Last Post, This Post

Last entry: November.  Tomorrow it will be March 1st, and one day prior to our 13th wedding anniversary.  Our wedding was on a Saturday.  There was a freak snow storm.  Considering the present state of the weather outside, I am forced to be even more reminiscent.

Had the colonoscopy in December.  All perfectly normal, except for confirmation of scar tissue from my hysterectomy, the pain caused by which I shall have to simply live with. Ah, well.  I suppose we all do the best we can.

Hunter the super cat is better than before.  He can now climb up on the couch and sleep on me, which is where he prefers to do so.  He is sometimes a demanding, cranky old man.  If he's hungry, he literally screams if he sees you coming, and then leads you to the bathroom and squalls until fed.  But I believe after a life lived so long, an old man is entitled to shout for his supper.

I have been working on another blanket, and a few drawings here and there.  I go through phases where I am more interested in hidden object games and facebook.  I have been watching Star Trek:  The Next Generation with my husband.  For probably the 5th time.  Such a good show.  And in light of the recent passing of Leonard Nimoy, it is a bit more interesting when he happens upon an episode, which is the case tonight.  It's such a strange thing. Until now, I have never shed tears at a celebrity's passing.  I guess it must be because I cannot remember a time in my entire life where he wasn't just 'out there' being Spock.  I know it is strange to mourn the death of someone you never really knew, but my life would be so different without my experience with his character.  I can think of so many conversations that would have been devoid of any humorous reference to Living long and Prospering.  So many contests with friends on who could most skillfully bid a vulcan farewell. A few painful receipts of a 'vulcan nerve pinch.'  Silly?  No, I don't think so.  It's simply the end of an era.  A signification of another step further away from youth, and toward the next stage of life.  Maybe I shed a tear for us both.

We may have made a small breakthrough with Riley's medication.  The poor child takes four medications.  He has one to help him 'settle' a little during school, one for bedtime, and one for mood and anxiety.  We have reluctantly tried stimulants, with what I would call atrocious results.  We have tried mood stabilizers, to reduce aggression, with quite the opposite effect. Before this, they put him on prozac, which helped in some ways, but seemed to increase bad dreams and decrease sleep. We have switched from Prozac to Zoloft and had a week of fairly positive results.  And the Vistaril for anxiety is an antihistamine which has a sedative effect.  With that, and a little lavender oil, which Riley calls 'wee-waxing-stuff,' we seem to maybe, MAYBE...finally have a good fit.  At least for now. We are scheduled to go to the Dennis Developmental Center in Little Rock in May for a day-long battery of evaluations to come to some more clear determination of his overall condition.

So aside from a pretty crummy encounter with an identity thief, things are going along fine!  But, that's a subject for another time.

If you've ever had a dog...

My dog is the vision of loyalty.

When I’m sitting, she has to be touching me.

When I’m walking, she’s following happily

No matter where I am traveling.

When I’m sleeping, she’s sleeping right next to me.

When I’m gone, she waits for me patiently

And upon my return, greets me lovingly.

No matter how long she’s been waiting for me--

A minute, an hour, a day or a week--

She’s in heaven the moment she looks at me.

Mine is the best dog I’ve ever seen.

Her eyes and her ears and her nose are keen.

She’s the most loving dog that there’s ever been.

No other can bring me the joy she brings.

She sits like a good girl to get a treat

She behaves like a princess when she eats.

She is smarter than many a human you’ll meet.

She is so full of life, and of energy!

She can’t imagine her life without me.

I feel the same way as she, naturally!

Her tail is the window into her soul

It’s the best way she feels she can let me know

That she loves me the best in the universe

And I’ll never be sure who had whose heart first.

Goings On and Comings Up

I saw the doctor about my CT scan results.  I get to have what my mother and aunt call a 'scopeuptomy' on December 16th.  Hooray.

Hunter the super cat is walking around like a champ.  The coping strategy seems to be to hold his tail down toward the floor to balance.  I have never seen a more resilient creature, human or animal.  I know we won't have him forever, but from this point on, I am at peace either way.  He has been with us for over 17 years.

I have been doing my artwork like mad after a bit of a break.  I have done four pieces in as many days.  Christmas is coming fast, and I have lots of projects to keep me busy.  Riley will be the "Little Drummer Boy" in the Living Windows display on Main Street in Calico Rock on December 13th at 5:30 p.m.  I have the backdrop, the burlap, and a round cardboard box to make him a drum, and Dad has drum sticks.  Just a few things more, and we'll be ready for that.   The same night, the Christmas Lights Parade will be rolling down Main Street, which is comfortably visible from our front porch.  We will have all our best friends here for a visit.  I think my mom may come down too, to see Riley in his Drummer Role.

I have been asked to do some artwork again this year for the Living Windows event.  An artistic flyer, and possibly a piece that will be blown up and placed on a large Banner.  That is so exciting!  I feel very fulfilled when I get to share my artwork!  I don't claim to be the best, but hopefully, the heart behind every stroke of the brush, scratch of the pencil, or mark of the pen are showing in the effort!  Last year, I did a title drawing for each of the eight windows on main street.  Going down and seeing the response to the event, feeling the chill in the air, and the spirit of the season pouring out of each one in the softest, most inviting and peaceful light imaginable brought me to tears.  I know that may have a lot to do with my sensitive soul, but it can't have left very many who saw it unaffected.

I feel the best when I am exercising my right brain.  Singing, playing music, doing artwork, whatever I can to create something new to share..   The one thing I wish I was doing more of was singing.  My good friend, who also happens to be a fantastic voice teacher, is interested in helping me to remedy that.  I would love the opportunity to put on a concert, and sing, play the piano, and sing some more.  I have enough of  a voice that I'd like to sing some powerful songs.  My stage presence leaves much to be desired, but my dream of doing it may help me to fill in what's missing there.

In less than two weeks, Thanksgiving will be here again.  then a few short days more until Christmas.  Time moves too fast. 

Friendly Neighbor Update

We have made it to the halfway point with our cat Hunter's leg healing journey.  Coming along nicely.  He's such a cool cat.

I still don't know why I keep spiking a fever and abdominal rash.  No clues or anything.  Just finish my antibiotics like a good girl who has plenty of time to be draggy and exhausted from their side-effects.  No problem.

Cat Scan for lower left abdominal pain was inconclusive.  Bright side:  No scar tissue. No hernia.  No tumor, no ovary problem.  Kidneys are great, and lower lungs. Sigmoid colon is thickening, and I have some fat deposits on my liver.  Have no idea what that means.

I don't feel like the pain is coming from my colon, and my liver is in the wrong place to be causing this pain.  And it doesn't track with other gastric activities in which I engage, if you catch my meaning. The pain is constant and unrelated.  It hurts inside my hip, very top of inner thigh, outer hip, lower left back, down my leg and knee and my foot is tingly. All. The. Time.  I don't even see the gastroenterologist until November 12th, unless they get a cancellation.  So.  There's that.

On a lighter note, here's my latest recording :)

Call me down.

Call me down from dreams

When what I dream won’t match

With what I see

Drag me up from drowning

When I all but suffocate

What I might be

Shine me through the night

When all the lights go down

So I can rest

Shroud me through the daylight

When everything is blinding

At its best

Calm my stormy countenance

When everything in torrents

Soaks me through.

Call me to a higher ground

When all I cannot see

Leads back to you.

Evidence

I've been searching time

For proof, or some provision

That makes right the position

Of my consciousness and mind.

‘They’ wipe out what is certain

The evidence is clouded;

The darkness here a shroud--

And nothing draws the curtain

So in can stream the light

And show me what is there

I’m looking everywhere!

But the shades are shut down tight.

Time is searching me--

And testing every dream;

And making what I’d like to be

Look less like what I need.

And where is all the love

That I'm supposed to feel--

Those things that make me real--

That provision is to prove?

Faith can never fight

For those that do possess

The power to be faithless;

Even when it isn’t right.

I've been searching long

Yet I can tell you naught,

For my faith is all I've got--

And it feels like something’s wrong.

I can’t get free from feeling

That someone knows the truth

And if the light gets loose,

It could stop my mind from reeling.

So do I search my heart

For the glimmer of faith lost?

What will be the cost?

Where do I even start?

~ (C)Kimberly B. Williamson

Here is the story of a boy. My boy.

Riley Sloan is 9. He loves his family fine.

His family loves him to the moon, but sadly, lots of times

Riley Sloan has trouble with a thing or two.

He can’t sit still or read a book; He can’t yet tie his shoe.

He can’t control his temper. His frustrations just abound.

He can’t yet ride his bicycle, And when he falls, he throws it down.

He talks while others are talking and interrupts their conversations.

He fights for their attention no matter the occasion.

Riley knows these things are wrong, but, still he does them all day long.

He tries like mad to listen and learn from every lesson,

But somehow things get jumbled up, and piled up, and tumbled up.

And pretty soon, he’s lost direction, and his mind can’t slow down for reflection.

He’s naughty a lot and it makes him sad. He doesn’t mean to be so bad.

But Riley isn’t ghastly. His little mind just goes so fast.

He tries so hard to slow things down, but his thoughts race and run around

Out of control despite him trying over and over, he winds up crying

Exhausted from all the time it takes to do what’s right in each choice he makes.

I can’t imagine what I’d find if I looked inside of Riley’s mind.

But He loves to sing and loves to fish and pancakes are his favorite dish!

He can do other things quite well! Like run, and play, and jump and yell!

He does great flips on his trampoline, maybe the best you’ve ever seen!

He can run a mile as fast as light!  His heart is big and his eyes are bright!

He cares when others are hurt or sad.  And he dearly loves his mom and dad.

Maybe Riley just needs more time.  More time to learn, more time to find

The self-control that we all see as something that comes naturally.

And maybe since we are his safety net, we see when it’s bad as it can get.

And maybe if we always try to remember as every day goes by

That he’s the balloon on the wind and wing, and we as his parents are the string.

In keeping him grounded, we do our best, and hope for him all happiness.