WS, bonny, Ginger, askye, others - much ~ma to you.

Thank you guys. I'm still in a bit of shock (or, actually, just getting to being in shock. I was very in control-organizing-comforting mode yesterday) and very sad for her. It's really a tragedy.

I was bad about practicing mindfulness/meditating in the past month (which is very stupid of me, giving my years of favoring stress and adrenaline rush as a lifestyle), so right now so many muscles are tense and hurt + stress headache. I really need to crave somehow into my brains that no matter how comforting the internets seem to be, half an hour of practice will be so much better.

Weekend preparations: who wants to come to dinner tonight? I'm making veggie borscht, antipasti with tahini dressing, and pasta with mangold and almond butter.

Also, I'm getting cats tomorrow. They were once roomie's cats, but the person who adopted them two years ago has health issues so now he's taking them back for a while.

I'd love to come to dinner tonight, Shir!

May 2015 get rolling with good things now for us all.

Shir, I'll be right there ( in my dreams). May the cats bring joy and laughter to your home.

Bonny! I hope your throat heals fast, that sounds aweful!

Shir, if I weren't sick, too, I'd be interested. Except for the whole ocean thing in the way.

Thanks for the kind healing thoughts folks.

It was awful.

You know how the trachea has ridges? I could feel all of them. So much so that, at one point, it crossed my mind that I could actually do a home-tracheotomy if need be.

I got to visit with our dear Todd today and actually ate some potato chips. It hurt some, but I struggled through. Mostly, if I eat something warm helps a lot.

The worst of it is over, thankfully.

The visit with Todd was super fun and she helped me to avoid what would have been many, many mistakes while mounting a brand new to me craft skill. Pictures if it works out.

While we were visiting, I mentioned to Todd that a young friend of mine was proposing to his girl in Germany right about then.

The proposal was a bit fraught, but it worked out. Then, they called his mom...and then skyped ME! Sniff. Many feels.

I saw a friend from high school today who currently resides in Bath UK, along with her two adorable daughters and husband. We had so much fun, and her daughters were ridiculously well behaved and wonderful eaters. I'm so glad she called me while she was here.

Harvey update: Chasing the red dot.

Yeah, baby.

And heck yes, I called the vet to give them the news.

sj, sounds like you had a lovely time.

And Sammie is lying on Harvey's heat grate. Harvey is lounging on Daniel.... or was. I just heard him come down stairs. Whoa. He just walked over to her. They touched noses. I suggested they share and they both looked at me. The furnace stopped running and Harvey is now purring in my arms.

I'd apologize for the stream of catness posting, but I'm not really sorry.

Hey, I know that some of us use TENS units, so Living Social has a portable TENS unit for $29.99 down from $299.99. Seems too good to be true, but thought I'd share.