A feeling or fear doesn't have to make sense for us to validate it. Very often we can't get around to reasoning through a feeling or fear UNTIL we've validated it-- because that "part" of us will absolutely fight for its right to feel what it feels & need what it needs.

I just did two big Adulting™️ tasks and I am SO proud of myself. Here’s to continuing the starting-over process at almost-43 (it’s been an ongoing thing for 3+ years but I’m getting there). What are you proud of yourself about right now? Let’s hear it!!

As I examined the various scratches on my legs: “But only a few of these are from shaving. I’m not THAT clumsy. At least 90% are from the cats.” —and it came to me that when you begin discussing the pet-inflicted wounds on your body in terms of percents, it might be time to trim their nails.

Gwendolen is pretty good at finding the hair tie (yellow, on the window sill) when we play fetch, but when Marjorie comes in and smacks her around it can make it more difficult (continued…)

Hi my day was just made because a friend (who didn’t grow up evangelical and therefore has not been inundated with these messages since birth) asked me to talk about Tolkien and how his faith related to LOTR 🥳🤩🤓 One ten-minute voice note later and I’ve barely scratched the surface 😂

Marjorie always looks so offended when she notices Gwendolen watching her play kicky-bitey with her stuffed animal toys, like “Don’t you have any decency? AVERT YOUR EYES!”

Welcome to the time of year in Texas when women get so hungry for fall that they (apparently sweatless humans, the lot of them) wear knee-high leather boots and cabled sweater dresses and cause me secondary heat exhaustion just by glancing at them

Within 30 seconds I broke the leg of my favorite chair AND stepped on Gwendolen’s paw, and while the chair is a bummer, hearing her little squawk absolutely destroyed my heart 😭😭 She’s okay but gosh. The WORST feeling. (but also, my beautiful chair 😭)

@fayelle.bsky.social SOMEDAY

Just a spicy orange kitty making biscuits on a teddy bear 🥹🥹

A lot of amazing things happened yesterday but one of them was that one of my students said she had no idea I was 42 because my skin looked so young and y’all, can’t nobody tell me NOTHIN TODAY

Today I baked an apple crisp, fed the compost worms, took the garbage out, went to the hospital and chatted happily with some older patients, went to class, had a good conversation with a prof, and am now cooking soup and roasting fall veggies 🍂 So I’ll say: go ahead and take that Tylenol.

cat logic: person isn't playing with me get on person and yell in face person only provides pets! BETRAYAL fine, will get behind person then smell person head what is this long fur? dirty, needs clean LONG FUR NOT NICE IN MOUTH WILL FIGHT LONG FUR WITH CLAWS

She’s such a baby, how she just CRASHES after playing hard 😂

Absolutely incorporating these into my vocabulary. What would yours be?

Cats and little kids: when the box is the best toy you’ve played with in weeks

Sweeping up cat litter (Marjorie is very tidy but Gwendolen kicks it EVERYWHERE) is substantially more difficult when one of the cats wants to fight the broom with her entire body

Work parts of today are done! Now I lounge and watch football for the rest of the day while 9yo has a friend over. Nice to have a calm Saturday where I finally don’t feel leveled by Covid!!

9yo: <quotes the Charlie Bit Me video, complete with accent> Do you know that meme? Me:

I did this a few years ago and then got a concussion and couldn’t follow up, and also I really wasn’t ready. BUT. I reached out to the pastor of a progressive church here, who *turns out* to be the dad of two students I’ve worked with (and thought the world of). We’re having coffee next week.

Yesterday was hard and sad and exhausting and things aren’t *better* necessarily BUT: both cats slept on my bed last night, which was so comforting! Gwendolen was under the covers (she likes to burrow) and Marjorie on top of the bedspread, but I’ll take it!

This is the most accurate statement I have read in my entire life

I was gonna go get my blood drawn at the main facility (they let you lie down, have more than one phlebotomist on staff, and presumably have a better bedside manner than the lady I dealt with on Tuesday), but I’ve been sidelined by grief and heaviness and mingled shame and frustration at it all.

She just had dinner ten minutes ago. I promise I do not starve my cats!!!

I didn’t cook a darn thing while I had Covid but last night I made my 9yo’s favorite enchilada soup and we’re having it again now and man, there is just nothing like cooking your own food, that you love, that your kid ALSO loves

Marjorie is a lot more subtle about her impending starvation than Gwendolen is, but still, there are SIGNS

Y’all I have to get my blood drawn in a few minutes and I haaaaaaate having it drawn so AMA or tell me anything or send silly pet pics or SOMETHING so I can get my mind off it

If y’all needed a laugh today, please consider that the kitten rescue where I got Gwendolen may have gotten their species mixed up because I might’ve accidentally adopted a weasel

NOT AN ANNOUNCEMENT!!! This is a MEMORY 😂😂 Throwback to ten years ago when 9yo’s dad and I used this to share that I was pregnant! Bonus points if you get the reference!!! It still makes me laugh 😂😂

Pet peeve: when sellers on Marketplace describe the item as “beautiful.” “Beautiful antique painting” “Beautiful Persian rug” I’ll be the judge of THAT, thank you

Back at the office (Sundays are often my busiest days) for the first time in what feels like weeks, because I was on vacation, then back to work for 2 days, then got covid. Anyway, it feels good to be back at work, which is something I have almost never said until this current job!

I’d almost forgotten what a really satisfying football win felt like!! Gig’em Aggies!!!!

Gwendolen has no idea what’s going on in the world, but right now she needs you to know her extreme sadness at having an empty bowl.

Gwendolen has no idea what’s going on in the world, but right now she needs you to know her extreme sadness at having an empty bowl.

Not that the dating apps are much to talk about anyway and I guess I gotta give this guy props for actually answering two of the prompts, but “A social cause I care a lot about is: Yes” and “I get along with people who are: Happy” …thanks for the insights, bro. I feel like I really KNOW you now.

Will Gwendolen ever get tired of forcing me to play fetch with the hair tie she stole, dropped in her water bowl, and now has brought back to me to throw approximately eight hundred and ninety-two times?

Sleepy babies 😍 I’m always happy when they fall asleep in sight of each other because it means they’re both letting their guard down! (They’re about six feet apart here.)

It’s confusing, as someone with chronic illnesses that have been increasingly in remission as I’ve been healing from PTSD and moving away from constant survival mode, to be very straightforwardly *sick.* Last night I spent energy I didn’t really have to finally wash my hair. It was worth it, but ➡️

In which Gwendolen and I have a conversation about how exceedingly sleepy she is

9yo’s class is hedgehog-themed because it’s his teacher’s favorite animal 😍 He got to take home the stuffed hedgehog this past weekend and included her in all his activities. The LEGO one is my favorite 😂

You deserve the certainty that, no matter what happens, you will be safe inside your own head & heart-- that no perceived "failure" or embarrassment will "make" you turn on your "parts" or abandon your inner child. That you are safe with you-- no questions asked.

They both slept on my bed while I was teaching (virtually) 🥹🥹🥹 Not TOGETHER, Marjorie would never, but they both slept near each other! And yes, they SLEPT, even though Marjorie was staring at Gwendolen while she fell asleep 😂😂 (“Sigh. Why does SHE have to be here.”)

Okay I need opinions. These curtains (in this specific shade of green) are a GREAT price and I have always wanted velvet curtains. Does this color go with the art I have picked out for my bedroom? Other shades of green are decently priced but not as cheap as the sage green.

I actually remembered to include fruits (mandarin oranges) and veggies (Thai salad mix to toss with pre-shredded rotisserie chicken) in my grocery order today and I actually ATE two of the oranges just now, please clap, I am trying not to subsist on Nutty Bars and ice cream

For @aymiejoi.bsky.social — both kitties are snuggling near me! 🥹 Marjorie doesn’t settle in my lap much during the day but sometimes she’ll settle down nearby!

“…the redshirt freshman from Marblehead, Massachusetts”— Anyone know why I just burst into uproarious laughter?? 😂😂😂😂😂

Assuming this is Covid, a vascular/systemic virus, makes the most sense right now despite me not being super congested. My fibromyalgia hasn’t felt this bad in at least five years. Nausea-inducing aches (really, PAIN) in every muscle I’ve even lightly used, and the pain lingers for days.

Sorry to bring something from Facebook over here but if this ain’t what’s wrong with American Christianity today…basically, “less beauty and wonder, more philosophical arguing.” How is this a perspective that people have? For FICTION?!

Some Friday Night Fetch for all you lovely people! Gwendolen has mastered the cat version of when dogs bring you a toy to throw but then go “JK I’m keeping it 😀 Unless…?”

I think I’ve finally landed on a configuration of art for my living room walls (I removed a number of weavings because CATS 😂 plus I wanted more variety), but I’m too sick to measure or arrange the frames and gotta wait for my next paycheck to print out some pieces and I am IMPATIENT