Taking Action

Yes, I have started taking a Vitamin D supplement as advised.  For the first few days I doubled the dose by taking a pill morning and evening to see if I could jump start how I feel.  I also renewed my calcium supplements.  Both of these were recommended by my physician a few years ago, but I did not follow through for very long as I should have.  (Thus, I am not taking these just because many of my blog readers recommended it.  We all should follow the guidance of our doctor when paired with blogger advice.  I do love you all for being so helpful and kind!)

I will wait on the therapy unless my next meet-up with Doc says it would be a good idea.  (I AM feeling better mood wise and MAYBE energy wise.)  I hate that mental therapy in culture is so stigmatized!

There was a delay in re-starting my exercise program because I have company coming this week.  These are old friends of hubby that we have not seen as often as we would like since they live in Florida.  They are the "millionaires next door" because they have received several mil from the DOD for their land.  They are allowed to live in their charming little house on this land until they die.  You would NEVER know they had this much money because they live a normal retiree life-style except for more travel to exotic locations than the average retired couple.

I did finally open one of the two Yoga DVDs that I bought so many months ago.  This summer has been too crazy for Yoga and I have been too lazy.  I will try to follow one of these when I am through writing this post.  I have found that only the beginners Yoga levels can be done with any safety by me!

I do think one of the stimulus for this downer period in my mood was a "co-leader" that I work with on one of my volunteer projects.  In the beginning she was very critical at the lack of communication from my end but this mid-summer anything from her role as the museum contact was deadly silent.  I would show up at our meetings to find that I was faced with some deadline or misunderstanding because the DD at the museum had met with her but I never got emailed or contacted on any of the decisions and/or resulting deadlines that she agreed to.  When I returned after my cruise and asked what had transpired while I was gone (so I could write the monthly report) her total response was "We accomplished a lot!  Just look around!"  It seems my resignation as co-leader did not release me from angst as much as I had hoped and feeling that I failed in some way...but I am moving forward on that.

The final punch to my gut has been the TP group that with hubris, glee, confusion and ignorance has adversely affected the lives of many young and highly professional people I know.  (When you cannot win the game by playing by the rules, kick that ball into the woods and then blame it on the other team.) The hidden frustration of my bureaucrat hard-working and furloughed friends on FB has worried me.  In a second fell swoop these past years the TP gang has reduced much enthusiasm for entering public service.  Big money has flooded the rural areas with radio and TV dishonesty and fed the frustration and anger most of us had with this world by advocating a slash and burn agenda.  And many have been boondoggled into thinking this is a good approach.  If this continues there is a good chance that my Social Security check will stop or at the very least pause.  I have saved several months of cash...but I know many, many, many folks do not have this luxury.  No wonder I am depressed, and not listening to the TV news doesn't remove what I see happening all around me where I live.  I have been waited on by an administrative assistant who lost her job at the nearby military base due to sequestration, I know scientists that have lost their research due to a lengthy gap in funding their work, and others whose federal budgets have been FLAT for a decade.  This President has lost my strong support by allowing the TP to put us in this corner with his lack of hard negotiating skills.  He gave away much with budget cuts with the sequestration months ago and now we are STILL in a corner and I do not have the stomach to go through this again in mid-November if we do move on.  He and his team have also failed to really explain the pros and cons of the ACA implementation...where it costs us more and where it saves us more.  (Although I will admit I am amazed at how stupid many Americans are about this. Sanjay guupta says 2/3s of Americans admit they do not know much about the ACA.   If you have not seen Jimmy Kimmel's street segment you probably do not know what I am talking about.)

On an uplifting note the pottery below was our recognition gift from the County for being one of their "beautiful" people.  The dozen people we were nominated with were so much more "beautiful" than hubby or I and I was impressed with how carefully they made this ceremony more than a token feel-good event.  Each County Commissioner was responsible for reading the information on two or three of the people being honored.  (It did surprise me how many of these Commissioners could NOT read!)  The press from a half dozen news offices snapped away making me feel like a celebrity and they provided a nice lunch.  I met that one County Commissioner (yep, a TP dude) with his genuinely warm smile and handshake and the fact that he remembered my protest letter...showing what a good politician he is...even though his response to me had been somewhat condescending in the original email reply last year, he was super warm and friendly at this event.

The wine cork trivets in the back were made by my lovely DIL as gifts from her wedding.