Caturday Morning Selfie

Snuggled up with my kitty, enjoying the view of the winter sun on last night’s snow.

Most mornings, I’ll sit in the comfy chair in the family room, my computer on my lap, my snuggly kitty tucked into the perfectly-sized spot to my left. Today, though, I decided to sit on the loveseat and just look out at the snow. Baxter thought that was a fine idea, and decided to join me.

He’ll take just about any opportunity to climb up on my shoulder or lay on my chest, really. Even when I’m at my standing desk. The photo below is from mid-October 2024, when I was walking on my treadmill while working, and he decided to trust-flop from my shoulder down into my arms.

Baxter snuggles aren’t always convenient or well-timed, but I love them just the same.

Christmas Tree Kitty

Baxter’s going to be sad and confused when we take down the Christmas tree later this week. Either that, or he’ll be glad to see his world go back to normal again.

His favorite thing to do during the holidays is to hide behind the tree and launch a surprise attack on whichever unsuspecting family member enters the living room.

Year In Review: 2023

Sun 29 Dec 2024:
I started this post on 12/30/2023, worked on it on New Year’s Day 2024 and again on January 10th, and never got back to it. As 2024 is coming to a close, I thought about completing it properly before starting my 2024 Year In Review, but decided I would post it as I last left it (with a few edits for clarity and privacy). This is more of a reminder for Future Diana about what happened in 2023, anyway, and the Brain Dump section at the end pretty much sums up what I had already forgotten.


It’s not that 2023 was a bad year, per se. Nothing super tragic happened to me or anyone in my immediate family. It’s just that my mental health and my physical health did some perverse do-si-do, my hormonal changes were magnified by work-related stress, and all of these things contributed to a feedback loop that I couldn’t shake.

That said, there were plenty of good times in 2023: Hanging out in Ann Arbor, visiting my Mom in NE Ohio, meeting up with friends here and there, and lots of generally pleasant family time.

Photo of Aaron, Connor, and Diana standing in front of Pinball Pete's in Ann Arbor MI
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