Blessings

My oldest and her family are still in good shape in Florida. She is working from home and slated to go back Monday once they clean up the property so people can get in to work. She said she’s not sure how the town as a whole came out–they have been staying inside out of the confusion and mess and not exploring. I told her that was smart. So thanks so much for the prayers, etc offered up for their safety.

I am staying away from the news; all I need to know is that my family is safe down there. I don’t need images, etc. cluttering my headspace and making me nervous. Whenever I start wondering how they are doing, I just Facebook-message my oldest and ask. That puts it to rest admirably. She says the baby is fine, just playing up a storm and keeping her awake in the morning. He is able to play by himself so she can get her assignments done so that is a good development.

I will be writing today and preparing myself mentally for getting back into my bipolar memoir tomorrow. I need something else to keep me from just spiraling into anxiety thinking about how my fiction project might be going over. So that is that.

Hope everyone has a good day today and a good downslope into the weekend. We are going to be lazy this weekend–my youngest has a band competition in Ridgeland and will be out of pocket most of the afternoon and night. So we will see how it goes. Godspeed.

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Hurricane Ian Aftermath

Talked to my daughter yesterday and they were doing well except for the rain; they will likely have more rain today as the eye of Tropical Storm Ian goes across. Talked to her this morning and they still have power! So that was a shock. And cell service. So they are blessed beyond belief, and I thank you all for praying for them.

I had a good day yesterday–I plowed through the work and got a lot done. Today I will finish up one task and the start concentrating on proofreading the catalog. I anticipate that taking up most of the day. We will see.

I have noticed some of my secondary trauma responses kicking in, but I’m not sitting here stewing about them; I am calling my daughter and getting updates, and knowing she and the baby and my son-in-law are safe is short-circuiting that response. She has projects she can work on at home for as long as this lasts so she shouldn’t be out of work/pay for very long even if Disney doesn’t open back up immediately. So we will have to see how it goes.

Tomorrow I have a clear schedule and WILL clear this final project off my plate for MCIR. I have to get this done. So i may not check in to the blog until I’m finished to avoid getting lost in social media. We will see.

Very fortuitously BPHope published my blog post on secondary trauma Tuesday; you can find it here: https://www.bphope.com/blog/bipolar-disorder-coping-with-indirect-trauma/

Thanks everyone for reading and for praying for my family. We so appreciate it. Hope everyone has a good day today. Godspeed.

Hurricane Ian

It’s not going to hit us, but I’m worried all the same–my oldest is in the path of it and is suffering a bit of PTSD from Katrina as well. They are preparing not so much for the storm itself, which is supposed to hit well south of Orlando, but for the aftermath–lost power, lost cell coverage, schools closing, etc. She is staying off work today and tomorrow and keeping the baby at home, and her husband is working today but likely not tomorrow. We will see what happens. Please pray that it will have weakened considerably before it gets to them. They are anticipating a lot of rain as well.

We are doing pretty well today. I am pushing to finish one big chore today so I can work on the publishing catalog Thursday. That’s kind of a cool assignment because I am working with the catalog copy for style, changing up anything that is awkwardly written, etc. So more in my wheelhouse.

I need to be heading out. Pray for those in the path of Hurricane Ian and for those of us with loved ones there as well. Godspeed.

Running Late

Don’t have long to type because I stayed in bed too long after the alarm went off. I’ll be going in to work today and see what all I can get done. I’m not sure why I’m having trouble getting out of bed. It may be the typical sleepiness keeping me down. But I have my medicine that helps me stay awake once i am awake so that is good. Just need to force myself out of bed on time. I don’t feel depressed so I don’t think it’s that. I just want to stay in bed a little longer. We went to bed late last night so I guess that’s why I’m so sleepy.

I guess I’ll go get my meds and clear up this little bit of brain fog I have left. Hope everyone has a good day. I’m going to be okay I think once i get woke up good. Godspeed.

Anxious Day

i was going to meet MJ for lunch today, and my car didn’t want to start. It finally did, then it wanted to not start when I was leaving. So I’ve been at the Firestone place this afternoon. They said my battery was going down so they replaced it. If I remember, the car may have still been running on the original battery–or we have replaced it once in the nine years we’ve had the car. Either way, it was time for a new battery. So that’s been my day.

I need to go to the grocery store so I will do that after I finish typing here. Just for a few things. Then I need to buckle down on my work for the day. I don’t know why I’m having so much trouble buckling down to do something. I hope I do better tomorrow at work.

Me and MJ had a good lunch–we talked about our lives and what all was going on. We always have good visits. I am so glad I have kept up with her as a friend. We get along so well. She asked me to send her the new copy of my fiction project so I will do that in just a minute as well. She just likes reading stuff, so I said I would send it along.

I so hope my anxiety doesn’t get away from me today. I feel like it easily could. So pray for me in that today. Godspeed to all.

Slog

I felt good yesterday. But I was SO LAZY. I didn’t accomplish anything. I’ve got stuff to be doing and I can’t seem to make myself do anything useful. What use is feeling right if I can’t motivate myself to do what I need to do? And today feels like more of the same.

Tomorrow I am going to buckle down–I don’t have any appointments and it’s the last Monday I’ll have off until the Christmas holidays. So I need to clear two projects off my plate so I can start re-writing and re-drafting on my memoir project. We will see how it goes.

I did not sleep well last night–my cough kept me up. I never woke up enough to grab a cough drop from my bedside table, so I just kept coughing. Very frustrating.

I think after lunch I am going to try to sleep some. Either that or go shopping at another bookstore with birthday money. I tried going clothes shopping on Friday and yesterday and simply could not find anything I wanted to spend money on. It’s all pioneer-girl dresses and ugly colors. And ripped-out knees on pants. UGH.

I suppose that enough complaining. I’m going to go get something to eat and then decide what to do. Hope everyone else has a good day. Godspeed.

Trying to Wake Up

Had kind of a long night last night–it was Homecoming for my daughter’s school and she went to the dance that night so I was up late seeing her off to that. Then I went to bed and let Bob stay up to welcome them home after the dance. So he was up even later. He’s just now getting up. Which is okay.

We plan to watch the Mississippi State game today and have fun with that. We just plan to goof off today. I need a few goof-off days–I didn’t accomplish much yesterday in terms of chores but I ran around all day–I left the house at 7:30 a.m. and didn’t return for good until 2:30 p.m. I went to Dr. Bishop, a bookstore, a clothing store, lunch with my mother-in-law, and then the dentist. So I was very busy. I got some fun stuff at the bookstore so that was good–I spent my birthday money from my mom so that was good.

I got my birthday present from my middle one yesterday–she set me a really fancy calligraphy set–one where you dip the pen in the ink, which I have never worked with before. I will have to try it out on the Christmas cards this year. I have only worked with pens that take ink cartridges before so this will be new.

Dr. Bishop seemed really proud of how well I’m doing. He said he was glad I had really reached a good place after the scare with my meds earlier. I go back to the sleep apnea people in October and will get my CPAP fitted and adjusted so we will see how that goes. I am not looking forward to that, but I also don’t want to take a high dose of stimulant medication forever just to feel normal.

Tomorrow will be my official eighth anniversary of the blog. Stay tuned for an update on the state of bipolar blogging tomorrow. 🙂 Godspeed to all.

Still Birthdaying

Among other things–I go see my psychiatrist this morning and my dentist this afternoon but sandwiched in between is my birthday lunch with my mother-in-law. So I am looking forward to that. Bob and my youngest gave me their presents last night once she came in from the homecoming activities–she gave me a Charlie Brown book and Bob gave me a fancy purse for fall he found at Disney World that is themed–it has pictures from The Rescuers movie on it! Bob said the girls picked it out for him to give me. So it was a very good day.

I slept pretty solid last night so that was good. I’m soon going to have to run get ready for going to my appointment and will see what all I can get done today. Here’s to another wonderful day! Godspeed to all.

First Day of 52!

Yay me!

Been a slow morning so far–I haven’t been up long. I don’t feel any more older than yesterday so I’m taking that as a good sign. 🙂 Today is my long day working so I will be busier than usual. We will see how it goes.

I really am actually proud I’ve made it this far. Sometimes I remember how bad I used to feel and how badly I just wanted to go to sleep and never wake up. It reminds me to be grateful for good medicine, good therapy, a strong family, and the grace of God that never took me when I so wanted to leave the world behind. I’m grateful for every year I’ve had since 2006.

I need to run get ready for work. You all have a great day right along with me! 🙂 Godspeed.

Last Day to Be 51

So tomorrow is my birthday and I get to spend it working from home. A nice arrangement. Yesterday went well. We had a meeting at work that took up much of the morning; I am getting the hang of blogging for the press, and last night was good and relaxing.

I’ve sent my fiction project to the last publishing house for this year–the remaining five all open up at various times next year so I can breathe easy about that for a while. Now it is time to wait and see what develops. I probably won’t hear anything from anyone for several months, but that is not stopping me from checking my Submittable queue :(. Just to see who is already reading it (or not). But I will drive myself crazy if I keep that up :). I plan to start back on my memoir project in October so that will keep me busy.

Well, I need to run start my day. Hopefully it will be good; I think it will, and that’s half the battle :). Hope everyone else has a boost for midweek. Godspeed.