Photographing a black cat is much more challenging than I would have thought. Getting a result that looks more like a cat than a massive black hole takes a non-trivial amount of processing.
Also, Baxter is the first cat Aaron or I have ever known to play tug-of-war. Once he catches that mousie on the pole, he wants to drag it off somewhere quiet and have some alone time with his kill.
Having a kitten again is pretty awesome.
When I’m working in the office, I find that I rarely take an honest-to-god lunch break. I’ll eat at my desk, I’ll take a few minutes to check my phone, but mostly I’ll work through my allotted 45 minutes. When I’m working from home, I’ll set a timer on my Apple Watch and do some tasks around the house to get away from my work — unload the dishwasher, put away some clutter, whatever other randomness catches my attention — then assemble my lunch before taking it back to my desk to eat while I work.
In the Before Times, I would occasionally walk next door to Starbucks over my lunch break and do some blogging on my phone and Bluetooth keyboard while enjoying a tasty beverage. Since the indoor passageway between my building and the adjoining one has been demolished, that’s not a routine that I’ll be reviving anytime soon, since it’s 25°F outside and I’m not down with bundling up just to go get a coffee.
The blogging part, though… that’s going to need to make a comeback.
I’ve been going to a therapist about twice a month for the past six or seven months, and I really wish I’d started therapy sooner. It’s a huge help to have someone listen to me talk about what’s been going on in my life, then bring my attention to aspects of my narrative that I wouldn’t have thought twice about. The whole experience reminds me of going out for coffee with my BFF back during college: we’d talk about our problems, talk around them, dive into what their causes might be, and brainstorm actionable solutions. Adding a licensed behavioral therapist into the mix gives that conversation more direction, as she can pick out key points and lend her expertise in helping me recognize certain behaviors and reactions in myself.
In between sessions, though… writing is a valuable tool for me to get my thoughts and emotions out of my head and into a space where I can see them, acknowledge them for what they are, recognize what they aren’t, and generally get myself into a healthier headspace.
Taking time to blog is a gift to myself… and my family. We all deserve the best version of me.
Earlier this month, my son Connor (age 10) was telling me about a funny commercial he’d seen, where someone had cheesy Cheeto fingers and they kept saying, “You can’t touch this.” Even though I hadn’t actually seen the commercial, I knew exactly what he had to be talking about.
So, because I’m that mom, I searched YouTube for the official music video for MC Hammer’s U Can’t Touch This and made Connor watch it with me. He was actually tapping his foot for most of the song, and didn’t really get bored of it until right before the last verse (“OK, Mom, I get the idea…”). I even showed him the very beginning of Superfreak by Rick James, just to give him a taste of how sampling works, but he was pretty much over the riff by then.
As the icing on the Cake U Can’t Touch, Aaron found an Old Skool Hip Hop karaoke CD at Goodwill this weekend. Looking forward to embarrassing my son with that at some point in the future.
By special request from my Mom, this is the return of the Caturday photo post.
Here we have Baxter perched in one of his favorite spots (photo by Connor).
I bent down to pull up my socks and this happened. #newkitten
