It's so good to see you back, bonny!

Thank you sweet JZ. I really have been away...in a deeply dark period that, thankfully, has shifted. Still desperately scrambling to recruit clients to arrest the slide that occurred during the...we shall not speak of them, dark days. But, over all, much, much better. Smooch.

Barb, I posted and ran but wanted to add one more thing to all the great support offered by others. Writing about the actual stuckness...what it feels like, what it looks like, darkest imaginings, etc. might help to break some of the lock the fear has on you. It's one of those 'all we have to fear is fear itself' deals and "What we can actually SEE, becomes smaller."

It reminds me of that Twilight Zone (?) episode where the terrifying alien lands and we are built up to a fever pitch of fear until it is revealed that it's actually 4 inches tall and totally harmless.

This is not to compare being frozen with a trifle, but I think it really is true that getting whatever we are resisting out in the open gives us power over it.

Another thought replacement phrase I give clients is: Whatever you can't let be okay is standing in your way.

As weird as it may seem, there may actually be a 'benefit' in being frozen right now.

Wow Barb, good on you for getting your writing done.

Got home. Byron, who has been cooped up in the house most of the last couple of weeks due to playing Houdini in the back yard, has peed/sprayed so much that the entire house smells like a latrine. Drew and I have spent the last two hours scrubbing. Just what we needed.

(Nothing our housesitters could have done; no criticism intended in any way to them. Just frustration with the three-legged grumpy old man-cat.)

We think we have mitigated the smell as much as is possible. It's a helluva lot better than when we got here, that's for sure. We have also escape-proofed the back yard so Mr. Cranky Three-Legged-Pants can get outside time and stop messing with the inside. Most importantly, we have blocked the floor vent that he seems to have decided is his own personal outhouse.

I am going to call the vet tomorrow and ask about kitty prozac. Seriously, I just don't know what else to do.

God I'm tired. Bed now.

(Nothing our housesitters could have done; no criticism intended in any way to them. Just frustration with the three-legged grumpy old man-cat.)

Ooh. That's a bit harsh on Drew. Or complimentary, I guess.

Kristin, I just recently bought some Anti-Icky-Poo enzyme cleaner because my cats decided the hallway was a litterbox and it works even better than Nature's Miracle imo.

MisterMax is the maker of the product but they don't sell directly. I bought a quart for $6.29 from my family-owned pet store and the first site has it for $13! Petco and Petsmart do not appear to carry it.

Oh, yuck, Kristin! {{{Kristin and Drew}}} {{{Byron}}}

We have also escape-proofed the back yard so Mr. Cranky Three-Legged-Pants

And because I'm severely coffee-impaired at the mo, I'm seeing Byron wearing one of Jilli's custom "Cranky" bloomers, thereby rendering him more cranky.

Damn, I really need my coffee.

c'mere Joe. She says I get to cuddle with you Chicago style in 5 places while singing U2 songs or something.

I'm a tad afeared of what "Chicago style" cuddling entails. And I don't know if I'm limber enough to do it in five places.

And I'm not a big U2 fan.

In short, o_a...I'ma pass, but thanks.

I haz a picspam: New Dress!

That's in our backyard. No good reason for taking them or for posting them, except I'm trying not to fear my own photgraphic image.