supposed to be 81 degrees. That might be a little too hot for me. Got my new iPod battery this past weekend and put it in. It was pretty easy to do. Hope it keeps a charge for longer than my old one. Downloaded a bunch of songs from the 80s. Now I have over 700 songs on my iPod!

Blog, blog, blog....

Found my niece's blog. It's kind of interesting to read about her life from her point of view. Got all of the pictures and stuff re-hung in Mom's room. Everything looks really, really good. Cloudy and overcast today. Really hasn't been that great of a weekend but it could have been worse. Did several trips to Target. Am trying to find a Shabby Chic duvet in Lavender that they used to carry. I hope they haven't discontinued it. Mom and Olivia are both sound asleep.

Stuff

Today was sunny but windy here. It's nice to see the sun after so much rain. Our living room is a beautiful green color. It looks great. It's nice not to have white walls. Mom keeps asking me why I am clearing out rooms and moving furniture for the painter. It gets really tiresome but I try to be patient with her because she can't help it. I'm thankful that so far she hasn't been too confused by all the disruption. Tomorrow the painter is going to do her bedroom and the den where she spends most of her day. Not sure if she will know what to do without her TV. It should be interesting.

I was so surprised that Elliot was voted off of American Idol. I hope Kat does well next week, but I'm really not excited about either of the top 2.

National Fibromyalgia Awareness Day

Today, May 12, is National Fibromyalgia Awareness Day. To learn more about Fibromyalgia go to fmaware.org or check out medline at http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/fibromyalgia.html

For Ivy

This poem is for my friend Nancy, who had to put down her dog Ivy last week.

If it should be, that I grow frail and weak,
And pain should keep me from my sleep,
Then, you must do what must be done
For this, the last battle, can't be won.

You will be sad, I understand
Don't let your grief then stay your hand,
For this day, more than the rest,
Your love and friendship stand the test.

We've had so many happy years,
What is to come can hold no fears,
You'd not want me to suffer, so,
When the time comes, please let me go.

Take me where my needs they'll tend,
Only, Stay with me to the end,
And hold me firm and speak to me,
Until my eyes no longer see.

I know, in time you will see,
It is a kindness you do to me
Although my tail its last has waved,
From pain and suffering I've been saved.

Don't grieve it should be you,
Who decides this thing to do,
We've been so close, we two, these years,
Don't let your heart hold any tears.

Smile, for we walked together,
for a little while.

(Author unknown)

Fat but Happy

Why can't researchers come up with an antidepressant that causes people to lose weight rather than gain it?? I'm so happy to be stable mood-wise, but I can't stand the weight gain side effect. The only way I have ever lost weight is to taper off the antidepressant, then after about 9 months I can finally get the scale to budge downward. And to top it off, in January I was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia. According to my doc that explains a lot about my health including my inability to lose weight. I'm still going to make every effort to exercise, even though most days I am exhausted and achy. It's not the ache that you get when you work out too hard; it's a weird, burning ache in places that you weren't even exercising. Sometimes I can walk fairly easily and not get too winded. Other days, I feel like I'm 90 years old. And I can never build up any endurance. This is not like when I was younger. I was in great shape! I could do 60 minutes of step aerobics and feel awesome! There was nothing like the endorphin buzz. But then I started to have asthma attacks induced by exercise. Soon the darkness of depression engulfed me and I wasn't motivated to work out even though it was the best possible thing I could do. And then the chocolate cravings set in and it was goodbye to my conditioned body. Yuck. So, if you're reading this and you're a researcher, please, invent some antidepressants that cause weight loss. I'd be most grateful.

Manic Monday

It has been a long day. Had ceiling fans installed in 3 rooms in the house. Mom had several 'accidents' today. It is so humiliating for her. I try so hard to be calm but it's exhausting to clean everything up. I feel so sorry for her. She woke me up at 4:30 AM thinking it was time to go to church. She's done this 2 other times. I keep wondering what will be next in this progression.

Now it is quiet and we are winding down getting ready for bed. Mom is stroking her kitty who is asleep on her lap. We are having a thunderstorm with lightening. It's kind of comforting and all is well.