Daily Reminder # 20

Today's Reminder: Count your Blessings

It has been a rough day here in Reminderville. We are not feeling cheery. We are sick. We are tired. One of us (Tara - that's her up above) is really mad at her human.

Tara Grace is sick and my neighbor kindly took her to the vet for me. She hasn't forgiven me for this which means that I haven't given her the antibiotics she needs to get well. She's not a kitty who does well with being picked up or handled (at least part of the reason she's just glaring at me from across the room), so going and picking her up isn't going to work for getting this goop into her mouth. When she still loved me she would visit me at my desk at around this hour and I might have had a shot at dosing her. I'm not steady enough on my feet to chase her so I'm not sure what I'm going to do. And it makes me very sad to have her mad at me.

And I still don't have hot water, which means I'm getting a touch rank in the unbathed department. I can give myself a sink bath and wash my hair in the kitchen sink, I guess, but that's pretty hard for me even with the new sink and the lower counters. And I'm just disappointed that my friends said they would come and look at the hot water heater and flush it out and they ditched at the last minute and aren't sure when they can come now.

And the very nice lady from the Office for the Aging is coming tomorrow to recertify me for something and I'm going to look like hell and the house is a mess and... whine, whine, whine....

And then a check somebody sent me turned out to be unsigned so I can't send it off to where I wanted to send it. And my mortgage payments have gone up $70/month and....

So, anyway, I'm not feeling terribly inspired. I'm feeling terribly tired and kind of frightened about money and really inadequate as a caretaker for Tara and pretty bad about myself. And then I ate a bunch of crap because I was feeling bad about myself which only made me feel worse about myself.

But... even in all this there is - I remind myself - a lot to be grateful for. Tara did get to the vet thanks to the kindness of my next door neighbor. She got her claws clipped while she was there and even just being hydrated seems to have perked her up considerably. If I manage to get these antibiotics into her, she'll hopefully start to feel much better and also hopefully stop sneezing all over me and everything I own.

And my friends have good hearts and are very kind to me. They want to try and come tomorrow but aren't sure they can or when they can if they can't come then. If they can't make it, I guess I'll just have to call someone and pay them. The unsigned check can be replaced. I have lots of moral support for Tara and Angel and me and I'm alive and tomorrow is another day and the lady from the Office for the Aging will probably survive her visit tomorrow.

Oh - and I won a free book in Quilly's contest.

And it wasn't too hot today and the sun came out and there was a cute woodchuck in the back yard, which was nice. And it was Schwan's Day, so I got my groceries. And the Schwan's delivery guy is a match for his wife so he's going to be able to give her one of his kidneys. And what am I thinking feeling sorry for myself when two young people with two young children are going through that?

if you look closely you'll see "Chuck"

resting on the stump

So I guess my reminder to myself today is to remember to count my blessings... even when things that don't seem so much like blessings raise rattle your cage.

Some things I'm grateful for today:

• kind friends and neighbors
• cold water
• antibiotics
• Schwan's Food Delivery
• my kidneys
• Tara Grace
• Angel

Post script: I got the first dose of her medicine into Tara Grace and we both lived. She seems to have forgiven me. She curled up next to me on the bed and stayed there all night. Whew. The next big challenge is how to get the 2nd dose delivered. Sigh.