Do you ever wake up and the weather matches your mood? Yeah, me too. Today is a prime example of this. I spent much of the night waking up and crying. I know my Pepsi cat will be crossing the Rainbow Bridge to meet up with Tibbi Girl very soon. I have been dealing with the internal battle of “take her in and do the right thing” vs. “making her comfortable and letting her go in her own time”. When I’m snuggling her and she’s purring, I feel so guilty for thinking about taking her in, but when I see that she isn’t eating or drinking and know she’s suffering, I make up my mind to take her in. And that’s when she’ll wobble herself over to me and want snuggles and I back off and say I’ll wait. Last night she was obviously not doing well. I didn’t honestly expect her to make it through the night. I cut up a pain pill left over from Tibbi into very small pieces and diluted one of the pieces in warm water and used an eye dropper to give her some, wanting desperately to dull her discomfort. Doggone it if this cat wasn’t alive and trying to drink this morning. I gave her a little more medicine before I left for work and honestly don’t know if she’ll still be with us when I get home or not. I know I have to take her in, now I just have to figure out when. Poor thing, it is just not fair to let her suffer. I know me though. I know I’m going to be crying my eyes out so I either have to have Hubby go with me, or if I do it during the day on Wednesday I’ll have to see if Mom will go with me. I can’t do this on my own. Somehow, through all of these years, I haven’t been the one to make these decisions. This is one of the hardest things a pet owner has to deal with and honestly, I feel like it’s crushing me.
Verse of the Day
January 29, 2018
Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, “If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all.”
Thoughts on the Verse of the Day
Last? Nobody likes to be last. We have a hard enough time settling for second place, much less last place. Jesus reverses the rank. The person who is most important to him is not the person seeking the status and notoriety. The most important person is like Jesus himself: willing to give up rank and status and importance to serve. For Jesus, last means first in service and first in the eyes of God.
www.verseoftheday.com
Food for Thought
When we are feeling low, whatever the reason, we need the ones we love to be compassionate and care about how we feel, even if the situation doesn’t affect them the same way as it does us. I am grateful that I have a husband who, though he doesn’t care much for cats, knows that I do and has offered to help me through this the best he can. That means a lot. Having my feelings demeaned right now wouldn’t have worked very well for me.
Bubble Wrap Appreciation Day – (last Monday of the month) – How many of us LOVE LOVE LOVE popping the bubbles on bubble wrap? I know I do! It’s entertaining and it’s many times even therapeutic. If you’re having a horrible day, making some racket popping all of those little bubbles will just make it all better. It isn’t difficult for me to figure out why someone actually set aside a day to appreciate this amazing invention. Have you ever wondered how Bubble Wrap® packaging is made? Well, it starts as a plastic resin, in the form of beads about the size of pea gravel. The beads go into a long cylinder with a screw inside that runs its entire length. As the screw is turned, heat builds up and the resin melts into a liquid that is squeezed out of the cylinder into two stacked sheets of clear plastic film. One layer of the film is wrapped around a drum with holes punched in it, and suction is applied drawing one web of film into the holes that form the bubbles. The second layer of film is then laminated over the first so that when the two films are joined, they stick together and trap the air in the bubbles. This may sound easy, but polyethylene (the plastic) is a porous material like a sponge. Air can easily leak out through the pores, which tends to limit the cushioning ability of the packaging. Realizing this, the manufacturer started using a Saran coating to seal the air in the bubbles. Eventually, a method of creating an air retention barrier in the plastic during the extrusion process was developed. This process though, is a trade secret. In 1957, in a garage in Hawthorne, NJ, two engineers – Marc Chavannes and Al Fielding invented bubble wrap. Marc and Al were trying to make a plastic wallpaper with a paper backing. Surprisingly, this product didn’t take off. They realized, however, that their invention could be used as a cushioning packaging material. At that time, only abrasive paper products were used for packaging, and they weren’t very good for cushioning heavy or delicate items. Marc and Al raised $9,000 to fund a developmental production line. They incorporated Sealed Air Corporation in 1960, and today, Sealed Air is a leading worldwide manufacturer of numerous protective and specialty packaging materials with annual revenues exceeding 3 billion dollars. Not too shabby for what turned out to initially be a failed invention for something else! Bubble Wrap® Appreciation Day was started by “Spirit 95” Radio, an FM radio station in Bloomington, IN in 2001. They held their 1st annual Bubblympiad with games such as a Bubble Wrap® popping relay, Pop-a-Mole (similar to a well-known carnival game), and sculpture and fashion design contests. I looked up things made with bubble wrap! Oh, my gosh – do a search! There are clothes made of bubble wrap that had me giggling my head off! So funny!
Curmudgeon’s Day – How many of us know someone who has a perpetual frown on their faces? Someone who is just always grouchy, growly, generally has a down turned tilt to their mouths and a deep frown groove etched into the foreheads? Well that would be a Curmudgeon and today is the day to honor them. Without Curmudgeon’s I don’t know if we would appreciate the cheerful people in our lives quite as much. So, if you rolled out of bed on the wrong side of the bed and in a bad mood, then today you are in good company. My favorite curmudgeon would have to be Jeff Dunham’s ventriloquist dummy – Walter. Now there’s a guy whose grumpiness just makes him funny all the time. And then of course, we have Grumpy Cat. What would frowns be these days without him/her?
Freethinkers Day / Thomas Paine – This day celebrates the life and work of Thomas Paine – born this day in 1737. Paine came to American at the request of Benjamin Franklin in 1774. Mr. Paine wrote many influential books and pamphlets throughout his life, including The Age of Reason, The Rights of Man, and Common Sense. Each of these works brought public attention to important key issues and helped to establish the philosophical foundation for the American Revolution. The writings of Thomas Paine inspired many people to strive for economic, social and political advancement. He was one of the first people to call for an end to slavery and for universal human rights. Freethinkers Day has been celebrated since the 1990s, and its purpose is to educate people about Mr. Paine’s work and importance of freedom and free thinking. To celebrate this occasion, take a moment to appreciate your civil liberties and take a stand against those who are striving to take them away from you.
Library Shelfie Day – This is a new one! And it’s sort of fun! The New York Public Library took advantage of how prevalent people taking selfies is and started an Instagram campaign that encouraged young readers to go to the library and take pictures of themselves in front of the book shelves (or stacks – if you’re actually in a library). They were supposed to use the hashtag #libraryshelfie and in so doing encourage others to the library too. Of course I think the whole hashtag thing is stupid since I still consider that symbol (#) to be a pound sign. Silly me.
National Puzzle Day – This celebration honors puzzles of all sizes, shapes and forms. Jigsaw puzzles are what come to my mind when I think of something to do on National Puzzle Day, but there are so many other sorts to choose from! There are crossword puzzles, which are by far the most common, by the way. Word Search puzzles – my Grandad LOVED word search puzzles! Sudoku, a number puzzle, one that I just cannot seem to master, is the most recent popular puzzle on the market. There are easy puzzles, and there are puzzles for experts. There are puzzles that fit the needs of every person and every skill level. It turns out that puzzles are a favorite pastime of millions of people, both young and old. Why the fascination? There are lots of reasons. For many people doing puzzles is fun. Some love the challenge of completing them and going on to even more complex and difficult puzzles, which helps their problem-solving skills. Some folks just kill time with them, eliminating boredom. And yet others keep their minds sharp, learn new words, keep their fingers nimble, etc. Remember those little metal twisty pieces that you had to try to take apart? I hated those as a kid – never could get them apart. Dad always could though! How many different kids of puzzles can you think of that I didn’t list? There are LOTS!
Seeing Eye Dog Day – God created an amazing creature when He gave us the dog. This incredible animal is so intelligent, kind and generous spirited, that they are the perfect choice for the job of seeing eye dog. In honor of all the hard working seeing eye dogs, here is some background on what makes these furry friends so amazing. Seeing eye dogs are special pups trained to help their blind or visually impaired owners safely get around in a seeing world. The top three breeds for seeing eye dogs are Labs, Golden Retrievers and German Shepherds, mostly because of their calm demeanor, intelligence and their natural tendency to wish to please their owners. Guide dogs are allowed to go with their owners wherever life takes them, to work, the mall or even on an airplane. Most guide dogs are trained to tell the difference between work and play time through wearing their work harness. When a dog is out with their owner in public it is very important not to disturb the dog by walking up to pet it. The dog is working and reaching out to talk to it, or pet it may distract it from what it needs to be doing and confuse them. When the owners are at home they usually get to hang up their harness for the day and be a normal dog with lots of attention and treats. Owners are specially matched to their dog and they go through training together before going out to live every day life. Even before a dog meets its owner though, it must go through extensive training with a foster family and then at a specialized facility for 4-6 months to make sure they have the personality, demeanor and abilities necessary for being a seeing eye dog. Most dogs will work for their owners until 8 – 10 years of age, sometimes longer, if the dog is still healthy and able to carry out his/her duties.
I have to add though, just in case service dogs for other types of service aren’t mentioned later in the year, that incredible dogs are also trained to help our veterans deal better with PTSD, there are dogs who are trained to sense when someone who is dealing with seizure disorder, or other illnesses, are getting ready to have an episode, and they know how to alert their owner ahead of time and avoid injury or further damage. I learned not long ago that there are even dogs trained to detect certain foods that their person may be deathly allergic to, such as peanuts! Incredible! I knew they had great noses, but this is just so awesome! These dogs are incredible in every way and should be honored for their service.
This Day in History –
1900 – Baseball’s American League is founded.
Food Celebration of the Day –
National Corn Chip Day – Today is the day to celebrate the corn chip! As recently as fifty years ago few Americans knew what Corn Chips were. Today, most American cannot imagine life without this munchy, delicious holder of salsa, cheese and dips. You can even sprinkle them on top of salads to add texture. I read on one site that some folks celebrate this day by taking a corn chip challenge – they eat corn chips for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks. A bit of trivia . . . Fritos Corn chips were first marketed in 1961. What’s your favorite way to enjoy corn chips? I have to say, I do love mine with my husband’s delicious chili. MMMMMM – chili nachos! Now corn is not low carb, so this is a treat that I enjoy very rarely. I did find a few low carb recipes for tortillas that can be used to make chips, and I think maybe tonight I’ll try these from the Keto Diet App blog. Depends on how I’m feeling and what I find when I get home. If I’m up to fixing dinner, these pictures look pretty good and it seems easy enough. Maybe these and some fresh salsa would be yummy with whatever we have for dinner.
- Homemade Chili Corn Chips
- Frito Chili Pie
- Mucho Nachos
- Tortilla Soup
- Mexican Chef Salad
- Seasoned Tortilla Strips
Sorry to fall apart all over you. It was a rough night and until I take care of things they will continue to be that way. I hate this. I really do. But what I am grateful for is that there will be at least a few people out there who will sympathize with me, and for that I am grateful. Maybe I need to find a piece of bubblewrap to use for some stress therapy. God bless you and I’ll see you tomorrow.
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