What's been going on you might wonder? Why haven't I got anything nice to say? Well, it's entered that time of year again that is a challenge for me no matter what way you slice it. It's cold, and it's dark. The leaves are gone. It's not yet snowy (thankfully), but it's not dry either, which means it's rainy. It's that time of year when you just want to warm up by curling up with a mug of hot chocolate, or mulled wine and read a book, or watch movies. When feeling satisfied means eating warm, rich, thick foods. When sleeping 24 hours a day doesn't sound like a bad idea (didn't I say once before that I should have been a bear?!? Hibernation seems like the smartest idea I have ever heard!)
All of this wouldn't be so bad if I wasn't a girl (a grrl? A woman? A womyn?) that dealt with so much other stuff. Eating and sleeping curled up 24 hours a day would be great if it didn't pack on more pounds than my average life already does. Doing all that would be nice if I didn't have to go to work. When it comes down to it, I just don't know how to positively deal with this weather.
I would REALLY like it if someone that knows me really well (like someone who knew me before I moved overseas) would leave a comment vouching for the fact that I have always hated winter (Mom??? Every year when it was Christmas time and time to get together with your relatives, everyone always wanted to meet in Colorado to go skiing, right? Except who? ME! Where did I want to go? California!!! Come on, back me up!!!).
Joel thinks winter is cool. He thinks it's neat. He finds it enjoyable. I say it's because he grew up in Brisbane where it never got below 15C, and he's had enough warmth and sunshine to get him through a few horrible Latvian winters. When my younger brother (whom I owe a huge apology for forgetting his varda diena! Sorry MDP!) was looking at universities, he specifically searched for one in a warm climate, where sunny days exceeded cloudy ones...and he only ever lived in Michigan. Come try Latvia! Michigan winters are enough to depress people, and that is where I spent most of my first 23 years. Then I got two years reprieve in Shanghai, and now I'm here. All I want is a place where the sun shines more than it doesn't. Where summer is enjoyable not because it is so short that you better not blink or even think about not enjoying a moment of it because it'll be gone if you do or don't, but because it just is. Or where, even if I do have to deal with some cold weather and some snow or something, at least it is over in like 4 months, instead of lasting more than half the year. Is it so much to ask? Apparently it is.
There you go...are you feeling glum yet? Or happy that you don't live where I do? Well, in an effort to alleviate some weight, some excess baggage from my life, I finally decided to clean out my closet. Here is what I got rid of:
Now what you need to know is that most of the clothes in those three large garbage bags have not been worn in at least two years. This is only my third year living in Latvia, which means, you guessed it, many of them come to Latvia from China or America. And the reason they haven't been worn? Because too many potatoes and beer don't do a girl good, and they don't fit. They didn't fit when I got here, and more potatoes and depressing winters have only led my body further away from ever fitting into them again. One might wonder, why have I held onto SO MANY clothes for such a long time? Why have I moved these clothes from apartment to apartment the 5 times I have moved in Riga? Well, I tell you what, it's hard to admit that you might never be a certain size again. It's hard to give up the trousers that made you feel like a million bucks when you fit into them. It's really hard to know that so much money has been spent on clothes that didn't get to wear out, because you just got too big for them...and I'm not talking growing taller.
Today is a sad day as those three bags stare me in the face. I'm trying not to feel like I have given up on ever being fit again. But I know that opening my closet and seeing it so full of clothes that don't fit was only depressing me more than this weather already is. So...out with the old. Hopefully as we approach the new year I'll be in with something new...maybe something better... one can only hope, something smaller.
Speaking of small things. There are lots of good things that come in small-ish packages. This big lug of a cat is one of em.
Bumbulis is an ever present joy in my life. Did I ever write the story of how I almost lost him? It was long and complicated, and for a while we didn't even really know what happened...but turns out somehow he got locked out on the balcony, and he managed to jump or fall off our 4th storey balcony on to the concrete below. Luckily he must have landed mostly on his feet, because he suffered only a large scrape across his face (which took off quite a bit of fur and some whiskers) and a slightly broken lip. But he didn't break any bones or teeth or anything. That was lucky. I'm pretty sure the lady who cleans up around our apartment building saw him fall, and let him back into the building. Although my neighbor almost chased him away, when I got up that morning (it was a Sunday) I heard him outside the front door and let him back in. The poor guy was beat up good...as you would be after falling 4 storeys! He barely moved for the next two days, and I worried a lot about him, but in the end he nursed himself back to health and he is fine now. His favorite things to do are run around the house like a total loon, swipe at Joel, attack the dooner, sleep on my chest, sleep between Joel and me, and tear holes in his food bag if he decides he's not being fed often enough. The little pig.
But, who can resist a face like this?
That's it from me today. Let's end on a cute note. :)
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