Tag: cat lady

Ten Ways You Can Change the World

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I am just crazy enough to think I can change the world, but not so crazy that I think I can do it alone. That’s where you come in!

10 ways you can change the world:

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  1. Follow this blog
  2. Follow me on Twitter
  3. Follow me on Instagram
  4. Comment, Like, and Share
  5. Join my Relay For Life team
  6. Donate to Relay For Life on my page
  7. Learn the symptoms of ovarian cancer
  8. Talk to someone about ovarian cancer today
  9. Check your box (and/or remind a friend to check theirs)
  10. Help me get onto Ellen’s show

I’m not holding you to that last one I just needed a 10th way, but if you know someone…

Thank you for your time!

Don’t worry, I got this

❤ P

 

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Here’s What People Are Saying About Courage

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I hear it all the time now since I was diagnosed with ovarian cancer last year… “You are so brave. I wouldn’t have the courage to face cancer the way you have.” I never know how to respond to that because I don’t feel particularly brave or courageous.

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All I can say is I think you’d be surprised what you are capable of. I always thought I would fall to the ground sobbing upon learning I had cancer, but that wasn’t the case. I think my doctor expected a different reaction from me too since she paused a moment before asking me if I understood that she had just told me I had cancer. Sure, I did. I’d been preparing myself for that diagnosis for weeks. I think I would have been more shocked to hear I *didn’t* have cancer. Once she confirmed what I had suspected, my only thought was “okay, what do we do now?” Every day since then has been a variation on that same thing. Lather. Rinse. Repeat.

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Today’s Rose | I had a nice visit with some of my Starbucks peeps today. While there it occurred to me they are yet another branch of my support network and I realized just how much I’ve been missing them.

Today’s Thorn | Fergus isn’t having the best day today. I’ve lost track of how many times he has stood in his food bowl and then water bowl before kicking water all over the living room. He wants to go out, but when we get there he doesn’t do anything. Here we go again…hopefully the last time tonight.

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Don’t worry, I got this

<3P

Positively Positive

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I should have know when his first degree was in Psychology that it would come back to kick me in the arse one day. Remind me to thank him for that kick, I really needed it.

I got off schedule with my antidepressant and got stuck in a bit of a negative spiral this weekend. Certainly there are a number of things happening at the moment worthy of being depressed and usually I am able to re-frame and re-focus so I can soldier on, but now and again a kick is in order. This was one of those times.

In my previous post, I must have done a terrible job explaining that every now and then I just want to do something fun with someone else. Something that doesn’t revolve around my cancer. Right now I have been making such big asks of pretty much all of my friends and loved ones related to my cancer treatment that turning around and asking them to give up time with their loved ones and do something fun with me purely because I am lonely seems ridiculously selfish.
And damn if it did not hurt that the one single guy who hasn’t been called on for anything could not even be bothered to respond to my request to go to the movies. Not even to say no. Way to keep me grounded in reality introverted single guy. 
So much suckage all around me I just could not deal with it all so it was spilling out of me all over our conversation until he had heard enough and wrote…

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“Change your thoughts and you change your world.”

But he was not done there so he continued with, “Now is especially not the time to be so negative. Lie to yourself if you have to. Negative thoughts can be very damaging to the body, mind, and spirit.”

I responded that I knew that, but DAMN.

That earned me a stern, “nope, no damn” so I called him bossy. Seriously, he’s bossy. He claimed it is only when he needs it…

I railed back that I have been lying to myself about things getting better for so long now while things just keeps getting worse that I no longer believe that particular affirmation.

He suggested, “Find the things that are positive and focus on them.”

A 5 yr old said I was beautiful Saturday; so kids dig me.
Dogs dig me.
“Good things are everywhere if you look.”
Yes, so are couples doing happy shit.
[Did I mention I am snarky and stubborn?]
It was time for his class to start back up so he closed with, “I hope you can start focusing more on the positive.”
Challenge Accepted. [I am also competitive and love a challenge]
Positive 1.  I am going to save a fortune in shampoo and conditioner
Positive 2.  I save so much time getting ready in the morning
Positive 3.  Fergus is even bossier than you so I always have a reason to roll out of bed
Positive 4.  There’s no one here to tell me I shouldn’t have ice cream for breakfast
Positive 5.  I’m having ice cream for breakfast
Look at that. Five and it was not even 8AM yet!
Positive (?) 6.  I eat less ice cream than I used to eat
Positive 7.  Plenty of uninterrupted knitting time
Positive 8.  I have virtually no forehead wrinkles
Positive 9.  I have a super nice mailman
Positive 10. My cousin sent me 2 lovely hats
Positive 11. A friend sent me a lovely card with a Starbucks gift card
“Now doesn’t that feel much better?” he asked.
maybe…
Positive 12. I have great friends
Positive 13. I found my comfy t-shirt material hat yesterday
Positive 14. All the horrible election ads will be gone
Positive 15. I’m getting lunch from my peeps at CockADoodleMoo food truck today
(which comes with a generous side of hugs and smiles)
 Positive 16. Fergus likes to spoon on cold mornings
Positive 17. I was able to put my trash and recycling bins out by myself
Positive 18. A free bagel every day in November at Panera
(so breakfast is covered when I’m not up to it & trash duty took care of that energy)

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The Xanga!

Positive 18(+). A $1 off coffee too. Wut?!?!
Positive 19. The Xanga, from CockADoodleMoo Food Truck gets its very own number.
(Someone recently said I know too many foodies, but can you really? I think not)
to be continued…
Don’t worry, I got this…

Being Single with Cancer SUCKS

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[or “Why I Think They Should Just Hand You a 1000 Cats With Your Cancer Diagnosis When You Are Single”]

I told him I wanted to write a post about how much it sucks to be single with cancer but I feel like it is just so whiny to cry about all the things that hurt about being single through all of this and would discount all of the great support I have around me. Everyone is always telling me how upbeat and positive while I’m all sad because I’m alone 90-95% of the time and just want someone to cuddle up with me on the couch to watch movies or take me out on a stupid date (or… or… or… the list goes on for a pitifully long time). No one wants to date a sick bald girl who is always tired and weak.

He said, “I think you should write the post.”

I asked him why? To vent my spleen? It just seems so pathetic and I have been single for so long now I suspect everyone just figures that my being single is a personal choice and that I like it being alone as opposed to a “chick can’t land a date if you tied movie tickets and coupons for free steak dinners around her neck” type reality now made all the more difficult by a lack of hair and reproductive organs.

“Just curious if you have tried a dating site.”, he asked, followed closely by, “Also, I think many would not care about reproductive organs.”

Have a tried a dating site? HA! Yes, I’ve tried multiple dating sites.

The most successful outcome is MSEE that I’ve been talking to for years but have only been out on 4(?) actual dates …and none of those recently. He’s not intimidated by my intelligence, loves my sense of humor, and is all kinds of supportive from a comfy introverted distance but that severely lacks a certain something.

 Then there is the parade of losers:
  1. Guy who actually asked if I was able to have children before ever even asking me on a date or meeting me in person. (this guy certainly cared about reproductive organs along with what skills I could bring to the relationship)
  2. Those who have deemed themselves not intelligent enough for me before we ever even met in person (or allowing me to make that determination for myself).
  3. Extremely memorable guy who couldn’t understand why his kicking his dog was a deal breaker for me.
  4. Guy whose first words to me were to ask if I liked full body massages… (are there people who DON’T?)
  5. Dude who offered “coffee, tea, or me turned over your knee getting spanked” as a means of introduction.
  6. Guy who declared himself too boring for me. (granted, I agreed with him on this point)
  7. Twenty-something who offered his services to me at my leisure… in his van…behind a gas station…in Rocky Mount.

The remainder were either older than my father (which is just too weird for me) or more than half my age and applying for my consideration as their sugar momma (in the greatest abuse of the English language I have ever witnessed and I’ve witnessed some major abuse in my day).

“Well, yeah, people are freaks.”

At least the ones who contact me via dating sites!

I told him that perhaps by the time morning hit Zambia my pitiful spleen would vent a post on the blog titled “they should just hand you a 1000 cats if single when diagnosed with cancer.”

“Well, maybe work on the title.”, he suggested.

…don’t worry, I got this, thanks to friends like him (he sayeth so it iseth).