It's Baaaaack

I thought I may have dodged it this season. Thought maybe all the snow we had been getting lately had helped to push it away. But, it's here.

The little black cloud has found its way to my personal space and has taken up residence. I felt it coming yesterday, but I took away some of it's power when I helped out a couple of friends. Doing for others always shrinks the darkness, never quite taking it away, but definitely making it a little less ominous.

In fact, this morning, I was doing great. I thought those little acts of kindness had disintegrated the cloud. I was happily wrapping and packing Christmas presents. I was determined to get them on their way today. After two trips to three different stores to finish up little things, my mood was still good. Tired, but good.

Then it hit me, blind sided me, actually. I was almost finished packing and decided to make sure that the newly opened Postnet down the street closed at 4:00 pm. If so, I still had an hour and a half to finish up. Well, my friends, Postnet closes at 2:00pm on Saturday. NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!! It was like one of those movie scenes where the character faces such a startling disappointment that they fall to their knees with their head thrown back screaming and the camera does a swift "back away" so that the last shot is a UFO picking up the sound of the distressed character screaming, "NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!"

Too much detail? Welcome to my mind.

Anyway, it was a free fall, down hill drop in disposition the rest of the day. I finally finished the gifts at about 3:00 pm, drove into town, paid an arm and a leg at the UPS Store to ship my day's work. And I still needed to come home to a filthy kitchen, four loads of laundry, and unmade dinner. That's enough to make a girl need two pair of big girl panties.

So, here I am....With the seasonal black cloud that sneaks up on me every fall and doesn't quite leave until March or April. Some days are better than others.  I'm usually able to "fake" my sunny demeanor during this time of year, but if you notice I'm not my usual smiley self, feel free to shake your fist at the little black cloud directly above my head.  Maybe you can scare it away.

And One V-e-r-y Tired Me

(Sing to the tune of "Twelve Days of Christmas")

After a Thanksgiving trip to Oklahoma,
These true things happened,really...

12 times of saying, "This tastes so good."
11 hugs (at least) from relatives
10 hours sitting around the dining room table, visiting
9 times laughing at Morgan's dog for barking at her reflection
7 meals a day
6 restless sleep nights (not my own bed)
5 Patti's Special BBQ sandwiches
4 hours of sleep in Wichita, Kansas
3 days of Troy being sick
2 minutes of fire alarm in a hotel in Salina, Kansas
And
1 V-e-r-y tired Me

That Time of the Year

I have been a little "blog quiet" lately. Just not inspired, I guess.

I almost wrote about snow the other day, but couldn't put into words what snow does to my senses. I feel this rush of anticipation before it snows and then as it's snowing, I feel very mellow. Once there's a nice layer of snow covering everything in sight, I just feel this exhilaration that I can't describe. I don't necessarily want to go outside and play in it, but I do love looking at it through the windows. Yes, I open every blind in the house when it snows. (Not so great on the gas bill, but good for my emotional state.) One of my favorite television characters ever is Lorelei Gilmore on the "Gilmore Girls". She said on several occasions that the first snowfall of the year was magical. I concur! She also said in one episode, "I smell snow!" Well, I can't smell it, but I FEEL it. Like some inner energy that vibrates erratically before a snowfall.

Well, now I've written that post about snow. I'll post another day about why this feeling snow gives me is essentially important during this time of the year.