Welcome To Orca Cove

In keeping with a "Free Willy" spirit that everyone usually associates with the orca whale, I intend for this blog to be a "no-holds-barred," honest and open forum. Where I hope to post on any and everything from my long battle with severe chronic pain, my newest and favourite crafting hobby, Rainbow Loom (and maybe even some of my old hobbies too, like knitting, cross stitch, rug hooking etc.). I hope to also share some general and/or interesting life hacks, favourite video/YouTube links, parenting tips (which will most likely be me asking for help than the other way around), and any and everything in between.

Look for my (hopefully) weekly QOT…W and FLASHBACK FRIDAY posts, notices about tutorials posted to my YouTube channel, and the occasional comment on an interesting Pinterest/Instagram post. Thanks so much for stopping by!





Showing posts with label Dreams. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dreams. Show all posts

Wednesday, June 17, 2015

QOT...W ~ June 17, 2015 ~ "BEST DREAM / WORST NIGHTMARE?"

QOT...W ~ June 17, 2015 ~ BEST DREAM/WORST NIGHTMARE I had intended on answering part of last weeks QOT...W, "WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE DREAM? WHAT IS YOUR WORST NIGHTMARE?", as last weeks "FLASHBACK FRIDAY, but since I had prepared a post already, I decided it was best to keep the "dream theme" together with the QOT...W posts.

{Just as a reminder, most of us know QOTD to stand for "Question Of The Day." As I mentioned in my very first QOT...W. (Which despite surprising myself at pretty consistently posting this every Wednesday, does not stand for "Question Of The Wednesday") or even "Question Of The Week" but rather  "QUESTION OF THE WHENEVER"! I do tend to be rather sporadic with posting to FB or Instagram, and although I will continue to try to post regularly, just to cover my butt, I thought it best to entitle these queries "whenever" I am able. Thanks so much for following along, participating, and your continued support and encouragement}!!

Getting back to this weeks QOT...W, "WHAT WAS YOUR BEST DREAM AND/OR WORST NIGHTMARE" as I said, I will answer first, and to end on a more happier note, I'm going to start with my worst nightmare.

Unfortunately, this was one of those dreams that you can recall ever little detail, every sound, every image, and unlike most dreams, it doesn't "fade away" the more awake you become.

Usually a persons dream only makes sense to them. And if you have ever tried to listen to someone telling you about their dream, you may understand what I mean. What seems to make perfect sense to the dreamer, is often confusing, jumbled and totally nonsensical to other people.

I think however, that my worst nightmare may resonate with many people, especially moms and perhaps even anyone afraid of flying.

This is a dream that I had many, many years ago (I believe my daughter, now 22, was only three years old at the time). Thankfully, it is not one of my recurring dreams, but I can still remember everything about it as if I dreamt it yesterday. The worst part is that the feelings all come flooding back. The ones that I had during that dream and in the few moments that it took me to realize that it was just a dream. 

In my dream, I am in an airplane that is about to crash. All of the passengers are strangers to me and everyone is talking about the best evacuation plans and arguing over the options available.

There are several different groups, those that believe that following the standard "crash preparedness techniques" demonstrated by the flight attendants is the best option, another group that feels that it is "every man for himself" and the largest group, that I find myself with, the ones who feel that given the circumstances, there is no hope and we are all going to die in the crash.

Perhaps the most vivid part of my dream is the noise. The sound of the wind whistling through holes blown out of the sides of the plane, the sounds of small explosions as parts of the electronics on the plane crackle and blow up, the screaming, crying, raised voices of the panicked passengers. And most especially, the pin-drop, dead silence when the other groups realize that my group was right, that we don't have any chance for survival.

The majority of people decided that we wanted to go out on our own terms, and not wait for the plane to crash and burn all around us. One of the explosions had cracked the right side wing of the plane, causing it to bend up and crashing the engine through the side of the plane. Several of the men on the flight were engineers, and had somehow figured out how to turn the tip of the engine so that it formed a chute leading down into the spinning blades of the engine on that side of the plane. 

We decided to take control of our own fate, and all agreed to that the best way to do this, was to end our lives BEFORE the plane crashed.

(Please remember that this is just a dream, albeit, a bad one, but like most dreams, doesn't have to make any sense whatsoever! ~ Why would I side with the group that felt that we had no hope? Why did the men have to be engineers? How would it even be possible for the wind to bend up, and have the engine, which is under the wing, come crashing through the side of the plane? See, nonsense, but in my dream, it seemed perfectly logical! ~ And please know, that in my waking life, I am much more optimistic and would side with the "stick to the attendants instructions" group and take my chances)! 

Anyway, in my dream, I was flying with my daughter, who in reality was three years old, but in my dream was a much younger infant. I had decided that rather than wait for the plane to crash, I was going to follow those before me and slide down the chute to my instant death. 

I had watched several people go before me, sobbing with parents as they sent their children down the chute, and then as they followed them into the cutting blades of the engine.

I distinctly recall thinking that I didn't want my daughter to suffer and making the conscious decision to send her down the chute head first, so that her death would be instant. I would follow behind her, also head first, holding on to her ankles.

Both my daughter and I were fully extended down into the chute, my ankles, hooked over the end, were the only thing keeping us from sliding down. The closer that we got to the blades of the engine, the louder it became and the vibrations and turbulence shook the plane so much that I was having a hard time keeping my ankles hooked over the lip of the engine housing. 

I awoke just as my last foot lost its hold.

That dream was so real and even 20 years later, still so vivid in my mind! There are times that I love to dream and to recall every single detail of my dreams, this was NOT one of them!

I am NEVER eating a bunch of barbecue peanuts before bed again!!

As I said, ending on a happier note, my best dream, and most favourite, one that I really wish would be a recurring dream, but unfortunately isn't, is about, surprise, surprise, orca whales!

A baby orca whale had beached itself and I was part of a crew sent to help. I was standing knee deep in the ocean water and could see the leathery, rough skin of the orca, covered in tiny barnacles, seaweed and sand.

I reached out my hand to touch the orca and passed out.

Yup, I am such a fanatic about orca whales, that I actually dreamt that I passed out! Unfortunately, when I came to, I also woke up and that was the end of my dream.

I have tried over and over and over again to repeat that dream, to add more details, to remember more, but I have never even once come close.

You've probably noticed that I recalled far mor information and details about my nightmare than I did about my favourite dream. I'm really not sure why that is, as I would much rather remember as little as possible about the nightmare and far more about the good dream, but I'm sure it is probably like that for everyone. The dreams we really want to remember slip away as soon as we wake up and the ones that we don't, we can hardly forget, and the mor ewe try, the more we remember.

So, that's my best and worst. What are yours? As I mentioned in last weeks QOT...W, a long time ago, my mother gave me a book called "10,000 Dreams Interpreted." If you would like for me to try to help you figure out what your dream meant, drop me a line with basic details about your dream and I'll give it my best shot! Again, I stress, this is just for fun, I'm neither a psychic nor a medium and can only tell you what my book says. But sometimes it can be really interesting and often sheds a light on what our dreams may be trying to tell us.

Sweet dreams everyone, don't let the bedbugs bite!!

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Wednesday, June 10, 2015

QOT...W ~ June 10, 2015 ~ I HAD A DREAM ~

QOT...W ~ June 10, 2015 ~ I HAD A DREAM ~ when my parents were visiting from Nova Scotia last week, they brought me a Buckwheat Hull pillow that they had purchased for me from The Cumberland Perfect Sleep Company, which is located in beautiful Joggins, Nova Scotia. The company practically guarantees a better nights sleep, reduced migraines and  snoring, and a much more comfortable sleep.

My Dad has one of these pillows and my Mom swears that he is waking up less through the night and more importantly, sawing far fewer cords of wood!!

Knowing that I have been suffering with severe chronic neck pain for over seven years and debilitating migraines for as long as even she can remember, my Mom felt that it would be worth it to at least TRY the pillow (and believe me, after more than 7 years of battling this horrible chronic pain, I would try ANYTHING to maybe take some of the pain away)!! ~ I would probably even grind up the roots of dandelion stems with the wings of 4 bumble bees, 7 rose petals, leaves from oak, maple and elm trees, oyster shells and cornflakes, roll it up in seaweed and smoke it if you told me it MIGHT help!!

I may have mentioned that I have been on a merry-go-round of insomnia for days and days on end, (seriously, I was awake for over 76 hours straight a few weeks ago) and then I would "crash" for a couple of days before the insomnia struck again. 

Unfortunately, despite the lack of sleep, me "crashing" consisted of only being able to stay asleep for a couple of hours at a time, if that, then I'd be awake for an hour or two, and crash again for a couple of hours. Lather, rinse, repeat.

To give you some idea, here is a glimpse of what a typical day looks like for me:

~ up at 7:00am to get my son off to school
~ depending on my level of pain, I may or may not lay down and try to rest for an hour or two after he leaves and/or for an hour or so before he comes home from school at 3:45pm
~ After school, I would get Matthew a snack, play, snuggle and watch tv or a movie, do a craft or watch Matthew on the 4 wheeler 
~ by the time my husband gets home from work around 5:30pm, I am usually so spent and worn out, (simply from battling the pain) that I go and crash, usually telling myself that I will only lay down for an hour or so.

* I really wish I was more like my Mom. She can tell herself that she is going to lay down for 20 minutes and like magic, she hops back up, refreshed and wide awake exactly 20 minutes later. I have never been able to do that, no matter how hard I tried!

~ The past several months, if not the past year, has seen me laying down around 5:30pm, crashing until 8:30-9:00pm, getting up to take my meds, and crashing again until midnight or 1:00am.

~ I would then make lunches for my husband and son (and daughter if she needed one), lay back down and toss and turn until it was time to get up at 7:00am and start all over again.

That seems to have been my consistent cycle for the past several months so I was very much looking forward to trying the buckwheat hull pillow!

That first night, last Tuesday, June 2nd, I laid down around 8:00pm and slept for the first time in longer than I can remember, until 4:00am ~ that's a normal, regular eight whole hours!!! Hubby wasn't even upset that he had to make his own lunch since I didn't wake up to make the lunches!

And not only that, but I dreamt!! I most certainly cannot remember the last time that I was able to sleep deeply enough to reach REM sleep, during which, as most people know, is when we dream.

For years now, if I do manage to get to sleep, I whimper, moan and groan and clench and grind my teeth in my sleep. An indication that even in my sleep I can't entirely escape the pain. I haven't been sleeping quite as well as I did that first night with the buckwheat hull pillow (and no fault of the pillow ~ I have just been experiencing an incredible and horrendous run of pain and migraines). HOWEVER. . .when I am able to sleep, I AM DREAMING AGAIN!!! 

And talk about vivid dreams!! I have always dreamt in colour and in great detail and I'm sure that the recent full moon is playing some part in the vivacity and clarity of my dreams lately.

I have always loved to dream, even keeping track of my dreams by jotting them down in barely legible handwriting while I'm still half asleep. My Mom even got me a book on interpreting dreams.

Which brings me to my QOT...W ~ DO YOU REMEMBER YOUR DREAMS? ARE THEY IN COLOUR? DO YOU HAVE RECURRING DREAMS? WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE DREAM? WHAT IS YOUR WORST NIGHTMARE? 

I will start by answering my own questions. I have had several recurring dreams, going back to when I was really young. I have only for the past week been able to sleep deeply enough to dream and although I don't remember all of my dreams, I can usually remember most of them, if I have dreamt at all. Often though, like most people experience, the more awake I become, the quicker my dream fades from my memory. 

Did you know that you can train yourself to remember your dreams? It's not really all that hard, but it does take some work and you have to keep at it for the first little while until it becomes like second nature. The easiest way is to keep a notebook and pen on your bedside table along with a dim flashlight or lantern. Don't worry about your handwriting, just jot down as quickly as you can, whatever you can remember about your dream. Don't worry, if you have enough little details, the rest will usually fill in for you as you remember more and more about your dream.

As for my favourite and worst dreams, I've decided that I should save those for my FLASHBACK FRIDAY post, not only to have something to write about this week, but because once again, Ramblin' Rose has made an appearance and this post is quite long enough!

I am very much looking forward to hearing all about your dreams. And please, let me know if you would like for me to try to interpret your dream for you. I am neither a psychic nor a medium, and this is all for fun. Sometimes it just takes that one word or short explanation to make things fall into place and to perhaps have a better understanding of what our dreams may be trying to tell us.

SWEET DREAMS EVERYONE and God Bless!!

#QOTW, #QOTD, #Orcanut, #Dreams, #Parents, #Family, #Visiting, #BuckwheatHull, #Pillows, #BuckwheatHullPillows, #CumberlandPerfectSleepCompany, #JogginsNovaScotia, #GoodNightsSleep, #Migraines, #Snoring, #ChronicPain, #Insomnia, #LatherRinseRepeat, #InterpretYourDreams #DoYouRememberYourDreams, #FavouriteDream, #WorstNightmare, #Psychic, #Medium, #REMSleep #UnderstandingYourDreams, #DreamingInColour, #VividRealisticDreams, #RecurringDreams,