I'm Hideous!

 So how is everybody doing with this new world of AI generated stuff? It's hard to get away from, right? 

This is something I discovered today with my Canva app: It will soften 'me' photos. Ha! 

Today's camera's be it phone or computer ---- have taken the liberty of making our mugshots way too crisp --- don't you agree? I mean, I can see age spots beneath my skin that I do not detect in a mirror. Now for those younger kiddos with the soft, beautiful skin that is flawless - sure - a sharp image is captivating. 

However.

For old people like myself, I am cringing at every single selfie. Maybe it's time to put the selfie stick away OR maybe AI can be an acquaintance, 'one' I call on for a little facial time and time again.

I'm hideous

That's better

Bubble's Thoughts:

You don't have a problem taking an embarrassing photo of me in this stupid lampshade, yet you'll go to extreme lengths to fix your own flaws. Gracie was right. We'll discuss this later. 

Laughing at Myself

I'm pretty sure I have husband's cold. Though he thought it was a side effect of the drug he was taking for cholesterol - and I thought so too - but now that I have 'it' I'm thinking maybe it's just a bug of some kind. Ugh.

What got me back into blogging? You ask.

Okay, you didn't ask. But I'm going to tell you anyway :-)  

Years ago I decided to have my blogs printed into volumes and books. 

Yes, I did. 

It was at a time when I was still working and had a little extra money to throw around. I barely looked at the books after they were made, but my daughter pulls them out and studies them often when she is here. 

Stay with me.

So after Gracie died I seldom blogged. She was my inspiration and the personality behind the entire blog. I felt like I had lost my identity and purpose. My heart. 

A few days ago, still looking for that peaceful place I once had when blogging, I pulled out one of the volumes and started reading. Several things clicked.

1. I enjoy my own writing. I found myself laughing at myself and boy, did I need that!

2. Gracie returned. Sassy and cute and larger than life.

3. Memories. They were all there. 

4. You. I missed you and your pets and your kindness and how you could make me laugh by sharing simple shenanigans of your pets. I missed knowing about your life. Watching you navigate life and often learning ways to better navigate my own life. 

5. And finally, there were those who had befriended me on blogger whom I grew to care for them deeply... who are gone. But their comments, those heartfelt, warming, and sometimes funny comments live on between the pages of each one of those book volumes GRACIE OWNS ME and GROWING OLD WITH GRACIE. 

Be still my heart.

I have found blogging to be getting to know a person from the inside out, and that's the best way! All other avenues of social media have been more the opposite. Does that make sense to you?  

Well. It does to me.

And that is why I am back.  Thank you for welcoming me back. 

My old computer crashed last week and I had to get a new one. So here's to hoping this one allows me to continue blogging and get back on track. 

Bubbles is Here

 On May 26 I had to take Bubbles in for a surgical removal of a lump/wart that had grown pretty big on her back. That same morning I awoke to a bloody faced dog. Yes, you heard that right. Bubbles had scratched her head so invaisively the night before while we were sleeping that she had a pretty bad spot on her head that needed attending to.

So. When I left her there at 8AM for surgery later that day, I was told by the tech that her head would be looked at as well.

I got a call from the vet an hour or so after noon and she said all went well with the surgery. Only one stitch and it would need to come out in two weeks. Addressing her head injury she prescribed an antibiotic and the cone of shame for at least 2 weeks or until her head heals. 

Bubbles is a real trooper when it comes to the cone, but those meds! 

On May 26, four years earlier, around the same time I picked Bubbles up from her surgery, I was walking into the same vet hospital with a dog whom I had spent the better part of eighteen years loving, to say goodbye. I was so broken.

But walking out of that hospital the same time, four years later, with Bubbles... I was reminded of God's love and how He gives us good gifts. 

Life goes on.

Gracie will be in my heart forever. And Bubbles is here now. For a while, hopefully a long while.