This is hard to see, but it's Peewee's new tank. I finally got it set up. You can barely see him on the left side. 

Old MacDonald's in my mind

This is my vision of a little farm. I giggle every time I look at it. It's so primitive. That's all for now. I don't want to bore you too much.
Hey! You out there! Have a wonderful and safe Thanksgiving! 

ALL SAFE

I'm pretty proud of this picture. It won Honorable Mention at my college art gallery. It is titled ALL SAFE because it made me feel like everyone was at home, warm, fed and safe. 

My Beanie

 
Ok, so I had to interrupt the art for a minute. I saw this picture of Beanie (my Bean) and it is so representative of her I had to post it. 

Beautiful Flowers

 
This is, as you can see, another Reader's Digest back. They really used to put some awesome pictures on the back. I don't like pastel colors. I like vivid, bright and deep colors. Colors that can move your soul. This is one such picture. 

House in country

 
This one is just one from my imagination. I've always loved the country and the rustic, plain houses and I love, love, love snow. This is just a house I wouldn't mind having. 

My Cat, Luke

 
Before my birds were dogs and cats. Luke was a favorite. He would wear dresses without losing his macho facade. I miss him... 

Reader's Digest

 
I got this off the back of the Reader's Digest magazine. Later, I painted it. I'll take a pic of that later and post it. 

Outside a Dentist's Office

 
I was so proud of this picture. I love trees and the trees looked really nice... until some water splashed and made the ink run. 

Muffy Sue Myers

 
This is a rough draft of a favorite cat I had. She was such a good girl. She was pure white. I loved her. 1988 

Some of my Art

 
Time to show you a bit of my art. As I've said, I love the fine Arts. Until I was about 35 I thought the only artists in my family were my two brothers. Then I went to a free art class at the library. Surprise! I'm more creative than I knew. Oh, I'm no Rembrandt, Monet, Renoir, Van Gogh, or anything close. But I'm not terrible. Here is a drawing I did of my stair case back in 1988. I don't draw well so I like the few I have that came out well. I will be posting more. 

My little hero, Pokey - his story - finally

 
Once again, here is my little hero, Pokey. He's the one on the left having a visit from a friend of his named Frankie.

Finally, I'm going to tell you why this little guy is my hero.

I was diagnosed with Secondary Progressive MS in January of 1998. I became very ill very fast. I went from being a relatively healthy woman who walked and exercised and danced every day to someone who could barely stay awake from the excruciating fatigue and weakness and pain of the onslaught of the MS.

I was depressed and felt sorry for myself. I had reached a point where I pretty much stayed upstairs in my bed. Going up and down the stairs was too much for me.

And then somewhere in that time frame (about 8 years ago now), Pokey came into my life.
His "mom" wrote in on one of my bird email groups I am on looking for a replacement mirror for him. I wrote and asked her what type of mirror she wanted.

She wrote back and told me of his story. Pokey is an old Cockatiel. He's had a bit of a rough life until he got back together with his original mom. He has arthritic and deformed little feet. He had a right to give up and just die if he wanted. But no. You see, Pokey had this mirror he used. Not just any mirror. It was just perfect for what he needed it for. It was surrounded with yellow plastic and had just enough of a "lip" on it that Pokey could climb up on it and stand. He would use his beak to push the mirror around his cage floor and it took him awhile but once he got it to where he wanted to go, then he would climb up on it and stand and watch the world.

His mom, Sherry, tell this story far better than I do. But suffice it to say as I was reading her story about Pokey and his courage, tenacity, and will to live, it struck me like a bolt of lightning.

Suddenly I felt humility and shame. How could *I* give up so easily and not try to go on and make the best of things in my life when this little trooper in feathers was conducting his life proudly, bravely and succesfully on top of a 4x4 piece of glass and plastic?

Well, needless to say, we all did some scouting around and found Pokey a new mirror. And me? I decided that day that I was going to dig deep within myself and become known for being resourceful and for having the attitude as Oprah used to say , "Keep on Keeping On".

We all have our crosses to bear in this life. Some more than others, some sooner than later, but at some point we all face our foes.

Pokey made me realize that as long as you have breath in you, you can't just lay down and give up. There were people dying of cancer and other illnesses. All I had was MS. I just had to find *my* "mirror".

Pokey is obviously much older today and I am happy to say is still with us at age 26. I say with "us" because there are some of us who have adopted him into our hearts. I'm one.

Pokey gave me courage and a new attitude by his example when nothing or no one else had been able to. He was sent by God, of that I am certain.

But then, I believe that Cockatiels are angels hidden in feathers, so there you are.

Pokey, you will always be my hero.... 

Victoria's Mental Pad

Victoria's Mental Pad
November 17, 2006
I went to get weighed again today as I do every three weeks. I haven't lost anymore, but thank God I haven't gained any either. I have really been struggling the last three weeks so I was really worried about a weight gain. I'm relieved but need to put the "pedal to the medal" which I will do. I will make it through Thanksgiving AND will lose 10-12 pounds by the next time I get weighed. Just watch me and see! :)

Victoria's Mental Pad

Victoria's Mental Pad
November 15th. 2006
A friend of mine was making fun of the name of my blog, so I just thought I would explain the name of my blog.

Victoria's Mental Pad.

No, it doesn't mean that I think I'm "mental" although some out there might disagree.

It is simple, really.

Mental *PAD*. What is a *PAD*? (1.) A place you live. I live in my head a lot.

(2.) A place to write - a writing *PAD*.

See? I told you. Simple really. Or as one might say, "Elementary, my dear Watson..."

Christmas Kiwi

 
This is Kiwi's debut as a Christmas Card. Isn't he cute? 

My Special Christmas ornament

 
Simply put, this is a home made ornament that my friend, Sandy made for me 2 years ago that has all of my babies' names on it. Isn't it pretty? 

Christmas and the Christmas bird

 
Ok. I know Thanksgiving isn't even here yet, but I can't help it. I LOVE Christmas! I'm like a little kid. I love giving gifts and of course, I also love getting gifts, but for me it isn't so much about whether or not a gift is expensive - it doesn't have to be at all. It's the wrapping paper! Well, in the mix of things, it's more the paper than the amount of money. I love everything about Christmas! I love the pine smell of the trees and wreaths, the Christmas movies (even and especially the Charlie Brown Christmas), the music, the lights, the colors (did I say colors? I LOVE the bright and vivid colors!), the unique and pretty Christmas cookies and the Turkey and ham in the oven and the snow and the crisp, clean air. Ok, I guess I've gotten a bit carried away here, but I can't help it - I LOVE Christmas!! And here is a picture of my baby Chicklet in my tiny little "Charlie Brown" Christmas tree. He's not a partridge, but he's prettier. 

Beanie, the Matriarch

 
This is Beanie, the one who started it all. We share a birthday - May 15th. She was 6 years old in May. I got her in July of 2000. I love her dearly and I know she loves me , but she's kind of a *touch-me-not*. I don't care. I kiss on her anyway. 

BooBoo Bird

 
I'll be sharing pictures of all of my "babies". This one is of Boo. She is very beautiful. She is 5 years old hatched in October of 2000. 

My Hero, Pokey

 
I will write later about why this 26 year old, arthritic tiel is my hero, but for now, here he is. 

Little Sister

 
This is Little Sister, one of my babies. I named her that because of two reasons: one is because she was one of only 2 in a clutch, and both were girls, so she is Isabella's sister, and also because I missed my own sisters who didn't want to be in my life anymore. So, here is my lifelong Little Sister who is just as sweet a sister as ever! :) 

Mr. BETTA

 
This is a much better picture of Mr. Betta 

My fish, Mr. Betta

  

Victoria's Mental Pad

Victoria's Mental Pad
November 11, 2006
Well, I finally lucked out and decided to use Picassa for my pictures and when I opened my pictures up it had a tab that said "Blog this". YES!! Now I can get pictures up here.

I wonder if there is a Dummie's book for Blogging? I love the Dummies books.

I had, what to me, was kind of an epiphany today. I was thinking about Thanksgiving coming up and how I was going to handle it food wise. You see, I've been eating low carb since July 5th, 2006.

After being diagnosed with CFS, EBV, CMV, Fibromyalgia and finally MS, I have gained a tremendous amount of weight. July 5th, 2006 I weighed 504. I was terrified that I was going to die early and HAD to try something different because nothing else had worked for me. That's when I started eating low carb and now 4 months later I have lost 58 pounds. Of course I have a LOT more to go yet, but I'm going.

Anyway, back to the epiphany. I thought long and hard about the holidays and decided that I will allow myself 4 days a year and a partial day to eat whatever I want: My birthday, Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. The partial day will be Easter. I have to have some sweet potato casserole! :)

So, I was thinking about Thanksgiving and how it is always looked upon (food wise) as a feast. There's nothing wrong with having a feast. But here is my epiphany: the reason so many Americans are fat is because they don't leave the *feasting* to holidays only - they're feasting 365 days a year!!! True! I wonder when it became like that? Probably when people could afford to eat more and better and more exensive foods. That's just a guess on my part. In my grandparents day, a Thanksgiving feast was a Turkey, stuffing, cranberries, roasted vegetables, potatoes, etc...
Any other day for them was a basic diet (after coming in from working in the fields all day) of soup beans, milk and cornbread. Chicken on Sunday if you were lucky.

So. I'm going back to the days of feasting on holidays only. I'm not having a fancy Thanksgiving. I've decided on a Turkey (stuffed), with roasted turnips, rutabagus, and sweet potato. There's another lower carb veggie but I can't think of it right now. Oh! Parsnips. That's it. Ok and then gravy. For dessert I will have pumpkin pie, and some pecan pie. That will be my day. At the end of the day the carby stuff will go out the door. Ok. Is anyone still with me here? This is probably totally boring to someone besides myself. That's ok. I'm blogging for me. I'm sharing the blog for others if they want, but it's just my own mundane life and thoughts. Well, they're not alwayd mundane, but then that's another day.....

Chicklet

This is my beloved baby, best buddy and sweetie, Chicklet. AKA Chicky. He is a Green Cheek conure who is going to be 3 years old in February. He is very intelligent and loving. He likes to sit with me all day if I would let him. He can say about 25 things.
 

Kiwi, my Quaker parrot. He can say 78 words/phrases/sentences. I got him as a 5 week old baby and hand fed him. He is now 5 years old and will be 6 in March. 

Kiwi in the blanket

This is Kiwi, my Quaker parrot. He is saying, "mom, don't you get it? I don't like playing the baby game!!" 

Victoria's Mental Pad

Victoria's Mental Pad
11-06-2006
This is my first attempt at a blog and so far I am making a mess of it. I want it to look really cool like other people's but haven't the faintest idea of what I am doing. So for now.... that's it.