Hallie

I've done a fabulous job, yet again, at procrastinating something I didn't feel like doing. Our Sweet Hallie died Tuesday, December 22. It's still very emotional for me to talk/write about, so I've put off blogging. I'm still not over Baxter, or my friend Carrie's death, and to have to deal with Hallie so soon is just too much! Sunday's ultrasound revealed an enlarged liver. She had lymphoma. It wasn't really the cancer that was killing her, though, it was that she quit eating and drinking.


We tried to put her on an IV and syringe feed her a high calorie wet food. If she could get past the dehydration and put on a little weight, she would have had a decent quality of life for at least a few weeks, but she wasn't up for the fight. According to our team of vets, siamese cats are notorious for giving up and not fighting through health issues.


By Tuesday, she had almost 36 hours of liquid and nutritious calories pumped into her, but was completely checked out emotionally. She had rallied breifly on Monday night and very clearly said her goodbyes, but I needed to see if she would improve the next day and I also needed to bring Lila (her daughter) in to say her goodbyes.


Luce, Lila, and I went in on Tuesday to see Hallie off. As always, it was so, so, so painful. She rallied again to say her goodbyes to Lila. She very obviously, "checked back in" to her body, and gave her daughter an affectionate face rub. They had a few moments together, then Hallie checked out again, and Lila was ready to get down and explore. Luce called the vet in and told her we were ready. She already had the IV line in, so it was quick and easy. We rubbed her cheeks and chin the way she loved, and told her we loved her until she was completely gone.


I have absolutely no doubt that that was what she wanted. She knew she was loved and that we respected her wishes. I wish she had tried to fight a little harder, a little longer. I would gladly have taken her and cared for her as long as she was willing, but I loved her too much to be selfish about keeping her with us. She was such a sweet girl and a good mommy!


She and Baxter have left us with two huge, gaping, unfillable holes in our home.


So now that I've finished the blog entry I've been avoiding, I can cover our holidays in my next post, which will be in a day or two--not 10 this time!

All photos are from our family crafting night on Thursday. The first is M relaxing by the fire before everyone arrives. The very sparkly pink tree with purple decorations is Luciana's. So far, I'm shocked to say, the cats have left both trees alone!

I'm so discouraged with life right now. The money situation isn't great already, and true to our pattern, we've followed up our annual December giant auto repair with a major (expensive!) feline health disaster. Chloe seems to be doing better now, but Hallie has taken a huge turn for the worse.

I've noticed her health degrading over the last week. She wasn't eating well and seemed to be dropping weight again. She stopped eating yesterday, and I have not been able to coax any food or water into her. I took her to our vet this morning. Now they think she may not have diabetes, or she may have diabetes and something else. Her liver enzymes are critically elevated. They have no idea why or what's going on with her now. They speculated that the liver's proximity to her pancreas caused the pancreas to malfunction slightly and skew her glucose.

So I now have an extremely lethargic little girl who is down to 4.8 pounds (down from her peak healthy weight of 8 pounds. We are going back tomorrow (yes, on Sunday--my vet made special arrangements with a vet friend of hers) and they will give Hallie and ultrasound. We are all hoping that will shed a little light on the situation, because right now, even the vets are completely stumped. All I know for sure is that today's visit and lab work were very expensive. Tomorrow's ultrasound will be a minimum of $300 on top of that, and I am not sure how we're going to swing it. I will find a way though.

In the meantime, I have to watch my sweet girl who is basically a tiny, little bag of bones, and I feel helpless. I have a ringer's bag, so I can give her sub-cu fluids. I've also been heating up some extremely disgusting prescription high-calorie canned flesh of some poor other animal, and trying to coax Hallie into taking a lick or two. I'm trying every hour to get her to eat something, but haven't had much luck. I mostly just gag and wretch, from the smell and looks of the ick-nast food. Another rockin Saturday night for me!

The kids have their cat village spread across the entire living room again. They are having tons of fun. Their happy little giggles and laughs help cheer me up a bit.

We've had a very busy week, and it looks like it will continue at that pace until after xmas at least. We took some time out Thursday evening for some fun. We had our B-D family crafting night. This year, we made snowpeople and xmas trees. My parents and Dej & Luke came. Hunter couldn't make it this year (we'll do our craft with him later), because the only free time the rest of us had in common, H wasn't able to make it.

On the extremely plus side, I do not have to go to work (either job) until Jan. 4! Other than grading and housework, I will be a woman of leisure for the next couple of weeks. I've already planned four weeks worth of projects that I am hoping to knock out over my break. Why bother with realistic goals when I can set ridiculous goals that I have no hope of actually achieving? ;-)

I just now returned from feeding Hallie, and she ate a spoonful. It wasn't even a teaspoon, just a baby spoon, but I was so happy I cried!


back row (L->R) Mark's, Dej's, Luke's

front row (L->R) Amy's, Grandpa's, Grandma's, Luciana's






back row (L->R) Mark's, Dej's, Luke's

front row (L->R) Amy's, Grandpa's, Grandma's, Luciana's

Revolution, the only solution

<-- Day & night views of the Botswana picture, because I couldn't decide which I liked best.

One of many “bird-room issues” I’ve been trying to resolve is the window situation. I had the room built with four large windows, so it would be bright and cheerful and allow the birds to enjoy the garden. The birds eat/destroy any window coverings I put up in there, leaving the windows completely exposed. Exposed, clear windows can be fatal for the birds, if they try to fly through the window. I have tried various types of window clings and gels, only to find they fall down and/or the rabbits pull them down to chew on. The rabbits are able to get up to the windows by jumping up on things near and in front of the windows. There is no end to the havoc those two rabbits can cause. I even tried taping some pictures up, using Scotch tape all the way around the paper, and they ripped those down as well. I’m so happy that I think I’ve found a permanent solution: Window crayons.

Best of all, it’s a cheap fix—less than $5 for a box that will last for ages. Another benefit is that L enjoyed drawing on the birdroom windows and is looking forward to changing it from time to time. She enjoyed it so much, that she took the crayons upstairs and decorated her mirrors. The rabbits already tried their best destructive techniques, but the most they could do is slightly smudge the crayon. Why did it take me so long to think of this?!! That was my big achievement for the week.

Every year in December & January without fail, we end up having some huge, catastrophic car expense and a huge, catastrophic vet bill. M just made a joke about wondering when one of our cars would go, because it’s December. Sure enough, the Cirrus went this morning in a big way. We have a $1,700 repair that has to be done. I really dislike the idea of putting that much money into a 10 year old car, but M dislikes the idea of another car payment more, so we’re stuck with it. Chloe is showing signs of being in pain, so she needs to return to the vet. I can only imagine and dread how that will turn out!

So M felt the need to mention to his parents (on their last phone conversation) that I had injured myself, and worse, to explain the ridiculous and ignominious incidents (yes, there was another incident besides my fall/shoulder injury a couple of weeks ago) surrounding the injuries. Really, that much detail was not necessary. I read M’s dad’s weekly letter that is e-mailed to all of the relatives on the D side of the family (every Sunday night). I got to the bottom of the first page, when I read with horror, the lovely description of my little ‘incidents’. Super! Now the entire D family thinks I’m weird AND have the coordination of a two-year old. I’m okay with flying my freak flag, but really don’t need to add my absurd inability to navigate life without hurting myself on top of that!

Final instructions...

A message to my friends & family: If I die before you do, it is your sacred duty to make sure any funeral-ish type of event does NOT include ANY religious crap of any kind at all, not even a prayer! No sappy music either. If there is music, it should be Prince, SOAD, or Pink Floyd. The only sappy thing that should be allowed is the Christina Rossetti poem that I love: "Remember".

And further, I hold you, my friends, responsible for taking the opportunity of a captive audience and turning the whole thing into an animal rights event. Show "Meet Your Meat" or something of that nature. You hard-core AR freaks better completely co-opt the event or I will find a way to come back and make sure your toilets never flush again! ;P Please feel free to mock me, laugh at my supreme uncoordination, and/or pat yourselves on the back for being able to put up with me--I know it's not easy!

We got our tree up and partially decorated. M has been working at the light show for the majority of the weekend, so we haven't had much family time. M didn't work Saturday night, which was date night. We had to spend the date night wrapping presents. We didn't finish, because I'm not done shopping yet. I really, really wish I was.

L made this canvas to memorialize Baxter. This little book in the upper right corner actually opens up. It's a little description of Baxter.

Hallie decided to hang out in the kitchen sink tonight while L was taking her spelling test.

RIP Carrie, my dear friend :(

We all got to stay home today and enjoy a snow day. Except when poor M had to go out and snowblow. We got over a foot of snow last night and were so lucky today to be able to stay home and enjoy it without having to go anywhere. It's a rare day that the three of us get to stay in and not have to go anywhere for a whole day! I could have worked from home, but what's the fun in that? With such a huge amount of good packing snow, I wanted to stay with my girl, so we could have a fun day. I worked from home yesterday, as the roads were horrible! I started out, got to the interstate, and turned around and went back home. It was a productive, though not fun, day.
Tica very generously helped M eat his tofurkey sandwich after he came in from snowblowing. She's always there to help her family out, especially at the table.

It turned out to be a really good thing I had the day off, as I got a phone call shortly before 5:00 this morning that has just gutted me for the day. My beautiful, young, healthy friend Carrie died last night. It was sudden and unexpected. She felt unwell, went to the hospital, and was dead a few hours later. She left her beautiful young daughter, Caitlin, her soulmate Eric, and her beloved cat Cisco. Carrie was a a wonderful person. She was a student of mine, a good friend, a coworker, and a fellow IT professional. While I am feeling sick at the thought of never seeing Carrie again, I am absolutely heartbroken for Caitlin, Eric, and Cisco. She was such a great mom! She was a strong woman who made me proud to call her my friend. I'm now alternating between disbelief, crying, and ferocious anger.

There are two despicable human beings from Carrie's last place of employment who at least indirectly if not directly caused this. They unprofessionally tormented and stressed her beyond belief for a very long period of time. She moved on a few months ago, but the stress and emotional trauma those two assholes caused will not ever be forgotten. Steve and Brian will be held responsible for this. I blame them. She is not the first person they have done this to. Because I'm still very angry, I am going to take some time to think this through along with all the implications before I divulge their last names or place of employment. I would love to out them, but I'm learning to be a little less rash and take some thinking time when I'm extremely angry.

Luce is pretty sad, too. She really liked Carrie and feels horribly for Caitlin. This poor baby will not have her mommy here for xmas. It really is like a bad dream and I HATE that I can't fix it or do a damn thing to help.

L had fun in the snow today though. Last time M & I went to Target, we saw these snow-brick builders on and endcap. I pointed them out and mentioned how much fun my brother and I used to have with ours. I loved that thing and spent hours and hours making snow bricks and building forts. M decided L needed to have one, and I pointed out that we don't get that much snow at a time anymore and it was pretty unlikely she would be able to do much with it. It was going to be a xmas present, but he couldn't wait and gave it to her today. It was perfect snow for it--tons of great packing snow.

Our lilacs across the back privacy fence and several of our conifers are bowed/broken from the weight of the snow. The lilacs will be fine. They'll ultimately come back stronger than ever. The conifers probably won't fare so well. At least were were among the lucky who still have power. The weight of the snow downed many power lines, leaving people without any power. That would be horrible for us. The birds wouldn't survive very long. That is something that scares me a lot. If I had the money, I would get a generator to keep on hand just for that reason. But I don't, so I will just continue to worry.

Happy Anniversary, parents!

I kept thinking you'd stop by at some point, as you usually do on Sundays, so I could give you the card. By the time I decided you weren't stopping by, I was too lazy to go back out.

My little sweeties spent 7 hours last night and 3 hours today building and playing with their cat towns. They use a mixture of a couple of sets of plain wooden blocks and scraps of wood that M brings home. The wooden blocks were seriously one of the best 'toy' investments ever. She has enjoyed playing with them since she was a toddler, and has come up with so many creative uses for them.

M has the volunteers at the gardens build trellises and obelisks quite often. They end up with fairly uniform one-inch pieces of wood, of varying lengths. The kids absolutely never get bored with the wood blocks.

They put a lot of thought and creativity into their cat towns, and laugh and giggle most of the time they are playing. I love their creations! It does make it a bit challenging to use the living room, as the towns are generally spread across the whole room. They get pretty pissy when one of our real cats knocks down or bumps any part of the cat town.

L wore one of her new outfits to dance today. Sarita's daughter, Ankita, outgrew some of her clothing, so L inherited some lovely new outfits. Ankita is only 12 but is very tall already. This tunic (that she wore today) is my favorite. I love the colors and design and am so jealous that I can't get one in my size!

As soon as we got to class today, Meenakshi sent me out on an errand for her. While I wasn't thrilled with the act of errand running, I was a bit tickled. I've been co-opted to assist the guru in any way necessary, which indicates that I've been accepted as part of the Kalaanjali family. It's kind of an honor. Now, if I can actually figure out how to tie a Sari without having to take it in for help, I'll be all set. ;)

L selected 'The Waterhorse' for our family movie tonight, so I'm off to watch that. It's a very cute movie, and I don't mind watching it again. Maybe I can get through without crying this time. Probably not.

Dog day

This is the new bed we got for Chloe. It's quite nice. It's a water bed that is supposed to help with her hip dysplasia and arthritis. She has not yet lay on it. It's been at the foot of our bed all week, but Chloe continues to ignore it. I am trying to lure her away from sleeping in our bed. She's giant and wakes me up a zillion times a night by launching her big self up on the bed. She then proceeds to sit there and pant, turning our bed into a vibrating bed. I cannot sleep through that.

The cats, however, think her bed is pretty cool. Ivan likes the way it feels when he kneads it with his sharp claws. Any bets on how much longer the bed will stay intact?

The dogs had their swimming day on Friday. We put Jezi in a life jacket, but didn't make her go in. Her tail is much better and she's moving it again, but I didn't want to make her swim if there was still discomfort. She chose not to go in.

Daisy really scared us! She's our little waterbaby, but she seemed really off during swimming. She wasn't edging up and anxious to get into the pool like usual. She didn't smile the whole time she was swimming, as she usually does. She even had her ears back and looked distressed. I was REALLY worried about her. The mystery was resolved a couple hours later when she yakked up an entire plastic toy in a big pile of tiny, chewed up pieces.

She snatched one of the little plastic people that go to L's big dollhouse downstairs. Once that came up, Daisy was her normal spazzy little self. I'd love to know what makes her bypass the piles of her own toys and not just chew, but completely eat an entire plastic person. It's kind of amazing she's still alive with all of the ridiculous things she has done and eaten through the years!

I'm pretty sure that however you spent your Friday night, it was better than sifting through a pile of dog vomit to ascertain exactly what it was she had eaten and to determine if it all came up and was cleared out or if there was enough left inside to cause a blockage.

Sometimes the truth of the situation becomes undeniable: the inmates (animals) are running the asylum. And I'm their bitch. But then I quickly stuff that truth back down and return to my little pretense of being in charge. It's a little less frightening that way.

There's going to be a shit hurricane.

Thursday night brought our first real snow of the season. It was quite icey. I was not one of the many cars who went off the road and/or had an accident. Walking is much more hazardous and dangerous for me. I started the winter out with a bang! Literally. The bang was my fat ass hiting the pavement. One minute, I was walking in the blinding snow, trying to see past the huge flakes, the next moment I was suspended in mid air, and the next, I landed on my shoulder, hand, knee and hip. I have a lovely tapestry of bruises on my right side, and my should feels like it's been ripped out and isn't moving very well today. I'm in quite a bit of pain today--moving very slowly. I'll be fine eventually.

My clumsiness has reached epic proportions. It's to the point of ridiculousness now. Really! Walking should not be that hard! I don't wear heels. I'm not sashaying or any other fancy moves. Yet putting one foot in front of the other and staying upright seems to be pushing the limits of my skills. Just one time, when people ask why I'm walking funny or have strange bruises, to be able to attribute it to some fun, exotic activity, like mountain climbing or something. No I'm forced to give answers like... walking, or getting in my car, or walking up the steps.

M had to work tonight. It was the first night of the light show at the Gardens. L & I got lots of cleaning done tonight and had lots of time with the critters. It was a fairly productive, if not particularly fun, night. L snuck off for a few minutes by herself and made an early xmas present for me. She had put some things in the cart when we ran out to Michael's earlier today--M had given her permission. I was busy picking up some supplies for another B-D family holiday craft night. (Now if we can actually find a time this month that all of us can get together, we'll be all set!)

Tale of a selfish mommy :(

I’ve indulged myself, at my daughter’s expense, and now I’ve created a situation. L has always had excellent speaking skills, even as a baby/toddler. She had a small handful of words and phrases that she spoke with her own little twist, and we found those very cute. Through the years, she naturally picked up on and corrected her speech errors. We were sad to see each one go. I still wish I could hear her say ‘lellow’ (yellow) or ‘could you do me a favorite?’ (favor), and other remnants of her babyhood. One has remained, however.

I never made a point to correct her, because 1) it was cute, and 2) she resolved the others on her own, and I figured when she was ready this would go too. I wasn’t worried about it, because she is homeschooled, we don’t have nearly as much to worry about as far as her being teased or bullied. Somehow time got away from me, though. She’s almost 10!

I realized when she was talking to her Bharatanatyam teacher & class, and mentioned that she hit her ‘headfore’ (instead of forehead). That is the last remaining vestige of my little girl, who usually speaks like a little adult.

I’m going to have to correct her at some point, I think. She will be very unhappy with me, though, so I’m putting it off. I will give her until the end of this year, and if she still hasn’t self-corrected, I will have to figure out a way to bring it up. Or I could make M do it. Either way, she will be pissed at me, because she trusts that I will always tell her the truth and would never allow her to embarrass herself by mis-speaking. I suck.

I think I’ve finally reached the critical mass stage with my time. My normal daily routine takes up so much time that I have literally none left to spare. One small glitch in any portion of the day, causes me to not have enough time to get things done. There is no wiggle room! These are things that, for the most part, have to be done—feeding/cleaning/medical care for the animals, L’s homeschool work, maintaining my household (at minimal standards). To accommodate the required duties, I have to cut out any unnecessary activities—like blogging, eating meals, sleeping. I’m not sure how long I will be able to keep this up, BUT I really don’t have a choice in the matter!

It seems like each weekend is so busy and chock full of duties, that there is no time to plug away at the many projects that need to be started or completed. It looks as though it will only get worse up through the end of the year.

I do have to say that despite being busier, I am feeling infinitely better than I was last year at this time. I was still at a very painful, miserable spot in my recovery from surgery. This Thanksgiving was certainly more enjoyable, as I remember feeling absolutely horrible (and was unable to eat) for last year’s festivities.

We went to my parents’ as we usually do on holidays. We had a nice quiet day of eating, talking and playing games.

M & I went out Wednesday to see my (old college) friend at the comedy club in Madison again. He was very funny, as always, and I love watching him do his thing! He was on Bob & Tom’s radio show last week as well, and I was able to catch some of that. The show was sold out, and we were on a waitlist, so I felt really lucky to get some tickets the night before the show. The body-to-body packed room combined with my two alcoholic beverages (there’s a two-drink minimum at the club) combined with my body’s maniacally random and unmanageable hot flashes, made for some fairly uncomfortable moments, but I made it through without vomiting from the heat. It was close there for a bit. All I could think of is how awful it would be to have to listen to both my husband and my friend crack horrible jokes about me for the rest of my life about vomiting in the club. I knew there would be no mercy whatsoever from either of those two, so I was super happy that I made it with no eruptions!

Other highlights from the week I was too busy too blog include attending a fur-free Friday protest in Rockford, which was very nice. The weather was decent, and we got good press coverage from two different networks! We also sort of celebrated M’s birthday on Saturday, but haven’t yet gone out for our big family celebration.

It was the weekend for birthdays, as my friend’s son Logan turned 8 on Thanksgiving day and celebrated with a party at the bowling alley on Sunday. L & Hunter were both invited and had fun bowling. It was nice to see the group of kids again (these kids have grown up together since L was a year old) and catching up with the moms (my friends). L is the oldest of the group, and Colton is the youngest at 4. They are all just growing up so fast!


This t-shirt was designed by Allegrea and her mom for the guys from the Rescue Ink show (on NatGeo). They were designed before the show was filmed. They wear them on the show, though, so if you've seen the show, you've seen the shirts. I'm too lazy to go upstairs and get my unaltered t-shirt to take a picture of it. It originally was a black t-shirt with white lettering and design. We each got one and have been wearing them proudly for months when L decided that she could improve upon her shirt. She used one of her fabric markers to color the lettering pink. She cut a cat out of the fabric that was leftover from her pencil roll, and stitched the cat onto the shirt. I was a little worried about it holding up, but it made it through the wash/dry cycle just fine. The lovely white cat hair on the shirt is Ivan's contribution to the project.

Science is one cold-hearted bitch with a 14-inch strap on

The title is a quote from Masuka (character on the show, Dexter). M & I found it hilarious, so we made a point to remember it. It still makes us laugh. Sometimes strange things make us laugh.

A few weeks ago, Dej called and said she was bringing something over for her sister. She brought her a cute little koala Webkinz, for no reason at all. That made it that much more special to L, who is thrilled whenever her sister spends time with her. She was giddy that Dej thought of her and brought her a gift for no reason. It was so sweet.


Fast forward to about a week ago, when the koaloa appeared in L's bed, under her blankets, but it had been slightly modified. M had taped black buttons over the koala's eyes, like Coraline. Both of my girls like the book and the movie, so the button eyes have been joked about many times. Since then, L has taken great pleasure in planting the koala (still with the button eyes) various places for M to discover. I'm wondering how long these two will keep the koala going before the eyes fall off or someone loses interest.


Every single time I try to photograph still objects, no matter where I do it or what I use as a backdrop, my nosy cats have to instantly walk all over the object, the flat black or white surface I have underneath/behind it, and rub their furry little bodies across the camera lens. Every time I do this, I end up trying to move around to dodge the cats, which makes it very difficult to get a good photo. They make everything so very difficult.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Since this is post 400, I thought it should be special. This is my favorite commercial ever! Enjoy.


'Grace': PETA's Thanksgiving ad

The shit hawks are coming!

I've been sitting here with a blank screen for the last 15 minutes. I'm determined to blog, as it's the first downtime I've had for days, but I keep getting distracted. L wanted to watch Beverly Hills Chihuahua tonight for family movie night (on Netflix), and I keep getting sucked into looking, not because it's a good movie, but I can't resist looking at dogs--any dogs! Dammit, I must be strong...I just lost another five minutes staring at it!

I've spent the computer time I did have this week on learning about feline diabetes. There's a lot to learn, and it will definitely be a life changer for all of us. I'm still feeling very intimidated and nervous about it. I have to watch constantly to make sure she's okay. One little screw up on my part could be fatal for her. Insulin is ridiculously expensive as is the special food she needs. We have to sit next to her, literally, and guard her while she eats or the other cats will edge on in and steal it. Her daughter, Lila, is the worst one of the bunch. They are so naughty!

M & I went to see the MadHatters last night at the Overture Center. We both thought this show wasn't as strong as their others. We enjoyed it, but what really made the night for us was one of the opening acts. The UW Bhangra group gave an absolutely house-rocking performance. By the sounds of the applause and cheers, the rest of the audience agreed with us. We would have been thrilled to see more of them! We will definitely be watching for future performances, so we can take L to see them.

You can view one of their performances HERE. It's about 9 minutes long and is worth the time to watch. It just keeps getting better! The performance last night was equally energetic, but more polished last night. Loved the music too!

It's a very different style of Indian dance than the Bhartanatyam that L takes, but it looks equally difficult and is very cool. They offer classes as well, so perhaps someday she will participate.

Here's another interesting event from our week. We took all three dogs for their normal swim session Thursday afternoon. We noticed when we got home from swim that Jezi's tail was down and stuck tightly to her body. We tried to look at it but didn't see anything, and she cried whenever we tried to look in the area. Because I hadn't been to the vet quite enough that week, I took her in on Friday morning to see what was wrong. She had sprained the base of her tail. A sprained tail. Is there anything my animals won't do to get to the vet?! Only time would heal it, but Dr. Mark gave her an anti-inflammatory to help with the swelling and pain. We were SO happy to see her tail up today!

Oh, and I spent another couple of hours on the phone with AT&T on Friday, in an effort to get Dej's Internet up and working. It's still not, by the way. They sent a technician out to her house Saturday morning, and yet again, they said she should be all set. She's been working too much and hasn't had time to try it out yet, but I'm anxious to see if this time they finally did something right.

I got some new pics of the grandkitties last week, while I was there suffering through the AT&T debacle. I didn't get any shots of sweet little Myrtle cat, though. She is very shy and was hiding from me, and I didn't' want to terrorize the poor girl by hunting her down.

Tuesday

I feel as though I should be in a bad mood today, as it’s been the kind of busy, non-stop day that I don’t really enjoy. And I couldn’t sleep last night (or the two nights before that), so I’m really tired, too. I wish I knew why my moods can be good on a ‘bad’ day and bad on a ‘good’ day!
My happy little C#-heads-down coding time is gone this week. I spent four hours in meetings today and have five hours of meetings tomorrow. I’m still sneaking into my happy little coding bubble for the brief few moments I catch between meetings. I’ve been on a tear with it this week though and am just flying through the project, which makes me SO happy.

M had talks scheduled last night, tonight, and I think on Thursday as well. That annoys me. I’m done talking about that.

Here’s a breakdown of today:

- Wake up (40 minutes BEFORE my damn alarm went off!)

- Drop Luce off, drive to Madison

- Code, meeting, admin tasks, meeting, synchronize code branches

- Drive back to Jvl

- Clean and change food and water for birds, rabbits, guinea pigs

- Feed dogs

- Feed cats (decide to wait until later)

- Wash dishes

- Feed Luciana & myself

- Take L to gymnastics, where my mom met me so she could stay for the

last 15 minutes and take L home

- Go to class, where I am giving an exam (which is where I am at the moment)

When my last five students finish their assessments, I get to go home, send my mom back to her house, snuggle and tuck my girl in, do another round of animal-care duties, catch up on some e-mails, hang with the hubs for a few brief minutes (after he gets home and before he falls asleep) and then I am left to surf the net (need to be researching some issues but may or may not have the discipline to be productive) or watch crappy tv til the wee hours of the morning, then get up bright and early and start again.

Our poor sweet mommy cat, Hallie, appears to be diabetic. She’s lost some weight, so our vet ran a blood panel and the bad news came back Monday. We go back in Thursday morning to run another test and then work on a treatment plan. I’ve not experienced feline (or human, for that matter) diabetes, so I will have a lot to learn. I feel so bad for this poor, sweet, super timid little girl. She came to me with permanent repiratory damage and has almost constant herpes flair ups, as does her daughter, Lila. Her little eyes and nose gets crusty and blocked, and I have to clean them out for her. She and Lila also have bad teeth that require frequent cleaning. She doesn’t see well. She’s tiny, and just so sweet, that I hate her having to deal with one more issue!

I had originally intended to post a cute Hallie picture tonight but just don't feel like looking for it. I'm about four months behind on filing my downloaded photos to the very organized folders I store them in. , It's a ton of work to find specific pictures until they are filed. This pic was on my desktop, and I don't think I've posted it yet. It's a rare picture of Allegrea and me without signs/animal rights' gear. It really sucks to be a horribly non-photogenic person and have to stand next to a best friend who is thin, pretty, and very photogenic. >:-P

We are still absolutely desperate to find a home for sweet Lola the pit whose been bounced from foster home to foster home. We’ve run out of foster homes, haven’t been able to place her, and have kept the poor girl boarded at a kennel to buy some time. We’re running out of our kennel reservation and money to pay for it, so she has to be out by the end of the month. She is a wonderful dog!! She just needs someone to love her and a place to call home for more than 2 or 3 weeks. PLEASE contact me if you know of anyone who may be able to help with Lola!

A late birthday surprise

We had another great day for protesting Petland. The weather wasn't too bad for this time of year, and we had tons of community support and positive feedback again. The ever-ridiculous owner, Sardina, showed us today how much of an effect we're having on him. It gave us a renewed burst of energy for the battle. He had to have gone out to the Internet and Google himself and his animal exploiting business (which is pretty pathetic...get a real life, dude) to find out that we were protesting today. He had put a new 'sign' (black ink, printed out on his computer) taped to his door, offering $100 off the purchase of any puppy as a "Protest Sale". We already were aware that we've had quite a negative affect on his bottom line and he's having a hard time 'moving' his puppies. Additionally, we had enough power to cause him to lose $100 profit off any puppies he managed to sell today. How cool is that?!!! Oh, and he's balding and sporting a 70's porn moustache. Thanks to our group, he's not going to be buying any more gold chains to nestle in his glorious chest hair. I find joy in the little things. ;P

Allegrea and I have been very busy lately and haven't time to hang for a couple of weeks. She was able to come over today after the protest, and it was very nice to have time to vent, relax, and catch up on everything! It was very restorative.

She brought me a birthday present, and she shouldn't have, but now that I have it, I'm really glad she did. It's one of the nicest gifts I've ever received! It's kind of too nice for my house, but I have it up already and love it! She's a fantastic artist---that's her career. She does a lot of multi-media work and often incorporates text into her art. Even if I didn't know her, I would LOVE her art. It is totally my style and my very favorite artistic genre. This piece, in particular, is gorgeous and the theme is perfect for me. It's one of her animal pieces. It, like all of her work, is multi-colored, multi-layered, and multi-textured. You can look at it for months, and still notice new details.

I had a terrible time getting decent pictures of it. The flash reflects off some of the shiny surfaces on it, especially the mirror in the center of the spoked circle. I couldn't get a good shot without the flash, because it was dark by the time I got it. It was a frustrating endeaver, and I didn't really get one great picture of it.

I'd cut off both your wings on principle alone

It's been a busy week, as usual. It seems to be only getting worse, too. I used my blogging time to get online and work on my project a few times this week. I don't usually do that, but I left Weds. late, regretfully, as my code was really close to working. I really wanted to have that finished before I left for the week. I couldn't get it out of my brain--it was such an intriguing problem, and I just knew I almost had it. I got it! It's such a great feeling! I knew the only way I would be able to get the problem out of my brain, so I could enjoy my time off, was to just finish it. It worked. I am so happy to have it working, I kind of want to remote in again just to look at it's greatness. ;-D

So now that I have time to blog tonight, I'm in a foul and hateful mood. There's only one thing in the world that can make me this hateful and insanely pissed--yep, my oldest who I am now so fondly thinking of as 'the douche'. I need to go be mature and slam things around for awhile. I would like for it to be socially acceptable to kick people when they make me angry. Just kick them repeatedly in their shins, until I was no longer pissy. As long as I'm feeling so ugly, it's a great time to vent about something else. My idea of a clean house, as in, "I just cleaned yesterday, so you can come over", is very, very different from what someone to whom I gave birth means when she says it.

To end on a more positive note, this is one of the fun things I get to do every night. I have an armful of cuddly guinea pig love! Here's Oona and her baby Luna.