There are so many terms which have popped up into everyday conversation since I was parenting my littles, one that my therapist throws in a lot is ’emotional regulation’. I had never heard this term when I was a mom of little kids and I lived in LA and went to a million kids classes so I would have heard it in one or another I am sure (I commend the CALI government for those free classes!!). Apparently that is one of my issues, not recognising when my emotions are out of balance or being able to pinpoint what is causing that imbalance or where in my body I feel it.
One of the best things to come from the consultation with a dog behaviorist when Finn was a pup is that Finn gets an Achilles tendon to chew every night which helps to dispel energy, and the second is that the behaviorist left a toy she made of bits of braided material and told us to use it to divert him if he was getting over-excited and needed redirecting from his misbehavior. We did this and now Finn knows that if he is over-excited and annoying us that he needs to get himself together and he will either frantically gallop in a circle and chase his own tail, or he will pop over to his own toy basket and take out a toy. This is a basket in the midst of a few other baskets but he knows which is his. All while telling us off in dog language, he is very vocal.
Sometimes he brings us the original braided toy the behaviourist made but he now tends to take out a ball on a string which he throws back and forth by shaking his head violently. Sometimes he mistakenly lets it go and it goes sailing past. This is his method to self sooth or to dispel his chaotic energy. He is a clever boy!
I thought it was quite interesting that the dog has learned this skill but I never did! As an only child, I learned early how to be alone and now I can amuse myself for hours, sometimes doing nothing but watching the birds. However I am rubbish at emotions, I just stuff them all down or explode, the problem being which route I may go is not always predictable.
We had Lily and Amelia with us from Sunday until Tuesday morning and Josh also joined us on Monday afternoon. It was lovely to have the extra time with them, Millie and I had some lovely bonding time with Mom in sight so she was not stressing as she is very much a mama’s girl. I sat on the front porch with her on my lap for ages and she chatted away to the birds. Definitely her Elisi’s girl too. She is crawling like a master now and is off wherever she fancies and I am so pleased I got to witness it the first time. Such a privilege.
Millie was so excited by all of our animals. She would chat away to Blue, shrieking loudly followed by a funny gasping squeak. I assume that means something as it is a consistent ‘phrase’. She is too gorgeous and so animated. She also has a temper and got so angry when Lily took away the iPad where she was watching a cat game, but she was picking it up and throwing it around when the mouse ran off of the screen. She clenched her little fists and shouted at Lily until we diverted her with something else. Luckily she does not seem to hold a grudge!
Finn was very curious about Millie and wanted to sniff her from head to toe. He then decided she was his and only he was responsible for her protection. Everywhere she sat, he sat right next to her. If Panda went near for a cuddle, Finn wedged in between them and blocked his access. He was obsessed. It was pretty reciprocal as Mills loved to pull on his mane and pat him rather violently. He did not care, she was his.
The weather has been so hot this week. It has been muggy and oppressive. I am so grateful for the air conditioner in our bedroom. Most homes in SA do not have any air conditioning and many do not have a pool, for that matter the majority do not even have running water to their ‘home’. I am very grateful for my blessings. In the morning when I do my prayers to the 7 directions, I thank the west for the water in my taps, the water in my pool, the water in our oceans, lakes, rivers and streams. I give thanks for the water which is life and the food provided by mother nature in these bodies of water. I am very grateful for these blessings and for my own privilege.
Thursday was Human Rights Day in South Africa so it was lovely to have a paid day off from work. You can read more about the background behind Human Rights Day from the SA government website here or you can read my own post about it here.
I had 2 very interesting things occur on Thursday afternoon. First a huge black butterfly flew in through the metal security gates, did a loop around the room in the air right above my head and flew back out. Now that is obviously a message. The second was that I found a white feather but I no idea what either of these things mean. Hopefully the Creator or the Ancestors will reveal the meaning of these messages to me somehow.
It was a very hot day once again on Thursday and I was delighted when the team arrived from the pool company to fix the pool pump that morning.
Afterwards, we had to wait 3 hours for the glue to dry before we ran the pump. When we removed the cover we saw it was rather green but not as bad as it could have been considering it had not had the pump on for weeks.
Early that evening when he finished work Norm treated it with all of the required chemicals and closed it back up and hoped for the best. Hopefully I will be able to swim later today.
Thursday evening was so hot I ate my dinner outside while Norm was faffing with the pool. I had marinated some beef strips in yogurt to tenderise them. It did not work (unless they were worse before!?) but it was edible. I fried them with onions and then added some beef stock and sour cream. It was tasty enough. I steamed cauliflower and cooked zucchini two ways: sliced in the air fryer and chopped in olive oil. I prefer the first option as I prefer them dry (it is a texture thing).
I took my plate inside and went back out and spent the rest of the evening enjoying the cool outside air. Notice that Mr Finn has possession of a green bowl? That is Lola’s dinner dish. He loves stealing it and acting as if he has obtained government secrets or something.
I received such a lovely delivery from Lily and Josh that same day to say thank you. They sent me a packet of various snacks, nuts, dried fruit and chocolates. They also sent this gorgeous plant.
I am still watching what I eat and when. I had groceries delivered and I am trying to do the anti-inflammatory diet. I missed some of the ‘no’ foods on the lists, I had a snack of a few cubes of pineapple but at least it is fruit not a kilo of chocolate? I also made a sauce with tomato passata but did not know until it was too late. I should not have nightshades.
But overall it is manageable, it is just changing my usual routines. I drink a glass of water when I wake up then I generally have a yogurt with some fruit and nuts at 8am. I am not a morning eater so that first meal is a challenge. I have a coffee with collagen and have only 2 coffees per day now since my acidic levels are high. At 10ish I then have an egg, either boiled or scrambled with a teaspoon of smooth cottage cheese. I usually have a rice cake with it. Around 1pm I have a bit of raw veg chopped up (red cabbage, carrots, beetroot, coriander and various bits of lettuce) and some chicken. At 4pm I have some hummus and raw veg.
At dinner I am supposed to have a protein and vegetables, so I have ‘cooked’ despite the heat. One night I made a huge spinach and lettuce salad with feta, figs, nuts, seeds, avocado, cucumber slices, diced carrot and rotisserie chicken. It was so hot that night that it was perfect.
Another night I served a cheaper cut of beef which I had cooked for hours in beef stock and tomato passata with black beans and I served it over rice. I then realised I was not supposed to have tomato but it was delicious even though taboo, or maybe because it was taboo?
Last night we had a take-away but I tried to remain healthier choices. I had baby calamari and a chicken Caesar salad.
Tonight my friend is coming and Norm is making a half of a fillet of beef and I will make a salad of some sort.
It has been lovely having Norm home again but as most couples do, it is a shuffle to redistribute responsibilities after I was solely in charge. I am very rigid in routines, the dogs get meds and foods exactly on time and they had a routine of who ate where. I found that Panda wanted to eat with Finn, he told me it felt like we were trying to say he was a cat by separating them after Pixie passed. So both dogs were fed in the garage, with the door open so I could keep an eye on them to prevent them from switching bowls (i.e. stopping Finn from stealing Panda’s food). I fed both cats in the pantry, Lola on the floor and Blue on the counter. That way I stood in the same spot for the 5 minutes it took them to calmly eat. It is chaos some nights with Norm, but I either do it myself or STFU. Therefore only you guys will hear about it.
My Mom is still very unwell and feels ‘really bad’ but yesterday she was interacting on the family group and said she feels a little bit better. What that means in regards to actual symptoms I have no clue and she got really annoyed with us for asking but we are really worried being so far away. She has promised to check in with our family group each day if we stop asking ‘How are you’ every day. If you are so inclined would you please pray for her to get completely well very soon?
I discovered a song this week which I love! I am sure most of you trendy things already know them but I only heard of them when I saw they were coming to SA despite the fact that this live performance was recorded in 2017! I used a live performance because I thought the lead vocalist was a throaty voiced woman when I heard this track played on Spotify! The group are Cigarettes After Sex.
Last night I fell asleep watching telly on the sofa about 9pm and Norm only woke me at 1am to go to bed. By then I had slept enough that my body was ready for the day, but my eyeballs and brain were not. I took a antihistamine assuming that would get me off to sleep, but the air conditioning went off for load-shedding at 2am to 4am and I was too hot to sleep. Finn joined me and I sat petting his head for ages listening to Norm snore. I did not get too distressed as I knew I was not working this morning so I just played games, pet Finn and tried to keep from waking anyone else up. I assume I will crash mid-afternoon!
I hope you have all had a good week and that your week ahead will be lovely. Until next time, Kisses from the Kitten x0x0x0xx0
Kitten in the City 
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