here’s the thing i’m working on these days:

how much of my frustration with other people comes from how i view the world? how much of it is me, and how much of it is them?

there’s a specific situation i’m working on. i disagree vehemently with some of the choices someone in my life is making; i’m incredibly angry about some of them, and the effect they have on others. (note: my temper is my worst attribute.) but. i have to step back and question where the anger comes from. am i trying to hold him to standards that don’t fit him? we all have our own way of looking at the world, and by default hold people to our own views. if we’re lucky, we see that, and try to open our minds and hearts to other ways of seeing life.

so. i’m trying to curb my temper, open my heart, open my mind, and see the situation from a bigger perspective. we’ll see how that goes.

in other news, The New Job rocks, long and hard. how lucky am i to work for a company that i love, with people i respect, in my hometown? this and the last job with the science company have also been/continue to be fantastic because they are so immensely different from the MegaCorp That Laid Me Off. the people i’ve worked with in the last 6 months honestly and truly care about each other, and how we all feel at the end of the day. it’s immensely refreshing to get continual feedback, both positive and negative, but mostly positive, and know that i’m valued as part of the team. wonderful for my ego, and continues to make me happy that i was laid off.

seriously, being laid off was the best thing that could have happened to us. (for those coming late to the game, hubby and i worked together, and were laid off together.) hubby has built a business that he loves, and that feeds him. i have found a renewed sense of self that has nothing to do with the office, discovered how very much i love being a mom, and found a dream job that feeds both of those things, plus leaves me room and space for me and my family. i miss some of the people we worked with, but don’t miss the faceless corporate grind one bit.

i’ll try to post pics in the next few days… of Nana’s 90th, and MedSm’s opening day for baseball season, and our trip to Skip’s opening night (burger joint up north), and how the gardens are going. oh! also, hamilton squeakypuff had another litter – because there was an error in sexing the kids. she lives alone now, except for the pups, who will go to good homes in a few weeks. my bad, and i feel horrible that her quiet life turned into another round of kids… but she’s healthy, and still runs over to the cage door when i call her name. and the gardens outside are sprouting up all sorts of plants, and the birds are coming to our front window to feed, and MedSm is all set up for the summer…

truly, life is good. 🙂

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unconscious Mutterings:

Rising:: tide
Third:: base
Disruptive:: exwife
Surround:: sound
Distant:: shores
Suction:: cup
Fried:: dough
Nuggets:: gold
Clip:: movie
San Antonio:: cowboy

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here’s what i love about my cat: his unbridled optimism. that, and he’s sneaky. :)

see, if hubby and i are both home, he’ll pest us both until one of us feeds him his evening dinner of wet food. and then he’s done. but if one of us isn’t around when The Feeding happens? oh, woe betide the next person who walks into the kitchen, for s/he will be beseeched in most pitiful tones for food, please, now, before i starve! i’d even put up with the vegetables you didn’t eat, and which your mother threatened to mail to starving children elsewhere! please! meow!

he’s always hopeful for the next meal, and i love that about him.

here’s one of the many things i love about my kid: he keeps me grounded.

i came home last Wednesday, and hubby had MedSm doing his homework before dinner, so we could have a special treat. MedSm finished his homework, and then went off to play in his room. 🙂 hubby called him back to see what the treat was.

i explained that since i’d gotten a new job, we were going out to dinner to celebrate. his eyes got as big as saucers when i said ‘new job’, and even bigger when i said ‘restaurant’. and 3 seconds later, he wanted to show me the cool drawing he did at school.

ah, the world thru the eyes of a child. keeps things in a healthy perspective. 🙂

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still working on catching up on the stories, and worrying about a few things… which is a good excuse to talk about The Ark, right?

as if i need an excuse to discuss my pets…

hubby has started calling me Noah’s Wife. altho she’s never named in the bible, tradition says her name was Na’amah. and i have to say, it fits. for whatever reason, buying our own home allowed me to finally indulge in the pet menagerie i’ve wanted for years. probably knowing that the only one i have to negotiate with is my hubby, and we’ll be here for a while, is what freed me up. in any event, there’s quite the cast of characters.

there’s Strat, my senior kitty (Senor Senior, some days). he’s 16, and a love bug. doing pretty well in terms of health and mobility; had a tooth pulled last fall, but i’ve got him on vitamins, glucosamine, and dental chews, and he’s happy.

Betta fish: 4. jeremy and bertram yojimbo are mine, MedSm has two red ones. probably named them larry and harry, knowing him, altho he’s likely forgotten that.

terrarium – two green tree frogs, and two anoles, one green and one Bahamian. this was all a birthday gift to MedSm, and he digs his reptiles. along with the reptiles, there’s the semi-weekly Slaughter of the Innocents, when we feed them crickets.

small and furries – current count is 8 Campbell’s dwarf hamsters. four are young ‘uns, that will be going to new homes, if i can bring myself to part with them – three have already gone to good owners. Hamilton Sqeakypuff, as it turns out, is not a Hamilton but a Hamiltonette – she had 8 bebes. !! amazingly, for a first time mom, she raised all of them without incident. Cocoa Puff, one of her
daughters, is staying with us; she and mom coexist quite nicely. Honey Girl and Stevie are the other Campbell’s (Stevie may be a girl, and Honey Girl may be a boy, but since they live solo, it doesn’t much matter.) most of the hammies are mine; Stevie belongs to MedSm, altho he feels quite proprietary about all of them. 😉

then there are the mice – Ophelia, Mocha Cocoa Kinkajou, Snoozey II, and Gingersnap. adorable, fascinating creatures, but a pain to clean up after.

and two weeks ago, i adopted a zebra finch (leave it to me to end up with a cream zebra, who is mostly white). Virgil is wonderfully entertaining – he sings back to hubby’s alarm clock in the morning. eeeeh. cheep! eeeeh. cheep! well, at least i think it’s entertaining. 🙂

and i’m entertaining the idea of starting a nanoreef, altho that will likely have to wait a while. i’m not sure where i could set it up, and set up the mechanics for water changes.

all of this, plus the outdoor feeders for the wild birds. hence, The Ark, as hubby now calls the house. 🙂

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