Seasons

Ok, well it's no secret that I have SAD, or seasonal affective disorder. I have noticed it getting worse each year, as well as having an earlier onset each year. This year, I started to notice hints of it in August. Why so early? Probably because I was starting to think about the Autumn being just around the corner, then the dreaded winter. Forecasts for a bitterly cold winter have not helped ease my mind at all. So, this post is really to just tell you all about SAD. I know I'm not the only one with it, everyone gets some type of "winter blues".

I manage to being to fend it off with the impending festivities of Thanksgiving and Christmas. Our house is usually the center of activity this time of year. I know that after New Years if will probably kick in full strength again. I can only hope that with the impending move, that will keep me busy enough to not focus on it.

Well, for the benefit of everyone, below is some helpful information about seasonal affective disorder. I got the bulk of it from my nursing and psych texts, so it's accurate. I'm not another looney toon out on the net posting misinformation.

Symptoms tend to start from around September and last until April. However, symptoms are at their worst in the darkest months. For some people, these symptoms cause a considerable disruption in their lives.

Symptoms include:

• Sleep problems - oversleeping but not refreshed, cannot get out of bed, needing a nap in the afternoon
• Overeating
  
• Depression, despair, misery, guilt, anxiety - normal tasks become frustratingly difficult
• Family or social problems - avoiding company, irritability, loss of libido, loss of feeling
• Lethargy - too tired to cope, everything an effort
• Physical symptoms - often joint pain or stomach problems, lowered resistance to infection

The problem stems from the lack of bright light in winter. Researchers have proved that bright light makes a difference to the brain chemistry. What's not clear is why some people suffer and others don't.

Lakeside Kitten

Admittedly, we have been bad about updating our blog. I know I have the best of intentions to write down when we do something fun, but by now you all know how easily distracted I am. I will try to be better.

Thursday night, while throwing food out for the wildlife, we found a small kitten under our deck. I estimated to be 8-12 weeks old. She is all black, with a white chest/belly & has 4 white paws. I named her "Sock-o". For those of you that know Joe, you will understand that reference to wrestling. Family & a few friends have been wonderful trying to help us find her a home. Thanks to the glorious internet, we might have found one. A nice couple in a 5,500 sqft house in a very affluent part of the Poconos is meeting with us tomorrow to do a home inspection and their veterinary reference was wonderful. They are big animal rights advocates, so we get along so far. I just hope everything works out.

Since we bought this house we have managed to rescue and place 7 cats. 2 are living with us. I can't believe how many irresponsible pet owners there are. It drive me nuts, but at least there are people with good hearts out there to take them in.

Since I began to write this post, Sock-o was adopted by the aforementioned family and has been doing wonderfully. We spent over and hour getting to know them, while allowing Sock-o to adjust to her new surroundings. They wished us the best of luck with our/my goal of opening an animal rescue sanctuary. I keep in touch with them to ensure that all is going well with Sock-o.

We also enjoyed a fall foliage brunch with Paul, Karen, Mark, & Siohbon at the Boathouse restaurant on Swartswood lake. It was a nice small place. The portions were just right and the food wasn't bad at all. I recommend everyone try the place at least once.

Falling For Fall

It's that time of year again. Leaves are turning, apple picking iis the thing to do, pumpkins are dotting the steps of porches & I get to sit in class.

Did I think I would be back in school after getting my Bachelors Degree? Nope. It's continuing education credits, but even still, it's hard to go back. I have to face the fact that I don't absorb all the information at the pace I used to. Plus, as health care evolves, the information I need to learn & retain just keeps getting increasingly specific. I really don't think anyone can know everything & to expect such is ludicrous.

That all being said, Joe's recent lay-off really got me thinking that I need to do something more in-depth with my career. I know right now Joe is the bread winner in the family, but my sense of preservation has kicked in. I want to make sure that my income generates enough for us to live on comfortably. I'm not trying to lessen his role in our family, but I know that when the economy begins to faulter, construction is usually the first to take a hit. In another 5 or 10 years when we go into the next recession cycle, I don't want it to be like this.

I'm going to wrap this up because it's taken over a week of typing this on my phone to get this far & I forgot the point I was trying to make.
Sent from my BlackBerry

Things You Probably Didn't Know,

But Should....


1. Money isn't made out of paper, it's made out of cotton.

2. The Declaration of Independence was written on hemp (marijuana) paper.

3.. The dot over the letter 'i' is called a 'tittle.'

4. A raisin dropped in a glass of fresh champagne will bounce up and down continuously from the bottom of the glass to the top.

5. Susan Lucci is the daughter of Phyllis Diller.

6. 40% of McDonald's profits come from the sales of Happy Meals.

7. 315 entries in Webster's 1996 Dictionary were misspelled.

8. The 'spot' on 7UP comes from its inventor, who had red eyes. He was albino.

9. On average, 12 newborns will be given to the wrong parents, daily.

10. Warren Beatty and Shirley MacLaine are brother and sister.

11. Chocolate affects a dog's heart and nervous system; a few ounces will kill a small-sized dog.

12. Orcas (killer whales) kill sharks by torpedoing up into the shark's stomach from underneath, causing the shark to explode.

13. Most lipstick contains fish scales (eeww).

14. Donald Duck comics were banned from Finland because he doesn't wear pants.

15. Ketchup was sold in the 1830's as medicine.

16. Upper- and lower-case letters are named 'upper' and 'lower' because in the time when all original print had to be set in individual letters, the Upper case' letters were stored in the case on top of the case that stored the smaller, 'lower case' letters.

17. Leonardo Da Vinci could write with one hand and draw with the other at the same time, hence multi-tasking was invented.

18. Because metal was scarce, the Oscars given out during World War II were made of wood.

19. There are no clocks in Las Vegas gambling casinos.

20. The name Wendy was made up for the book Peter Pan; there was never a recorded Wendy before!

21. There are no words in the dictionary that rhyme with: orange, purple, and silver

22. Leonardo Da Vinci invented scissors. Also, it took him 10 years to paint Mona Lisa's lips.

23. A tiny amount of liquor on a scorpion will make it instantly go mad and sting itself to death

24. The mask used by Michael Myers in the original 'Halloween' was a Captain Kirk's mask painted white.

25. If you have three quarters, four dimes, and four pennies, you have $1.19. You also have the largest amount of money in coins without being able to make change for a dollar (good to know.)

26. By raising your legs slowly and lying on your back, you can't sink in quicksand (and you thought this list was completely useless.)

27. The phrase 'rule of thumb' is derived from an old English law, which stated that you couldn't beat your wife with anything wider than your thumb.

28. The first product Motorola started to develop was a record player for automobiles. At that time, the most known player on the market was the Victrola, so they called themselves Motorola.

29. Celery has negative calories! It takes more calories to eat a piece of celery than the celery has in it to begin with. It's the same with apples.

30. Chewing gum while peeling onions will keep you from crying!

31. The glue on Israeli postage stamps is certified kosher.

32. Guinness Book of Records holds the record for being the book most often stolen from Public Libraries.

33.I NEED TO REMEMBER THIS.

34. George Carlin said it best about Martha Stewart:

"Boy, I feel a lot safer now that she's behind bars. O. J. Simpson and Kobe Bryant are still walking around; Osama Bin Laden too, but they take the ONE woman in America willing to cook, clean, and work in the yard, and they haul her off to jail."