When Pepi came into the family 7yrs ago he was so tiny at 6 weeks that he was smaller than the palm of my hand and he suffered from separation anxiety, still does. I had to take him with me to the toilet or he’d squeal the house down. Mae has adopted him as her kitten and washes him eagely which he loves. Nowadays he’s super lovable with people as long as he can see me. In order to leave him home happy I have to tell him that he has to look after the pussy cats and that I’ll be back quickly!
I’m comfortable on my lounge with Pepi who thinks he’s a cockatoo so is sleeping on my shoulder; my darling cats are sound asleep on the other lounge and I’m watching the Graham Norton Show. It’s crossed my mind many times “what do I like about this show?” Then the answer comes when Jennifer Aniston, Dame Judi Dench, Jason Bateman and Dustin Hofmann converse about what Jennifer did with her boyfriend’s tortoise! Tears are pouring down my face with uncontrollable quiet laughter! So then I realised why I enjoy this show. Nevertheless, I didn’t watch the end part when he rudely topples people in the special chair while they share funny stories!
It’s been a year since my beloved cat Midnight (15) died. I was about to teach communication to an Animal Carers Course at TAFE when I spotted the Heathcoat Vet advertisment about a caring black rescue cat needing a home. Within 2 days he was hugging Mae on the lounge and snuck into our hearts. At bedtime he needed to be held like a teddy bear, purring musically while we fell asleep. A few years later I got my miniature Chihuahua puppy Pepi who was very territorial and growled terribly when Midnight approached the bed. So he would wait until the puppy was asleep on my left side and cuddled up to me on my right side. It was a nightly ritual. He also became attached to his young chick Ruby when she joined our family and masochistically enjoyed her tough love, that is being wrestled to the ground howling when he tried to cuddle her. But his main love was Mae. Then last year he was in pain and sat up awkwardly for his cuddles. So on a  visit to the vet he was diagnosed with late stage cancer and needed to be put to sleep. I cried and cried. Mae, to a greater extent than Ruby, searched and searched for him for months. Pepi was relieved the competition was gone. My tears are pouring out as I write now. Grief takes longer when the offspring are busy with their own lives. Thank goodness I have the rest of my pet family still with me.Â
For me there’s nothing more enticing to make me relax than seeing my miniature Chihuahua Pepi (6) snuggling down for a nap. He has meticulously stripped down a large turkey thigh bone which was hard work for a little dog of the same size. The cats dare not go near him. Now he needs his rest.
Obsessive Compulsive Cleaners TV program fascinates me because I love to see how they are able to help the hoarders get a new start whilst learning to lessen their own compulsive behaviours. This inspired me to declutter my over 40 yrs ‘collection’ of possessions which although tucked away neatly in boxes needed to be rationalised.
Continue reading People with OCD and hoarders help each other
 As I watching the tail end of Ch10 ‘I Fish’ I remembered the experience of deep sea fishing and trout fishing with my second husband Bruce Mahony. It’s not my favourite pastime but I enjoyed the water and the company of my husband, although there was not much talking so as to not scare fish away?! Today my thoughts go to why do we chose to do the things we do? I believe curiosity fuels imagination (what and how) and motivation (action). Whether it’s decluttering my home or tightrope walking from cliff to cliff.  Who agrees with that way of thinking?
Think about what goes on. I have to carry out an overwhelming task like decluttering 50yrs of my ‘collection’ or for someone else something more courageous like walking a tightrope cliff to cliff. Back to me because I wouldn’t dare do the latter but I believe it’s the same principle. I’m immobilised by anxiety over the amount of things I’ve collected, not hoarded because everything is neatly stored away in cupboards or boxes under the bed and lounge! Nevertheless it’s time to rationalise the quantity and as I anxiously stare at my tonnes of paperwork I decide 8 boxes have to be reduced into one concertina file! Can it be done? Yes! How? Throw out all paperwork except necessary current info. So I’m off throwing out 40 plastic bags of excess paperwork! When I wavered curiosity intervened “how long will it take to be free of this? Let me see?” Then it was 600 DVDs and CDs “how to keep those I love in a small space and portable? Anxiety overcome: giveaways box, cases of remainder thrown away and discs stored in portable zippered disc holders”. And the job got done!👍
If you want to get a high from food try this simple healthy recipe. Ingredients: I large tin of cooked okra (Vit B,C, Cal ium, folic acid and fibre), 1 cup polenta, 1 cup yoghurt, 2tbsp tomato paste, 1 tin crushed tomatoes (antioxidants), 2 portions cooked meat, and condiments. Can be made with or without meat. Serves 2, costs approx $8. Add 2 cups water to the 1 cup polenta plus 1 tbsp oil or butter and some salt, stir and cook for 7mins in microwave without lid stirring again at 3 mins. Empty okra tin of gluggy juice but DO NOT WASH add to microwave dish with cooked meat, 2 tbsp tomato paste which has been mixed thoroughly into a tin crushed tomatoes, 1 cup water, 2 tbsp oil, salt or soy sauce, 10 drops Tobaso sauce and cook for 8 mins in microwave until sauce has turned into thickness of gravy. Add one polenta serve to a plate with some okra meal on top and 2tbsp yoghurt. DELICIOUS💋
Damaged legs restored
 
I I I I I Watching  RSPCA Animal Rescue at 3.30 on Ch 72 and was moved at the heartbreaking sight of the poor pup when rescued trying to walk on twisted feet due to malnutrition. I was angry at the ignorant young owner who allowed this condition to deteriorate to the point where it was being considered to have this gorgeous girl euthanased!  I’m also fed up with sceptics who insist nutrition and especially alertnative medicines like acupuncture are unscientific remedies. Apparently acupuncture has been used with reliable successful results on animal disorders for many years!Â
After a second opinion the Vet advised that the pup stood a good chance with good nutrition, acupuncture and physiotherapy. Happily after a few weeks of this recommended remedy the pup’s ankles were strong and her legs straight enough for her to walk off with her new owner.
I chose to laugh at superstition and will walk under a ladder, own black cats, buy black cat lotteries (oops? I don’t expect to win just show my loyalty to black cats), don’t worry when I break mirrors, and so on. However I believe some superstitions were invented for those people thousands of years ago who did not understand certain concepts for etiquette (don’t place shoes on table it’s bad luck!), safety (don’t break mirrors it’s 7 years bad luck), controlling temper tantrums (if you break a glass you’ll move out). Keeping in mind the last one: here I am happy in my abode having titivated the way I want altruistically over 6yrs. Recently I broke not one but months later a second and third glass dropping these on a carpeted floor?! Momentarily I thought am I moving? Then just as quickly I responded that I’m not superstitious so I don’t believe it!
Guess what? The government is redeveloping the housing complex in Waterloo where I happily live and moving us residents into temporary housing in 2yrs time for 2 years. Then we can come back to the new development which will also have private tenants (I guess to lift the status of the residential new blocks and to help fund them), and a new Waterloo Railway Station.
So this thing brought to mind my mother who lit a candle to St. Anthony Patron saint of lost and miracles. I asked her how come she worshipped a religious icon if she was an atheist?! Her response made sense: that she was playing it safe in case she was wrong about religion! So looks like her influence is sill alive in me because part of me is not superstitious and part of me believes you need to play it safe just in case! Most of the times I choose to not believe superstition if it’s going to negatively affect my life yet I do notice things that happen and how they match the superstitions, then I just chuckle.🎃
Smoking  was a thrill at first giving me a sense of graduating from adolescence and along with becoming engaged to the love of my life at 19 it made me feel sophisticated, as women did in 1964. We were in denial about the dangers. What started with 3 cigarettes a day with coffee breaks turned into chainsmoking and being driven to smoke even when I didn’t want to. In those days a packet only cost $2. My beloved father had died the year before so I joined my peers, mother, and stepfather in this regrettable habit. We could smoke sitting at our desks so I smoked from 19 to 35yrs old when a close friend had a heart attack and  unexpectedly died at age 40. He was a fit man but heavy smoker. I asked a psychologist colleague how can I give up enjoying watching a movie at night with my husband  while smoking and having coffee? He said that in time without cigarettes I will get that same buzz just over coffee. Sceptically, for the sake of living longer and being better role models for our teenage children, we embarked on a community course to quit smoking. One important aspect was it would take 21 days to get out of the habit, using tomato juice (Vitamin C) to help clear the system of nicotine and for cravings to stop. It worked because the motivation was high and we were committed to the end goal. It was true we did still get the bliss of settling down to a movie and coffee without the cigarettes. I was so proud to be free from the compulsion to smoke and could get a ‘high’ without it. It’s been 37 years of being free with a couple of short stints during the ‘harm minimisation’ campaign when I got into denial and started smoking to test if I could just smoke 3 cigarettes a day again. Huh! Within a few days I was chainsmoking and went through hell to quit. But I did quit once more, thanks to hypnosis and Nicotine Anonymous meetings. No longer do I have recurring dreams of being a part time smoker, being able to control how many I smoked. I’m free, not a slave to a cigarette. I shudder to think how I could possibly enjoy and afford smoking today when there’s a possibility it will cost $40 a packet soon and what’s worse having to stand outside in the street to smoke one cigarette. I’m not even tempted any more and after tests thankfully I don’t have emphysema. Sometime when I get the natural buzz or high from normal moments of living I grin at the ridiculous thought I had that without smoking I wouldn’t be able to have bliss.
