Ohana

Day 59

Me, Luna, and a fuzzy blanket - that is all my weeknights consist of. I love Luna, even through her faults and issues, because because she loves me, even through mine. I'm convinced that she's so troubled because she comes from a broken home. Through patience, kindness, and acceptance, she is slowly becoming calmer and more comfortable. She seems more loving and less defensive - at least toward me. She's still skittish with others until she gets to know them. She's getting there. We're making progress.

"This is my family. I found it, all on my own. It is little and broken, but still good." ~ Stitch

Solitary

Day 58

I have been isolating myself recently. I read emails, but I rarely respond. I don't answer phone calls. I ignore texts. It is nothing against anyone in particular. I'm just taking a break. I am retreating back inside of myself, pulling inward so I can hopefully resurface at some point in the future and see the world with new eyes. Green eyes, with any luck. For now though, I've simply checked out. I'll be back someday.

Art therapy

Day 57

Fuzzy posters have been my happy place for years. Someone reminded me of that fact today, so I stopped at Michaels on my way home to pick up fuzzy posters and new markers. It's something to focus on, something to make pretty while I turn my brain off for a while. The biggest decision I need to make is the next color to use. Coloring can be very therapeutic. It's not much, but it helps.

Face plant

Day 56

Today was brutal. Fridays are notoriously bad at my job, and today was no exception. This was all I had at the end of the day. Splat.

The Flash

Day 55

This is seriously how fast Luna moves. She's a little blur, and suddenly she's across the room. Sometimes I swear she actually teleports. She's in one place, and then - poof - she's in a completely different room. Her ninja powers are the reason I have so many scratches on my legs. She zooms from one hiding spot to another and then ambushes my ankles. My cat has super powers.

Nurse Luna

Day 54

This was all I needed today. I don't know if it was a legit stomach virus, or if I was just in so much emotional turmoil that it made me sick. Either way, it wasn't pleasant. All Luna had to do was curl up on my lap, and I felt her warmth and heard her gentle purr, and in those few moments, I could breathe again. She gave me a few calm moments before the next panic attack. She's a good egg, even though she's slightly cracked.

On the side of angels

Day 53

I don't wear yellow gold. I actually hate yellow gold. Give me white gold, platinum, even sterling silver, anything but yellow gold. I'm even allergic to yellow gold, or at least I used to be. I got my ears pierced 3 times with yellow gold when I was little, and they kept getting infected. We finally tried it with surgical steel, and that did the trick. I must have really wanted pierced ears...

This ring is the only one I make an exception for. I never wear yellow gold... but Grandma did. I've been wearing it a lot lately, to remember her during her birth month, and also because amethyst is supposed to be calming and absorb negative energy. I need all the help I can get. If there was any way Grandma could help, I know she would, so in some small way, wearing this ring nearly constantly is her way of trying to help me. Or maybe it's my perception of her trying to help me. Either way, it provides some small sense of comfort, and I'll take what I can get right now.

Stylin'

Day 52

I put up my hair to take a shower because I have another day to go before I can wash it. The red highlights need a little more time to set. Once I had it all rubber banded and clipped into place, I looked in the mirror and had to laugh. I realized I had sort of an Angry Birds 'do going on, and it was so amusing to me that I decided it should be my daily photo.

Something had to make me laugh today. Might as well have been my own reflection.

Mister, we are the weirdos

Day 51

I became a part of the Marvels RPG back in the spring of 2008. Somehow, we ended up taking several extended breaks from this game, and a few scattered attempts to pick it up again. Meet the latest attempt. Currently, we're trying to take down something resembling a meth lab, but the chemicals are something else altogether.

Justin runs the game, so his role is pretty much God. He can put us into any situation he chooses, and draws cards to decide the outcome, and sometimes it makes him gleefully laugh. Which is probably totally what God does.

Heather's character has rhino strength. When baddies attack, she'll bulk up in full spikey armor to take them on. My character is a rabid cheerleader. So not only will I bite you and infect you with rabies, I'll bust out some seriously cool acrobatic moves before I do it. And then I'll do a cheer for the rest of the team. Steve's character has the power of illusion, so he can conjure up any kind of glamour to get us out of sticky situations.  Katie's character has the gift of alchemy, and this week, she was able to pick a lock for us in no time flat. Rachel's character... what the hell does Rachel do? Anyone? Adam's character is a variation on Gumby meets Stretch Armstrong. All parts of his body are bendable and stretchy. Yes, it gets interesting very quickly...

When you add into that crazy mix the awesomeness of pizza, beer, and a myriad of baked goodies, you've got a terrific night with fun friends. Justin was even sweet enough to get all of the girls a rose. Even though he probably wanted to give them to Steve instead.