Changes Coming

The counties most commonly associated with Western North Carolina. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

Fall is here and the weather has really started changing. Last year we really didn’t feel much of a difference. I actually loved the weather last year. It was a very mild fall and winter. I was happily surprised. I am not fond of winter, cold or snow.

 

Western North Carolina is now under a winter storm watch for the next couple of days. I don’t know if it is due to the impending hurricane off the East Coast or what. But I don’t like the words winter storm and I really don’t like it before the end of October. I had a sneaking suspicion that this winter wasn’t going to treat us as nicely as last year. I’m hoping this isn’t our warning.

 

I am grateful I got groceries this morning. I made sure to get a few day’s worth of food and kitty litter. The cats and I should be just fine. I am quite happy to have the next couple of days off.

 

Related articles

• Hybrid of Sandy, winter storm threatens East Coast (wcnc.com)
• Woolly worm predicts snowy winter in western NC (myfox8.com)

 

Sometimes the Real Me Comes Out

Teddy bear – Rory (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I try to use my filter most of the time. I really do. But sometimes the filter breaks. It’s usually when I am tired. The filter just breaks off and the real me just lets loose. It can be good or bad. In the last couple of days it was not so good for a couple of other people. They thought they were going to spout off to me and boy they didn’t know what they were about to receive in return! When I finished with them, I left them with a jaw hanging on the floor.

Now before you start fussing at me saying I should be nice (or maybe I am channeling my mother’s lectures from when I was a kid that I always had to be nice even when others were being horrible to me), let me just say these people knew the amount of stress I was under and they are the ones that decided to poke the bear. They took the risk knowingly! Then the bear growled and even nipped a time or two and you’d think I was the most evil person on earth. I did tell one of them that they better be glad I had some restraint because there were many more things I could have said but I chose to be semi-civil.

The moral of the story is to not poke bears if you aren’t ready for a bite. People and animals can only take so much. If you catch them at the wrong moment, you might get more than you bargained for. And if you give negativity on purpose, then be prepared for it to be given back in equal or greater measure.

Funny, Tired or Insane?

You know you’ve felt that moment where something is hysterically funny and you just weren’t sure if it was really that funny or if you were just that tired or if you were truly insane. Yesterday I had one of those moments. I have had a rough week. I was getting into bed after a lot of aggravation. I was exhausted. I was fixing the pillows and the covers just so. Suddenly there is this noise that made me jump. My “plump” (read that as fat) cat who weighs 16 lbs decides she wants up on the window sill. Now, the window is blacked out so I don’t know why she wants up there. She can’t see out. But she wants up there. The ledge is as wide as a dollar bill is long. The cat is a little (read a lot) larger than this. So I’m sitting on the bed watching Soleil jump up and catch her front paws on that ledge. She hung on for dear life. I am watching with bemused amazement that she can hold on. Then she got a back leg up but didn’t quite get the rest of herself up. So she is hanging on sideways on the window sill. I wish I could have grabbed the camera but I was laughing so hard I had tears rolling down my face. I haven’t laughed like that in a long time. I couldn’t stop. It got funnier with the look she gave me. Oh she wasn’t happy with my howling laughter. Then the question of whether it was truly funny, if I was tired, or if I was insane crossed my mind. At the time I really didn’t care. I don’t care too much now either. I have decided that I enjoyed the laughter and whatever state of mind produced it, I must have needed it at the moment. If the laughter persists I might worry. I do think I need much more of it but I think there should be a reason. Cats riding side-saddle on a window sill certainly seems to be a good reason. Don’t you think?

Screw You, AARP

AARP has decided to send me information. Look, in a few years I will need your info, but until then keep your literature! I don’t want it. I don’t need it. I’m not old enough for it. Screw you, AARP!

I don’t care that I act 90 some days. It’s really nobody’s business but my own. Does AARP have spies or something? If I like cats, is it their concern? No. I can be the crazy cat lady if I want to! It’s none of their business how many cats I have or want! (For the record I only have two! They act like twelve, but I assure you there are only two of them. I couldn’t handle more of this wildness!) Is it really anybody’s business that I take more meds now than I did a couple of years ago? Pfizer and Merck love me! Maybe I’ll see if they want to be friends on Facebook or something. So what that I can’t eat spicy food like I used to? Again, Pfizer and Merck love this fact! We’re gonna be BFF!

So AARP, you can take a hike for a while. I don’t want or need you for a while. I’m sure you are good for something. But I do not need your help just yet. Look at the title of my blog. I am surviving middle age. I’m not over the hill just yet. I’m creeping up the hill as slowly as possible! Screw you, AARP! You’re not gonna make me feel worse today.

You Know Who Your Friends Are

You know who your friends are when you are feeling mean and you tell your friends and they say ain’t skeered. Yes, we’re Southern. Yes, we’re country. Yes, I love them. And they love me when I am mean as all get out. When I am at the end of my rope and ready to scream I either get quiet or can get mean. I try to be quiet. The operative word is try. I don’t always succeed.

I have been stressed recently and just been trying to get through it. I tried to just warn some friends that I wasn’t in the best of moods and just watch out and please bear with me. I love the responses of, “I ain’t skeered!” It doesn’t mean that they don’t care. It meant that they could take whatever I dished because they loved me and could and would love me no matter what. When you are stressed to the point where you just want to sit and cry, that is so comforting. It feels good to know that there’s a handful of people who actually give a damn and just love you unconditionally. Good or bad. They love you. I’m grateful. There’s a few.  I hope they know how grateful I am for them and how much I love them.

Related articles

• A Note To Anyone Who’s Ever Loved Me (thoughtcatalog.com)
• Y’all, I am blessed in friends. (head-nurse.blogspot.com)
• Ain’t skeered (thethingsihavelearnedblog.wordpress.com)
• Real Friends vs. the Other Kind – A Realistic Guide (igamemom.com)