What's the rush anyway?

I've already been sleep but the dog woke me up by licking my hands and my face, He knows that's a surefire way of waking me up, it works every time. I think he does it when he his bored of being all by himself and wants some company. He didn't have to go out anyway. 

So here I am sitting with a cup of coffee and a cigarette. Outside it is raining like it has a lot today. No doubt we need it because it hasn't rained a lot lately. It is a gentle rain and not coming down in buckets. That is some relief. And at least it isn't very cold outside. 

I have been eating the Greeks yoghurt that I bought for my sister. It is delicious and I think I'm hooked on it. It is so thick that you can set a spoon straight up in it. I eat it with brown sugar like she does and I can heartily recommend it. I like it at least as much as I like vanilla pudding and that is saying a lot. I don't know how many calories there are in it, I think there must be a lot, but it is worth every bite. I'm sure it's very good for you too. 

I've also got the drink yoghurt that I usually never buy in raspberry flavor. I will be having that next. I'm looking forward to it. I actually wish I had buttermilk to drink and I will have the Exfactor buy that the next time he goes grocery shopping which will be tomorrow as a matter of fact. The timing couldn't be better. 

I took the dog out for walks in the rain today and we did get wet which the dog didn't mind at all. I didn't either because I was dressed for it. We didn't get overly wet and I dried the dog off with a towel when we got home. He did enjoy that but I get the top half of him more dry than the bottom half. That's as much as he was able to co-operate. 

When I was done drying him, he was one mess of little curls which made him look very smart. I wish I could say the same for my hair, but it just stayed as straight as it always was.  Things are divided unequally in this world. Of course, people with curly hair want straight hair. Having straight hair, I just don't understand that. 

The cat stayed inside for most of the day and every once in a while had the crazy half hour when she ran through the living room using the furniture as an obstacle course and daring the dog to join in. That's when she must have had cabin fever. If she did, she brought it on herself. The rest of the time she slept on my bed and was unmovable. I could sit on her before she got out of the way.

I dreamed that I was having a pro-war argument with some bleeding heart liberals in British English which I spoke with a lisp. I argued that there was reason to fight for a cause and that there was reason to go out on a mission at night to seek and kill your enemy. I spoke very heatedly about this with much passion. When I woke up from my dream, I was convinced that I was right. I don't know how I feel about this now. 

I will now go and find some other way to amuse myself. It isn't time to go back to bed yet. I'm sure I can think of many things to do. There are usually all sorts of ways to get into trouble and I am bound to find them. I get bored easily enough with the status quo to want to change it. Watch me do it now.

Gave a good night you all.

Ciao,

Irene

For no reason at all...

For no reason that I can think of I'm very happy right now. This comes after having been somewhat down in the dumps all day, although that gives the impression that I was depressed and I wasn't that. Let's just say that my grumpy mood from yesterday wasn't over yet. I'm like a bear disturbed in her winter sleep and all I want to do is hibernate until springtime. I think that is the proper description for me lately. 

But this minute I feel good. I actually feel like I'm in a proper enough mood to feel some optimism and to not look at the day as one long dreary stretch of time that needs to get through somehow in the best possible way. That sounds torturous, doesn't it? And it is. I'm not enjoying that at all. 

You should see me try to get through the day in my own convoluted way. I'm like a circus lion jumping through hoops and will do anything to make the day go by as quickly as possible. I'm hopelessly short of imagination, though, and I fail in making it as amusing as I can. I can only think of the most boring and the least painful ways to manage. But I do make it in the end anyway and that is the most important thing. 

I guess that's why I'm so relieved at the end of the day when I feel like I've completed another gargantuan task. No wonder that it makes me feel so happy. All I have to do is make it through the short evening and go to bed. The night is easy enough to get through. And really, once I have my pajamas and bathrobe on, I feel that anything is easier. It's the same as wearing lounge wear and being dismissed from the job. It's like being on vacation. 

Oh yes, I started on the lower dose nicotine patches today and don't notice one bit of difference. The packaging was the same but the patches are smaller. I wondered how they were going to deal with that. What an ingenious solution. I will be on this dose for a week and then I move on to step 3. I suppose those patches will be even smaller. That will be the last step and then I will be without and on my own. I'll be ready for it. 

I hope you'll all have a nice evening and that you won't be bored jumping through your own hoops. 

Ciao,

Nora

Bedtime stories...

I'm perfectly content right now and want to savor the moment. Or should I say, the long moments that I will be content because I know it's going to last a while. It's not over until the fat lady sings and there's no fat lady around here anywhere, nor is there likely to be one in the middle of the night. At least not within my hearing distance. There will be no sudden opera arias sung. I will fall out of my chair with surprise if there are.

I always say this, but I'm drinking a very good cup of coffee and doubtlessly that has put me in a good mood. Caffeine is one of my preferred choices of chemical addictions, after all. It and nicotine are my crutches as befits a writer. I should write crime fiction on a portable Remington and live in the 50's when everyone was oblivious.

I'm sitting here with a new haircut which I got yesterday. My very own hairdresser cut my hair and she did a fabulous job, but that's for me to claim and for you to believe. It's very short and I love to run my fingers through it. It's indestructible hair. 

Everybody else and their sister had been cutting my hair lately, except for my very own hairdresser, and they all had done a decent job, but not as good as she has done now. We were trying to remember yesterday how long she has been cutting my hair and could not think of the number of years it had been exactly, but it has been a long time. 

My hair always lightens up after it has been cut. It must be that the gray hair shows up more, but I like the look of it and walk down the street proudly afterwards. I'm not the least bit vain, of course. My hairdresser fixes my hair with gel, something I'm never able to do well myself, and for the rest of the day I have a cute hairdo until I sleep on it. I'll have to wash it in the morning to get it to look decent again. 

Today is going to be a cool day with rain and drizzle, so I'll have to wear completely different clothes than I did yesterday when it was so warm. A low pressure system from France has come over us. For a change our weather is not coming from England. It's moving north toward Scandinavia and then turning around and moving over us again causing a double whammy. 

I have a day off without any appointments. I actually wish I did have some because I'm more in the mood to have some action in my life at the moment. I have to try and amuse myself in the best possible way without getting into any trouble and without getting wet. And without spending money. That's very restrictive, isn't it? 

I think I will go look for something interesting to do now because I'm not nearly ready to go back to bed. The fat lady isn't singing yet. 

Ciao,

Nora

Instinctively...

 

I always feel that whatever I write here has to be very inspirational.  That I can't just write about run of the mill matters here and ordinary things that occur in my day to day life. God only knows where I got such an idea. It's not as if this blog is loftier than my other blogs, so I shouldn't treat it that way or try to write  that way, otherwise I may get intimidated and develop writer's block and that won't do at all. I need to take this blog down a notch or two and make  it a reflection of how I really am and how I really think and not some blown up literary attempt at pretty prose. Having said that, I will now get down to business and write something plain and ordinary.

I've already slept tonight. I went to bed early, after I watched the eight o'clock news and found out about the latest developments in Tunisia, but I woke up after several hours and was wide awake again. The time it takes my 'falling asleep' pill to stop working. Now I have to wait for real sleep to hit me again. That will be some time towards the morning. In the meantime, I've had a cup of coffee and I'm now drinking a glass of milk, which is thirst quenching, but is making me feel cold. I'd better drink a glass of warm milk or a cup of hot chocolate, but the latter always makes me feel very full, as if I've eaten a meal. My gastric band can't handle anything substantial. 

I have to find some ways to amuse myself tonight and there are several possibilities. Looking for good templates is one of them. That's always a sport that I don't tire of. I can spend a long time looking for the right one. I'm also going to be looking for interesting bits of writing for the website Six Sentences, which I recently have gotten a renewed interest for. It makes me pay attention to the quality of things I write and have written. I can also go in search of images to accompany these blog posts. I do use them up quickly, but there are always more to find. I'll be looking for especially colorful ones as opposed to the black and white ones that I usually post. A body does want something different every once in a while. 

It's in the middle of the night now and I feel very good. It's so nice to sit here in the semi dark all be myself and to know that the world around me is asleep. It's not raining outside and merely cloudy. It's not all that cold either. I was standing by the back door earlier and it was very doable while I waited for Tyke to finish getting done with his business. He is a slowpoke and does take his time, unless I pretend to walk away and leave him there, but then he may start to bark and I can't have that late at night. It would upset the night rest of my neighbors.I do have one especially delicate neighbor who will let me know that he's not pleased.

I must be off to do other things now. I have dawdled long enough. It's taken me forever to write this little bitty post. I have made cigarettes in the meantime and checked my facebook account. Sometimes it's hard to stick to the job at hand. There are also emails to answer. I've seen those come in, but have resisted reading them. I do have some self control. I've got to wait for it to become morning so that I can go back to bed. It will be with much joy that I do. I will be more than ready to.

Have a good day.

Ciao,

Nora

 

About the little things...

I'm sitting here late in the evening with a cup of coffee and a cigarette. I've already been to bed and asleep, but Tyke suddenly started to bark as if something was wrong. That woke me up in a hurry. I heard a car drive away, so that must have been it. He is over alert sometimes. I suppose that makes him a good guard dog, but I don't think the neighbors appreciate it. I generally do try to keep him quiet, so that I will get no complaints. 

Like I said, it woke me up in a hurry and my heart was in my throat. Talk about an adrenalin rush. I was afraid he was going to repeat himself and thought I had better get up. He is now sound asleep on the sofa with Gandhi and everything seems to be back to normal again, except that I am up and awake. I will try to go back to sleep at a later time when I am calmed down again. 

My upstairs neighbor has come ringing my doorbell once late at night and I don't want a repeat of that. It does make me nervous. He's very sensitive, because he is in the autistic spectrum, and uses that as an excuse not to be allowed to be bothered by anything. 

Anyway, I have to start the going to bed ritual all over again, so I will be here for a while yet. 

After I spent the day comatose because of the lack of coffee, I did get dressed and walk Tyke. I wore warm clothes without paying much attention to whether or not I was fashionably dressed. It was 41F degrees outside, but it didn't feel cold, because there was no wind. The sun was setting and the sky was covered in clouds. It was good to feel the cool fresh air on my face. 

Tyke frolicked through the leaves on the ground and picked up many scents. He is a true hunting dog, although I think he always follows the same trails. I suppose the same dogs walk there every day. He constantly has his nose to the ground, just like Jesker did and inhales deeply. He buries his nose in the grass as deep as possible. 

We almost missed the delivery boy from the pharmacy, whom I had forgotten about completely. I let Tyke carry the bag of medicine into the apartment. He did so very proudly. I do need a treat to get him to surrender it again. That's next on my shopping list. Tyke does think that every package and every bit of shopping is for him personally. I don't know where he got that idea. He has a real sense of ownership. 

The new brand of dog food is filling him up well and also does wonders for his turds. They are dry and hard and easy to pick up. What a difference with the old brand. Sorry about that subject, but as a dog owner that concerns me very much. 

Gandhi likes the new dog food very much too and always gets some of it. She stands at the ready on the kitchen counter to get her share of it. She also gets her regular kibbles and her dish of milk, so she's not getting a shortage of nutrients. She's getting a little bit plump, but she was always a very slender cat, so it's not too bad. I will put her on a fitness regime if it gets out of hand. I will have her do sit ups and push ups. It's a pleasure to see her eat well. 

I have to try and amuse myself for a while, because I'm wide awake. No doubt I'll find some kind of trouble to get into. There is always something to do in the blogging world. Somewhere in the world someone is writing a post. 

Ciao,

Nora