Are we going to have to wrap the Buffista children in bubblewrap?

My shrink asked me if I ever felt compelled to spend lots of money when I was in a "manic" mood.

I have several friends with severe bipolar disease, plus there was my lifetime with my father, whose disease went undiagnosed for many years while he self-medicated with alcohol. They all ran not so much to spending as to grandiose undertakings such as calling the president or calling the vice president of his employer to explain what the employer was doing wrong and getting fired.

Having watched the cycles over the years, I've often thought that just a little mania, enough to take me through a massive cleaning effort or writing 30 pages, might be kind of nice compared with all depression, all the time. The extremes of mania aren't pretty, though.

Yay for understanding grandmothers.

Ugh. Child pee. I potty trained a child when I was a nanny. Then I stopped being a nany. Funny, that.

Connie ~ Indeed. I have Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, which involves hypermobile joints and other related things. I'm supposed to be careful regarding my heart and all sorts of other organs, but mostly that's just a 'we'll keep an eye on it' thing.

Wow - what has your hubby done in an effort to have adventures?? I mostly sit on the sofa and try not to dislocate anything. Heh.

Connie's husband is something of a medical marvel. Or actually just a marvel, from all accounts. How's he doing, by the way?

We've finally reached what I call success with Liv in regards to training. It's a HUGE relief.

Getting done with potty training is great. Not fun.

What we used to do with Nate was stroke a cold wipe down his bare thigh before removing the diaper. This caused a trigger effect, he'd pee again, and we could then safely change him.

Oh sure, now I learn this trick. Filing it away for grandchildren.

Actually we have a little baby girl in the office now. One of my employees had a baby this summer and I told her she could bring the baby with her to the office. We have a playpen and high chair and so forth. It will be fine until she walks, then it gets trickier. You might say we have a casual office.

I would have kept working if I had worked for Laura.

I'm supposed to be careful regarding my heart and all sorts of other organs

Hubby's got heart problems, and diabetes, and he's missing his gall bladder, and and and. One the upside, he's single-handedly raised the survival rate for cardiac incidents in our State. Our hospital is currently advertising their great positive outcomes for heart problems, and I think Hubby should petition for a royalty.

How's he doing, by the way?

The doctor who was going to do a procedure on his lower back on Monday is currently in the hospital for the flu. Hubby's currently scheduled for skull surgery in November to clean out a colony of invaders that's set up shop in his sinuses and bone cavities.

I just want to state again that our insurance coverage deciders need to be devoured by red ants, but our doctors and medical staff have been nothing but competent, caring, and wonderful.

POLAR BEAR!

THAT'S MY HOMETOWN, BITCHES!!! YEAH! We have mighty, Anchorage-destroying POLAR BEARS! YEAH! GO NANOOKS!!

Ahem. Sorry. That was just horrifically awesome.

Hugs to my lovely Bitches.

Do you spend lots of money when you're in an up mood, PC?

Hm, I don't spend lots of money in general, and when I do feel spendy, it's not dangerously spendy. I think the correlation between being up and spending money is more related to my natural stinginess needing a release every now and then.

Mild, reoccuring depression is diagnosable, P-C. Lots of people have periods of dysthymia but if it's enough to cause you concern, talk to your doctor.

I don't know that I'm concerned, per se. I think I'm mildly self-aware during these bouts, recognizing what's going on but deciding that I wear sad well.

Not a professional, but this inclines me to say no, you are not bipolar.

Oh good. I didn't know whether that was a good or bad sign.

P-C, do you know things that help?

Laughter. Having a good time. The usual. Although, really, I'm not sure that I fully recover from a down mood until I go to sleep. Until then, I can ameliorate it, coast through feeling kind of bad emotionally but being okay cognitively.

I've begun to wonder if any sort of behavior that leans toward either side of staid is considered part of a syndrome. Sure, the extremes are worrisome and anything that interferes with normal functioning should be dealt with, but the mild ones seem to be the natural effects of a passionate life.

This is sort of where I am. My mood can sometimes drop dramatically—usually after a call from my mom—and it can ruin the rest of my night, but...that's normal, right? People have moods.