Poor Me...

says Advo. In the snow, and with A Sore Paw. Those of us who are observant will notice that he is holding up The Wrong Paw... the one with the elegant shaving at the shoulder is the one that actually had the tooth in it. That has healed nicely, but Advo is not a cat who will let an opportunity for petting and treats pass him by. How else do you think he developed that waistline (or lack of one...).

What's In My Name?

Depends on how you look at it. If you do a search on my name on Google, you come up with me, right enough, but also with assorted Marion Barnetts, some of whom are male and play football, others that have associations wtih banks, others with churches... a mixed bag of Marions.

However, if you believe this little quiz, I am also all these things...some of which I suppose I am. It's accurate enough to be interesting, and inaccurate enough to be funny... you might like to try it. (Paranoid, moi??? Err...).

What Marion Means

You are confident, self assured, and capable. You are not easily intimidated. You master any and all skills easily. You don't have to work hard for what you want. You make your life out to be exactly how you want it. And you'll knock down anyone who gets in your way! You are usually the best at everything ... you strive for perfection. You are confident, authoritative, and aggressive. You have the classic "Type A" personality. You are wild, crazy, and a huge rebel. You're always up to something. You have a ton of energy, and most people can't handle you. You're very intense. You definitely are a handful, and you're likely to get in trouble. But your kind of trouble is a lot of fun. You tend to be pretty tightly wound. It's easy to get you excited... which can be a good or bad thing. You have a lot of enthusiasm, but it fades rather quickly. You don't stick with any one thing for very long. You have the drive to accomplish a lot in a short amount of time. Your biggest problem is making sure you finish the projects you start. You are well rounded, with a complete perspective on life. You are solid and dependable. You are loyal, and people can count on you. At times, you can be a bit too serious. You tend to put too much pressure on yourself. You are very intuitive and wise. You understand the world better than most people. You also have a very active imagination. You often get carried away with your thoughts. You are prone to a little paranoia and jealousy. You sometimes go overboard in interpreting signals.

What's Your Name's Hidden Meaning?

When The Demon Depression Comes Calling...

I find it's the small things that chase him away, or at least relax the death grip he has round my throat. And I mean that quite literally. Today is a bad day. What that means, is that I didn't want to get out of bed. So I didn't. And that was the first step in what is proving to be a day of small steps towards feeling a bit better. I stayed where I was, and admitted that I felt lousy. The cats thought this was great...one on my chest, one tucked in at my knees, one at my feet, all asleep, the one on my chest giving a desultory purr every time he thought I looked like moving. Sometimes just admitting you feel lousy, and allowing yourself to feel it, is enough. Not today, sadly, but it was enough to get me out of bed, eventually.

The next step was to eat something. Bananas, as it happens. Good for you, energy giving, quite sweet... yum. And Robin made lunch, later, so all I had to do was eat it. Forgetting to eat makes me feel much worse than I am. And I also remembered to take my meds, including the all important iron tablet (yuk).

Then, I logged on, checked my emails, and admitted to my online friends that this was, indeed, a bad day. And I allowed myself to watch them wave and smile, and encourage me to hang on in there. Which I'm doing, folks, I promise.

And then, the ironing. Well, I felt bad to start with....might as well do a job I hate. So I have been ironing, it's productive, it's boring, but you do have to concentrate, so no thinking dark thoughts... And then I moved on to piecing Andrew and Sarah's quilt for their wedding. It's not a complicated pattern, quite the reverse, but I do have to think about the colour choices and the placement of the different fabrics (it is pretending to be a scrap quilt), so, like the ironing, it's monotonous but productive, with the additional bonus of being creative to boot.

Oh, and I've added some music, who better than Van Morrison for a bad case of the blues, and some perfume, a beautiful, bright, fresh scent that I'm trying out. And I thought I'd write all this down, a sort of recipe, in case anyone else is having a bad day. It may not work for you, but it's always worth remembering that you're not along in this, not today. Go on, do something for you. I dare you!