Hello Mindsayers!
I don't know how many of you still have me friended, but I thought it was about time I give some kind of an update here. It's been nearly a year since I last posted here.
The biggest change in my life is that nine months ago I did dreadlocks. I love them. They are one of the best decisions I've ever made, despite what a lot of my family (and friends) had to say - and still have to say in a lot of cases. Heh.
When I started them on March 5 they looked like this -
Now they look like this -
I've lost a lot of length, and they're still babies, but I love them soooooo much. I've never felt so comfortable in my own skin as I do now. It's weird. Dreadlocks teach you a lot about vanity and patience and I needed lessons in both of those.
My plans are to never again cut my hair, at all. I'm going to be an old granny with dreadlocks. The coolest hedgehog slave, dreadlocked old lady EVAR! ^_^
Dreadlocks have also gotten me a lot more in touch with my body and nature in general. I've begun using a lot of all natural products and to pay more attention to how things react inside me with different things. It's really enlightening.
If you're interested in seeing their full progress you can check out my
flickr set on them.
JD and I are still engaged and super happy. He's been great at supporting me through the dread process. He's never complaned even once of me looking like shit and he's just been wonderful. To show my appreciation I let him cut off his long hair, which was a big deal for me, but he's still the sexiest man alive. ^_^
This was us at my brother's 19th birthday party in September. Soooo happy!
We added a new addition to our little family in September - a pug/shih tzu (putzu?) mix named Throckmorton!
He's so sweet and oh so funny! He's our child and he gets treated as such. I am not usually a dog person, so it blows my mind that I can love a stinky little puppy so damn much. He's always able to put a smile on my face. ^_^
Of course we still have the real stinker, Theodore.
That picture is a little old, from when my dreads were newborns.
Theodore is still doing wonderfully, thankfully. He's definitely no Quillson, but I love him. He's not a cuddler at all and doesn't seem to like me half the time. He likes JD better than me and throws parties in his cage EVERY night. He keeps me smiling too.
The bad news is that Throckmorton HATES Theodore. They do not get along at all, so I can't have Theodore out and about with me as much as I used to because I'm scared of injuries. I'm not actually scared of Theodore getting hurt really, more that Throck will get quills to the eyeballs. Not good.
In July I got to take a trip to California to see some of my most precious friends. It was fantastic. Seriously one of the happiest and most fun times of my entire life. It was actually our first time meeting in person and I have to say, it was absolutely beyond my best expectations. I still think about it and get fuzzy. It was amazing. ♥
I started playing World of Warcraft in April and I've just finally gotten to level 60 on my shadow priest. I really enjoy WOW, but I have to do it on days when I've got a decent attention span. Heh.
I also still play DS like crazy and am playing Super Mario Galaxy at the moment on Wii. I love the Phoenix Wright series soooo much! ^_^
Health wise things could be better.
HIV wise I'm doing wonderfully. I haven't had any major infections or anything like that. My meds are still working wonders, but they're starting to see a bit of resistance, so we'll see how long I'll be able to stay on this combo.
We've finally gotten my migraines under control (mostly) with Depakote ER, which is actually pretty convenient because it is a mood stabilizer as well.
As for mentally, things are still really rocky for me. I was doing reasonably well on a combination of Effexor XR and Depakote, but I had a period where I lost my Gold Card (county health insurance) and was unable to go get my medications. I'm still working on getting into the psychiatrist again. It takes months. Awesome huh?
I'm just taking it day by day and trying to make the best of it.
Mostly I just deal with extreme ups and downs and a real inability to control my emotions. I also deal a lot with social anxiety and super irritability. I have no attention span most of the time and find it really hard to do normal activities most days.
I'm working on getting SSI still. Ugh.
Oh! I started crocheting and I LOVE IT! It seems to be one of the only things that can hold my attention and relieve anxiety for me. I guess the repetitiveness of it. I'm still learning, but I've made a lot of projects already and can see maaaaaany more in my future. ^_^ I'm thinking about setting up an etsy store one of these days.
As for my family, they're all doing wonderfully. My brother is graduated and working now. He has a Subaru WRX that is adores and a girlfriend that I'm not too sure about yet. My cousin Mandy had a baby in May named Phoenix. She's absolutely precious.
That's the two of them together. Gorgeous!
Well, this was an epic update, but that's pretty much all there is. I don't expect to update here regularly, but I'll never leave here permanently because Mindsay is a great community with too many people I care about. Plus, this was where I popped my blogging cherry! XD I still read every day even if I don't comment, I promise.
If you want to keep in touch more regularly, my email is roxieprince@gmail.com. Also, these are the other places you can find me online -
http://sayhedgehog.livejournal.com - I update here pretty dang regularly, but it's partially friends only.
http://myspace.com/roxieprince
http://sayhedgehog.deadjournal.com
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sayhedgehog/sets
Much love to all of you! ♥
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