J.J. has been gone for a month. Which isn’t strictly true—March 22 was a Wednesday, which meant that the four week anniversary was on April 19. But none of that really matters.
I still miss him. I always will, and if that sounds weird to some people I don’t really care. I also know that it was time. He was old, tired, and hurting, and his passing was a blessing for him. I know he’s fine, wherever he is, and he’s not in pain anymore. That’s a good thing.
And it’s been a lot easier to clean the house this last month and get stuff done without constantly having to keep an ear out for him or do the assorted chores necessary to keep him clean, dry, and comfortable. The living room doesn’t have the faint smell of pee anymore and I’m not constantly buying pee pads or running 4-5 loads of laundry every day to wash his bedding. And I do appreciate that.
But I miss the healthy young cat who would follow me from room to room, who would curl up at the foot of the mattress while I slept, who would stay by my side when someone came to the door, ready to leap on the interloper if they tried to hurt me. He wasn’t a lap cat and didn’t like being picked up or held until his later years, but he would sit on the back or arm of my chair and just hang out with me while I wrote or watched TV.
He was my heart cat and I want him back, and I know that won’t ever happen. So I just have to keep on keeping on, and take good care of the rest of the J Crew, and maybe someday I’ll see him again when it’s time for me to move on. I would like that.
There’s a short story I want to take a crack at writing this weekend (if I can find the time between working on the Nicola WIPs, doing promo, cleaning, making jewelry, and keeping the J Crew entertained). I have the shape of it in my head, and I think I have the chops to pull it off. We’ll see—if nothing else, my writer’s group will be happy that I’m finally submitting something for them to crit.
One year ago today I was in a hospital bed recovering from total knee replacement surgery on ShitKnee. During that time I learned that I will vomit copiously if given IV opiates and Zofran is the only thing that will stop it (good to know for future surgeries), the inside of my joint looked like a bomb had gone off in there, and that the nurses, CNAs, and PTs at Medical City Frisco were incredibly professional and kind. Also, my surgeon had one hell of a good stitching technique.
Since I shut down my Etsy store I really do need to set up a section here for Belaurient Arts where I can sell jewelry. In any case I finished setting the stones, cleaning up the bezels, and polishing the pendants today. Considering that I haven’t done any bench work for at least a year I’m really pleased with how these turned out.
The rutilated quartz on the left is for a giveaway Nicola will be running this weekend (this kind of quartz has a starring role in one of the most recent releases so I thought making a pendant out of it would be a nice giveaway prize). The giveaway will be open to anyone who joins Nicola’s reader group on FB (
To my surprise the polished ammonite pendant has already been sold. I’d originally made it for myself, but when I posted these pics on FB a friend said, “Ooh, can you make me one?” Since I’m pretty sure I can pick up more of these ammonite slices I decided to sell this pendant to her.
The ornate spoon end set with peridots is one of those super Boho pieces that has a deliciously funky feel to it. Or maybe that’s just the weight of the thing—this piece has some serious heft to it. The pendant is available for $35, and a sterling chain in your choice of length is $10 extra.
Welp, I (wearing my Nicola hat) have dipped my toe into the brand new world that is Kindle Vella. For those who have never heard of this, it’s Amazon’s platform for selling serialized fiction where the reader pays tokens to read each chapter. Kind of like Wattpad, only monetized.
I’m currently sitting in the library writing this with my left hand pinned to the keyboard because Jasmine is sprawled on it while she purrs and headbutts my left boob for scritches (which I do give her in between bursts of typing).
Today dawned bloody marvelous so I fed the J Crew, did the usual Sweeping of the Floors, racked up 30 minutes on the treadmill, cleared some old bottles out of the fridge and took out the recycling, and now I’m putting together some chapters for Kindle Vella, whee!
Yesterday I got fed up with my hair always getting in my face and found a salon that could take me. The stylist understood what I wanted, got me straight in the chair since I’d already washed my hair, and took off a good six inches of hair with a trimmer before settling in to shape and layer what was left.
Melanie Fletcher 