Crazy Cat Lady Chapter 4 - The Aftermath

Toni'sfriend

You are right to be proud of DD. That is a marvellous achievement to be so well thought of. And another thing you should be proud of is that you taught her to be the kind person she is. Well done to you both.

dawnybabes

Brilliant news about your daughter, rightly proud.

when I procrastinate I get the timer (or egg timer) and set it for a few mins and just do a bit ! 

Baileys_Babe

Toni'sfriend said:

You are right to be proud of DD. That is a marvellous achievement to be so well thought of. And another thing you should be proud of is that you taught her to be the kind person she is. Well done to you both.

Congratulations to dd 🥳 for being nominated and you for teaching her how to be a kind, thoughtful person 🤗

Onebrokelady

foxgloves said:

CCL - I agree with OBL that this is sounding very much like perimenopause symptoms. I had an awful perimenopause. I think my symptoms started at around 40 & my last period was 2 months before my 52nd birthday. In my mid-40s, having always been overweight, I knew I had to tackle it. My BMI put me in the morbidly obese category & over three years, I lost a tiny bit over 6 stones. I'd have liked to lose another stone & a half, but didn't & have been yo-yo-ing ever since. So I have been very big, much much smaller & I am currently sonewhere in between with my weight currently on a downwards trajectory ('Traffic light diet' plus allowing myself one 'eat what I want' cheat day a month. I am probably going to be controversial here because although I despise fat-shaming, my experience has demonstrated that there are no plus points to being obese. I spent years telling myself there are loads of size 10 couch potatoes (I've known a couple & don't know why they weren't the size of a house!) & even at my biggest, I was always quite active. But you know? The difference in how I felt physically having shed 6 stones was amazing. I was so much lighter on my feet, zipping around, much more flexible, my joints felt less weighted down..... all of this actually felt better than being able to fit comfortably into size 16 skinny jeans, & having a size 14 denim skirt lined up for my next size-drop (which I didn't reach). CCL, I think you have really identified that you are an emotional eater. I used to wonder if that was the cause of my weight, but unfortunately I had to reach the conclusion that I can just be a bit of a pig, love baking too much & going for coffee & cakes, plus takeaways (before the LBM of course!) Excess weight can affect hormones. Excess bodyfat can produce extra oestrogen which can make us bigger women oestrogen dominant. It can mess with our cycles. So what I think I'm trying to say is that a doctor may well suggest losing some weight as a means of regulating troublesome perimenopausal hormones. I don't think that is wrong, but fat-shaming is never acceptable & medical professionals who do it should be challenged on how exactly it is helpful, compared with encouragement & advice. On a more positive note.... while I had a dreadful perimenopause, I have sailed through the menopause itself with hardly any symptoms at all.
Hope you can get a helpful chat with a Dr, m'dear. I didn't bother. I did find symptoms improved a bit once I was eating really well & my weight was shifting downwards. This may not entirely be what you want to hear, but I feel able to relate to how you are feeling, CCL, because I've been there.
Love F xx

Totally agree with all of this, it's well known that carrying more weight increases oestrogen production and has an effect on all your hormones , this is also why your breast cancer risk is increased if you are overweight 😟

Onebrokelady

Humans a programmed to remember the negative over the positive ( negativity bias ) I think it might be so we learn from our mistakes and don't repeat them, it's rubbish though because I repeat the same mistakes over and over before I learn not to do something again. This is a reason why it's such a good idea to keep a gratitude diary or a positives log, you can then look back and remind yourself on the things that went well or made your feel good😊 Also here where I live GPs used to be able to prescribe a course of WW or SW sessions to patents who were trying to lose weight,you had to be over a certain weight though and of course they might have stopped doing it. When I was with SW we used to have this sweet elderly man in our group who had been prescribed a course by his doctor after being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, he lost all his weight and came off his medication 😊

beanielou

How lovely for your DD 

ziggy2407

This might be of interest
thesunoffer | WW UK (weightwatchers.com) 

Jellytotts

Well done for speaking to the Dr, I have been having some hideous perimenopause issues but just keep slogging on and really should phone them and see what they can advise.  

With regards to NortieTortie, I know this sounds blunt and uncaring but it really isn't...you are allowed to ask them to put her to sleep.  You don't have to wait until she's at deaths door.  All our cats have been rescues and we have always maintained that we will not medicate an animal for life, we will not subject them to monthly treatments and we will not keep them alive just because.  We have a wonderful vets practice and every time we've declined treatment and asked them to put the cat down, they've thanked us.  They are not allowed to suggest it but most of them would rather see the animal put down before they suffer with the depression and anxiety of treatment. 

After one cat went the vet was in tears telling us that she wished more people would ask for the animal to go, she said, it's obviously not good financially for the practice, they make their money from the consult fees and on the drugs their administrating.  

From our point of view, if you've given that animal the best life you could then you've done your best and your next step as a responsible owner is to know where to draw the line.  Not just emotionally but financially as well.  

crazy_cat_lady

Thanks Jellytots. I've always said that I don't want my cats to suffer - there has to be a point where you consider quality of life, which is why I'm not going to subject her to any more surgery. Two mammary tumours and a broken leg is enough. As I say, she's a tiny little thing and she's old and I don't want to put her through anything else. I should just say though, that the monthly medication is just a vitamin injection - she is B12 deficient due to a digestive issue that she's had the whole time I've known her. So she's not at death's door yet - she's just little and old. When my Tuxy cat died last year I knew that was the right time - even though it broke my heart it was the kindest thing to do.
So, I've had an awful night of sleep. I woke up at twenty past five this morning and couldn't seem to doze back over. So I watched last night's Drag Race in bed and then decided I might as well get up and go for a walk. Tick that box bright and early and wake myself up properly. It was quite nice actually. The sun was quite bright but there were a few showers so I had rainbows a lot of the way, and there are so many snowdrops out now. I did just over 7km and was out for 90 mins - arrived home just in time to do the last day of home teaching and learning. Unfortunately ds has just about fully reverted to his familiar self and it's a struggle today - plus he's had to go into school this morning for his second test so he's lost an hour of learning there as well. He's left a lot to the last minute again - I will not miss this when I'm back at work next week.
I've hoovered right through the house top to bottom and cleaned the bathroom so I can tick the housework box for today. All of my marking is up to date and next week is planned. I am so close to having finished the back of my mam's jumper - I reckon that if I don't get that finished today then I am doing something very wrong indeed.
Whilst I am very excited about seeing people next week, I'm not looking forward to the early mornings and long days again. Still, it won't be long until Easter once we're back.
Best get on, ds needs another kick up the bum.

crazy_cat_lady

Morning all
Well I am aching this morning after yesterday's walk. My ankle recovers more quickly but yesterday was a long walk and it's still a bit sore today - on top of that I have the 'good ache' of knowing that I did a good bit of exercise yesterday. Doubt very much I'll repeat that today but I am trying to psyche myself up for a walk into town (it's only about 10 mins walk away but I'm terrible to make myself get going if I don't do it immediately). There's a lovely lady in a little shop in town that does dry cleaning and clothes repairs. Sewing is not my forte by any stretch of the imagination, and she repaired a beaded dress of dd's for me for £1 when I took it to her in desperation. Well, yesterday I found a top that got damaged at school at the end of last year. I got it trapped in the arm of a chair and ripped it. Not on the seam or anything. I had been going to throw it away but couldn't because it was nearly new so I threw it in a cupboard and forgot about it. Then found it again yesterday - so I think I will take it to the lovely lady and see if she can work miracles on that too. Nothing to lose... 
Wonder if bestie would like to meet up for a little walk about town. I will text and ask her.
I got the back of my mam's jumper finished!!!! Then promptly had to cast on another 200 stitches to do the same thing again (almost) for the front. At least I know where I'm going now though. And after a back and a front surely sleeves and a neck will feel easy. I'm so pleased that I can do something for my mam but I am certain that I prefer crochet to knitting.
Nothing else much planned for today. I'm still on my first cuppa of the day and I've fed the cats, done the rubbish and recycling and hung a load of washing out - so I feel like I'm off to a fair start. My brain keeps telling me it's Sunday as well so I need to sort that out. I've been a day ahead all week.