Tag Archives: Family

An Unexpected Day Off

Posted on by Gertie

Good Morning, World from Seattle!!! Well, it is still morning in Seattle. I am taking the day off unless my supervisor says it is okay to do notes from home as I take care of my grandpa. I doubt my supervisor will say yes but it is always worth asking. I might do a handful of notes even if my supervisor says no because I don’t want to get behind on them.

On another note, I get to spend time with my grandpa but sadly not as long as I would have liked to as my two uncles and I are splitting up in shifts to take care of my grandpa. I love my grandpa so much and I admit I am a spoiled brat from my grandpa as I am an only grandchild on my dads side of the family. I love spending time with my 93 year old grandpa especially since he and my grandma helped my dad raise me. I miss my grandma so very much. I am extremely grateful that at the age of 44 that I still have a grandparent alive.

Of course after helping my grandpa out, I will be hanging out with a friend who will be treating me to lunch at my favorite restaurant of Red Robin here in the Seattle area. I love Red Robin and I always get the same thing which is a Whisky Rive Barbeque Burger with extra cheddar cheese and onion strings. I also love me some endless fries with campfire sauce. Another plus side to spending time with a very good friend.

When I get home from helping my grandpa and having lunch with my friend, I will be hanging out with my cat as well as spending time with a neighbor who happens to be a great friend. My friend and I will be working on some crafting as well as some art work. My goals for the crafting and art work are learning to do some latch work as I am struggling with it. I am doing okay with the cross stitching stuff. As far as the Diamond Art I am learning how to do this and making sure I have the proper equipment for it to make sure I do it correctly. Sometimes having the correct supplies such I have the proper supplies to hold what is needed to not lose what I need to create the artwork. As far as coloring, it is the easiest thing for me to do. I love to color and sometimes my cat, Billie tries to color with me.

Billie is doing great and sleep soundly at the moment. I love my cat so very much. I am grateful for his unconditional love he gives me. Animals give unconditional love and that is why I love them so much.

I do not have much more to say in this particular blog post. I do want to thank you for reading my blog.It is greatly appreciated from my end of things that you the reader, read my blog. If it was not for you the reader, reading my blog, I would not be writing my blog.Again, thank you from the bottom of my heart for reading my blog. Peace Out, World!!!

A Mixture of Middle of the Night Emotions & Ideas

Posted on by Gertie

Good Morning, World from Seattle and it is still the middle of the middle of the night here in Seattle. In fact as I write this blog, my cat Billie is purring on my lap. I am technically on crisis coverage till eight in the morning Seattle time and will complete my crisis coverage.

On that note there is a family emergency regarding my grandpa and thankfully my uncle is taking care of it till I am off of crisis coverage at eight o’clock this morning Seattle time. I did let the appropriate people know at work about it however I totally remembered I can deal with my family emergency while finishing up my much needed notes. I will send the email about catching up on notes while helping my grandpa once I know my supervisors are awake and aware of the situation regarding my grandpa. Either way I most like will do my notes, I just want to be able to get paid for them but like I mentioned before I want to make sure the supervisors are made aware that I will being finishing my crisis coverage shift and missing my regular shift and will bring up the idea of seeing if I can get paid catching up on notes while dealing my grandpa’s emergency. I am so grateful that my uncle is currently dealing with my grandpa’s emergency as I am crisis coverage for work right now.

Right now, I am struggling with some intense emotions regarding my mental health challenges. Specifically my depression and PTSD which both suck shit.Since doing mindfulness meditation appears to help my mental health symptom help a great deal, it is one of the skills I go to first. The next thing I plan on doing is doing something creative. I plan on doing both arts at crafts. The art I plan on doing is art work by coloring and doing diamond art. When it comes to diamond art I will have to sort some stuff out which is cool. As far as crafting goes, I will be doing some cross stitching. I love being able to use my self care to help with my recovery.

I just hope when I email my supervisors again later that they will allow me to work on my notes and still get paid for it as help my grandpa with his emergency. My work is not one hundred okay with me right now but that is okay as I know I am doing the best I can. At least they treat me with respect.

I do not have much more to say in this particular blog post. I do want to thank you for reading my blog. If it was not for you reading my blog, I would not be writing my blog. Again, thank you from the bottom of my heart for reading my blog. Peace Out, World!!!

Weekly Plans

Posted on by Gertie

Sunday

  • Walk
  • Mindfulness Meditation
  • Work
  • Dinner with neighbors
  • Art (Color)
  • Spend time with my cat, Billie

Monday

  • Walk
  • Mindfulness Meditation
  • Art (color)
  • Work
  • Spend time with my cat Billie

Tuesday

  • Walk
  • Mindfulness Meditation
  • Work
  • Art (color)
  • Spend time with my cat, Billie

Wednesday

  • Walk
  • Mindfulness Meditation
  • Peer Pathways Conference
  • Art (color)
  • Spend time with my cat, Billie

Thursday

  • Walk
  • Mindfulness Meditation
  • Peer Pathways Confernce
  • Dinner with my grandpa to celebrate his birthday
  • Spend time with my cat, Billie
  • Art (color)

Friday

  • Walk
  • Mindfulness Meditation
  • Lunch with a good friend from high school
  • Appointment with my therapist
  • Appointment with my psychiatric nurse practitioner
  • Art (color)

Saturday

  • Walk
  • Mindfulness Meditation
  • Farmers Market
  • Art (color)

Too Long of a Post about Arts & Crafts

Posted on by Gertie

Good Evening, World!!! I was to work today but sadly, I called in sick as I needed to take a mental health day. I have realized that I haven’t done much self care as it is needed to do in any line of work but especially the mental health field and greatly love my work with a passion.

Much to my surprise my family has been encouraging me to do some self care for myself. I am just shocked as hell that it came from my grandpa. I love my grandpa so much. In fact my dad has been encouraging me for weeks to do some self care which I plan on doing.

Just like my family, my friends have been insisting on me doing self care. I am so thrilled that I have friends that care about me. I have the best friends in the world.

As some of you know, I have Anxiety, Depression and Complex PTSD along with treatment resistant Insomnia. Having insomnia sucks and the lack of sleep makes the symptoms of my other mental health challenges that become more symptomatic.

Due to the lack of sleep, I make sure I do a mindfulness meditation practice to start the day when I get up as well as to end the day before bed time. I highly recommend doing some mindfulness meditation.

Anyway, I want to bring something up that might help me with my mental health and my job. First of reading as I love to read. I highly enjoy reading. I am currently reading The Sorority Murder by Allison Brennan. It is a very intriguing book.

As far as arts and crafts I plan on doing is nothing new especially when it comes to art work, specifically when it comes to coloring. I have also dabbled in painting but I am not very good at. I hope to do more painting and coloring especially since I ordered more coloring pages from Stuff2Color. The coloring stuff I got from Stuff2Color and still have a lot of canvas that I bought a while ago and haven’t done anything about. Now it is just time to by paint and paint brushes.

Now on to the crafts part of arts and crafts.I have ordered some Latch Hook stuff already and have ordered more so I can make them for people and their special day whatever that may be as well as donate to local nonprofits so when they have an auction it will hopefully bring in some money. I know not much money but every penny helps for nonprofits. I do need a lot of practice with a latch hook.

Of course,the other crafting I will be doing is crossing stitching. I did cross stitch back in my twenties and really enjoyed doing it. I am not sure why I stopped but I plan to start back up again. I hope to give people a finished product as well as give to local nonprofits who auction off such stuff during a big fundraiser.

Before I forge a friend of mine who is also a neighbor introduced a thing called Diamond Art. It looks intriguing to do as it seems it can take a while to do as there are so many little pieces. I ordered some and am looking forward to doing this Diamond Art.

Of course when I am doing arts or crafts, I will be listening to music or a podcast. Listening to music or podcasts helps me concentrate on being able to focus the text at hand which is Arts and Crafts.

I do not have more to say in this blog post. I do want to thank you for reading my blog. If it was not for you the reader, reading my blog, I would not be writing my blog. Again, thank from the bottom of my heart for reading my blog. Peace Out, World!!!

A Day Full of Emotions Despite Making the Bad Shit Into the Good Shit

Posted on by Gertie

Today did not start off as a good day. I woke up with a nightmare on time of an anxiety attack which sucks but then the depression decided to rear it’s rearing head which sucks shit. Having PTSD, Anxiety attacks and depression sucks but at least I have my cat to help me with my mental health symptoms so I took the day off from work.

Oh the positive side of things I have plenty of coping skills to help me when then things get difficult for me. One thing that helps me is my cat as well as my mindful mindfulness practice. Also going to work helps a greate deal for me. Self care is a huge things for me and it iterates me that my family thinks I an using drugs when i do not do drugs. I love having fun like going to baseball games as well as doing art work such as coloring, painting, crafting such as latch key and cross stitch.

I am grateful that despite a challenging day to my day that everything has worked out. Now it is time to do some lisure time to do some fun fast. Peace Out, World!!!

There’s No Place Like Home

Posted on by Gertie

Good Evening, World!!! Happy Caturday to all you cat lovers out there or to those who are not a fan of cats then Happy Saturday to you. If you read my last two posts you know I didn’t sleep very well last night. On that note, I still went and visited my grandpa.

While visiting my grandpa, I did my laundry and helped my grandpa with some chores even though he wanted to do them tomorrow (Sunday) but was appreciative that I helped out. My grandpa also took me out to breakfast which I greatly appreciated. In fact I am grateful when people treat me to a meal, whether it is homemade or at a restaurant. I love my grandpa so very much and am thrilled that I still have a grandparent to be alive especially since I am in my mid-40’s. I am grateful to have spent time with my grandpa but I am happy to be home.

In fact I have been home for several hours now and there is no place like home. To be honest I’ve been sleeping for the last several hours which means the short nap I was planning on taking ended up more like a night of sleep despite it being in the middle of the day, Seattle time. I must have needed the sleep. I just really hope I am able to sleep tonight especially since I work tomorrow (Sunday).

I normally work from home on Sundays but I am going to the office so I clean my desk as it is messy as hell. Plus I forgot to bring my notebook home with me so I can do my notes at home. But at least I know doing notes at work is easy to do in the office on Sundays versus on weekdays. But I would rather work from home on Sundays.

There is no place like home as home is where my cat Billie is. I would rather be home with my cat, Billie. I love my cat so much. I am so grateful for the unconditional love my cat, Billie gives me. So, for me there is no place like home because of my cat.

I do not have much more to say in this particular blog post. I do want to thank you for reading my blog. I greatly appreciate that you the reader, read my blog. If it was not for you the reader, reading my blog, I would not be writing my blog. Again, thank you from the bottom of my heart for reading my blog. Peace Out, World and Happy Caturday!!!

Wanting To Fall Back to Sleep

Posted on by Gertie

Good Morning, World!!! I am still awake from waking up way too early in Seattle which was at 3:09 on a blasted morning on a Saturday when I could have been able to sleep in. As I write this blog it is 5:34 on a Saturday morning, I have Billie my cat in my lap purring up a storm. Oh, how I love my cat Billie so very much and I am so grateful for his unconditional love.

Speaking of love I am going to my grandpa’s place later on this morning to spend time with as well as do laundry for free. As much as I am grateful to be able to do laundry for free, I am more excited to spend time with my grandpa than anything else. While I am at my grandpa’s, I not only will be doing some laundry, I will be doing some arts and crafts that I ordered about a month ago. I am not sure if I will be doing latch hook or diamond art. Yes, I am aware that I ordered more latch hook and diamond art yesterday but would like to incorporate both both into my self care plan.I am looking forward to making some latch hook and diamond art for my family specifically my mom and grandpa.

Speaking of arts and crafts, which happen to be Latch Hook and Diamond art, the order I placed yesterday should be arriving in an Amazon locker sometime later today. When I pick them up, I then will place another order for more latch hook and diamond hook stuff as the Amazon lockers I go to don’t have the space as many people use that Amazon locker location. I am sure a good portion of it is my order but I am okay with that.

I don’t have much more to say in this particular blog. Just thank you for reading my blog. I greatly appreciate the reader for reading my blog. It was not for you to read my blog, i would not be writing my blog.Again, thank you from the bottom of my heart for reading my blog. Peace Out, World!!!

A Busy Day (Off) Ahead

Posted on by Gertie

Good Morning and Happy Friday, World!!! Today is my day off and I have a busy day ahead. My day started off by feeding my cat, Billie some wet food as he has dry food is free fed. I then went for a walk. As I walked I listened to music. When I got home from my walk, I did a mindfulness meditation practice. Now, I am sitting at my computer with my cat Billie in my lap as I write this blog post about to tell you how busy my day off is going to be.

You just heard how my day started, now let me tell you how busy my day is going to be. I will be volunteering at PAWS Cat City from 10:00am to 1:00pm today. I love volunteering at Cat City. I love being able to play with all the cats as well as helping cats find the perfect furrever home and helping people find a cat to join the family.

I, then come home and have two virtual appointments with my mental health treatment team. My first appointment is at 2:00pm with my psychiatric nurse practitioner for a med review for my psych meds. I do not think anything will change med wise except for getting refills. My next appointment is at 3:00pm with my therapist. My therapist and I will be discussing various things that I need to work on as well as coping skills. I look forward to meeting with my mental health treatment team.

After my appointments with my mental health team, I am planning on spending time with my cat, Billie who I consider family. I know there are some people out there in the world that do not consider pets as family but I do. Billie, is family and I am grateful for his unconditional love.

I do not have much to talk about in this particular blog post. I do want to thank you for reading my blog post. If it was not for you the reader, reading my blog, I would not be writing my blog. It is greatly appreciated from my end of things that you the reader, read my blog. Again, thank you from the bottom of my heart for reading my blog. Happy Friday and Peace Out, World!!!

A Challenging few Weeks w/New & Refreshed Lessons Learned Along the Way

Posted on by Gertie

Happy Caturday Saturday. It has been quite a couple of weeks of being challenging for me for various reasons and many of them I have had to deal with some eighth deaths in a matter of a two week period. Some of the folks I have never met but really admired in the animal welfare community especially locally here in the Seattle area who touched the life of many humans and cats. Sadly this person took her own life and wish I would have been given to meet her in person. She will be greatly missed especially in the animal welfare community.

On the continuation of discussing death. I can’t really discuss much about it due to HiPAA law but many of the client I work with overdose on drugs and alcohol. Sadly some pass away to drug and/or alcohol overdoses and It is challenging to deal with. Thankfully I have the support of my colleagues with this especially when people have been trying to get off drugs so they don’t have to have a stigma with an addiction.

Dealing with so many deaths is the last couple of weeks I have been reaching out to my support system such as my friends, family and my colleagues as well as my therapist. I am just beyond grateful that I have supportive people in my life to be there for me. Not many people have a good support system and I have a great support system.

Now on to what I do to help with my self care. One way I do self care is due at least two mindful meditations daily; once in the morning and another one before bed time. I am also trying to put in third mindful mediation in the middle of a work day to help me refocus during work. Another way I have been doing self care is spending time with my cat as well as walking two times a day; once in the morning and once the evening. Of course another self care act is going to volunteer at PAWS Cat City a least once a week. Of course working at my job helps as well. I have been reading a lot of books that I find helpful to help with my recovery journey. I also have been doing some art work and hope to show sometime soon.

As this post comes to an end just know there is always hope along the way. I want to thank you for reading my blog. If it was not for you reading and/or following my blog, I most likely would be continuing to writing my blog. Again thank you from the bottom of my heart for reading my blog. Peace Out World!!!!

Weekly Plans

Posted on by Gertie

Sunday

  • Mindfulness meditation practice
  • Twenty to thirty minute walk while listening to a podcast
  • Work
  • Start learning to latch hook crafting project
  • Read as I cuddle with my cat, Billie

Monday

  • Mindfulness meditation practice
  • Twenty to thirty minute walk while listening to a podcast
  • Work
  • Learn to do latch hook crafting project
  • Read as I cuddle with my cat, Billie

Tuesday

  • Mindfulness meditation practice
  • Twenty to thirty minute walk while listening to a podcast
  • Work
  • Learn to do latch hook crafting project
  • Read as I cuddle with my cat, Billie

Wednesday

  • Mindfulness meditation practice
  • Twenty to thirty minute walk while listening to a podcast
  • Work
  • Learn to do latch hook crafting project
  • Read as I cuddle with my cat, Billie

Thursday

  • Mindfulness meditation practice
  • Twenty to thirty minute walk while listening to a podcast
  • Work
  • Learn to do latch hook crafting project
  • Read as I cuddle with my cat, Billie

Friday

  • Mindfulness meditation practice
  • Twenty to thirty minute walk while listening to a podcast
  • Volunteer at PAWS Cat City
  • Learn to do a latch hook crafting project
  • Read as I cuddle with my cat, Billie

Saturday

  • Mindfulness meditation practice
  • Twenty to thirty minute walk while listening to a podcast
  • Spend time with my grandpa
  • Learn to do a latch hook crafting project
  • Read as I cuddle with my cat, Billie