Late in the afternoon...

It will be early evening by the time I'm done writing this, but never mind. The title stands.

It's been an unpleasant day and for as good as I felt yesterday, that's how bad I've felt today. A complete opposite situation, in other words. I'm trying the trick with the coffee, but I'm not being very successful so far. I've tried to get my head in a different frame of mind, but I'm not managing it very well. I don't know exactly what the problem is, except that I've lost my happy outlook and I can't find it anywhere and now everything is doom and gloom.

I've tried to keep myself busy with the odd job, but it hasn't helped very much. I even tried to cut my hair, but the scissors were too dull. I don't have a pair of really good ones and must invest in some.

Since the weather is so nice today, I've had to find different clothes to wear and switch my cowboy boots for summer shoes. Tyke thought this was really interesting and followed me around, sniffing my feet and biting my shoes. He's only known me with boots on.

Finding summer clothes wasn't that hard and they still fit me. That's always a relief. It means that I can't wear my scarves any more and I'll miss them, but I can wear necklaces. I've had to take off the silver rings as my fingers were starting to itch, so now I'm not wearing any, which is fine. I'm undefined and plain old hands are okay too.

I'm still wearing leggings under my skirt, as I don't want to show my bare legs yet. It's a little bit too early in the season for that. Besides, they lack colour and are as white as milk bottles. Somehow I have to get them tanned a bit. I may have to sit in my sister's garden and figure out a way to stand sitting in the sun. It's not my favourite thing to do. I used to sit on the beach in California, but that was when I was young and ignorant about skin cancer.

I just finished a cup of coffee, but I'm awfully tired. I need to go take Tyke for a walk, but I think after that I will go to sleep. That seems like the most wonderful idea right now and completely like what I need.

It's just a short post, but it will have to do. I can't always be long winded.

Have a good evening.

Ciao,

Nora

It's not the fun it used to be.

I took another nap on the sofa later in the afternoon. It was very refreshing and I can recommend a nap to anyone who is out of energy just a little. Don't eat, take a nap instead and then have a nice cup of coffee to wake up with. I think we all have the tendency to take in carbohydrates when we get tired, but we don't need them. It's best just to go lie down for a little while and sleep. Unless you wake up ravenously hungry, of course. You better have someone handy who has cooked dinner for you and you can sit down and eat a healthy meal instead of too many cookies or chips.

Luckily, I don't wake up hungry. I'm always thirsty and usually grab a glass of cold milk first. Low fat cold milk, that is delicious. I would buy whole milk, but for the calories and the guilt. I'm sure it makes a difference, because I drink a lot of milk. It's one of my favorite beverages, that and coffee. They say that Dutch people are so tall because of all the dairy products that we use. Could be, but I'm only 171 cm, so a little on the short side. That's 5 feet 7 inches for you Americans.

The reason for the title of my post is that the last few days, blogging hasn't been as much fun as it used to be. I hope this is a temporary condition and that it happens to everybody. Actually, it has been longer than a few days, but I always tell myself that once I'm writing things will look better and that I will get the hang of it again. You know I don't usually miss a day, unless I can't help it, and I write many posts. Now when I sit here, I sit here for a long time and scratch my head and think and wonder what in the world I'm going to say to you. I think this may be the new dull Nora, whose imagination has not taken a flying leap to the stars with her.

Just think of it, a whole new dull me with an under developed imagination. No highs, no lows. just a mediocre woman. Wait, I think I made that claim before and then I became hypo manic, so I better watch my words. I don't want to pull the sky down on myself.

Well, this is it then for tonight. I will go and do something else useful. Maybe go to sleep early.

Have a good night.

Ciao,
Nora

Tuesday morning.

It's really sad when you can't think of a better title for your blog post than that one, but that's all I can come up with for right now. I've just made my second cup of coffee and I'm hoping it will stimulate my brain into better action. I've been up for more than two hours, so I do expect some productivity, but the going is slow, although I have had 6.5 hours of sleep and that should be enough.

I managed to add another hour after I let Tyke out back to do his business, and Tyke did look quite bewildered when I got back into bed. He thought it was time to play and eat and do other interesting things, like kill his monkey that he already pulled one eye off. I'm always going to buy him stuffed animals and sturdy ones that were made for little kids and that are hard to pull apart. We were just playing with it and I was pretending it was my monkey and he became quite possessive of it and started to growl while his tail was wagging, because he thought it was wonderful that we were having a tug of war. He's lying on top of it now, so I won't be able to get to it. I'll leave him in that illusion. He does need to think that he can win from me sometimes, especially when it is about his toys and not about sponges stolen from a bucket.

Well, the second cup of coffee has sufficiently woken me up and I can function now, or maybe it was playing with Tyke that did it. I've taken another menopausal tablet, but it's too early to say anything sensible about it. I'll let you know in a week how it is working. I have them lying on the dining table, so I won't forget to take them. I don't want to take them with my other medicines, in case they interfere, but they are all natural ingredients, so it should be okay. I don't know, you always make these assumptions about things and you easily can be wrong, like I was about the vitamins and minerals capsules.

I've just realized that I haven't bought any French cheeses for a while and that I should really do that again. I like the Brie and the Camembert and I should buy a small supply of them. They keep well in the refrigerator and I can eat a little bit at the time. It doesn't take much to fill me after all. They are a good food source and speaking of that, I keep forgetting about the eggs that I've bought and need to eat. I need to put them in a different place in the refrigerator so I won't overlook them. Anything on the top shelf gets forgotten. I better start making a habit out of eating a scrambled egg on a regular basis. I will make one as soon as I've finished this.

I'm waiting for the Exfactor to get here so he can solve the mystery of the computer speakers. I hope he has the answer for them, because I really want to listen to music. After a silent winter, I am ready for some pleasant noise and my choice has fallen on Jazz. That's what I'm in the mood for and I've made a playlist with "Porgy and Bess" on it as interpreted by Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong. I've also got Sarah Vaughn and I can't wait to hear her sing "Summertime." I've got Ellington and Monk and Howlin' Wolf, although I don't know if he is strictly Jazz, I think he is more of the Blues. If anybody has any suggestions, then please let me know. I've put Nat King Cole under popular music, I don't know if by rights his music is Jazz. Any opinions on that?

Well, I've got to see a man about a horse as they say, but to me that could mean anything. I think it's a handy expression, although I think it's commonly used only by men. There must be a reason for that. Somebody will have to explain it to me.

Have a good day you all!

Ciao,
Nora

A Splendid Day.

I thought I would title this post optimistically to get you all in the right mood. That way, if I do go on about something, you will forgive me and read on to the next happy bit.

I am sitting here quite cozily with my mug of decaf and the Überhund at my feet, while I am being scrutinized by some cats. I don't know why this is, but I've decided to ignore them, because their dishes are full and I don't know what other meaning I can have for them.

It's been a good and educational day, in that I had my second evaluation with both my therapists from the classes and my SPN and the head of the department and it all went well and I really think I am in good hands. Within the shortest amount of time, they had me pegged down and described the areas in which I still need help and growth in confidence and assertiveness, but they said it in such a kind and caring way, that I could only agree and hope that in the next 4 months I will be able to work on those areas with their help and see myself improve with leaps and bounds and get to the place I want to be.

Really, you never met a nicer bunch of caring women, who are so gentle and kind and who want so much for you to succeed and they will do anything to help you. And they compliment you too, where that is due. So it isn't like you only very gently get criticized. They shower you with goodwill and you leave the meeting feeling as if you've received a dose of good luck. So I am good in my skin now, as they say here.

I had my creative therapy class this morning, so I haven't spent a lot of time at home today. I am doing something completely different from the usual collages that I always make. Now I am making a painting with acrylics and I am having much fun with it. It is abstract and I drew the shapes with pencil and now I am filling it in with paint, which is a painstaking process, but right up my alley. I love working with the paint and a little brush. It's such peaceful work and I love to be caught up in it. It''s almost a shame when we have our coffee break, because I want to keep working. I have done the greens first and will now move to the reds. Then I will add golden yellow.

I am tempted to copy a Mondriaan, but I have to find a good picture of one. It would be interesting to do 'Boogy Woogy', but I don't know if I will have the patience for it, you now, the measuring and everything.

Picasso is a good one to copy also, although it may be good just to be inspired by him and then to come up with something of my own. I am not even going to attempt to copy Van Gogh or to pretend to be inspired by him. Such greatness I could not reach.

I am taking the Überhund to the vet tonight to have him look at his eye and to get some more pills for his osteoarthritis. They work very well, but of course the Überhund will be a nervous wreck, like he always is. That one big shot he had there, spoiled it for him forever and now he does nothing but tremble when we are there.

I found a cute top in my closet that I forgot I had and I'm wearing it now. My small closet is so packed with clothes that it is hard to see what I've got and I really need to get something bigger. I may look in the second hand goods store to see if they have something there that is a little better.

Well, that's it for me for today. I've got to watch a bit of the news and then go to the vet. Have a great night, everyone. At least the weather is halfway decent.

Ciao...