The "what's On Your Mind?" Thread -2021

[MoonstoneWolf]

Cats are so funny. The other night Treasure was harassing Tourmaline and I said "Treasure, go to bed." Considering he does all this right outside my window. So he goes in Tourmaline's tent to pout. If they were human he'd be saying "I'll fix you. I'll sit in your room", He pulls this every night for 2 years when it's time for me to come in and lock up for the night.

 

[MoochNNoodles]

Noodles had the bigger attitude; but if Mooch came in the room and Noodles was in my lap, she would get up and leave so Mooch could sit there!

 

[MoonstoneWolf]

My next door neighbor passed away after 3 years battling cancer. She was 2 years younger than me. This means I have 6 months to find something to do about these cats and how to take 3 or 4 with me because Mom is seriously thinking of selling this house as a result. She's scared who will buy the house. Sopdet trusts me but she won't let me pick her up. Sadness and tragedy all around, but maybe I can sneak the cats into my place. Mom and I would get different units in same assisted living facility so in a way that does give me a bit of leeway of sneaking the cats in or seeing if I could get a catio put up. There are 5 I would want but the others would need to be rehomed.

It appears that some of these cats may need to be socialized. Yes I know there are other colonies but the cats that come here are used to me being here. I do have til summer but this is now critical. I should have started this process 2 years ago when Mom started talking about it.

 

[artiemom]

Ugh... discovered yesterday, when I tried to reorder Royal Canin Rabbit wet food... RC has reformulated all their products, including smaller cans, renaming it, increasing price.. UGH..

There is a Nationwide shortage of the rabbit!!

I spent all morning either on the web, phone calls trying to track it down.. OMG.. I hate this ...
Why would they do this---profit... nothing else==profit... ugh

It is a prescription food.. why reformulate it??

Ugh.. makes me so mad.. thought a prescription food would be safe from reformulation~ buss not--greed conquers all...

Finally tracked some down.. I managed to grab a case.. now need to get a hard copy of a script for it.. they do too take faxes.. ugh...

My last attempt would have been Boston, Angel, but I found it locally.. Thank God... no where..
Even called RC...

What I go through for my kitty... ugh.. I am mad... in more ways than one..

 

[MoochNNoodles]

I had an interesting time getting Mooch’s food ordered. There was a statement at the top of the manufacturer website saying there has been “unprecedented demand” and they are having trouble keeping up. They also came out with a new line thats more expensive. Fortunately I was able to find a few cans of that locally and Mooch loved the new stuff. I found that and ordered it instead.

I finally got an update on our septic system installation plans. They are waiting for the utilities to come mark the lines but it should be done by the middle of next week. Then they can fit us in. I can’t believe how long this has been taking!! We are at 2 months since they said it was failing.

DS isn’t ready for the new one he says because he doesn’t want to stop going to my mother’s to shower and do laundry. He adores my mom’s cat because hes super snuggly. Mooch will sit on DS now in the morning before I get up; but Pumpkin will sit on him all day. The problem is all this multitasking has really interfered with school. DD gets most of it done; but DS is less independent and we haven’t gotten science done. It looks like we will be packing extra into the last half of the year!

 

[WillowMarie]

Had a rough couple of days. Feeling scared about doing something I should probably do on in a couple days. Worried about the outcome.


On a positive, my mom put in a boundary with her friend that she was helping a lot that she will not be helping anymore once she comes home again. She understands now that it is time to step back and let the friend and the family step up to figure out how to make things work. It really helped that all my mom's friends and talking to her friend's relatives all agreed this was the right decision and it was time. I've made sure to be as positive as possible with encouragement and telling her I'm proud of her to help keep her confidence up. She shared the boundary today and was surprised by how the friend took it very well. My mom celebrated by getting dinner from a new restaurant to help celebrate this victory. I got a bacon, mushroom, and onion burger with sweet potato fries.

 

[Graceful-Lily]

On my mind... I find it so exhausting meeting new people only to have the friendship fall through time and time again. The conversations start to blend together and I find myself becoming numb and emotionless. Why can't I meet people who actually want to stick around...

 

[MoochNNoodles]

Apparently I can no longer eat a pizzelle without crying because every time I have tried to eat one this year I immediately want to give Noodles a nibble. I never purposely gave the girls people food; but one year DD was eating a pizzelle and Noodles started begging. So I told DD to let her sniff it...and Noodles took a chomp! I even have a picture from that moment. After that; Noodles was hooked on pizzelles and would steal any she could.

Its almost been one year since she crossed The Bridge; but man every pizzelle has caught me off guard. It took till this past fall sometime to stop looking for her in the chair next to me during school. I do still miss reaching over to pet her though. I didn’t expect a traditional Christmas cookie to cause so much emotion as to send me right to waterworks.

 

[BellaGooch]

MoochNNoodles I’m so sorry. I know exactly how that feels.
Sending prayers and hugs your way

 

[strider rose]

this morning i have to go to the post office and buy more stamps ... writing pen pals and soldiers they dont last long at all

 

[WillowMarie]

I'm working to catch up with my pen pals the next couple of days. Sometimes I wonder if I became overambitious and added too many. Although, I also forgot my accepting new pen pals was still on and received a couple more, which has now been turned off. I worry if I take a week or longer to reply, especially with new ones, they may delete our match and not receive members. Sometimes people do this, but what can you do. I do try to send messages now if my reply may be late and communicate it may be 1-2 weeks before my replies get sent depending on life.

Proud of myself for sharing my feelings with a couple friends even though I often feel scared reaching out and being vulnerable. I know it doesn't help feeling so isolated from people at this time with all the weirdness in the world and working hard to stay connected.

 

[strider rose]

W WillowMarie , I would love to write to you ... how many pen pals do you have total ? i also write to ladies that are in the military too now

 

[MoonstoneWolf]

Headache today

 

[strider rose]

MoonstoneWolf feel better soon

 

[MoonstoneWolf]

MoonstoneWolf feel better soon

Thank you. It's gone already. After 40 years of one continuous migraine (that I no longer suffer) this one isn't so bad but I get so few these days I cringe when one starts hoping I"m not getting migraines again. I will swear to Kelly Howell's Brain Massage to get rid of these headaches.

Snowing outside and the 3 cats are out there rolling around in the snow like it's 95 degrees.

 

[maggiedemi]

Why can't I meet people who actually want to stick around...

I think it's the pandemic. Maybe people are stressed and don't feel like talking. Or maybe it's the winter weather? I'm having the same problem with real life family and friends. They don't seem very chatty lately.

 

[Alicia88]

The pandemic is causing depression. Depression makes you not want to do anything. I'm in that boat. I'm beginning to hate my house.

 

[WillowMarie]

W WillowMarie , I would love to write to you ... how many pen pals do you have total ? i also write to ladies that are in the military too now

That would be fun! I will message you to discuss this.

On the slowly app, I have 26 listed, but not all have been active. 4 have not responded since early Sept. and another 11 have not yet responded from late Dec./Jan 4. (some of these new, others did not receive a letter from me for months... I did not communicate with all about the delay and wish I did as some were so enjoyable to get to know more and discuss things with!)

I have 7 I need to reply to that are new. Hoping they are still active as many are newer pen pals and it has been about a week since receiving them. One new letter from a new penpal arriving soon (before I turned off accepting new pen pals), and I just responded to 3 in the past couple of days.

Maybe 11 active unless some of the 2+ weeks since receiving my last letter just need time to reply. So we'll see! I've been meeting some interesting people for sure. Probably about half live in the US, but also chatting with people from other countries. My longest pen pal who we have so many similarities and things in common to discuss is from Egypt.

It is really helping me feel more connected to others and helps me remember my passion for life and my career when explaining past research projects and field jobs when asked. Makes me excited and hopeful for when things get back to "normal" for me. I've been feeling so isolated and alone, so this app and the bumblebff app has been helping.



What about you? You do hand written letters, correct? How many pen pals do you currently have? I know you've mentioned it before, but I'd love to hear an updated number!

 

[MoonstoneWolf]

I found a treat the Tourmaline likes. Mackerel. She doesn't like other types of fish, not a fan of chicken, and catnip doesn't faze her. She fought Treasure for the once in 3 months treat of mackerel though.

I have to admit I haven't done much on the Slowly app either. I just have too much going on here and by the time I realize it's been awhile since I wrote anyone, a month or two months have passed.

 

[WillowMarie]

The pandemic is causing depression. Depression makes you not want to do anything. I'm in that boat. I'm beginning to hate my house.

So true. Me, too. It's rough. I really miss leaving my house as well. I saw a meme around New Year's with a reminder that everyone will be sharing all the things they accomplished during the pandemic, but if all you did was survive up until this point that is a beautiful thing to celebrate. It has been so hard for so many.