Discomfortable ...

Little man Charlie got a 
much-needed haircut.

  I've been in a place of discomfort lately.  Some of it to do with health issues.  Some of it to do with head issues.  I'm too impatient and put too much stress on myself to accomplish dreams in unrealistic time frames. I'm also very frustrated with the physical constraints my health has put on me, and the fact that my "why" questions are not answered as quickly as I would like, no fault of my doctor who is wonderful and has the patience of a saint when it comes to all of my questions.  He agrees that all of my symptoms do not point to just one diagnosis of diabetes, but possibly to something auto-immune related.  Especially since my diabetes diagnosis came right before a bout of pancreatitis, and then almost as quickly, my blood sugar numbers have started to drop since being released from the hospital.   Then there are Reynaud's symptoms.  More testing is being done.   In the meantime, I struggle to stay positive lately, and not get lost in the darkness.

A new flower appearance in the side yard, which I have not yet found a name for.  It has a lot of "looks likes" but nothing I've yet been able to yell "yes! that's it!"  Speaking of the side yard ... it is completely shaded.  Grass won't even grow.  The climbing rose bush I planted before all the trees leafed out seems to be growing, but I'm not sure it will survive because there is only filtered sun [if any] that hits it.  I don't want to have to move it since it is not dying, so will just wait and see if it adjusts.  But any future planting will need to be just spring-blooming bulbs.  One thing that does grow among the leaves from last year's fall ... freakishly large slugs.  I hate slugs.  Especially a 6-inch slug that attached itself to one of my boots the other day, and stayed unseen until I was "pre-occupied" in the bathroom and it decided to slime its way up the cabinet.  Needless to say, the bathroom quickly became unoccupied by both of us, however, I think flushing it was the wrong thing to do.  I can't sit now without doing a "bowl" inspection.

 Several years ago Canada had an ad campaign on television about the elusive House Hippo.   If you've not seen it, you must look for it on YouTube.  I've been looking for mine ever since I saw the ad, and the other day before work I "found" this self-portrait drawn by my House Hippo while she is on vacation.  

 I've since made sure my clouds have silver linings and remember how amazed I was at the beach one night when I saw bioluminescence in the water.  I added some here.  If going to go on vacation, one must be amazed.

Finally, my next huge restoration project, and I may have bitten off more than I can chew on this one.  I've been looking for an old trunk to use in the living room for stashing winter blankets, gloves to wear when my hands get too cold, and extra warm socks.  The price was right on this one, however, I think my plans to just redo the inside was a bit too simplistic.  The original metal that was covering it has completely rusted away in some places, and I'm afraid that any attempt to steel brush it clean will just make it completely disintegrate.  Not to mention that it poses a risk of injury to nosey cats climbing on it and cutting a paw on a raw edge.  I'm thinking now of removing and cleaning the decorative pieces and painting them ~ or replacing them if they are too far gone.  I'll remove all of the rusted metal down to the wood, decoupage the wood with blue gingham or a tiny blue flower print fabric.  The "straps" across the top and sides will be painted yellow.

  The inside is a little worse for wear, but I think some wood glue and TLC will fix it up.  I have some extra fabric from the quilt I used to recover the dining room table chairs and might use that on the inside.  If leaving it open to hide the unsightly exterior was an option, I could do that, but worry that said nosey cat would get killed or worse if the lid fell on her.  But ... I could also remove the lid, still redo the inside, and put cold weather stuff under the shelf, and use the shelf as the coffee table I needed it to be.

  I could put short legs on the lid and then turn it into a CharlieSlashCat bed once I remove the wood dividers.  

  Oh my.  I see now why sleep is such a struggle for me lately.  The brain does not stop taking things one step further.