Being Busy & Coraline

Yes, I'm still alive! I know it's been a couple of months since I blogged. I blinked and December was over with. Not sure if you care to read why, but here I am playing catch up with everything in my life.

Let me begin with, I broke a record! Not the kind I planned on, but I worked 26 days in a row at my shop Cats Like Us. December is always a busy month because we have extended hours and are open days we are normally closed. I usually take one of those days off since they are less busy, but they were busy! I'm not complaining, and I didn't really start counting the days until about the 21st day in a row. (That was my old record, in case you were wondering. I know you were!) Don't get me wrong, I love my job, but I am tired.

I got my Covid booster shot early in December, so I was bracing for the worst, but honestly I was fine, even better than the original shots. Andrew, my husband, on the other hand was fine the first day after the booster, but then felt sick for about a day. He typically has a reaction, so we space our shots out and never get them on the same day. That was a little stressful, not to mention at one point he thought he had Covid but tested negative. Phew. Bullet dodged.

With Covid running rampant in Western New York, planning Christmas holidays with family was...to say the least complicated. In total, I celebrated four Christmas' and two of them I hosted. I made cookies and a new lasagna recipe between work. They were a hit! This is saying something when everyone has a special diet. And speaking of Covid...

In December I had friends in the emergency room. People my age! (I say this because I feel youngish... in my 40s.) One friend's illness was unexpected, and she is home recovering now, the other contracted Covid and is still in the hospital after a month on oxygen, vacillating between the ICU and acute care. So that's been weighing on me. I check in with him almost every day.

On a personal note, I went to my dermatologist after not going in about ten years. They gave me bad advice for my skin, and it's still in recovery. My eyelids and under eyes got dry, itchy, red, and started peeling. So I'm working through figuring out what to do about my face. I can either have great texture with spots, or terrible texture without spots. Too bad I can't just get a new one a la Repo the Genetic Opera.

My one remaining cat, Vicktor, went into the vet because he was throwing up food. They never forget to remind us he's elderly, but he's still pretty active. Welp we now know he has the beginning of kidney disease. He's on lots of medication, but so far he's been a champ. Also, since my little Ginger has been gone, he's become my boyfriend. He often follows me around and snuggles like he never has before. I still miss my Ginger daily though. She was one of a kind and my best friend. I still get very upset thinking about her being gone. I still see her out of the corner of my eye. I'm so ready for ghost Ginger to make an appearance!

On the bright side, this Christmas was the Christmas of books. One of those was Coraline by Neil Gaiman. I can hardly believe it's now the 20th anniversary of this children's dark fantasy classic! If you aren't familiar with the story, here it is in a nutshell...Coraline is a curious girl that loves exploring. Often dismissed and ignored by neighbors and parents, she makes her own adventures. One day she discovers a door that leads to another world just like hers, with copies of her house, neighbors, and parents, but something is "off". The other parents pay attention to her and give her their version of love in the form of everything she wants, and I should mention they have large black buttons for eyes. (Eye things will forever creep me out. Needles in eyes, exploding eyes, scooped out eyes. I hate it all. Don't get me started with Fire in the Sky and the needle scene. Lol.) Coraline can stay there with the other parents forever or go back to her real family. I won't ruin it for you, but the point of the book is that you have to take the bad with the good. If it wasn't for things you don't like, you wouldn't appreciate the things you do as much. This is my takeaway for 2021.

I've now added Coraline to my October Halloween reading. October is when it starts to get busy at the shop, so I can't focus on dense books, but I like to read to get me in the Halloween spirit. There are few books I read more than once, but when I do, they are short, easy, and creepy. My other perfect quick-reads include The Halloween Tree by Ray Bradbury, and The Hellbound Heart by Clive Barker.