Tulip's Tantrums

  Jessie Armand came through again with an incredible 1/2 back piece. I'm so happy with how it turned out. It wasn't even that painful! Jessie's got a light hand and goes so fast and precisely that it's over before you know it! Jessie had some free time on Sunday, so Darrin decided to get another tattoo. This one is his name in Viking runes, as well as his birthdate rune and his birth time rune. It looks pretty cool.   I've been tracking Santa through NORAD . Right now he's at Antalya, Turkey. He's making good time. The reindeer must have been very restless to get going and now they're flying faster than ever before! I can't wait to hear what he brings everyone. It is so so exciting! What is your special day in December? There are certainly a lot of holidays and observances. December 1 National Christmas Lights Day National Cookie Cutter Day National Women Support Women Day World AIDS Day Romania Independence Day Rosa Parks Day Peppermint Bark Day

 Here is what I sent Jessie (coloured) and his design (black and white). I'm very excited. I hope you look closely and see the cool part.

I'm not sure if I mentioned I'm going to be a granny again! My third grandchild, and second granddaughter, is due to greet the world April 28, 2023. That is just before Pōpa's 54th birthday :) Daddy Tyler and Mommy Kiershyn are so very excited with her upcoming arrival. I remember how excited we were with our kids - it's a great feeling. Kiershyn has started to feel baby get the zoomies, so that is really good. I knew it would happen sooner or later; it's just the biggest miracle when it happens - feeling that life inside you. I'm so happy and excited for them. I love the nicknames I have for the kids. Ariya suits Peanut and Hendrix is such a Bean; they really suit their names! For this baby, Auntie Joanna suggested the name Cubby. She chose this because I call Kiershyn Miss Bear that it would be great to call this babe Cubby. I agreed. Now I'm in the process of writing a little song to whisper sing to the wee one. I can't remember if I ever wrote Peanut

 I spent two days scanning old family pictures, from 1977 to about 1986. It was good to get them done; I've been meaning to do it for a while. It was nice seeing people and reliving memories. Peanut and Bean spent the night. It was supposed to be our date night, but somehow it got changed. I'm not very impressed, to be honest. Bre knew about it but she and Braunt still asked Darrin, who didn't know anything about our evening and said yes to Hendrix coming. Then, somehow, Ariya got added to the mix. They're never a problem to have stay over; it was just different circumstances this time. It is what it is. Rika was over the moon seeing the kids and ended up spending time with Ari, who carted her all over the place. I was talking with Carolyn last night. She has her laser eye surgery consultation next week and then the surgery will be about 6 weeks afterwards. I'll be taking her to the surgery and bringing her home. I'm sure it will go well for her. I'm struggl

 I listen but I don't hear very well. I don't retain short-term information. I flipped out at Woodsie because of his "diagnoses" of BPD and cPTSD, which he changed from when we first spoke. According to Woodsie, I have some BPD characteristics but do not have BPD. As for cPTSD, he says I have PTSD, because cPTSD isn't in the DSM or ICD yet. Once it's medically recognized, then I suppose it will change to complex. I'm coming up to my 5th session of ACT, with Lareina and Connie. I'm learning well, but not really applying. I'm struggling with addiction as well as irritability and being irrational. When my brain is pressuring me to partake, I'm not using my values to influence my choices. Instead, I'm ignoring my values. I was even considering just leaving out my past week from Lareina, in essence lying, rather than have to face my demons and admit I let myself down. Woodsie is focusing more on the pot than the other. He says I'm using too

 The joys of having mental disorders. I just read a blog post " Bipolar is a Progressive, Organic Brain Disease. Medication Helps Stop Damage to Brain. " This is rather disconcerting. Of course, our brains deteriorate as we age, but unmedicated or unregulated medications can cause worse damage. The big one is manic and hypomanic episodes. Those ones really kick you in the ass. The more episodes, the more brain damage, the more likely some form of dementia. Here is your brain and your brain on bipolar disorder, albeit an euthymic brain. In simple terms, euthymia is the state of living without mood disturbances. It's commonly associated with bipolar disorder. While in a euthymic state, one typically experiences feelings of cheerfulness and tranquility. A person in this state may also display an increased level of resiliency to stress. Another definition: "In psychiatry and psychology, euthymia is a normal, tranquil mental state or mood. In those with bipolar disorder,

 Here's a picture from a few days ago. I ask myself, "Do I look 54?" So I perused some info on it and 54 can look anywhere from 30 to 80 years. Some are gorgeous while others look like they were put away wet or hit by a truck. I read a couple of articles by Dave Mowry . One in particular, Which 'Bipolar Me' is Going to Wake Up Today? , is similar to my experiences. Many of Dave's articles resonate with me. The problem with being happy is that I don't know if I'm happy because I'm level or because I'm becoming hypomanic. When I'm feeling good, I don't want  to know why; I just want to enjoy my life and at that point, I am. It's important to pay attention to myself in happy times because those times are more dangerous than depression. When I'm depressed, I'm depressed. That's just what it is. When I'm hypomanic things can go downhill quickly. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, here's a wiki about Bipol

I've been looking at pictures and for some reason nursery rhymes and songs came into my head. Oh Dear! is one my nana used to sing to me. She used to sing all the time. I loved it. She played piano, organ and accordion, completely self taught. I got my love of piano from her. I remember tinkering on the keys and getting myself into trouble. The time came when Nana was selling her piano and we got it! I promptly started piano lessons and the rest is history. Mostly because I take a lonngggg time to play a song now. Ariya tried out piano last year. It wasn't really her thing. We did get a little music reading and theory and songs into her, so that's good. I'd Hendrix to pick up an instrument, but he is just WAY too busy right now. He's got a squirrel running in him that keeps whipping him around in different directions all the time. Darrin got home yesterday. He's finally done travelling for a little while. He's off to Shell for a few months. It will be nice

 I can't believe I haven't written since July! What a slacker I am. It's not just on here: I bought a 5-year diary to capture family happenings. I write in it a little more than here, but not much. It's going to be slim pickings to read it 50 years from now. The support group didn't work out. They talked about everything except what we were there to discuss. It was disappointing. Live and learn. A psychologist friend is starting group sessions on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). It's similar to Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) and Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT), with the focus being on the present and future with skills to deal with the past. Mostly about mindfulness, which I can certainly use more of. We'll see how the group goes. Time will tell. Darrin's worked two sets north of Timmins, Ontario. I guess it's been quite the ordeal. They certainly don't follow safety like Western Bird employees. He gets to come home on the 17th and

 I joined an online support group. It's for people with the co-morbidities of substance abuse and a mood disorder. This was my second meeting. I felt at ease at this meeting and how it went. It's nice to hear that someone else goes through what you do, and hear the things they try in their life that have and haven't worked. I'm looking at getting a Line a Year, 5 Year Journal. I've been thinking about it for a while now. I'm sure it will prove interesting. Zoom. Well, that's got a bit of a learning curve. It's easy to accept a meeting and figure out how to unmute yourself, but I downloaded it and tried to invite Darrin to a meeting. You would have thought I was trying to reinvent the wheel. After much conversing and testing and a little arguing, we got it. Now I'm ready to be on my first podcast ever! We're starting with Zoom and finishing with just audio. The Missing Witches have a weekly podcast that garners around 2500 d/l each episode. I wil

 Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) is a devastating disorder that wreaks havoc with not only the person who has it, but with everyone involved with that person. "Borderline Personality Disorder Isn't an excuse, It's an explanation ," is an article written by Emily Burt and is on The Mighty  site. Emily's words resonate with me. There is an explanation for our actions and reactions, and Emily has captured it wonderfully. It's likely no one will ever read this blog and click the links to Emily's article. If, however, you or someone you know has BPD or any mental illness, tell them about The Mighty site. It's for patients, family and friends, or just someone curious of what everything is about. My mental illness includes BPD, Bipolar Disorder (BP), Complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (CPTSD), as well as a little anxiety. My mood has been slightly hypomanic for the past year. Unfortunately, it got a little out of hand, so I spoke with my p-doc (psy

 Lila Smith has been missing since last Friday, June 24th. She has been found - ALIVE ! Lila was found in Oregon with a 41-year-old Oregon man. The man has been charged with Child Luring, with more charges likely to follow. I cannot remotely begin to fathom what these past 8 days have been like for Lila's parents, sister, family and friends. This is everyone's worst nightmare. Why this man was in Canada and picked Killarney School to find a victim is beyond me, however, police must have known something to be looking in the States and having the FBI involved. There's no way you just pick a state and find an abducted child. Regardless, she's on her way home and that's all that matters.

 It's 3:45AM and I'm up again. A few hours late in wishing everyone a good Canada Day. Meh It was a good day. Breanna and the kids came in, and Jessica (Bre's sister) joined us. We walked down to where I had placed our chairs and blanket (at 6AM), and watched the parade. The rain held off until the firetrucks went past (the end of the parade), but then it poured for a good while. I went to Lori and Earl's, and stayed for a yummy supper of deluxe nachos and dry ribs mmmmm. Got home and dressed Ellie, then put her in the new pet stroller and went down to Legacy. She really enjoyed looking out of the mesh and over the top; I think she appreciated not having to walk with her little hips being so stiff and sore. We stayed for a little bit, saw Earl and Lori again, grabbed some fries and walked home. Here's a pic of Peanut and me at the parade. I wonder what Zinger and Magnus will think of the stroller. They've adjusted to their harnesses quite easily, and they're

What is considered justice? When is a result by the courts truly just? Is something just because a judge and/or jury says so? Because the prosecution or defence argued better? Damien Christopher Starrett (ds) has been found guilty of manslaughter in the death of Ares, and common assault in the horrendous physical and mental abuse of Ares' 5-year-old sister. WHAT THE FUCK? "While providing a summary of his findings, the judge [who, for whatever reason, is unnamed in the article] said the boy was "punched, kicked, stomped in the head," and died as a result of multiple head injuries." It is absolutely horrendous that Ares was murdered. Please don't forget his sister. That little girl witnessed everything that the judge heard. She witnessed it first hand. Little ones are easily broken. That poor little babe. May her memories of that day be washed from her so that she may live without the tragedy weighing on her life. Is the judge going to take into consideration

 Happy Father's Day to all the incredible men out there who love and support their children. Darrin is an amazing dad, and I'm so thankful for all his love and support for our family. As we all say, time passes quickly. Until I start thinking of things past, I never realize how quickly time is flying. Except when I see Ariya and Hendrix. They are cool little people who are growing so fast it's freaky. My Nana told me not to wish my babies away; love them and cherish the time as it goes by too fast. She was so very wise, not that everyone in my family would agree with me. Nana taught me a lot of things. She was a good Nana and I loved her so much. I didn't wish my babies away, although some days I thought my mind was blown and I probably did wish a little. Three babies in 28 months was definitely a challenge. Now I have three babies in their 30's! How the hell did that happen? LOL What's new? Hmmm. Drey and Joanna came over for supper last night. We had bbq chick

 I went to bingo with Bre and Peanut. Then, surprise! Braunt and Hendrix joined us. They brought the luck with them. Hendrix, Bre and Braunt all bingo'd - Braunt won twice! The first place prize was the father's day special - 2 steaks and 2 baked potatoes; the boys each one this. Bre won kubasa and Braunt won chocolate covered almonds. A pretty good haul. In other news, I've been in physio for 5 weeks for hip flexor problems. Urvi worked out the problems in the tendons in my groin, but now the fronts of my legs and deep in my hips are sore. Hopefully only a few more weeks and everything will be healed. One of Darrin's back molars has decided to almost  fall out - it would be better if it did - and he's in excruciating pain. Thankfully he goes to the dentist this afternoon to have it yanked. He'll feel a lot better with it gone. Sold the phones, so that's a nice thing. Unfortunately, not the car yet. If it doesn't sell, it doesn't sell. It's not h

  Demons. So very true. Popping up at the most inopportune times; I feel like I'm in a death grip.

 The sixth wave of the pandemic is hitting China full force. It's the Omicron BA.2 virus this time. According to one doctor I saw, he's saying BA.2 will cause symptoms like Omicron and that a fourth booster will only provide a minute amount of efficacy. I wonder what's going to happen on our continent? Will it be like February 2020? Will everything shut down again and masks are mandatory and (it seems) every illness and death will be blamed on BA.2?  How quickly is this going to happen? What did it take the first time? A month from China to North America? I don't remember. Hell, 2 years of this was enough. How many more times are these viruses going to mutate? Onto the war ... The Russians and Ukrainians had talks, accomplishing absolutely nothing. In fact, the Russians went through Bucha and tortured, raped and killed civilians, to the extreme. Genocide at its finest. What does the POTUS say? He says Putin is guilty of war crimes and he needs to be prosecuted. Biden is

 This getting up at all hours of the morning is for the birds. Hell, even they aren't up yet. One of the joys of being me. All is pretty good here. Everyone's healthy, fed, roof over their heads, more things than they know what to do with. Very fortunate. I see all the people from Ukraine with their meagre belongings. Carrying their children and pets. Trying anything to get out of the war zone. The Russians had a little cease fire when they told the Ukrainians they could send their civilians out. It was very short lived; the Russians attacked the civilians and many were killed and wounded. I ask myself how someone could shoot another person, let alone a small child. How do you do that??? Speaking of killing people, what of Damien Starrett? On trial for killing his one year old baby, and assaulting his then 5 year old daughter by punching her three times in the head. His defence is that he had changed sleeping pills and was incoherent when the murder occurred. Damien's going

 Gas is going up and up and up. Diesel is over $2.00. Just insane. Kenney's lifting one of the provincial fuel taxes which will lower the price by $0.13. At this point I'll take anything.

 When is NATO going to do something to stop this madman, Putin? Not that it wasn't before, but this is horrendous! How long do the Ukrainians have to die, suffer, be displaced from their home, die, die, die. When you have a country of 44 million people (yes, I said it before) and less than 2 million have escaped? What does that say? Many countries have closed airspace with the U.S. leading the way. Putin has stated, in no uncertain terms, that this would mean war (not sure if that was his exact word, but there was no doubt about the meaning.) There are survivors of the Holocaust are watching people stuffing into trains and having flashbacks to the atrocities committed against them. Those people have been allowed to escape, if they can find a means to do it, but what about all those left behind? I imagine many are in rural areas that aren't being bombed, but they are still affected. Their families and friends in the cities. No power, water, sanitation. No way of contacting anyon

 The war in Ukraine rages on. The Russians are surrounding the cities to starve everyone out. There's no food or water, electricity and natural gas. I thought there was an unwritten rule about killing civilians in this type of situation. You're supposed to bomb the business and government buildings, a few refineries here and there, and communications towers. It is quite obvious that Putin doesn't play fair. He's committing fratricide. Has this not become bad enough that NATO will step in and at least close down the air space? Something! ANYTHING! Send more weapons and sustenance for the people. There are less than 400 reported  civilian deaths in Ukraine, but there's just no way. 44 million people live there and 1 million got out. It's simply impossible. The nuclear reactor they nearly obliterated is still being manned by the operators and technicians; working with guns to their heads. A little better aim and Europe would have been covered in radiation. Onto oth

 Does the world not know that it centres around me? Does Russia not know what their stupid, fucking actions are doing to my anxiety? It's all just got to stop. A new development is Belarus supposedly isn't joining the invasion. Why the hell do they call it an invasion? It's a fucking war. Russia is taking over so many big cities in Ukraine. A fire broke out at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant - the largest in Europe - after it was allegedly attacked by Russian forces early on Friday morning [Press service of National Nuclear Energy Generating Company Energoatom/Handout via Reuters] It's reported there were "several" deaths. There has been no radiation detected ... yet. It's impossible that the casualty numbers are accurate: there are civilians and soldiers dead all over, but the dead must wait. It's being reported that one million people have managed to get out. Poland was shown welcoming the refugees with open arms. Canada is fast-tracking immigration

This is in response to a question on the Mighty . It's a great resource for all things mental health. I'm reading about meds and how they can affect you. I myself have no f'in clue how they affect me. I've had things off and on for 30 years. I've been on so many meds I can't remember the vast majority. I think I feel something and then I turn around and my mood has shifted and I've forgotten whatever it was I was thinking about. The people I disclose my mental illness to always say, "but you're so normal!" Gee thanks, I think. I would like to have one day where I know who I am and what I think and want. One day to know what my "normal" is, because I have no clue. I haven't known who I am since I was 5. That's when it all started. Normal, level, calm, relaxed, secure, confident - I just don't see myself experiencing any of those. It makes me sad. ***** That was written when I was down, right after having just written the la

I am 53 years old. I have had mental health issues all my life and am currently diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder, Bipolar II Disorder, and complex-PTSD, with a sprinkling of anxiety thrown in just for fun. My story begins when I was 18 months old and my father threw me into a coffee table, breaking my collar bone. Thankfully he was gone most of the time, so I didn't face his wrath. He died when I was 5. I was sad in some ways but my mom wasn't really sad so I was confused. I was crying one day and told her I missed him; she told me to smarten up and stop the tears. In talking with family, I have learned my natural father likely had bipolar II disorder, however nothing was diagnosed back then, not that he would've gone for help anyway. Around about that time, my mom started going out a lot with her friends. She found a babysitter for me:  Mr. & Mrs. Mix (not their real names) lived a few blocks away. I started staying with them when I was 5. At first it was

Unsurprisingly, Belarus is joining Russia and moving their military down to the Ukraine border. I wish we could pick up those families and transport them here. Our house could fit 2 or 3 families. I'm sure a large majority of Canadians would do the same. It's the same shit in every war, "No, no. We won't hit civilians." Then we hear under reported numbers of the lives lost. Not to mention the soldiers. How many thousands will die? Such a tragic atrocity. Where are you getting your information? I watch CNN and read BBC and Al Jazeera. Thus far they seem to be the most informative and cohesive bunch. Nothing western is worth watching. In the end, none of it is as real as if we were there, fighting for our lives. Strength be to the Ukrainians. I keep you in my heart and thoughts. For those of you who believe in a higher power, now is the time to pray.

Last week, Putin kept saying that he had no intention of invading Ukraine. Surprise! This week he bombs them. Biden has said the U.S. won't step in unless NATO countries are affected.How long until that happens? I just don't know. The Ukrainian people are in my heart and thoughts.

I'm sitting here sipping my tea, reading through my blog, flashing through memories. Snippets fly in and around my brain; so many things have happened over the years. Big and little events, private and intimate time with friends and family, crises, tears of joy and shattered hearts, dreams thought and planned out only to be squashed by someone or something that tears your dreams out of your heart and mind and throws them up to the universe to be lost forever. 'Whenever friends' are the best kind. You are both separate entities but when the shit hits the fan, you're there for one another. I called out to a friend yesterday. She answered. Through the digital world, I felt her arms around me, comforting me, letting me know she's always there, no matter what. How was I deemed worthy of her love and friendship? How fortunate that I reached out to her instead of someone else. I love you, C. Darrin is a tired man. He's on day 15, he's probably not going to get out

My perception of my life right now is that of a pinball table, from the perspective of the ball. This is the machine. You get one try.