Randomized Rambles
January 20, 2012Here sit I in lovely, snowy, frigidly yet pleasantly chilly and dry Wisconsin on a starry, starry night - enjoying the simple, cozy, and old-fashioned pleasures of life. I love Wisconsin so much (especially anywhere north of Madison and Milwaukee), and I love it especially in the wintertime. This is despite the fact that my illness (CFIDS) goes into an industrial strength reactivation starting around the beginning of each new year for at least three to four months. I am mostly housebound during this time, for reasons which other CFIDS patients know well themselves, and which I don't feel like expounding on tonight.
I am between migraines this evening, having spent the past four days with a sick head and little relief. I had a bad experience with the neurologist a few years back and am hesitant to go back. I think my internist knows what's going on with me than the neurologist. At least I don't suffer paralysis with migraines any more. However, now I am losing speech skills during certain (albeit brief) parts of migraines. All the same, I am celebrating my little window of relief between migraines tonight. I choose to celebrate each day that I can get out of bed!
Some of the things which make life less painful and more pleasant during these rough little stretches in the road are:
* Electric blankets! I have two; one for my bed, and one for my easy chair. My cat loves them! My dad and I laugh and call the 'lectric blankies the "fancy butt warmers".
* Feather pillows, and lots of them! Great for aching heads, perfect for sleeping, and terrific for pillow fort building!
* MP3 players on which to listen to music (my especial favorite two CDs currently are
Corrette: Les Six Symphonies de Noel as performed by La Fantasia, and
Whatever Makes You Dance by Bob Halligan Jr. and his band Ceili Rain.)
* Kindle Readers on which to read everything from St. Pio of Pietrelcina and St. Louis de Montfort and Mother Teresa of Calcutta, to Alexander McCall Smith and George MacDonald.
* Netflix and my trusty old-fashioned color TV (I'm not ready to go flat panel TV in my bedroom until the current TV goes
es kaput) and dependable DVD player on which to engage in one of my favorite comfort activities: Television Time Travel. Lately, I have been traveling back to the more gracious and funny days of the early 1960's. My current favorites are the situation comedies
My Three Sons (season one) and
The Dick Van Dyke Show (season four). Netflix has been recommending some great sitcom DVDs for me this past week. I haven't thought of the series
Family Affair in eons, but I can guarantee you, I wish I still had my Mrs. Beasley doll! :)
* Books, be they Kindle or hard copy! I am currently enthralled with Africa. I Book Travel to Botswana by reading Alexander McCall Smith's
Ladies No. 1 Detective Agency series for fiction, and by reading Imaculee Iligibaza's recounting of life in Rwanda before and after the genocide which took place there. I also want to dig my old, timeworn copy of Joy Adamson's classic
Born Free (I take such delight in lions and any species of feline - be it large or small like my tiny gray and white Siamese-Tiger kitty, the one and only Miss Maggie McGee, Wild Celtic Kitty! >^..^<
* Kitties! Lately, Maggie the (ten year old) kitty has been very Bouncy Tigger and full of vim and vigor. It's not just the change to cold weather, and it's not just the change to a different diet. I believe some of it is the power of prayer to Jesus, who loves His little creatures so tenderly. Maggie works hard taking care of me on my sick days (which is most of the time lately), and I am glad to be able to take care of her, too. Up until about half a year ago, I was really depressed about not having had any human children, but I see now that I am better off without what would have been something beyond me. While little furry creatures are by no means as precious as human beings, I still delight in my little feline daughter, and I pray God will always allow me to have at least one cat in the house.
* Crocheting! I have found a new crochet addiction, that of making motifs. It's kind of like the fun of making snowflakes, without all the added bother of having to weave in as many loose ends and especially without having to starch and pin them out! Also, I just received an absolutely luscious yarn catalog from Herrschner's and am hoping to start a new afghan in the next month or so... UNLESS I decide that I want to crochet socks... socks are a total addiction!
* DivineOffice.org! For the Liturgy of the Hours of the Roman Catholic Church, I always used to depend on SQPN's (Starquest Production Network) "Praystation Portable" version of the Liturgy of the Hours, and while I haven't totally forsaken SQPN, I am being more deeply drawn into the prayer life of Holy Mother Church by the devout and expressive reading of the Divine Office as produced by DivineOffice.org.
* Old Time Radio Comedies! There are so many, many, many wonderful old time radio comedies (and mysteries, and science fiction, etc.) podcasts or sound files available for free from various websites, including the Internet Archives. I currently am enjoying
Fibber McGee & Molly, The Jack Benny Program, and
The Adventures of Maisie. Great laughs, no bad language, and perfectly delightful Time Travel back to the 1940's.
* Yankee Candles! My current favorite candles are the Christmas Wreath scent, and the Hollyberry Scent.
* My Christmas tree! My Christmas tree is still up, decorated, and lit, and as such it will stay until the lights burn out or until Good Friday - whichever comes first.
* Frank Sinatra music! While I am not feeling amorous toward any particular gentleman at this time, I am however enjoying all of my dad's Sinatra CD collection. The man was truly an artist.
***
This afternoon, while taking a migraine-relief nap, I had a dream about taking up playing the violin again. It probably would not be a good idea for me to buy a violin (the A and especially E strings are so. squeaky. and high pitched. :( ) till I get to the point of life when I no longer have migraines. However, a compromise might just be a viola.... lookout eBay, here I come!
This evening, while taking another migraine-relief nap, I dreamed about doing an art project with the most lovely and exquisite teal and aqua colored wood beads and feathers. Such are two fringe benefits of CFIDS and migraines: With CFIDS, I get to dream in Technicolor. With migraines, I get creative spells.
Well, this is more than long enough! I will post or repost a Mother Angelica quotation for some of you.
May the blessing of the Lord be upon each of you! I truly do pray on a regular basis for each of you who show up here at my blog and at my other blog at
http://www.prayersofthesaints.com/ . I hope and pray that each of us will get to meet each other in our Heavenly Homeland someday!
Much love in Christ Jesus, the Incarnate Son of the Most High Father!
- Miss Chris
Comments (1)
Sounds pretty comfy. Hope you feel well enough, long enough to enjoy all this goodness. :)