E is for Ewok

E is for Ewok.

No, not that kind of Ewok…..this kind!

This is my Persian cat, Ewok. She’ll be 5 years old tomorrow. Plenty of studies have shown that pets are good for your mental health. They reduce tension and can improve your mood (except when they pee on something). Research has shown that spending just 20 minutes with your pet can lower cortisol, the stress hormone, levels and elevate serotonin. Interaction with animals is even a form of therapy in some cases. I am thankful every day that I have Ewok. She does so much for me. When I am at my worst and am sure everyone in my life would better off if I were gone, I think of Ewok. She is the only one I know wouldn’t be better off. I am her person. She needs me.

Ewok keeps me company. Spending time with her makes me feel better. Petting her, playing with her or listening to her purr gives me something besides my inner monologue to focus on. Also, she needs me. As much as she’d like to think she was a ferocious little beast that could take care of herself, she can’t. She needs me, her little world revolves around me. It’s nice to be needed. Ewok is going to want me around and love me regardless of my mood, whether or not I got that grant for my research and despite my eating the whole chocolate cake. Pet love is unconditional, that’s a reason to keep going.

Rooaarrrr from the ferocious beast! …or maybe just a sleepy kitty yawn.

Ewok helps me sleep. I love listening to her purring. Cats purr at a frequency of 25Hz, the same frequency that is used to help heal wounds faster in humans (reference). The rhythmic sound Ewok makes often helps me sleep. When I’m tossing and turning or my mind is racing, I put her beside my pillow and focus on the sound she is making. This usually helps me drift off. I’m assuming her purring means she is content which means I am doing something right. This gives me a peaceful feeling, allowing me to sleep. How do I get her to stay? I’m lucky she just likes to sleep with me every night. Unfortunately her favourite spot to sleep is on my face. So if I want her to stay, I have to wait until she is sleepy and then I can position her like putty.

Ewok keeps me active. No, I don’t take her for walks. Ewok is a bit of a princess. She doesn’t like it when the wind ruffles her fur. Ewok and I do yoga together. Yes, you read that last sentence right. Yoga. Every time I do a workout video, I get out my yoga mat and I have to get Ewok’s mat out for her too. If I don’t workout often enough, she starts to remind me to get to it. Let me explain….. I do workout videos at home for which I use a yoga mat. I would start my workout and Ewok would be there……batting my ponytail as I did sit-ups, climbing under me as I did push-ups and weaving in and out of my legs as I did squats. Not to mention scratching my mat to pieces! She was driving me nuts and making it impossible to workout at home. One day I got fed up with her antics and her scratching, so I got out another mat, only half hoping she’d stay on the old one and leave me alone. To my surprise, she did! She loves that ridiculous hot pink mat! Without me in the way she was free to scratch and roll and contort herself all over it. So now we workout together. Me on my mat, Ewok on hers. If I haven’t worked out in a while she’ll head over to where I keep the mats and start scratching her pink one. Hey Mum, workout time!

Ewok gives me purpose. She injects some humor in among the darkness. I’m not in a smiling mood at the moment, but here I am writing a post about Ewok and her ridiculous yoga mat and its already making me feel a little lighter. She sometimes inspires creativity too. I’ve made treats or toys for her in the past. I even make cartoon versions of her sometimes. I know it seems insignificant, but anything to distract me from the over-thinking and getting into that negative snowballing effect helps.

Ewok as a unikitty!

Ewok and I as steampunk superheroes. She makes a great sidekick.

For one reason or another, not everyone can have a pet. That doesn’t mean you can’t benefit from the interaction. I’m sure you have friends or relatives with pets that you can visit. If you are open to a little more commitment, you can also volunteer to walk neighbourhood dogs or work at the local animal shelter. For a less committed interaction try a bird feeder in the backyard or even going to the zoo could provide a nice distraction.

Do you have a pet, or wish you had one? What kind of animal do you wish you could interact with more often?

For more Ewok, visit “Meet Ewok” in my top menu.

If We Were Having Coffee….

If we were having coffee, we would be having it at my house this week because I am too exhausted to move. Thankfully the apartment it relatively spotless. By relatively, I mean we still have cat hair. There isn’t much I can do about that with Ewok being the powder puff that she is. I hope you aren’t allergic to cats. So far I’ve been lucky. Only one of my friends is dating a guy that is allergic…and there is my sister. She chooses to bury her face in Ewok’s tummy when she comes over though, so I don’t worry much about her. Yes, Ewok is THAT loveable.

If we were having coffee, I’d ask how your week went and what was new with you. I hope you have some good news to share. I am hopelessly behind in blogging, therapy, art journaling and my Ph.D. dissertation. I’m not letting it get to me though. It was a really hard and busy week. I am hoping to lay low and get caught up on things this weekend. I am caught up on all the little side projects my supervisor like to throw at me though! I have been paranoid about how she feels about me lately. I feel like she has lost faith in me since I took a step back from my involvement in the lab. As if this grant she is preparing is to make sure my research idea gets done because she doesn’t think I am going to do it myself. I talked to her about it and she said that my research is still my own and I should look at this grant as my supervisor investing in my research. It’s a very nice answer to my concerns, but I don’t believe it. I think she is avoiding talking about what she really thinks because it is negative. She does this a lot with other people. She tells me about it. If this is how she handles conflict with other people, no doubt, this is the way she handles it with me. It is frustrating. One of her best friends and former Ph.D. students told me that I treat her too much like my boss and I should treat her more like my friend. Maybe it is worth a try.

If we were having coffee, I’d tell you I am glad #1000Speak has evolved into a monthly event. I think it’s a great idea. The last event was yesterday and the theme was “Building from Bullying.” I knew about it well in advance and was debating whether or not I wanted to post about my experiences with bullying. It is something I am sorting through in therapy at the moment. I finally decided that I did want to write something, but I ran out of time with this past week being so crazy. I am looking forward to reading the other posts though. If you are interested in reading some posts on “Building from Bullying” check out the linky at the bottom of Gene’O’s post.

If we were having coffee, I’d want to tell you about another great idea I heard about this week. This one is from Nerd in the Brain. It is called “There is Beauty in All of Us”. Basically, you send in a selfie, she will post it to acquire comments from other people..positive ones!! Then, all the photos will be put into a video showing how diverse beauty is. It’s a really uplifting project. Visit her blog and participate, or at least check it out. I am actually thinking of sending in a real selfie…not a drawing. You’ll have to guess which one is me when you see the video! haha.

If we were having coffee, I’d tell you I’m still plugging along with the 30 Day Colouring Challenge. It has been a comfort this week, knowing that I can set aside 10 minutes from working to colour something. I did them mostly myself. I used my Steampunk colouring book from Dover one day. Dover Publishing colouring books rock! These are my entries from the past week.

If we were having coffee, I’d wish a happy and productive weekend. I am off to get caught up on all my projects. I think I will start with the colouring challenge. I always feel better getting something checked off my list. It gives me the motivation to tackle the bigger things.

This conversational post link-up is hosted by Part-Time Monster, join the fun!

If We Were Having Coffee…..

If we were having coffee, I’d ask you how you felt about cats. There are two different Cat Cafes in Montreal. I haven’t been to either and I’d really like to go. Of course, none of the cafe cats could ever be a cute as my Ewok, but I think it would be a fun experience and it’s something I could check off my life list. We would go to Cafe Chat L’Heureux. It looks like this cafe lets you hold the cats, the other one doesn’t. I’d get a coffee with one of their lemon raspberry marshmallow kitty paws. What are you in the mood for this week? A cat-pucchio perhaps? Haha! I’m not kidding, that’s on the menu!

Here is my order! Coffee and marshmallow cat paw. This is a picture from their menu.

If we were having coffee, I’d ask you how you were and how your week went….after I finished gawking at the cute furry beasts. Sorry! I swear, you’ve got my full attention now!

If we were having coffee, I’d tell you that my week went by pretty fast. I did get some bad news from my friend Lynne though. She was diagnosed with colorectal cancer last spring. By the time they found it, it was a stage IV liver metastasis. She has been on chemo all this time and handled it really well. She kept her strength and only felt sick when she was actually plugged in to the drug. The tumor in her colon is pretty much gone and the one in her liver has shrunk significantly. The next step is surgery. This is the bad news. They have to take out 70% of her liver. Removing this much means it will not regenerate and if the cancer returns, they can’t remove anymore. The surgery is also risky (8% mortality) because the excision site is right by the portal vein. If she makes it through the surgery there is a high chance of liver failure afterwards. When she asked about the colorectal surgery she also needs, they told her to forget about it. They wanted to get though the liver first. It’s really not sounding good. Lynne is a quiet and kind person. She looks after animals for a living. She doesn’t deserve this.

If we were having coffee, I’d tell you I spent the first half of the week tied in knots and completely dreading going to work on Wednesday. I had a list of patients from a previous study (a few years ago) that I could use for my study. I had to go to their retina clinic and find out who was dead and who was still alive. A rather morbid task, but this is something you have to do when you work with a geriatric population. I was dreading this because I knew a rather nasty ophthalmologist was going to be on duty and he always sneers at my genetics research. Also, the last time I tried to do this, the clinic staff was just annoyed with my presence and refused to show me how to use the computer system. I anticipated the same thing this time. To my surprise, it wasn’t like that at all (probably because my supervisor came with me). Dr. Nasty didn’t say anything about my research and the clinic staff were very helpful. I got into the computer system and determined about half of my list had future appointments booked. There may be hope for my research yet.

If we were having coffee, I’d tell you I am still loving the art journaling. I had brunch with a friend last weekend and we went to a scrapbook store afterwards. I bought some new stencils to try, some metallic watercolour pencil crayons, a waterproof pen and a cute little cupcake stamp. I love cupcakes. I’m hoping to have a chance to play with my new goodies later today. I’m also going to participate in “Happy Mail” with one of my art journal groups. Happy Mail is basically a trade of scraps of unique paper, stamps, stickers, charms or anything else you can journal with between artists via snail mail. Different things are available in different parts of the world. It’ll be fun to see what I can get and make some other people happy.

If we were having coffee, I’d tell you that Thursday was really zen. After getting over the shock of Lynne’s news and my work anxieties, I was able to relax a little. I spent the day at home with Ewok and got caught up on research articles and blog stuff. Ewok was really sweet. She sat with me all day drifting in and out of nap land. She got up only a few times to play, snack or drink. We have a water fountain for her to drink out of. When she was just a little thing, she was always desperate to get to the tap whenever we turned it on. So we thought getting her a tap-like water fountain would be a good idea. She’s a little weirdo with it though! Before she drinks from it, she swipes her slipper paw through the stream of water. It’s like she is testing the temperature or something. Even weirder, she sticks her head right under the falling stream of water! I thought cats weren’t supposed to like getting wet. Ewok hated the two times she got a bath, but she gets her head soaking wet! I often pick her up and kiss her on the head between her ears. Sometimes when I do this, it’s like kissing a puddle. Silly kitty.

If we were having coffee, I’d thank you for joining me and tell you I think it’s time we go. There is so much to do on a weekend. I’d probably grab a souvenir to take home to little Ewok and we would bid adieu to our new feline friends as we head out.

(This conversational coffee post is part of a weekend link-up hosted by Part-Time Monster. Join in the fun!)

Share Your World 2015 – Week 3

This is Share Your World, a blogging event hosted by Cee’s Photography. Thanks to Cee for all the effort she puts in to coming up with fun new questions every week. Here’s week 3!

Given the choice of anyone in the world, whom would you want as a dinner guest?

I never know how to answer this question. The thought of having any dinner guest gives me anxiety, nevermind a stranger that I admire. I’m not much of a cook. I usually do easy things, not the kind you’d want try to make a good impression with. I’d go with a friend, familiar and safe! They wouldn’t mind my cheesy taco pasta or sweet potato chilli. If I had to pick a stranger, it would be a chef, someone who would volunteer to cook for me, like Rachael Ray or the guy that drives the toaster-mobile. I think his name is Bob Blummer. He’s called the Surreal Gourmet. Always entertaining.

When did you last sing to yourself? To someone else?

I think I was singing in the car Saturday morning while driving to meet a friend for breakfast. “Shake it Off” came on the radio. I couldn’t help myself. The last time I sang to someone else was probably Ewok. I sing to her all the time. I make up dumb songs about how cute she is. I usually take a well known tune and change the lyrics. Hubby hates it (haha), but then he starts singing them too.

If you could wake up tomorrow having gained any one quality or ability, what would it be?

Confidence. I think if I had confidence I would get so much further in life and recover from set backs much quicker.

What, if anything, is too serious to be joked about?

Sometimes there is a need to joke about serious things, it’s how we cope. I think whatever situation you are in, you have all joking rights. When you are talking about someone else, the rules are different. Rape, abuse, murder, suicide, kidnapping, child molesting….I can’t find humor in these things no matter which way you spin it.

Bonus question:  What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up?

Last Week: I am always grateful for the support network I have, but especially last week. I don’t have much control over things in my life right now. In order to gain control I need to start making tough decisions about school and what to do about hubby’s job situation. I have hubby, friends and family I can discuss these things with. I know some people aren’t so lucky. This is something I’ll never take for granted.

This Week: I am looking forward to doing some more art journaling and getting some new Lego minifigures. *Please, please, PLEASE let me get the unicorn!*

Share Your World 2015 – Week 2

This is Share Your World, a blogging event hosted by Cee’s Photography. Thanks to Cee for all the effort she puts in to coming up with fun new questions every week. Here’s week 2!

Are you a hugger or a non-hugger?

I LOVE hugs! I need several everyday. I guess that makes me a hugger? I don’t hug just anyone though. Most hugs are for/from Hubby, my parents or Ewok. Sometimes Ewok doesn’t want to hug me, I take them anyway, hehe. I guess thats one of the disadvantages of being so little. I usually hug friends and relatives on hellos and good-byes. That’s it for the real hugs. In Montreal, the traditional greeting is the double cheek kiss….or triple if you are from the Russian community. That sort of involves a hug, so I participate in that with people that I am less friendly with. They have to initiate it though.

Above is Ewok with the annoyed face she gives me when I hug her without permission. In this pic, she was annoyed because we put on her Santa hat. Poor baby, haha!

What’s your favorite ice-cream flavor?

That’s hard. It depends who made it I think. Lately, if I buy from the grocery store, it has been Chapman’s nanaimo bar frozen yogurt. It is relatively cheap and not too bad (for a frozen dessert) in terms of nutrition. If we’re talking Ben and Jerry’s then it’s Half-baked. That way I don’t have to choose between brownie chunks and cookie dough bits, it has both. There’s a new flavour, Peanut Butter Half-baked. That sounds even better! I’ll have to see if I can find that one here. The Haagen daz favourite is coffee, hands down! Baskin Robbins had a Birthday Cake flavour once. I loved it, but I haven’t seen it again. It was cake batter ice cream with cake bits, chocolate fudge, sprinkles and frosting swirled throughout. We also have an independent ice cream guy down the street. He makes his own flavours. He makes the best red velvet I’ve had yet!

Do you prefer exercising your mind or your body? How frequently do you do either?

At the moment, I’m fed up with both. I just don’t have enough energy. I guess I prefer exercising my mind. I don’t handle being bored well. I need to be learning, I need to be challenged. I exercise my mind every day whether it be through research, reading, creative arts or crosswords and logic puzzles. I used to enjoy exercise so much, I don’t know what happened, but I started hating it a couple years ago. Now, I’m exercising a couple times a week. Usually walking or using an elliptical. I got a mini stepper for Christmas. I’m hoping being able to exercise while watching TV will encourage me!

Are you more of a dog person or a cat person? Why?

I am a cat person. My family got two cats just before I moved out. They still live with my folks. Maggie-Mae (above) is a really pretty girl. Her sister, Ruby-Tuesday refused to sit still long enough for a photo. Then, there’s Ewok, you all know her. Cats are adorable, especially my Ewok! No, I’m not being biased at all!

It’s not that I am not a dog person. I just don’t have much experience with dogs. I didn’t have pets growing up, but some of my friends and my aunt had cats. I didn’t know anyone who had a dog until I moved to Montreal when I was in university. My cousin had a huge golden retriever (Teddy Bear). I babysat for Teddy and her kids all the time. Teddy was a good dog, but he didn’t get along with other dogs, so I couldn’t handle him on a walk. He was also a little bit greasy, not so great for cuddles. My aunt (the one with cats) recently got a dog who is pretty sweet. Maybe I’ll start being a dog person too. Meet Kai!

Bonus question:  What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up?

Last Week: I got another week away from work. Psyc wasn’t back from his vacation yet, so I couldn’t get my work schedule approved like my supervisor wanted. I’ll see him this week. The thought of work is creating a huge knot in my stomach, so I was grateful for the extra time.

This Week: I’m looking forward to starting all the art journal challenge I signed up for. Maybe three was too many. I hope I’ll find time. This isn’t school though. It’s fun, I’m not being graded.