Shades of Sunshine

  Stress Relief Tips for You and Your Pets: Beauty Rituals and Calming Techniques Written by Heather In our busy lives, stress can creep in from all angles—not just for us, but also for our furry friends. Just like we need moments of relaxation and self-care, our pets benefit from calming rituals too. In this post, we’ll explore some effective stress relief tips that incorporate beauty rituals and calming techniques for both you and your pets. Let’s dive in! The Power of Self-Care Self-care is essential for maintaining mental and emotional well-being. Taking time for yourself can help reduce stress and improve your overall mood, which, in turn, positively affects your pet. Here are a few beauty rituals that can help you unwind: 1. Indulge in a Hair Care Routine Treat your curls to some TLC! Use all-natural products, like those from MONAT , that nourish your hair and enhance your natural texture. A deep conditioning treatment can be incredibly relaxing, allowing you to take a moment...

My name is Heather and I am Bipolar.  Normally I would say I "HAVE" Bipolar, but I have been letting it define me lately so I am Bipolar at the moment.  Last night I had an ugly case of rage that I directed at my dog because she didn't want to go in her kennel for bed time.  I got ugly with her and my husband.  Not going to go into details just that my anger was not called for or justified.  I don't know what came over me, it was not a situation that warranted the kind of rage that came over me.  My husband was holding our foster kitten and was being cute with him and was trying to get me to kiss the kitten.  I was trying to get the fur kids to go to bed,  I told her "Ruby time for bed" she jumped off the couch and laid down on a blanket on the ground, I flew into a rage directed at Ruby because she didn't go directly to her kennel.  It was totally unwarranted and I am deeply sorry for what I said/did.  So needless to say things have b...

I believe honesty is the best policy.  I feel that I need a different antidepressant, as I am having suicidal ideation (no worries about me acting on it I won't do that to myself again).  I feel pretty stable mood wise, like not angry or anything and feel happy but having thoughts about taking pills (again no worries about me acting on it).  I am going to call my pdoc tomorrow and see if we can't get something else for my antidepressant.  I don't think the wellbutrin is working any more.  I guess that is part of being bipolar is working with my psychiatrist to find the right balance of meds.  I think we have found the right balance of the mood stabilizer but the anti-depressant I think we need a different one. I had my 2nd sleep apnea study last night, again with the wires out the wazoo, they put this gel type stuff in your hair that is nearly impossible to get out.  You have to use extremely hot water to get it out and even then it doesn't all come ...

In case you didn't know I am a cheetah fanatic, one of my absolute dreams is to go to a place in Africa where you can lounge around with and pet Cheetahs.  Anyhow, my email addy is cprcheetah@comcast.net, and someone in my ward (congregation) asked me yesterday if I liked cheetahs and I said yes, he said that he had a picture he took in Tanzania when he was there last year that he would like to give to me.  He came by today to give it to me.  It is matted and will fit in a 12x16 frame.  What a nice gesture, it made my day.  How considerate of him. Today I feel a little bit happier I really am trying to be anyhow.  I had to go back to Hobby Lobby today to get a refund as the checker charged us $29.99 for something that only cost $2.99, it took 3 people 3 x of going through everything in my bag for them to figure out yep the cashier screwed up.  Why they don't have the electronic scanners I have no idea, but they manually input everything.  She ...

Yesterday I was 'off', not sure why but was super anxious and my hubby said it was like I was stoned in evening I just wasn't myself.  I don't know what my deal was I was just not myself, I felt like crying but couldn't.  I have noticed that I am not as emotional as I was when I wasn't on pills, which is a good thing I guess....just seems like I have a hard time crying even when it's 'worth' crying over. Things in the house are moving along, we have the front room pretty much set up, we need to do some cleaning of the fireplace but we are making progress.  It feels good to have a 'home' that we can call our own, and weird in a way.  We painted the front/sitting/living room a brownish/beige it looks awesome.  Slowly but surely we are getting things in order.  It feels like we will never get our boxes all unpacked, but we will....one day I am sure of it. I got a nice surprise today my paycheck was a lot more than I had anticipated which i...

Today was a hard day for me, about 10am my hubby called me and was in a panic, DeeJay apparently fell out of his arms didn't land on her feet and injured herself, she was screaming and so he wanted my dad (who is a Veterinarian) to come down and take a look at her. Well DeeJay isn't the best of patients so she had to go home with grandpa so he could sedate her to see if it was broken.  He didn't find any fractures but a bad sprain.  She wasn't walking on it for quite a while, so that had me worried.  But I was stuck at work all this time while my sweet baby was injured and my poor hubby was frantic about it, he feels so bad, like it is his fault, when it really isn't DeeJay just happened to be squirming and she fell, accidents happen.  I am pleased to say that she is now walking on her leg, and is able to get on and off our bed in our bedroom.  I also had him check her urine as she's been drinking a lot lately, she has a bladder infection, joyous.....remember ...

Can you spot the kitty?  For whatever reason I am feeling very 'clingy' today.  I am sitting here waiting for my honey to come home from work, and I looked over under the tree and saw my beautiful little Cedes just snoozing away. She has been very snuggly today .  I didn't have to go into work today except to feed the dogs, which doesn't take that long, so I went and got my christmas shopping done for my sweetheart.  I never know what to get him, well he always tells me he wants a helicopter about 1 week before christmas......if you want it for christmas you better let me know a little further ahead than that.  He loves the remote controlled helicopters. I went and saw my psychiatrist, I am concerned about my Zyprexa as it is making me crave carbohydrates like crazy, it's like if I don't get them I'll starve.  Also am having a massive acne outbreak which could be stress, but usually my outbreaks aren't this bad and last this long, even using medicate...

As I am on the road to recovery, this is something that I have to remember, it is a daily process, it isn't something that is going to happen overnight.      Every day I am using coping tools, and learning to let go of things that when I was "Bipolar Bitchy Heather" I would have not let them go.  I am using Cognitive Behavior Therapy to try and 're-train' my thought processes to more positive helpful ones instead of the negativity I am prone too. My animals make for great therapy.  Right now DeeJay my old lady kitty sitting in my lap.    They seem to know when I need extra loves, or just need to hear them purr, or get crazy Zoey (my chihuahua) kisses. On a positive note,  I have been doing a lot better anxiety wise since we have 'finalized' our move, and dealt with our previous landlord.  I haven't been near as anxious as I was, which is a good thing.

Sometimes I really worry about the thoughts that cross my mind, they can be really twisted.  Glad that I choose not to act on them.  The past few days have been really busy at work which tires me out.  I groomed 9 dogs yesterday and 7 dogs today.  Then tomorrow I only have 3 dogs, at least now I'm not wasting so much gas when I just have a couple of dogs as my work is only 7 minutes away instead of 40 minutes away. Today when I got home my dad was here putting in a 'new' used dishwasher for us.  I love my dad he is such an amazing man.  I see so many qualities that my dad has in my husband.  I'm glad I have such handy men in my life who can do things like install dishwashers, Rob fixed the christmas tree yesterday, we have this cute little kitty who thought the lights were yummy to munch on last year so she knocked out a couple of reams of lights, good thing she's so darn cute, we always say her cuteness makes up for her naughtiness.  She gets...

I am sorry but this is a sad post today......my 4 year old Golden Retriever Shellie passed away last night, we think she had a stroke.  She was acting weird last night she was very confused and disoriented and foaming at the mouth.  She didn't eat her dinner right off hand, which is NOT like her, she usually has it gone in a second. So I was going to take her down to see Grandpa (AKA VET) today, but when I came downstairs she was dead in her crate.  I had sort of a love/hate relationship with her, she was a super hyper, energetic girl and could be obnoxious at times, she was sweetheart though she thrived on attention and loved getting loves and hugs.  I will miss you Shell Bells, Beaners, Beanie Baby,  Shellie Bellie, Bells.....those were some of my nicknames for my sweet girl. Today has been a hard day, as could be expected. Work was slow, and I just wasn't in the mood to be there at all, just wanted to wallow in self pity I guess.  I cried a lot tod...

   Today was a tough day at work, I cut a dog who was being very naughty, he jerked his leg back right as I was clipping the elbow part, the wound had to be glued shut :-(  It stressed me out and made me super anxious. But I decided I wasn't going to let it ruin my day and put me in a bad mood (which something like that normally would).  I am feeling very grateful today however.  Grateful for my husband, my new phone (which is totally awesome and so much faster), grateful for my family, grateful for my beautiful sweet furkids, grateful for friends who offer advice when I need it :-)  I started on an increased dose of my mood stabilizer last night, I am feeling very balanced today, no mega ups, no mega downs just balanced which is good.  It will take more time to get into my system full strength but I'm glad that I didn't have any depression today.  (Knocking on wood). The pictures above are of 2 of my precious furbabies, Cedes on the left snoo...

I have been extremely irritable today.....I had 3 dogs today 2 golden retrievers and OMG they were naughty.  One was what I call a pancake dog (flattens and puts ALL their weight onto the floor, table, tub etc) and she was a big girl probably 80#.....so that was fun, couldn't get her to get up on the electric table at all....I had to put her front legs up then try to get her back legs up......then the male was about 40-50# overweight and didn't like standing up and had a very bad undercoat (dead hair) so I had to keep brushing to get it out before I could shave (a good reason NOT to shave a double coated breed such as a golden).....I don't know if the dogs fed off my anxiety/grumpiness or if their behavior made me grumpy but boy was I ever irritated today.  I took my 'bach's remedies' and one of my anxiety pills.  I don't like being irritable.  Rob says I've been really irritable lately. I met with my Psychiatrist....and we increased my mood pill (Zy...

Each of us has something broken in our lives: A broken promise, a broken dream, a broken marriage, a broken heart; And we must decide how we're going to deal with our brokenness. We can wallow in self-pity or regret, accomplishing nothing a nd having no fun or joy in our circumstances; Or we can determine with our will to take a few risks, get out of our comfort zone, and see what God will do to bring unexpected delight in our time of need. ~ Lucy Swindoll I hate driving in traffic with a passion.  Especially with the whole Green Jello Effect.....let me explain.  Whenever there is a car off the road be it because they are broken down or an accident or what have you, the rest of traffic HAS to slow down.  My philosophy is because they are checking to see if they know the person to see if they need to take them some green jello later. :-)  It's true!  It drives me batty.  Today we all had to come to a complete stop because someone was changing a s...

Today I had a huge milestone!  On my way home from work today, I got a flat tire.  A year ago I had a flat tire on my way to work.  When I called Rob last year I was a mess, hysterically crying, panicking, freaking out.....today I maintained a level head, didn't panic, freakout or cry.  I called roadside assistance and they sent someone to change my tire. So proud of myself.  This is huge!  I had a crisis and didn't freak!  Go me! Oh we do have a new family member....Lil Annie is going to be staying here with us.  I am so glad.  She is such a sweet girl, and she deserves a good life of retirement.  She is such a good girl, better house trained than my chihuahua Zoey who is almost 7 years old. Sorry for the short post....going to spend some much needed time with my honey bunny.

Love this thought!  I have been battling with my depression forever, and feeling like crap forever, however I chose to finally admit it, accept it, and get the help that I need.  I am taking my pills EVERY day, twice a day, which is like a miracle, it's been almost a month that I have been taking them.....I'm so proud of myself.  It's quite the accomplishment.  Next week I will be picking up some more Neuroreplete....I will have actually gone through an entire bottle of it 240 capsules.... :-)  Woot Woot!  Go me!  SO this weekend we have a house guest....Annie she is a 10 & 1/2 year old pekingese. She is a retired AKC Champion and is from my friends line of pekingese.  She doesn't act like she is that old, she acts like a puppy, especially when squeaky toys are involved.  I will have to take a video as she is way darn cute with them.  We are thinking of adopting her into our family. So the book I am reading (The Feeling Good Ha...

No I don't have voices in my head other than thoughts or feelings on occasion....so no I don't hear people or things that aren't there so to speak.  Rob and I were talking about it as on his way home he usually takes the frontage road from the last exit to our house as it's always mega backed up on the freeway.  Anyways today he had a 'bad' feeling about the frontage road, and while he was driving on the freeway saw the wind blow a metal piece from a Billboard onto the frontage road....right when he would have passed it, so it's a good thing he listened to that feeling.  Then we got to talking how you should follow feelings, and Rob said "except the ones that tell you to take a bunch of pills"  I don't know how I got so lucky, I didn't even pass out from it.  I agree, don't list to the bad voices/feelings.  In a weird way I am grateful that I had the 'shock' and wakeup call, otherwise I wouldn't be where I am today.  Rob sai...

You are an unfinished work in progress. One of the good things about life’s challenges: You get to find out that you’re capable of being far more than you ever thought possible. Karen Salmansahn As you can tell, I love quotes, motivational things etc.  I love this, as I have been through a lot of challenges in my life.  As I heard once that your challenges whittle you into the person you are, how you handle them is also a big part of it.  My husband was in a car accident today in his work parking lot.  He has been struggling with his depression and he handled it really well, I am proud of him.   He didn't get upset, or maime the guy (LOL j/k), he handled it very smoothly.  Way to go babe.          The grooming fairy (my sister) visited me again....this time she brought me super cute bows for the dogs hair.  I put some in the last dog I groomed today and her owner absolutely loved her.  She gave me a good tip t...

Just have to vent a little.....took Shellie my golden retriever up with me to get the mail. Neighbors out front having a pow wow with a bunch of toddlers/little kids who the instant I go outside swarm Shellie....well of course she knocked one down so mom gets mad at me, and I tell her "You need to teach your kids not to run up to strange dogs, she could be aggressive". Then on my way back another swarm (same crowd) come up to her and I tell them, "she doesn't need petted she's too excited right now". Man people teach your kids some dog safety....good thing her only issues is being too exciteable and knocking them down. What if she could have bit them in the face? Here are some quotes/poems that I found that I really love. "You know you have the potential to become what you wanted to become, that happens only when you begin to focus your mind, heart and soul to be at your best." This is such an awesome quote.  It applies so much.  It hit h...