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Tag: thoughts

Three days in, how are you doing?

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We are three days into 2022 and how do you all feel? I didn’t make any resolutions this year, much like I haven’t done the last three years or so. I have things I want to do more of, which are things that I all ready do ‘some’ of. I will do what I can to utilize my down time more constructively over the year. Now this doesn’t mean that every single second needs to be accounted for, or that I must produce X amount of projects or progress in any single hobby. Just that over all, I did more of just about anything; cooking, cleaning, mending clothes, wood working, home DIY stuff, sculpting, drawing, painting, playing the guitar or piano, creative writing, blogging. Anything, just try to limit being a lump.

Also, if at all possible, refrain from going out and picking up a new pet from a shelter. It has been eight months since our old boy passed over the rainbow bridge to take up residence at the farm, in a room with a view. I love dogs and having one around the house, but it has made life simpler to not have one around during the pandemic. Puppies and old dogs and just about everything in between are very appealing, but I just need to hold off for another year or two. I can easily break on this issue depending on how the school year in Ontario shapes up with covid and Omicron lurking about. However, not having to pick up bags and bags of poop off the back lawn means the girls can play barefoot in the grass again without fear of a nasty squishy surprise. But a warm dog cuddle does a weary soul some good when you didn’t know you needed it most.

It is currently warming up from minus seventeen degrees Celsius, so perhaps a play at the park is in order, or a jaunt to the farm for some private sledding with my girls. Snow pants are a must here, there is no denying it anymore. Winter is far too long and cruel to the skin here to not properly outfit yourself for the bitter cold. We are nowhere near as bad as the prairies, but getting down to minus twenty five or below consistently over a course of three months means you need to be realistic, and dress accordingly. Take care of yourselves out there.

As I sit here doing the prep for yet another…

greatwallstudiosLeave a Comment on As I sit here doing the prep for yet another…

Colonoscopy, I am reminded of just how difficult it was to be in high school with an undiagnosed case of Crohns Ileitis. The trick was trying to get through all of my classes whilst also having to make upwards of eighteen or more trips to the toilet on any given day. Every day I can get chills thinking of that building pressure in my abdomen, just churning away. It made me wish for one of those relief valves they put on cows with an open flame, when they get too much methane trapped in their stomachs, and you can lie the cows down, and they go off like a gut powered Bunsen burner. Oh, the relief that would have provided me at the time. I could have killed for something like that. And I will tell you what, you may think, ‘Oh, you wouldn’t do that, in high school? No way! , you’d feel too ashamed or indignant!’ , and I’d say, after the twelfth pit stop in the men’s room, that I frankly don’t give a shit, and I want this bloating and belly crushing pain to go away, if only for a few hours at a time. I had some real doozy days in high school. I puked all over the inside of my principals Benz on a trip to my doctors office at one point. I know I’ve thrown up inside the office a few times. Had to race home in order to change clothes on many an occasion. IBS and the like are not glamorous maladies. Not to mention all of the fatigue and depression that follows closely behind. Oh, some of it was just awful. Any one with stomach or bowel issues understands the adage of “Never trust a fart”. All too well. But I’m a lucky one, I’ve been in remission for the better part of a decade or more. I had one flare up several years ago, but that was brought on by Mono/Epstein Barr, and I don’t really count it. It still lasted about three months, and required a nine week course of steroids, but eh, not my doing, so I don’t count it. If you want to hear some funny and embarrassing stories, get into a room full of people with moderate to severe Crohns or Colitis and listen to them tell very humbling stories of missed body cues and being mere steps away from the salvation of a toilet bowl, sink, drain, bush or a bucket. We’re a riot when we’re not laid out with a thousand yard stare, and intestinal cramps that feel as though they could crack vertebrae. Here I am, one of the lucky ones, so… yeah. Get yourselves looked at if something feels amiss.