Sue Woolfe

I am sad.  Not just sad, but I think I may actually be suffering from seasonal affective disorder, also referred to as SAD. Doctors now know that SAD is a type of depression related to changes in the seasons.  For me, I can feel the symptoms begin in about November and last until the first hint of Spring.  I often say I am solar powered, I always feel better when it’s warm and sunny.

My symptoms usually start mild and then become more severe as the season progresses.

Symptoms of Sad include:

• Feeling depressed
• Losing interest in activities you once enjoyed
• Having low energy
• Having problems sleeping (in my case, it’s more having problems getting out of bed!)
• Changes in appetite or weight (oh yeah! I’ve been eating everything that isn’t bolted down)
• Feeling sluggish or agitated
• Having trouble concentrating (I can so relate)
• Feeling hopeless
• Thoughts of suicide or death

I am thinking of investing in something I heard about.  It is a light therapy lamp that simulates daylight indoors.  I hear they improve your mood and energy as they trigger the natural release of serotonin.  They are also supposed to improve your sleep and focus by regulating your natural melatonin.   I think it’s worth investing in.  I will take anything that improves my mood and energy in the winter !

No escaping the month of November. It comes along every year, right after all the fun of Halloween night. But November is full of sadness and loss for me. It is going to be tough again this November.

My husband’s birthday was in November. The same date as mine, just three months earlier. So he was three months to the day older than me and he liked to hold that over me head when the subject of age and experience would come up.

We lose daylight saving time in November. Set our clocks back on the first Sunday of the month. Sure, we gain an extra hour of sleep that night. But then every day it gets dark an hour earlier. As the month drags on, it is dark earlier and earlier, to the point that when I leave for work in the morning it is dark, and then when I leave to come home it is dark. There can be days when I don’t see the sun at all. So depressing.

November is also Veteran’s Day, when we thank the people who have served in the military – and their families for their many sacrifices. Some gave limbs. Some gave their peace of mind. And some gave their lives.We must never forget the good men and women who have been there for us to protect our freedoms.

While Thanksgiving has always been a special holiday – the best food put on the table of the entire year! Thanksgiving also means busting your diet, being tempted by all the foods you know you shouldn’t be eating, and the turkey dinner coma that comes after eating so much at dinner.

And, Thanksgiving now is the dreadfully sad reminder every year of my husband being gone. Two days after Thanksgiving, three years ago, he was on his way home from visiting his mom and dad when a drunk driver got on the highway, headed the wrong way, and crashed head on into our car. The one and only comfort I can take from that accident is that he was killed instantly and did not suffer.

I dread the second day after Thanksgiving. Some say I should just note the actual date of the accident. But that was not the point. We went to my parent’s house the day after Thanksgiving for our annual Black Friday shopping. And then the second day after Thanksgiving we always went to my in-laws house to go get their Christmas tree and help them decorate it while munching on the turkey dinner leftovers. So, you see, it is not the date that matters to me. It is the loss of the entire second day tradition and part of our lives that we always looked forward to that has been taken away, along with my husband’s life. And that day every November will always be tough for me.

I love it that Lady Gaga calls her fans her “little monsters.” I’m not sure where she got that idea or how it all started but it is such a nice idiosyncrasy. I don’t think it has anything to do with Halloween, but it might. I can’t find anything about it on Google, so if you know the story behind it, hit me up and help me out.

With Halloween being tonight, I am preparing to have all the little monsters in my neighborhood coming to the door expecting candy. I love seeing the kids, especially the very little ones who are just discovering the whole idea of getting free candy! Although the calendar says that Halloween is tomorrow night, the 31st, our county decided that it was better for the safety of our children to have trick or treating on Sunday night instead. Officially, kids can only be out from 6:00 pm until 8:00 pm tonight. And all good kids should be back home and getting ready for bed after 8:00 because they have to go to school tomorrow. I wonder if they will have any Halloween parties at school? We used to have a costume parade and party when I was in school. It was fun!

I wonder if everyone got that notice about the official night being tonight? Or will I have trick or treaters both tonight AND tomorrow? I will set back some candy bars for tomorrow nights, just in case. And if no one shows up, I’ll put them in the candy jar and enjoy the candy myself over the next couple of weeks!

It’s snowing today and it’s cold outside. When I walked the dogs at the crack ass of dawn we were all freezing our asses off. The dogs don’t really like the cold weather any more than I do. And my dogs really hate the rain. They don’t seem to mind the snow so much – I wonder why? But none of us like the cold weather – the dogs just pee on the bushes and high tail it back to the porch to come inside. And I’m right there with them, trust me on this.

Most mornings I get up and pull on the clothes from last night and grab my coat and get the dogs out as fast as I can so they pee outside and not on the furniture. I know its hard to control your bladder after hours of sleeping, so I try to help them out with a walk right away in the morning. Then after the dogs do their business, I come back in the house and take a shower and put on fresh clothes. That routine works most of the time for us.

Wonder if this snow is going to stick to the ground and actually amount to anything? I heard on the Weather Channel that over 60% of the country has snow on the ground today. That’s a lot of ground to be covered in white!

There are channels on cable for music instead of all the movies and old show reruns that you get every day. You know the saying, 700 channels and nothing on. That’s daytime TV – even with cable and “on demand” movies and TV shows. Sometimes I get sick of the shows and just want some pleasant background noise to keep me company during the day. So the Music Channels are in the 400s and I can never remember the right channel number for the classic Rock station. I just use the remote to enter 410 or 411 and then hit the guide to go up and down until I find the fucking classic rock station. Some of the other stations sounds interesting but when I give them a try they always disappoint. And forget MTV or VH! – all they do is show movies and reality shows – they don’t even play music videos anymore.

So now I’ve got it on channel 412 and they just played Black Sabbath, which it not what I would call classic rock, but I listened to that and now the song is Truckin by the Grateful Dead. I’m not sure who does the programming for these cable music channels, but why the fuck would anyone play the Grateful Dead right after Black Sabbath? This programming really sucks ass, but what can you do?