On the Domingo Live! Show, Paloma suggested to do some of these things at the stroke of midnight. Most of them are said to bring closure to the old year and to encourage love, wealth, harmony,etc for the upcoming new year. Here are her suggestions:
1) Eat 12 seedless grapes at the stroke of midnight...make a wish as you eat each one.
2)Eat blackeyed peas (yuck!)
3)Place your wedding ring in a champagne-filled glass and drink it during midnight with your honey bunny.That's supposed to bring harmony and wealth in the upcoming year.
4)Ring a bell twelve times.
5)Place money in a purse,wallet, and/or pair of boots to invite wealth into your life for the new year.
6)Place a bundle of cinnamon in your household to attract more love into your life.(Wearing red to ring in the New Year also does the same.)
7)Sweep your doorway to remove any bad events from the past year, and toss away an old cleaning rag.
8)Fill a suitcase with clothes and run around the yard with them in tow (to promote the possibility of travelling more during the year.Apparently some people have done this and it works.)
Leigh heard a dog's muffled cries this morning. Apparently, he was trapped in the metallic tube at the driveway's entrance. Unfortunately, the tube had been badly mangled when someone ran over it with a vehicle. (Bad driver, by the looks of it.) But, Leigh dug around it, and the owner also came out to help get his pet out. The shy female dog was finally freed, and she went off to a quiet spot in the field to rest for awhile. (Her pups had ventured off awhile ago when they saw that we were trying to free her.)
While watching tv this morning, I saw this video by Elida Reyna and Michael Salgado. I immediately recognized one of the places where it was filmed---Embassy Suites Hotel in Corpus Christi. The other place it was filmed was Kiko's Mexican Restaurant (also in CC). It's a nice video titled "Quedemos Como Amigos":
I haven't been blogging since the past two weeks I have had the flu. I was off for one week, and the following week I went to work ( how I managed to do that with little energy I don't know but I barely made it!) Two doctor visits and a couple of hundred dollars later, I'm still feeling yucky.
This week has been a tough one. I have not wanted to move one item in the house yet, I wanted to be anywhere else except at home. It seemed that if the pile of laundry on the bathroom floor should be picked up and be done, but if I did so I’d erase any trace of Theo that was left on the garments, which he so dearly loved and kneaded with his tiny, razor-sharp claws (whether he was invited or not..lol). On that Monday,Rocco was teary eyed and Shak slipped into our bedroom to snuggle against us while we both dealt with this melancholy.
I slipped into my Why-even-bother mode wanting to deny myself everything I enjoy because it made me feel as if I enjoyed life, I was somehow forgetting Theo, which would not be possible because he possessed the joie de vivre in everything that surrounded him from the wads of paper he'd bat with his paws to my long hair which looked enticing to him when it swayed. And Tuesday morning, I had made my mind on not attending class and never ever touching my sewing machine again. But, on Tuesday, I found myself bawling because the thought of going to an empty house at the end of the school day was too difficult to fathom. So, I found myself rushing into the house, throwing on some clothes and leaving the house in record time just so that I wouldn’t see anything that would make me become more maudlin. I turned off the radio for the majority of the road trip, prayed that I’d have a sign that Theo was somehow happier and at peace, and when I later turned the radio on, the following song came on.
Sarah McLachlin's masterpiece "I Will Remember You":
And I attended belly dance class after dropping off to see Leigh at the office. In the late evening, Leigh and I met for dinner. Then on the way home, this song played on the Delilah Show as I drove with tears rolling down my cheeks. Another song by Sarah McLachlan called "In The Arms of an Angel":
Wednesday was a day of work, after school tutoring, a surprise faculty meeting, and a trip to the grocery store. When I got home, the tv blared loudly while both Shak and Rocco were outdoors. I made chicken pot pie for our dinner. The time I used in cooking left me only a few minutes to grade papers and watch “Stylista”, which was the only night I watched television.
Thursday afternoon I went to the doctor’s office because I had a bad cough/cold/flu, and I needed meds.
I've been beside myself today. I miss Theo so much, and I know that Leigh misses him as well. I was a wreck of tears this morning, when I didn't have him compete with me to reach the bathroom first (our norma a.m. ritual). Then I saw that my makeup bag was intact...no contents had mysteriously spilt over due to his curiosity...and my contact lens case was on the end table and not on the floor like it usually was since he loved batting it with his paws throughout the nighttime. All of these memories came back and hit my heavy heart full force. I have grieved for pets before but it's been awhile since I dropped all of my brick walls of reserve and loved Theo without any boundaries. And we miss him dearly. The house seems as though it is hollow.
Evanescence singing "My Immortal" sums up my emotions today:
