Ninella~Mania

Annabell, a solid white and completely deaf pit bull that used to let mom draw on her belly

The World’s Ugliest Tom Cat, who turned out to be the cuddiest teddy bear of an animal

Cocker spaniel named “Captain”

Stupid, the Cat

Litter of baby raccoons

Three more cats

A completely bald and extremely anxious canary that sang beautifully, but only at 4 AM

Baby Squirrel that grew up in the house and then refused to move out

A Genuine Thoroughbred Racehorse who was a spectacular athelete but had a habit of running races in the wrong direction.  Benny turned out to be a terrific trail horse instead.

Turtle

Snapping Turtle

A bucket full of 43 goldfish left over from the fair.  Mom counted once they were all in the bathtub in the backyard with the snapping turtle.

Another cocker spaniel named “Major”, who had the tremendous talent of eating green beans silently

Red-tailed hawk he found on the highway, and sucessfully nursed back to health and released.

Dummy, Son of Stupid

Strange, the dog that lived under the porch and only came into the house at night.

An “abandoned” baby deer.

Spooky, an alleged dog.  

Joey the parakeet whose tricks were  1. drinking tea out of a tiny cup 2. threatening to peck out people’s eyes 3. wearing hats

A Really Big Toad he found behind the factory, because the other auto workers were discussing using it for target practice.  Mr. Grumpity was guardian of the rosebed for several years and granny’s (his mother) favorite animal he ever brought home.

Gretchen, a St. Bernard that had to be shaved from her prior owner’s neglect, and spent a week hiding from sight with such success in the house that they thought she’d run away.

Arson, Burglary and Murder, three frankly adorable little kittens.  They did not change the names, much to the regret of the cop who lived three doors down.

Yet another Cocker Spaniel, named “Colonel”

Cardinal (bird)

Canada Goose (Demon)

Once in the nursing home, he had a “pet” 12-point whitetail buck that would come to his window to be fed corn and get headskritches, inexplicably named “Florence”

For some reason I started to feel bad about myself there. That I was no good. That I wasn’t able to do the stuff. That no one there even liked me. I went home and went to bed crying.

The next day was awfull. I kept feeling those negative feelings, and they intensified. I cried most of the day. I tried to see friends but no one was available. I tried to do stuff that I like to feel better. I baked a cake. I messaged friends they could come at my house for coffee (they didn’t though) but the feelings of worthlesness, uselesness and sadness kept getting worse.

I tried to cry it out but ended up getting a panic attack. I haven’t had a panic attack in years and suddenly my brain is convincing my body that I’m about to die. I lied on the floor telling myself to breathe. That I’m okay and this will be okay soon.

I got over the panic attack. I slept through the night. Felt a teeny bit better in the morning, actually. Still had those bad feelings about myself. I went on with my day and finally on the evening, after some napping, something had lifted from my heart. I didn’t feel bad anymore. I was okay.

I used to have pretty bad depression. It’s not a secret but I don’t talk about it a lot either. For those three days, under all the bad feelings about myself I was secretly terrified I was sick again. That something in my brain swiched back to wrong and that I was gonna hate myelf and everything and feel nothing at all at the same time again.

And then I realised something I tell my depressed friends all the time. Everyone has bad days sometimes. Some have more than others. But everyone feels bad from time to time and it’s nothing to be too worried about, unless it happens too often of course.

Me: gets more depressed because I never do anything

Color Palette Challenge #66 - Eros x Psyche

LES RETROUVAILLES.XVII.III.MMXVIII. {Gathered For Eternity} by Orphné Achéron.

Color Palette Challenge #48 - Helios

Aries: There is fresh cereal abounds! The dawn brings bowls upon bowls.

Taurus: life is like having an imaginary argument in the shower, you will figure out the correct response, the only question is when.

Gemini: You are like a toilet plunger, necessary, dependable, and 30% rubber.

Cancer: Carry an umbrella with you tomorrow, it won’t rain. You will need it though.

Leo: As you carve the dry salami for your breakfast, meditate on the nature of breakfast and your role in it.

Virgo: The large white crane that you see around your neighborhood is hunting for something and should not be interrupted. Do not meet it eye.

Libra: Your collection of cool knives will be stolen by a prominent member of the australian parliament.

Scorpio: The always-busy middle school by your house has been reliving the same Thursday since 1971.

Sagittarius: All the change in your pocket will be spent on something that will offer only temporary lucidity.

Capricorn: Replace your genitals with a 12 sided lead obelisk. It will bring you luck.

Aquarius: Fate holds you in its feminine yet suprisingly muscular arms.

- The reason you get extra hungry before and during your period is because your body is physically burning more calories, sometimes as many as 300 more per day for the duration of your period, with an elevated BMR (base metabolic rate) in the days before it starts. So no, you’re not being weird or gross or undisciplined if you want to eat a bunch of chocolate - your body is just burning the same amount of calories you’d expend in 25 minutes on a crosstrainer to shed your uterine lining. 

- This is especially important to remember if you’re already, for whatever reason, eating fewer calories per day than it takes to maintain your current weight, which is about 2000 for an adult, though it can be dangerous to have much less than 1300 per day. Think of it like this: if you’re eating 1600 calories a day out of a potential healthy 2000, and your body suddenly wants an extra 300, you’re not craving 1900, but 2300, which is the difference between wanting a chocolate bar and a slice of toast, and wanting an entire extra meal. So, I say again: DO NOT feel bad about wanting to eat more during your period. Your body is working hard, and needs fuel!

-  Paradoxically, despite the rate at which you’re burning calories, you’re also retaining water, which can make you both feel and weigh as heavier. Speaking personally, I’ve noticed my weight fluctuate by as much two kilos (4.5 pounds) before and after a period, rising before and during, then dropping sharply afterwards. So if you’re struggling with body image or weight issues, this is a suboptimal time at which to get on the scales: the result you’ll get will only reflect a temporary reality, not your actual progress, and is therefore unhelpful.

- If, for whatever reason, you’re self-conscious about easing your cramps with a hot water bottle where other people can see it, whether at home or work, consider using a plastic soft drink bottle filled with hot/boiling water. Even if you put it openly on your lap, instead of tucking it under a shirt or into a front hoodie pocket, it will just look like a regular bottle of water, and any relief is better than none!

- No, it’s not weird if you shit more during your period than usual, either. The hormones your body releases that make your uterus to contract and release sometimes end up in the bowel, particularly if you happen to produce a lot of them, which means that bowel contracts and releases, too.

- If anyone tries to make a dumbass sexist joke about your being more [insert stereotypically negative feminine quality here] while on your period, you can tell them that actually, menstruation raises testosterone levels, not oestrogen. (Telling them to go fuck themselves with an angry cactus can also be therapeutic.)

- The cramps and lower back pain often experienced during menstruation, when the uterus expels its contents and your hips shift slightly wider to accommodate it, are a microcosm of what happens during actual labour. So yeah: it can hurt!

- That being said, we’ve culturally accepted the idea of massive period pain as normative to such an extent that many people don’t realise their pain is a sign that something’s wrong. Despite how common they are, a lot of conditions like PCOS and endometriosis are poorly understood in terms of their etiology, which means it can be hard to get an accurate diagnosis. But if your periods regularly have you screaming, vomiting or totally incapacitated, get checked out: you shouldn’t have to just shut up and endure because it’s ‘meant’ to feel like that. It’s not, and there are ways to manage it.

- As well as being a form of birth control, you can take the pill to control or stop your period. When used to prevent menstruation, the pill tricks the body into thinking you’re already pregnant, which stalls your cycle (and stops you from actually getting pregnant). Though some people worry that it’s unnatural not to menstruate for long periods of time, or for your body to ‘feel’ pregnant for so long, it’s also important to remember that, after an actual pregnancy, especially if you breastfeed, your period won’t resume right away. This is called  lactational amenorrhea, which can work as a form (though not, I hasten to add, a 100% reliable form) of natural birth control. Basically, it means your body is focussed on producing milk for an existing child, such that you can’t easily conceive another one until the first child is weaned. While this varies from person to person, the important thing to remember is that there’s ample biological precedent for stopping menstruation for long periods of time whether you’re pregnant or not, and that choosing to do so via the pill doesn’t make you unnatural, nor does it cause your body to do something it otherwise wouldn’t or couldn’t.