Tough Decisions

This week I was faced with a very tough decision and it actually is not over, yet.

My cat Gizzy suddenly lost weight. I took her in at the end of December when I noticed that . The vet said she had a major cut in her tongue and that could be the reason for the dramatic weight loss in the past few weeks. It was almost healed and hopefully things should be getting better. He did say that there could be other major reasons why she could be losing weight but he would have to run extensive tests to determine if something else was going on. He told me that his gut feel was that it was the big gash in her tongue, but I could bring her back in a month and reweigh her. Fair enough.

At first she was gaining weight and I was happy. Still eating, still pooping, still active. This past week though, her mood changed and again she looked like more weight just drastically left. So I took her back in to run the extensive tests.

The results are that she has kidney failure. Her numbers are double and almost triple the upper limits on two things they test. 75% over kidneys are damaged but her other 25% are compensating pretty good. She is only 7! But Dr. Mark says that it is common in cats. I didn't realize this.

So my options are 1) hook her up to IVs and flush out her kidneys for a few days to see how she responds and if she responds favorably I could put her on a special diet and come in twice a week, once a week, or maybe even biweekly to get a fluid shot; 2) do nothing and let her live a little longer until she is uncomfortable and then put her down; or 3) put her down now.

According Doc, she is in good health otherwise and depending on the progress of the failure she can live another few months or several years.

Anyone reading this knows I am an animal person. My pets are like my kid to me. Unfortunately, option 1 is not exactly cheap and she does not have health insurance. I have talked to my Mom and Daddy about this and this is what they told me,

Mom: "It is a waste of time; just put her down."

Daddy: "You do what you feel is right. I believe that it is my responsibility to care for my pets the best way that I can. Then let them go when it is time and you will know when that time is. Your mom talked me in to putting Sugar (my childhood dog) down right away when we found out she had a small cancerous tumor. I regret it to this day because she was still full of life. Running. Playing. Happy."

I am not ready to let her go, yet. I can't. I have not done everything that I can to try to help her. So, even though it will be costly, I have chosen to give her fluids for a few days and I will get the test results of her progress back today. If she responds favorably, I will then proceed to see how a maintenance program will go and decide what to do as time goes on.

I checked up on her yesterday and her first night went very well. I even discussed with the vet her quality of life while trying this treatment and in the future. The last thing I want to do is have her suffer. He also said we will know when it is time. She will quit eating, grooming, and she will become withdrawn. Gizzy is not at this point.

So I hope my kitty feels well, is happy, and does not suffer. She is the sweetest, most friendly, and beautiful cat. Here is a pic of her, but it so does not do her justice. BTW, I got her while living in Lubbock. Her Mom had babies in a warehouse next door to a friends place of employment and the Mommy was ran over. Several of us took in her kitties and I got this one.

Huh...

I just noticed that my little thinking face over there on the right had this...

Phobia: ouranophobia Fear of: heaven

Really? I know people fear death and some should fear Hell. But do people really fear Heaven? I guess I figured if you believe in Heaven you would want to go there.

Correction

Just like our good ol' local rag (AKA The Hictoria Advocate), I have a correction to make. My Granny's China is really WHITE. Not cream as previously stated.

Also, Granny broke one tea cup a long time ago. I found on a website where I can get one with a small saucer for $26.00. Is this reasonable? I cannot find it anywhere else. Not even Ebay. Maybe reasonable does not matter since I do not have another option.

Guess What I Found?

Last night I was putting my Granny's china in my snazzy new China Cabinet I talked about previously, and I opened up the bottom right cabinet, looked in the back to clean out the dust, and found...

!!!THE MISSING SCREW!!!

So for $300 bucks I got a complete set with only a few small unnoticeable nicks!

Seriously, how cool is that?

Here is Granny's China. Sorta. Hers is cream, but goes quite well with the dark wood and quite festive for Christmas.

Welcome to the Family

So, my house has minimal furniture. Just the necessities that came along with me when I moved out of my last apartment 2.5 years ago. Yes, 2.5 years ago and I have not acquired anything substantial. Why not? Because I cannot find what I really, really, REALLY want.

For example, a china cabinet to go in to the "formal" dining room/area that is somewhat small, opens in to the living room, and has a door on the opposite side that goes in to the kitchen. Actually I wanted two china cabinets. Two small corner ones to go on each side of the door for each of my grandparents china sets and my great-grandmother's silverware. Other than the "corner" requirement, I also wanted it to be dark wood, have a couple of drawers, nickel hardware, straight lines, and have lights. I could find nothing "corner like" in the right color that was not completely glass all the way down. Okay, Okay, Okay...I was being really picky! But....

The last few weeks a friend and I have been hitting up the clearance stores for good furniture at lower prices for her first house! I tagged along and came across this little diddy that was everything I wanted except the ability to fit in to a corner. MSRP $1,900. Sold at the normal store for $900, floor model reduced at the clearance center for $300. Minor chip on side in the back, one screw missing, and no glass shelves. Could I settle for this at this price?

Heck yes; especially with the additional 10% promo they were running. But it gets even better. My friend got the sales guy to find me the 6 shelves to go in it. So all I have to do is buy one screw to reattach the handle. Can you see the flaw below? Sweet deal, huh?


I also decided to change up the light on the post outside my house in the front yard. Its BLUE and I love it! Definitely stands out from everyone else in the neighborhood and gives a cool glow throw my windows in to the living room. Love.Love.Love.

Where did the week go???

So I am chillin' at my friends cool, new, old, 2bed/1bath, awesome porch swing house in the big town of Goliad (woohoo) wondering where the heck the week went. O, I know...It went by very quickly do to multiple illnesses in the household.

Being the proactive Mommy that I am (or at least so I thought), I took My Little Girl to see Dr. D on Monday since she did not have school. I thought she was developing a simple little sinus infection. Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeellll...Dr. D said, she has very bad sinus infection, very bad bronchitis, aaaandd there is wheezing in her lungs. Take this; take that; come back in one week.

Really? All that and no tiredness, whininess, high fever, nothing. Kids; why am I not that resilient? Especially since come Tuesday afternoon while MLG is bouncing around all over the house, I begin feeling like poo. Then Wednesday I get to bow down to the porcelain God all day.

So three days of vacation or sick time already gone and we are still in January. Perfect. Guess I will be working this weekend. All weekend.

But, even though the week sucked, I was very productive during the weekend. My list of "To Do's" posted last Friday went fairly well.

• Go through My Little Girl's Toys and Clothes --CHECK
• Go through my own clothes and shoes -- UMM NOT CHECK :(
• Pick up House -- CHECK
• Clean Carpets -- CHECK
• Take down remaining Christmas decorations. Yes, they are still up. But...at least I do not turn them on! -- CHECK

Even though I did not go through my own clothes and shoes, I did also get all my leaves picked up off my lawn. 23 39 gallon yard bags sitting on my driveway waiting to be taken away!!!! Good job, huh? Actually, I had a little help in this area. Cheap labor. Also known as friend's 13 year old boy. Hey, teaching good work ethic and responsibility, right?

Weekend Goals

For my first weekend at home since mid December I plan to:

• Go through My Little Girl's Toys and Clothes
• Go through my own clothes and shoes
• Pick up House
• Clean Carpets
• Take down remaining Christmas decorations. Yes, they are still up. But...at least I do not turn them on!

Update on Monday as to my success.

Posting.

I am getting bad about having days go by without posting. The sad thing is, I will be in the car or somewhere without a computer and think, ooo I should post that. But then by the time I find myself near a computer I forget what I was supposed to talk about. I guess that means it really was not all that important to begin with, right?

So The Bride, AKA cjh, is progressing along with wedding plans and is writing about them. I am so excited about it all that I will probably end up writing from time to time about it all. Like her groovy little wedding cake toppers...love them. And besides, I need to enjoy at least one wedding. I will just live vicariously through hers. :)

What else?? So My Little Girl got her report card on Friday which my Mom read before me. grrr..But anyways, MLG got the "*" with a little note. The "*" was next to her "S" (Satisfactory) for Plays and Works Well with Others. The "*" says "needs improvement."

Really? How so? Help me out here, Teach. Gotta be more specific than that when we are talking about potential behavior issues. So I wrote back to Teach and said something sorta like this:

I have not seen nor has anyone ever told me that she does not play or work well with others. I would like to discuss this since I am unclear as to how I can help her so that that she can improve in this area. Please contact me on my cell phone at ###-###-####. Thank you. Mommy.

I have not received any communication from Teach, yet. I turned it in on Monday. We shall see how long it takes her to respond and in what form. But I really do not know what she is talking about. Any behavior with playing/working well with others appears to be developmentally appropriate to me. Will occasionally not want to share, or get upset when she does not get to win, or play the game she wants, but come on...she is 5! I guess I will just keep you posted on my child's all of a sudden inability to get along with others.

!

Today I got to go to the Bridal Extravaganza! with cjh and the rest of her Lovely Ladies. It was fun. There are soooo many options for one decision. WOW!

But none can really be finalized until you have a date, which depends on having a LOCATION! And so far, most locations require you to give up the majority of your budget and your creativity. I guess most people would rather pay for convenience and have someone provide most of what you need. An almost one stop shop if you will. But what about those who want to have options; who want to add the personal touch, tap in to their craftiness, and make their wedding unique? Who actually would like to pick the caterer? Weddings should be representative of the couple's personalities and relationship.

But I think once she finds this one intricate puzzle piece, she is going to fly through the rest of her decisions to make this day hers and The Fiance's. And now she is probably saying to herself, "geeez, I wish!" :)

Dreams - what do they mean?

Night before last I read a book to My Little Girl that she checked out at the school library for the week. It was titled Bill and Pete to the Rescue. Bill is a Nile Crocodile and Pete was his toothbrush (AKA a bird). It was an odd little book. Papa crocodile was taken by the Bad Man and turned him in to a suitcase. Even more creepier, the family had a picture of a suitcase on their living room wall. Well in the end it turns out that Papa was actually alive and in the illegal rare animal exhibit of the Brother of The Big Bad Man. All were reunited and lived happily ever after.

So what does this have to do with dreams??? That night I dreamt that I was at my current age but back at a river where my babysitter for the summer would take us to swim. Just so happens, we quit swimming there when we saw an alligator a few feet from us as we were actually in the water. This time I was there with My Little Girl and her father's lab/retriever Hercules. We were swimming with a black inner tube. Black is important to know because also that night I watched a special on great white sharks and the colors they are attracted to. (Never wear a red or yellow scuba suit; black is much better.) Anyways, when I notice the very large crocodiles creeping up around us, I slowly and calmly kick to shore with My Little Girl and Hercules. The crocodiles get nearer and nearer. As we approach the boat ramp, My Little Girl gets out safely, but they start biting my legs and get little "nicks". I find myself being saved by Hercules who is under the water snapping at them. I get out and he too is able to leave the waters safely.

I turn around and peer over the river to see a massive amount of extremely large crocodiles and lots of people in boats, on little islands, and one actually standing on the back of the largest acting as if he is surfing. But then a woman who is standing on one of the little islands and has been oblivious to all the talk and action, dives in to the water with her family yelling at her from behind and everyone else around her, "No don't!!!" She never surfaces and through the "clear" brownish water, you can see her being thrashed around by three or four crocs and blood is spreading.

I then wake remembering every detail vividly as if I were really there and thought..."What did My Little Girl dream about last night???"

2009

What would I like to achieve in 2009? There are lots of things going through my head. Some big ideas, and some small. I figured if I write them down they become real and maybe, just maybe I will accomplish them. So, I decided to pick my top 6 "Must Accomplish." I think I might even list them over there to the right to remind myself every time I log in.

1. Eat healthy and work out at least 3 times a week. I am the one that will go get fast food because it is convenient. I am also paying for a gym membership that does not expire until April 2010. Why not use it, right?

2. Finish redecorating My Lil' Girls room. We have lived in the house for ummm...2.5 almost 3 years now and I have only made baby steps in getting it done. I think I have not finished it because of just one thing that I am not construction inclined to do. At least that has been the excuse.

3. Start studying for the CPA exam during the summer. I need to just suck it up and do it. But this might put a damper on #4.

4. Save a specific amount of money by making a budget and actually sticking to it. I do not like seeing the savings stay the same or, especially, go down. I was so good in Houston with saving and need to get back on that track.

5. Take a small vacation. Preferably to Las Vegas. I have been to the airport there several times, but this time I want to actually stay there for a few days.

6. Quit neglecting yard work. Currently I have leaves. Not grass. Leaves. And actually a little dirt now because my grass is dieing. Po' grass.

I think my list is attainable which is key to accomplishing something in my mind. The hardest will be numbers 1 & 3. So any support will be very much welcomed.

2008

2008 started off really rocky and it seemed as though it was going to end that way too. However, it ended quite well. Often we dwell too much on the negative and forget about the positive. So here is a quick list of the good and bad, but in reverse order so that the best is saved for last!

The bad or sadder side of 2008 brought:

1. My Uncle was in a terrible accident in January. They did not think he was going to survive, but he miraculously did and for many, many months had been in Houston receiving intense therapy at TIRR.

2. I also had two Great Uncles pass away. Both gave me unique childhood memories and they will be missed.

3. I disliked the company I worked for.

4. Several close friends were affected by Hurricane Ike.

5. I left the Board of the Zoo.

6. In December my Dad lost his job.

Now on to better and brighter things:

1. I changed jobs and I am happy at my new place of employment. The people are great, the work is challenging, and so far, nothing to complain about. I can see myself working here for a very long time.

2. My Lil' Girl began Kindergarten!!! Wow...it is so hard to believe she is already 5. Where has the time gone? Next thing I know she will be leaving for college.

3. We added a dog to the family. Her name is Diamond and she came from the Dorothy O'Connor Pet Adoption Center here in town. At best guess by their staff, she is a Shih Tzu Mix. I think the "Mix" means poodle. She is great. Loving and very protective.

4. My friends survived Hurricane Ike.

5. I saw my best friend, Chad, from college who I had not seen since we evacuated for Hurricane Rita. And we went to the Madonna Concert!

6. I started this blog and found an old friend.

7. My Uncle came home the week before Thanksgiving. The road to recovery is still long, but we are very thankful he is still with us.

8. cjh got engaged! I am so very, very, very happy for her!

9. My Dad found a job! In fact he started his first day in Houston today. Good Luck! I hope all is going well. Especially Excel 2007!

So that is basically it in a nutshell. I am glad that the second list was longer than the first.