Good morning!

At the risk of sounding repetitive, I have to tell you that I had a good night's sleep. I went to bed early, which was mostly out of sheer boredom, and slept until 5:30 this morning. When I say I was bored, I mean that I had told myself that I couldn't park my rear end behind the computer, because I want to break myself of that bad habit. There will be no compulsive blogging and I want to set limits on the time I spend behind the computer doing unnecessary but time consuming activities.

I didn't want to watch television because, except for the news, there was nothing worth watching on and it does have an off button. That left me reading my book and I figured that I could do that just as well in bed as I could on the sofa and I would be more comfortable.

I'm at the end of it and I know who the perpetrator is. It wasn't a complete surprise, although I had not thought of him automatically and the story did have all sorts of twists and turns, some of which I was quite uncomfortable with. The guy who did it was completely nuts, but in a very dangerous and calculated way. I won't give the story away. You'll have to read the book yourself. I do recommend it.

I saw my SPN yesterday afternoon. The bike ride over there was hot. I think I got a tan in the short time it took me to get there. The sun was out and the temperature was high and there was no breeze to speak of.

Since I lead such a dull and uninteresting life, which is really causing me to feel somewhat depressed and futile, we have decided that I should start creative classes again on the days that I have no other activities. We have an idea of what's available, but we don't know what the waiting lists are like. My SPN is going to put in an application and I will hear about it and get an appointment for an intake.

I know it is absolutely necessary that I do this. I must take an interest in outside activities. I must get out of the apartment and do something creative and be around other people. I do have to do this in a safe environment. The classes will be at the psychiatric clinic that's a five minute bike ride away from my apartment, so I will not have to worry about it being too far away and not wanting to make the bike ride over there. I have to make everything as uncomplicated for myself as possible.

I'm glad that I've made this decision and I can wait as long as I have to for whatever space has to open up. Even if I just start with one day that will be alright. I hope to be able to go two or three days, but I will be happy with two.

Today it's not going to be a hot day for a change, because a cold weather system is moving in and we are expecting rain this afternoon and tomorrow. As long as it doesn't rain this morning I am happy, because I have to walk to the dog salon with Tyke. Little does he know what is awaiting him, but he will be a much happier dog afterwards. I have already taken his before picture and I will take his after picture also and post those.

I have to get dressed and take him for a walk now. He is telling me it is time and I can't ignore him. Out I go in the coolness of the early morning. It will be pleasant out there.

Have a good day.

Ciao,
Nora

After a long night's sleep...

I managed to sleep from 10 o'clock last night until 6 o'clock this morning. I think that was partly because I was not at all interested in sitting behind the computer and doing anything blog related. As a matter of fact, I felt an aversion to my blog and my compulsion to keep wanting to change the design of it.

I think I keep wanting to change the design of it to make it a better blog, while I know that it doesn't depend on the appearance but on the contents.Lately I have felt that I don't have much of importance to say, yet I feel compelled to write to prove myself wrong. Every post looks alike and I feel that I'm only repeating myself post after post with the same unimportant ingredients.

I talk about how much I sleep and how much coffee I drink and about taking Tyke for walks. I actually lead a very boring life and from that I somehow have to put together a post that's interesting enough for people to want to read.

I think I'm not capable of doing it and the realization of it is hitting me hard and putting some fear into my heart. This makes me do things such as change the design every time I turn around. It also wants to make me change the title of my blog to fit the design I find.

Desperate people do desperate things, so I have decided instead not to be so fixated on my blog and to turn the computer off often during the day.

In the meantime, I have managed to get an appointment to have Tyke trimmed and bathed tomorrow morning at 10 o'clock. There was a cancellation and that's why I managed to get him in so quickly. Otherwise it would have taken much longer. It will be so nice to get that done, because he really looks like a raggedy dog now. He almost looks like he has dreadlocks.

I've just taken him for a walk and it was still lovely out. It was just the right temperature. The sun was not to hot and there was still a bit of a breeze. It's going to be a hot day today, though, and I'm not looking forward to that. I have to go see my SPN this afternoon and I have to go on my bike, but hopefully that will be pleasant, as I will catch a breeze while I ride it.

I'm going to finish doing the laundry now. I never did get done with that yesterday. I have no reason why I didn't. I just forgot about it.

Have a nice day.

Ciao,
Nora

Monday morning...

As you can see, I've changed the design of my blog. If the text is too small for you to read, go to the top left hand of your screen and click on "picture." Go to "zoom" and you will see the possibility to "zoom in." Click on that and the blog will get bigger. Repeat as necessary. There is no possibility for me to make the text bigger in the design. It does not give me that option. So, you have to row with the oars that you have, as we say in the Netherlands.

I went to bed at 3 am and woke up at 5:30, so that was not a heck of a lot of sleep. Still, I'm wide awake and functioning. How that is possible I don't know. I've had my two cups of coffee and am now drinking cold milk.

I've taken Tyke for a walk and it was nice and cool outside, but I didn't wear a jacket. It was almost too cold to go without one, but it was a pleasant experience after all the heat. It was still quiet outside, but now the street is full of traffic with parents are dropping their children off at school. This is their last week, they'll have vacation next week. Six weeks of it. It will be nice and quiet in the mornings without all the cars and bicycles and kids rushing to get to school on time.

I have to do some chores before the domestic help gets here. I've got a little organizing to do and two loads of laundry. It's a joy as always to look forward to. All I can say is, thank goodness for good smelling washing powder. It does make doing the laundry that much more pleasurable. I noticed when I made the bed that the sheets smelled good. Even I with my nicotine impaired sense of smell could tell the difference.

I've not taken my tranquilizers this morning and I don't feel the need to right now. I'm not planning on taking them unless I really feel that I have to. That is until I get so stressed that there is no other recourse. I'm not going to take them as a preventive measure. I want to see if I can do without. It's too easy to take them and be somewhat numbed by them and feel very little of what is going on around you. They make you lazy too. But I will take them if I need to. I will not be so foolish as not to.

Well, it's time to get going. I can hang up the laundry to dry out side today.

Have a nice day today.

Ciao,
Nora

A new post.

I went to bed early in the evening, in my cleanly made up bed, and read my book until I fell asleep. A huge tiredness had come over me and I had been unable to stay up to watch the news on television or sit behind the computer to read blogs. Of course, at 10:30 I woke up and was wide awake and completely not tired anymore. It had just been a nap that I had taken and not a full fledged sleep until the morning.

That's just my kind of bad luck, because I had every intention to not wake up until the sun came up again. It seems I'm not capable of such a feat. I'm doomed to be awake at least some part of the night and to never just sleep through it. I think possibly one of my ancestors may have been a night creature. You can make of that whatever you will.

And so I sit behind the computer again with a tall glass of milk and a cigarette. Tyke is lying by my feet. He has just torn apart a small cardboard container and the pieces are strewn all about him. I figured he was bored, so I let him. I'll clean it up later before I go to bed. Maybe he's not quite done with it yet. I see a larger piece that can be shredded some more.You have to let dogs be innovative sometimes.

I'm more than halfway through my thriller and I have to say that it has really got my attention. The suspects are being lined up, the net is being tightened and people are behaving suspiciously. Of course, I don't know who the killer is, but I know who I want it to be. Probably I've got it all wrong and it's going to turn out to be someone quite differently. I just dislike the person who I want it to be, so it comes down to prejudice. I'm in a hurry to finish it, but I keep falling asleep with it, because the only time I read it is in bed or on the sofa. Anytime I'm in a supine position, there's the danger of falling asleep. It doesn't matter what time of day it is.

It's a shame that the weekend is over. I was as lazy as it was possible to be. No doubt it was the lack of activity that made me unable to sleep enough during the night. Some strong hard labor would have taken care of that. I have to get up at a decent time in the morning because the Exfactor is going to be here to pick up a package and do the groceries. I also have to make a phone call to get Tyke trimmed and bathed. I don't want to put that off too long.

I have to get myself back into some sort of normal rhythm. Right now I'm wasting a lot of time doing nothing of importance. My days are very unstructured. I know that's not the right way to live my life. I have to get myself onto a schedule and do certain things at certain times of the day. It's to my own benefit if I do and to the benefit of Tyke as well, because I don't take him for regular walks right now. My negative mood and the hot weather have been the cause of that. Tomorrow I'll change that immediately. Both my mood and the weather have improved. It's only going to be 26C tomorrow. That's warm, but not too hot.

I have to make a decision about this blog design. I don't know if I'm happy with it. Something about that big dried leaf disturbs me. I do like the white page and the layout. I'll have to see what I can do.

Ciao,
Nora

At long last...

I don't know how many of you have been waiting for a post to show up here, but finally there is one. I have been trying, unsuccessfully, to set up another blog, but I have only a few followers there and today I became very disheartened and decided to call it quits there and return to this one. It was not meant to be. I think of that other one as my bad luck blog.

I will be posting on this blog regularly from now on. At least once a day. I am a prolific writer and I always find some excuse to write a post and add my thoughts to the vast world that is the Internet.

For those of you who followed me to the other post and back again, I thank you for your patience. I know I look like a fickle woman and I probably am, but things didn't work out the way I had planned them to. Stay tuned for a regular post here. There will be one coming up soon.

Ciao,
Nora

Saving Fish From Drowning!

For those of you who had not noticed it yet, I am blogging over here now. Please come and join me.

See you there,
Nora.