Yes, that is my attempt at humor.

Yesterday — Saturday — I worked a 10 hour day. We have a big project going to the client (hard deadline) on Tuesday and they are still writing one portion of it. One of my ‘hats’ is report production, so I went in to take all of the other portions of the report and make them pretty. This is after working a normal week.

It’s an important job: the client pays us a lot of money to do our work ($50k to $500k), but all they see are invoices until they see our report. The report has to be worth, visually, what they paid. So I stress — BIG time — when the process is getting weirder than usual, and there is no time left to make the report look good.

Because J. is visiting his parents this weekend I have Sasha care. (Quick note: J’s mom is doing great. She’s in a rehab facility in their hometown, so Dad can live at home and her friends can visit her. She’s progressing well, and they’ve set a tentative ‘go home’ date for her in a couple of weeks.)  So I took her with me, hoping it wouldn’t be *that* long a day.

She had a lot of fun, I think, although she continues to have problems with ’strange’ men. So there was a lot of barking (especially when they called me on the speaker phone — a new thing for her). And a little submissive peeing (boring!). But mostly she just hung out. Played a bit, napped a bit, the usual.

I wish I had my camera with me. One of her napping places was on my ‘visitor’ chairs. She doesn’t really fit . . . but she made it work.

Moreover, I have not been sleeping well. I’m off sleeping pills, but still sleeping only on one side. Which is really messing with my lower back, shoulder, and legs. Essentially, the whole right side. We have a ‘tempur-pedic’ type bed unfolding and de-gassing in the living room, but it will be a few days before I can sleep on it (the smell alone is horrid). I’m really (REALLY) hoping it will do the trick of supporting me on my side. As it is I have a whole battalion of pillows: one under my head to support my neck, one across my middle so my left arm doesn’t drag down on the BLO, one in front of me to hold my arm up further and to provide an illusion of being on my stomach (which is how I used to sleep), and one to put across my head/face if I get cold or am lying on my back.

Oh, it’s great fun.

I think I need to cut coffee out of my diet completely, because I know that my old habit of two cups will now keep me from falling asleep. And one cup might be doing it as well. In any case, I have a hard time falling asleep when I go to bed at 10pm.  Sasha, however, is full of vim and vigor at 6am, so that’s when I get up.

J. comes in at midnight tonight, and I’ll pick him up. I doubt I’ll sleep past 6am tomorrow, and with work stress  . . . suffice it to say that I doubt I’ll get a lot of sleep tonight, either. I’m strongly contemplating a nap. Yes, a nap.

(*looks to see if the 5th seal to the gates of hell has come off*)

When we were in Paris, an average meal looked like this (although, add red wine and un coca:

PhotoHunt

Today, February 4, is World Cancer Day. As someone in the midst of the freaking wild ride known as cancer, this is a day to mark. I am celebrating the day by going in for my Oncology Orientation. Isn’t that beautifully ironic?

This year, the theme is ‘Cancer Can be Prevented Too’ and it is a position I heartily endorse. Most illness, including cancer, can be prevented if each of us takes three steps: don’t smoke, eat well, and walk 30 mins a day. That’s it.  Everything else is a flourish on the basic plan and I freely acknowledge that you can spend a lot of time discussing what ‘eat well’ means. For me, it means all foods are viable, but limit anything processed and try to stick with local, in season produce. (If the 1st ingredient is ‘enriched,’ its processed.) I will gladly sit down to a grass-fed steak dinner with salad and baked potato and butter. I’ll even have a glass or two of good red wine. But I don’t do that every night. In fact, most nights my meal is 2/3 vegetables.

Not smoking is a major factor. As an ex-addict I know exactly how hard it is to quit. Try. Try it again. Keep trying until you quit. You don’t want to end up like me, who could only stop when she needed cancer cut out of her body.

Walking every day is entirely possible. Get an iPod or (old school!) Walkman, and go for a walk. Get a friend or drag your partner up from the coach and go. Walk in the rain, the snow, and sun. Walk. I’ll eventually be allowed to do something more, but even then I will continue my regimen of waking every day.  If you are really super busy, walk 15 mins and do it twice a day.

Cancer is preventable.

Last night my coven gathered together to celebrate the passing of the seasons with our Imbolc ritual.

Traditionally, this is a Feast of Brigid, the saint/goddess or poetry, smithcraft and healing. Or it is a Feast of candles with fire, initiation and purification being common themes.

We celebrate it a little differently. In our lore, the Sun King is born at Yule  and is a Youth, the embodiment of hope and new beginnings at Imbolc. The Lady is recovering from her birthing and is very much in the background at this celebration. We honor Her wish for solitude and rest and Lugh is our main focus.

We light the balefire, and He invokes all of the promise of Spring and Summer with the burning of a sprig of evergreen. Then He takes into the fire all of our hopes and dreams for the new year, to manifest in the coming months.

I love Working with my coven. There is such a good spirit about coming together with them and honoring the underlying cycle of the world.

All yesterday I was seeing the signs of new life around me. The plum trees across the street from where I work are blooming, as are the pink flowered shrubs in front of my building. In my own garden, the Buddleia and roses are are sprouting at the tips of their branches. The Lilac tree (newly planted last year and a non-starter, I thought) has buds on its tips. On the side of the house, the purple tulips, planted in a tub by the previous owner are growing luxuriously.

Sometimes when I walk, the scent of some newly-opened ground flowers will reach me. We have heather planted all around and some kind of low-lying shrubbery that has rows of heart-shaped tiny flowers all laying atop one another. I suspect that’s the source of the scent, but haven’t confirmed it.

Next stop: Ostara (Spring!)

Just in the nick of time, I got an update in at Facing North. Eleven reviews, and one article. It’s a nice collection of books, and I mostly liked all the ones I reviewed, except one, which I pretty much hated.

Head on over and see what’s new!

I live south of Seattle and every once in a while, weather permitting, my camera spotted ‘the Mountain’ — Mt. Rainier. Normally, I don’t get a picture of it as large as it appears, but this time I did.

PhotoHunt

I have 2mg Commit mint-flavored lozenges (144 in 6 containers, from a package of 168 total) and 7mg patches (a box of 14, unopened) and I can’t seem to get rid of them locally (Seattle, WA). They seem like odd items to give to Goodwill. So I’m reaching out to basically everyone I know to offer them up for the cost of shipping plus $5. Just email me (lisa _ at_ cybercoven.org, properly edited, of course.)

Or, if you have a suggestion for a place to donate to, let me know.

Feel free to spread the word.

As y’all know, a few weeks ago, I wrote a bluntly scathing letter to the Humane Society letting them know that I strongly disapprove of their ‘free blanket’ campaign to raise funds.

Yesterday I got another blanket thing from them. This one is even better — it’s in a plastic envelope. So now I get to add ‘bad for the environment’ to my next scathing letter. Which will go out tomorrow at the latest.

Luckily, both of these blankets will go to help dogs at the local shelter. Along with a bunch of Sasha’s old (and still good) chew toys the like. (She quickly outgrew the ‘puppy’ kongs, which will make a small dog or another puppy quite happy.)

Because this picture makes me laugh.

She really doesn’t like her picture taken, for one. For another, she doesn’t understand why J. is taking so long to throw the duck into the water so she can keep playing!

The white rope is about 6 ft long and attached to her collar. We need it because sometimes she likes to play ‘keep away’ and that is not acceptable.

I’m hurrying to write this before my dilaudid ‘kicks in’ and I become illiterate once again.

I think I got an infection in my breast yesterday — it was hot to the touch, slightly swollen, and red, like sunburned. We called my surgeon (they have a service that puts you through to him directly if he can take the call — very cool) and he put me back on an antibiotic. Took two last night, along with a lot of visualization, and I’m noticeably better today. Whew. (The only ‘fix’ for an infection with a breast implant is to remove the implant and wait several months for the tie to heal, and then re-insert the implant. NO WAY.)

I’ve been feeling a lot of pain, even with dilaudid, and so I’ve been using the hypnotic WAV my psych. taped at our last session. It’s a profound difference. I’m starting to alter it to add in ‘you will feel less pain each day as you heal completely’ because the dilaudid runs out tomorrow and I already know that OTC drugs are not going to work.

But I will be so glad to get off the narcotic. I like the lack of pain, but hate the side effects of fuzzy thinking, lack of motivation, and physical  . . .  blockage. (I don’t want to say more, but its the most common side effects of narcotics, ok?)

I’m looking forward to going for a walk, maybe even two today. That will be a big step forward. Ambien is working to help me sleep, so I’m back to 8+ hours/night, thank goodness. Soon normality will return. At least for a while.