Tinged With Sadness

I'm having a rough time of it this cycle. My PMS is out of control and my mood keeps swinging all over the place. I go from being perfectly calm and content in one minute to feeling sad and like nobody cares about me in the next, and I'm in a state of constant irritation at my husband. Most of these feelings are completely irrational, but some aren't--I do have reasons to feel sad, and I think it's probably healthier to acknowledge them than to shrug them off and chalk it all up to wacky hormones.

It's frustrating because this is my favorite time of year. I love fall, I love the weather we're having right now, I love pumpkin season and I'm eating and drinking pumpkin-flavored everything and loving that, too. I also love Halloween, although it's definitely one of those holidays that are more fun with kids than without, especially when you're beyond the partying stage (although I don't think I ever really had much of a partying stage). Even so, it's always been my favorite holiday, even more than Christmas, because for me it's all about fun and nostalgia for the good things about my childhood.

I was thinking to myself the other day that I love Halloween so much because it's not tinged with sadness and loneliness the way Christmas often is. But then I remembered that Emma's due date fell around Halloween of last year, and I realized that if I'd had her we'd most likely be planning her (or his--again, it was way too early to tell; I just have this feeling it was a girl) first birthday party as well as her first trick-or-treat outing. So there's that.

We're also right around the corner from having to face the first full set of holidays without Matt's parents. I keep thinking about last Thanksgiving, how that was the last time we got to be with both of them outside of a hospital, how happy and thankful we all were that Rob got released from his hospital stay in time to come home for Thanksgiving, and how none of us had any idea that in just a few weeks, Mom would be gone, and so would Rob just a couple of months later.

So this season is bittersweet. I'm trying to focus on the sweetness, but my hormones keep dredging up the bitterness. I want to curl up with a blanket and watch sad movies and eat all the chocolate, but instead I'm making myself stay busy (I opened up a new Etsy shop for all of the knitting and crocheting I've been doing lately) and stick to my diet and workout plan, and that's helping. I'm also praying a lot, which also helps. And every now and then I let myself have a good cry, and a little chocolate, and I remind myself that I just need to hang in there, because this cycle is almost over and then my thought patterns and coping abilities will be back to normal, at least for a week or two, and then my husband can stop sleeping with one eye open.

New Look, Great Mood, SO LONG SUMMER!

In honor of the unofficial end of summer, I decided to change my blog's outfit for the new season. Lately I've been in love with the combination of teal/turquoise and bright orange/red, and orange is a good fall color. It's also a cheerful color, which will hopefully reflect the more hopeful tone I hope to set around here.

I also added a bit of scripture to the top of the blog. If you're reading this via RSS and can't be bothered to click on over for a peek, it's Psalm 113:9 (NIV): "He settles the childless woman in her home as a happy mother of children." This verse is my new mantra, a promise that I'm standing on in my prayers both for myself and other IFers in my blogosphere.

In other news, I'm in a fantastic mood today. I'm not sure why. Maybe it's because I feel rested for the first time this week. Or maybe it's that I just realized this morning that it's a 3-day weekend. It could also be because today is the last 100+ degree day in the forecast, and next week the highs will be in the 80s all week long. I think my awesome mood is mostly due to the fact that, for all intents and purposes, today is the last day of summer. I mean, let's face it: this has been a pretty cruddy summer, what with gallstones and intense heat and drought and no opportunity for any kind of vacation, not to mention the economy taking yet another nosedive and very nearly killing off my business. Nosir, I am most definitely NOT sad to see summer's backside. Hopefully it will get a good, long rest and not be quite so cranky and mean when it comes back next year.

My plans for the last ridiculously hot day of summer? Stay inside and chill. I'm going to tweak the new layout a bit more, play around with Photoshop, finish reading A Feast for Crows so I can FINALLY start in on A Dance With Dragons, watch Doctor Who and work on my impending grandniece's blanket. Then I plan to spend the rest of the weekend doing yard work and housework, because I always like to put the "labor" in Labor Day.

Oh, and if my Photoshoppery goes as hoped, then I just might have some freebies to kick off the week.

What are your plans for the weekend?