i'm darkness and light, bubbles and faerie wings.
i am sparkles and glitter, shadows and clouds.
i love purple, and faeries, and books, and music.
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there are a multitude
of words and emotions
crashing around inside my head
and heart
none want to escape their
dark, swirly, hideaways
and find themselves on paper
or screen.
these days I see nothing but
memories
of who lived within each box
of 28, 30, or 31 days
I know it’s just a matter of perception
a glass half empty / half full
sort of filter when I look at the calendar
but right now, all I see are empty spaces
where family, friends, pets, and loved ones
used to be
this date used to celebrate that person
that date used to celebrate this person
empty boxes that represent empty spaces
in my heart, and in the world.
and six years ago today, when my life changed
for better or for worse
(who knows)
perceptions changed, priorities changed.
but I’m still not sure how
or what I want to change
I have been wandering, lost.
through a maze of possibilities
uncertainty trailing behind me like a shadow
what I thought I needed, wasn’t what I needed
what I thought was the right path, turned out to be a dead end
and somehow, I am back at the start
all over again
or, maybe not.
maybe it’s a new direction, from the same entrance, but with different
possibilities and goals to achieve
maybe it’s not the same start, but a new one
Still.
I look at those empty boxes on the calendar
and all I see is loss
a birthday that is now a memory
a deathday that reminds me, yet again, of the empty space
each loved one, human or animal,
now has two empty boxes within 365 days
sometimes more
and I have lost so much time myself
because of six years ago today
the catalyst for change,
the shift in perceptions and priorities
I left, I grew, I tried something completely different
but it wasn’t the right path
and I am lost again
on another path that I am sure
is also the wrong direction
but I have so little energy to look for the right way
and I am so tired of trying to see through the fog
in my head
in my heart
in front of my eyes
I miss my father
I miss my dogs
I miss my friends
I miss my grandfather, grandmother, aunt, etc.
I miss seeing full squares in the calendar on my wall
eventually I may see them half-full
but I don’t know which path will take me there
or how long it will take to find it, or arrive
I am exhausted by loss
and of being lost
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April 7th, 2018 | my muse you might think
a poem
is an easy thing
just some words
on different lines
word after word after word
some of them rhyme
some of the time
sometimes
……….there
……………are
……………….long
…………………..pauses
between them
ortheycanbereadallinonebreath
a poem is painted
thoughts illustrated with letters
it can be cryptic;
hidden messages about the one that got away
who still haunts your heart,
or at least your dreams
it can be literal, or mean nothing at all
but words on paper can heal, ignite, or wound
releasing the words from inside your head
can be the difference between sleep and worry
a poem can be a lot of things
easy or hard
the choice is yours
© cjh
april 7, 2018
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I really don’t want to schedule myself time to blog because I know that as soon as I set a schedule I’ll never follow it. I am great with schedules and deadlines when it comes to work, but when it comes to my own personal stuff it’s the easiest way for me to ignore what I am supposed to be doing completely.
For a person who doesn’t think herself spontaneous I much prefer to be spontaneous about things like creativity. I like to do things when I feel inspired to do them. If I set up time for me to create…nothing happens.
I realized the decline of my blog is due to the ease of which I can post small snippets of life, with a photo, through instagram. It’s easier than logging into my blog dashboard, editing a photo in another program, and then using a third program to upload said photo, and then writing about it all here. I know I can add photos directly through wordpress, but then they aren’t saved in my extremely well-organized files on my server. I also happen to really love the filters I can use on IG, even if my love of IG has been slowly fizzling out since facebook bought them and ruined the platform. (I JUST WANT MY INFORMATION IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER, FACEBOOK. *shakes fist in consternation*)
I could always blog here without photos, but that’s boring. (to me) Besides I’m way more of a visual person and like to include something that’s photo-y.
I’m going through something right now and I don’t know what it is, but I know its going on because I keep making life changes. I quit working at the bookstore, I am back at my old place of employment twice a week helping out for a while. That’s certainly not a permanent thing because I quit there once, and I know I don’t want to be back there full-time. I am in this annoying perma-funk sadness phase. I am unhappy with so much right now and I am doing the best I can to figure it out. I am trying to do art stuff more. I am enjoying my bullet journalling thing. We’re entering month 4 and I am still keeping up with it. It’s must less restrictive than the planner I used to use. I eventually retired all of the different agendas I was using and now stick with the journal full-time.
There is a little part of me that breaks down each time I abandon a semi-full agenda though. It’s up there with not finishing a book. It feels wrong. I am trying to let go of these types of hang ups though. There’s way more in life to be upset about than not finishing an agenda through to the end of the year. (But still.. all those pages wasted. The money spent. Ugh.)
I have discovered I love watercolour painting. I have been experimenting with this medium a lot lately. Mostly small, messy things. I did make something for a friend for her birthday, but I haven’t mailed it yet. The birthday was over a month ago, so.
I am trying to fill my newly free time with productive things. Cleaning the house (goodbye clutter!), practising art (painting, drawing), reading (that is productive in a way), and I am determined to be out there jogging again. I started back up in February when we had an early thaw, but that was derailed once March got too cold. I do not have the right clothing to run in cold weather and I am really not out there often enough to merit buying a whole new wardrobe. If I become a regular jogger this summer then I will invest, for now I’d rather not.
I had planned to run today, April 1. No, not a joke. But it’s still 2C (feels like -3C) and that’s just too cold for my body to handle. Per my facebook memories, I have started running again on April 1 almost every year. Funny that. Maybe that’s why I drop off the plan, my brain thinks I am playing a prank. Though this month in my journal I have added running to my habits to track and I plan on trying to get out TWICE a week. I rebooted my Runkeeper training plan (for the second time this year) and have it set to remind me to go out twice a week. It’s SUPPOSED to be 7C today and if it does hit 5 or over I will force myself out. I end up enjoying the run but the cold is too hard on my body and then I HURT a lot. Not hurt from running, different hurt. And I don’t feel like dealing with that.
I have some stuff going on this month that may or may not help me climb out of this funk. At the very least this stuff will involve friends I do not see often and that will be helpful to my mood. There’s also some stuff this month I am not looking forward to, but I’ll cross those bridges when they appear.
There is this constant struggle to figure out what I want. What makes me happy. How is is possible to do what makes me happy AND actually be able to pay the bills without it being a struggle. And what exactly is it that I think makes me happy. Can I be happy? Is that feasible? What do I want in my life right now? So many questions. I have learned very well that health & happiness are a joint thing when it comes to myself. I need to find a balance there. I need to figure all this out. How can one be happy AND financially stable? And still have a work/life balance that doesn’t drain you or burn you out.
Being a grown-up is annoying. Being a kid was annoying, too. I don’t want to go backwards.
So I’ll continue to use this extra time I am lucky to have to figure shit out. I will paint, draw, write, read, clean, apply for jobs (ugh), and reflect. Hopefully I will come to some sort of conclusion that makes sense. because I am tired of things not making sense.
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Today I am 42.
This is the answer to the meaning of life, right? I should understand, and know, everything now?
*waits*
No, seriously.
*waits some more*
Is this, like, something that takes a little bit to boot up? I can wait. By tomorrow it’ll be installed right? This meaning of life knowledge that comes with 42?
Kurt Vonnegut wouldn’t have just made this sort of thing up, would he? I mean, I don’t know him or anything, but he reads like a really honest guy.
@—@—@
So today wasn’t 40-below zero. In fact we had ourselves a lovely ice storm. Thankfully I had asked Shawn to take today off from work to spend with me. The downside was that we were outside within minutes of waking up, hacking about 2 inches of ice off the car, and steps, and backyard so the dogs could get out. We also missed the movie we were going to see, that I had even bought tickets for on my movie app, because freezing rain just didn’t stop. Plus side there, it was cheapy tuesday so we only lost $12 off of a gift card.
@—@—@
Because it’s my birthday, and I saw a few people post this on FB this month, I’m going to answer some questions!
1. Favorite smell – Lavender. Or patchouli.
2. Last time I cried – last Wednesday, after being sick at work (ugh)
3. Favorite pizza – not really a pizza gal, but I do like being able to customize my pizza at Double Pizza here.
4. Favorite Flowers – Daisy, and since I discovered them two summers ago, Sunrise Lantana
5. Favorite dog breed – Finnish Lapphund (obviously), French Bulldogs, mixed breeds!
6. Untie laces- WHY?
7. Roller coaster- That’ll be a hard no, Greg.
8. Favorite ice cream – I do not like ice cream. (Though if I want some, it’s got to be vanilla)
9. Shorts or Jeans – Jeans
10. What are you listening to- P!nk, and The Cranberries on repeat
11. Color of truck – I do not have a truck. I have a car. It’s red.
12. Color of eyes- Green-Hazel
13. Favorite food – I really like bread.
14. Favorite Holiday – Halloween
15. Night owl or day person – Um… mid-morning through lunch time. Rest of the time I just want to sleep.
16. Favorite day of the week- Saturday
17. Do you have a nick name – Pookie, kit-cat, Cattypants,
18. Favorite music – indie pop
19. Tattoos – 6 (obviously I need to fix this because I can’t handle even numbers!!)
20. Piercings – 3 (was 4, I took out the eyebrow piercing in September.)
21. Number of pets- 2 dogs, one feline overlord
22. Real book or kindle – real book. I really do not like eReaders.
23. Shower or bath – shower
24. # of pillows on your bed – 4. One is for the dog (Yoshi).
25. What food do you hate – brussels sprouts, asparagus, onion, liver…I could go on.
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As long as I can remember, I have always associated the weather on my birthday with -20-something degrees celcius. I remember frigid walks from home to the bowling alley (or back from) in my teens. We always say stuff like, “Oh, it’s just Cat’s birthday with 40-below temperatures!”
Every time I see a forecast with an above-zero temperature for the 23rd of January, think how odd that is. How abnormal that is. It’s not Birthday Weather with cold so biting that the hairs inside your nose freeze together when you try to breathe!
And yet… I looked up historical weather information for my birthday and see that my frozen birthday memories are… false?
They are predicting a high of 6°C , no precipitation, this year. I feel very weird when the temperature is above zero on my birthday. I always thought the warmest birthday I ever experienced was in 2009 when I went to Disney World. But I was wrong, I suppose. I do believe that was the only time I was able to be coatless & bootless on my birthday though. My birthday is a week away however, so the actual temperatures and weather are subject to change one billionty times between now and then. You can be certain that I will note it down on that day of course.
And because I love to nerd-out over the weather (temperature) records for my birthday, here’s my list!
| Year | Hi | Low |
| 1976 | -26 °C | -31 °C |
| 1977 | -12 °C | -16 |
| 1978 | -4 °C | -7 |
| 1979 | -6 °C | -12 |
| 1980 | -1 °C | -13 |
| 1981 | -4 °C | -11 |
| 1982 | -2 °C | -22 |
| 1983 | -2 °C | -5 |
| 1984 | -6°C | -13 |
| 1985 | -5°C | -11 |
| 1986 | -9°C | -16 |
| 1987 | -5°C | -17 |
| 1988 | -3°C | -13 |
| 1989 | -4°C | -12 |
| 1990 | -1°C | -10 |
| 1991 | -4°C | -18 |
| 1992 | 1°C | -16 |
| 1993 | 3°C | 1 |
| 1994 | -16°C | -22 |
| 1995 | -2°C | -6 |
| 1996 | 2°C | 0 |
| 1997 | 6°C | -18 |
| 1998 | -5°C | -18 |
| 1999 | 7°C | -2 |
| 2000 | -14°C | -23 |
| 2001 | 0°C | -7 |
| 2002 | 6°C | -2 |
| 2003 | -6°C | -21 |
| 2004 | -17°C | -21 |
| 2005 | -14°C | -21 |
| 2006 | -3°C | -9 |
| 2007 | -3°C | -13 |
| 2008 | -5°C | -14 |
| 2009 | -11°C | -14 |
| 2010 | -2°C | -14 |
| 2011 | -18°C | -25 |
| 2012 | 4°C | -13 |
| 2013 | -22°C | -27 |
| 2014 | -17°C | -23 |
| 2015 | -12°C | -14 |
| 2016 | -8°C | -13 |
| 2017 | 0°C | -4 |
As you can see, there are few -20+°C days on here. Perhaps I have memories of the temps WITH windchill added in? All the historical info only gives you the actual highs and lows, not the extra “feels-like” information. Looks like the actual date I was born still holds the record for coldest January 23rd ever here in my neck of the woods.
I’m silly insomuch as I like to know the records highs & lows for dates. I like to know what time it is all the time, and I like to know what the temperature is. I don’t really care about the weather itself – unless I am tracking how much snow we’ve had in a winter
This is likely a very dull post for most of you. I think my mum will find it interesting though. I may have gotten my weather-obsession from her. (Including the “what is the water temperature today?” part from our summers on Lake Champlain!)
Yes, these are things I think about on a regular basis. Which also means I spend, like, an hour looking up historical data on temperatures from my birthdate while sitting on the couch in my pjs. There are likely 1000 more productive things I could be doing with my time, but this is what amused me for the past hour. If you have known me long, and still like being my friend, I thank you for putting up with my quirks and weirdness. You are wonderful people in my life. heh
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Cat has
read 0 books toward
her goal of
50 books.
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