A word from Dana Morgan a.k.a. Amrita Kaur:
My turban really goes off to this mama. We could all learn a few lessons from her! In several cultures & religious traditions i.e. Jews, Muslims, Sikhs, as well as others that I don’t know about there is a 40 day “Lying in” period. It seems like we who live in the West ignore this important phase. It seems that people (consciously or unconsciously) ask, “Ok now that you’ve had the baby how soon can you get back to “normal” including fitting back into your jeans?” Heck I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see personal trainers visiting new moms in their hospital rooms handing out business cards! UGH! I encourage all new moms out there to take part in the 40 day nesting phase after the baby is born. Heck why not use this in other aspects of life as well like adopting a fur child into the family? Maybe you won’t need exactly 40 days for your pet, but at least 20 would be ideal so you can get to know each other in peace. Here’s my story to illustrate this point:When I adopted my first cat Smokey I already had the ball rolling & was getting ready to go back to school to become a Doula. So I douldn’t set that time aside until after that was over. Man was I tired! I vowed right then & there that the next pet I adopted I would just stop what I was doing & concentrate on getting to know him or her. Well several years later, 2 weeks after I had Smokey put to sleep because of heart problems I adopted Sunny. During the weekend that preceded his arrival I cleaned the apartment like a mad woman! The day of his adoption my Mom came over & gave the apartment a once over while some soup was simmering on the stove on a low temperature. Then we went to my vet (that Smokey had) to get Sunny. His original name was Jess, but I didn’t like that so on the way home Mom & I were discussing names for him. Too bad he’s a boy because I have names for a girl cat because of his ginger & gold coat. i.e. Blondie, Goldilocks, & Sunshine. My mom said that they were all names for a girl cat. I said “Well how about Sunny?” So we both agreed on Sunny. When we got back to my apartment we got him settled in. A few hours later I sang Long Time Sun by Snatam Kaur to him. (Now every time I hear that song my heart gets a little mushy). Well anyway I’m glad I did all those preparations in advance because shortly thereafter the crew who was supposed to give all of us new pavement for the patios started work so I couldn’t put my walker outside in order to clean my apartment. Also my focus was just on getting to know Sunny. Sure I had to go and get some stuff for him. i.e. Kitten food, litter, toys, a cat condo, as well as some music CDs to help mama relax & de-stress.
Other than that my most important job was bonding with my 4 legged baby. & the Sikhs believe that from birth to 3 years of age the mother is the first teacher. Now I don’t know whether or not that applies to baby animals but my thinking is if a concept is good for human babies wouldn't it be good for animal babies as well? Sat Nam!
Fast forward 5 1/4 years. A lot has changed since I adopted Sunny. However, I'm still in the same apartment that I was when i first adopted him. At 1 point I even thought about moving back to The Oaks next door to my current complex. However, I found out that it would be a 4-7 year waiting list. Also I did the math on how much it would cost to move & how much it would cost to just stay where I'm at & give my apartment an "Extreme Makeover" & the latter won out. So here's my story on how I'm re-building my nest:
It’s funny (ironic) how shortly I wrote all this stuff down I was able to find a lot of things on my wishlist on Amazon.com. Also I decided to just focus on re-doing my current nest (since I was able to solve a problem that I was having with one of the rules & I don’t have to move since it was a “win/win” situation). Having taken care of that issue I felt free to start redoing my current nest. I was able to get a new “bed in a bag”, sheets, towels, beanbag chair for me & Sunny to use, a couple new pillows, a new area rug, a new book case, as well as a folding exercise bike without the seat & a Kundalini Yoga book all for $365.23. Next month I plan to get the full size bed I want. I’ll go to Mattress 1 tomorrow to see how much a full size bed will cost. I also plan to get a new cat tree drinking fountain & toy for Sunny from Amazon on Cyber Monday. By the time this is done it will be way cheaper than moving! Although 1 problem remains what to do with the twin platform & linens. I’m sure that the delivery people will get rid of the old mattress so that won’t be a problem. Well that’s it for now. I’ll keep you guys posted on how things are progressing. Until next time
Sat Nam,
Dana Morgan/Amrita Kaur
Well it’s been 2 weeks since I last checked in & a lot has happened in such a short period of time. The day after I did the previous entry I went to Mattress 1 & bought my full size bed. Then I went to K-Mart & got a cool bathroom organizer, bakeware, pots & pans as well as a new dress & top which were on clearance for $3.99 a piece. Later that evening my friend Teri helped me put the bathroom organizer together & anchored it to the wall. On Monday my bed arrived. Tuesday my full size “bed in a bag” arrived. On Wednesday the beanbag chair, 2 shelf cubby hole organizer, & “arm exercise bike” arrived, my 3 piece bath mat set also arrived. (Although it came by U.S. Mail.) On Thursday my extra sheet set, towels, area rug, Kundalini Yoga book, throw pillow case, blanket, & sheer curtains arrived. After all that stuff came i went to Kmart to get a few more things. (1 of which was a full size “bed sack”. Well as you can imagine I was 1 busy beaver washing all this stuff. I started around 1:45PM & didn’t get done til almost 5! Thank God my friend Matt a.k.a. Sheldon was there to help me carry all those things in.
This month I ordered a few cubby hole systems & some dish rags from Amazon.com. as well as a creative writing book entitled On Writing by Stephen King. I also ordered 3 more sets of sheets from Haband. I screwed up though. I thought I was ordering an actual box spring for only $39.99, but it turned out to be just an encasement to prevent bed bugs so I cancelled that item. No sense wasting money on something I don’t need. Next week I’ll go back to Habitat for Humanity’s Re-Store to see about getting an additional full box spring or even a full platform bed that’s already put together. Also Next month (on Cyber Monday) I’ll be focusing on Sunny’s stuff. (cat tree, drinking fountain, & a really cool fishing pole toy) . Of course I have all of these things on my wish list with Amazon.com. Well that’s it for now. I’ll let you know when the box spring, cubby holes, dish rags & extra sheet sets arrive. I can’t wait till everything’s put together. Then I’ll take pictures of my “nest”& then I’ll upload them onto the blog. Until next time
Sat Nam,
Dana Morgan a.k.a. Amrita Kaur
