Midweek upswing

A short blurb about manic depression, and then we'll get to the update...

Chris Burke, that dear guy from the TV show "Life Goes On" said in an interview way back when, that he had Down's Syndrome, but just a mild case of it. That's how I treat my manic depression. It's tempered with age and medication, and I can deal with my mood swings now, for the most part, without spending us into bankruptcy or fantasizing about running cut glass on my skin.

That said, the downers still suck big time. I've mentioned I'm off my lithium and down to half my Paxil, because we're trying to have kids (and we're finally actually trying, so I'm being vigilant about keeping unnecessary meds out of my system...now if I could only do that with food too...). So when the downs take up residence, I'm a rather grumpy individual, not the funnest person to be around, and my time is spent accepting my misery and getting little accomplished, because the alternative, trying to fight it, really doesn't work and is self-defeating. Still, it's a frustrating cycle, because then you hit an upswing and think of all you'd like to have accomplished while you were being a whiny, self-absorbed mess (never mind that it's a medically justified whiny, self-absorbed mess), and then you scramble, trying to get things done before the next wave hits. Waa, waa, it ain't easy bein' me.

Anyhoo, that's where I've been...

About the cat, what an odd thing...Friday morning, this young male orange tabby shows up at our doorstep crying up a storm. Wants in so badly it's hard to get into the apartment at lunchtime. Still there in the evening, and cries all night. We gave him a food and water source, and he not only shut up, but disappeared, but I've been keeping the food plate filled at night, and it's licked clean the next morning. So we may have ourselves a cooperative outdoor cat, who was seriously dehydrated initially. I hope it's him eating the food, as I hate to think about the other critters that could be coming up our stairs, the not-so-friendly strays or worse, a nutria (we've got a bunch of those critters living with the ducks around our retention ponds - they look like beavers with possum tails). My herbs and tomatoes are still on the front landing, and they're no worse for the wear, but still...

So I'm feeling better and looking toward the weekend. Blogs are starting to talk about preparing for winter. Florida breeds laziness; we're lucky if we get weather cold enough to break out the wool, but there are so many other ways that we could be living simpler with just a little preparation. And autumn's my hands-down favorite season, so there's apple butter recipes to try, as well as more food storage ideas (freezing, canning, dehydrating), experimenting with squash and pumpkin recipes, and enjoying the break in the heat here, as Gaia gives us 2 days of rain. Enjoy the breeze!