My Special Time

 

 I'm usually a morning person. I like to get up just before the sun rises and have that moment to myself. And eleven cats. Let's rephrase that...

I like to get up before the sun rises, put the coffee on, feed the cats, and then have that moment to myself.  It's my time before coffee, before the demands of the day start pinging on my consciousness, before the the deadlines and due dates start hammering at me. It's only a moment or two...I found that taking that time for myself first thing in the morning makes what ever happens later easier to deal with, to cope with--if I have that little piece of time for me. 

Then there are the mornings like today. I taught last night and that usually gets me revved up--high, if you will. Then I can't come down from that in order to get to bed at a decent hour, despite the fact I was exhausted. So it was nearly midnight when I finally got to a point where sleep meant sleep and not tossing and turning. That means I didn't get up until after the sun rose in the east. I had eleven hungry cats demanding food before I set the coffee up. I heard the honking of a car and immediately today's demands crowded into my head. I found myself rushing about like there was a fire I was missing. 

I flipped on my computer; reassured Arby that I wasn't dispensing tummy meds yet; fed Buddy who's taking up temporary residence in our bathroom (until we can find a home for him); stopped to pet Gabby while reminding Harley to watch his water intake; informed Topaz she can go back into the bedroom with D in a minute, and realized that I was already full-bore into the day without my special time.  


And I realized that without my special time, my few minutes to breathe in the day and the joy of living another new day, I was beginning a bad habit of self-destruction. I need that special time. It's the only time that I'm not giving or doing for someone or something else. It was time to reverse myself and take a few minutes out. Sure I missed the sunrise, but I had pictures of other sunrises. I turned off my computer, moved away from the desk, and took a few minutes. 

I needed my time.  

 

Do you take a special moment or two for yourself? When do you do it? Are you a morning person or do you function better in the afternoon or evening?  

 

A Fresh Start For Hope

 This morning's sunrise...

Like most mixed households, we have those who just cannot get along no matter what. There's squabbles and disagreements over the littlest of things. There are grudges that are held tightly and caressed daily--until the original emotions have been magnified a hundredfold. We even have days of name-calling and trash-talking and constant insults flying from potty mouths. The worst days are the slapping--both verbally and physically. 

Take Ava and Gabby. Both are sweet girls. Both are loving. Both have unique characteristics that make them precious to us. Until they happen to notice each other in the same room. Occupying the same square footage. Breathing the same air.

This happens daily. They don't get along. Period. End of story. 

Ava chases Gabby with the intent to kill her. I've seen Ava stalk after Gabby. After all, in Ava's mind--Gabby is the intruder. It doesn't matter that Max and the Four Rascals came AFTER Gabby.  Ava LIKES Max and the Four Rascals. She does not like Gabby. Period. End of story. 

My hypothesis (because it's not been tested or proven, it's not a theory) states that Ava doesn't like Gabby because of Merlin. Merlin befriended Gabby when she was little and comes to her defense almost all the time. He comes running from seemingly nowhere to defend and protect if Gabby screams. He is better protecting and defending Gabby and the Four Rascals than than Homeland Security.   

In turn, Gabby  is afraid of Ava. She hasn't figured out that if she fights back and defends herself, Ava will back off. Instead, she goes after Topaz. Under the guise of wanting to play with her. Uh huh--and if you believe that one, we have a never-ending spring to sell you. 

It's a vicious circle. Ava attacks Gabby. Gabby attacks Topaz. Topaz gets upset and attacks Ava. And sometimes it pulls in the other cats so every one of them are bickering, slapping, insulting, and trash talking all day long. It's enough to make cat people pull their hair out---or move just to get away from them. Reminds me of children actually.   

Then last night I saw a first. I hurried and grabbed the camera to capture this Kodak moment on the digital memory card.  

 Who's sharing Mom's computer chair with Gabby???

Why it's Miss Ava! 

 So here's to a fresh start in hope. Hope for our home in becoming peaceful. After all, if these two can share the same chair, then there's hope that our world leaders can work together. :D

Social Control

Do you like Daylight Saving Time? Do you look forward to getting up an hour earlier in the spring and getting that extra hour to sleep in in the fall? Or are you like me--totally against it?


I hate Daylight Saving Time changes. Every year it gets harder and harder for me to adjust. In the spring I have to get up an hour earlier than my usual 5AM.  In the spring, because of the change in sleeping patterns and the need to wake up earlier, I'm more susceptible to colds, end of flu seasons, and other viruses. It took me nearly a month to adjust to the new time change last March. This fall, I find myself up before the alarm clock goes off. It doesn't do me any good to try and grab that extra hour of sleep because I'm wide awake. WIDE AWAKE.

I see DST as form of social control. Can "they" make us do something unnatural and inconsistent as get up an hour earlier in the spring and sleep in an hour in the fall? "They" have succeeded in doing this since 1966 with the Uniform Time Act. In 2005, "they" decided to see if we would shorten our hibernation by  passing the Energy Policy Act that came into effect 2007. "We" follow along with whatever "they" decide for our clocks.

I wonder what "they" have in store for us in the next couple of years... 

Sunrise

 

A few minutes later