Poor Kitty

Meet Juliette.

We have had Juliette for about 7 years. We got her from the Humane Society where her previous owners had placed her because she licked bags. Another family had already adopted her "partner in crime" Romeo, thus splitting up the pair. We felt bad for her and she loved on DH, so we brought her home.

She has been such a good kitty for us. Many members of my Hostess Clubs have become well acquainted with her lately, as she has really come out of her shell and visits when they are here.

About six months ago, she had this cloudiness on her left eye. We took her to the vet and they told us that as long as it wasn't bothering her (which it wasn't) we didn't need to worry about it. She's an indoor kitty, so no worries about her not being able to see predators well. She just has to deal with Gabe, our other kitty, who is even more shy than Juliette, and a lot of people don't even know that we have him.

Last week, she was our little pirate kitty, walking around with her left eye closing and goopy. So, off to the vet we went last Thursday. They gave us antibiotic cream for it and wanted to see her again in two days. Saturday's news was not so good. She has a large ulcer on her eye right in the middle of the cloudiness. They wanted to sedate her and debride the eye. Shudder. So, they kept her overnight, cleaned up the eye, stitched up her third eyelid and stitched the eye partially closed. She came home with a partially shaved head, stitches and a cone. Her follow up was scheduled for today (Friday).

We have been giving her the antibiotic cream three to four times a day but it really didn't appear that it was working. Her eye looked worse to me and she has not been eating well. She is also very mad at us for the indignity of the cone and collar (it has flowers and butterflies on it) plus the fact that she cannot hide under the bed anymore. Poor girl.

We took her back to the vet today and they cleaned up her eye and told us that it was looking as well as could be expected and to keep up with the cream and bring her back in five days. Needless to say, I am very relieved. I was very concerned that the news was not going to be good. The next step after this is to remove the eye, and I am not sure that we will be able to go down that path for a myriad of reasons.

Think good thoughts for our little love if you get a chance to. I will keep you updated.

Dance Recital

Here they are . . . my mom was in charge of pictures, as my husband was in charge of video, as I was in charge of five little ballerinas. The kids did very well and considering that they were the third performance of an hour long recital, they were so very well behaved.

I think that Tea had the largest contingent there! There were: the four of us, of course; my parents; DH's mom; my sister and her husband and their four kids; DH's brother and his wife and their two kids; DH's sister; my best friend, her husband and their daughter; two of Tea's former preschool teachers; and, last but not least, her godmother.

Tea got flowers from her dad, Grandma and Tata (my mom) and she was thrilled. She went to bed that night with the flower that Tata gave her. It was a very pretty Dahlia from her garden, in a little water tube. I had to take it out of her hands and put it on the headboard so she wouldn't squish it.

The above picture is from the finale where all of the dancers were on stage. The below picture is Tea with my Dad (her Bubba) and her flowers.

General Musings

Here are some things that I have been thinking about. None of them great enough to earn their own post, but put together is another story!

Overheard from the living room today - poof, you are a husband. Tea has been very big into "magic" spells and tricks, and they both have been playing husband and wife a lot lately. The magic tricks mostly consist of "Close your eyes, Mom, and I'll disappear."

Crackers never shuts up. I mean never. His life has a running commentary. It's like we have a play by play of every single thing. Any noise he hears, "What's that, Mom?" Any time he sees something that is not normal to him, "What's that, mom? Why is it there, mom?" Oy!

Tea has been invited to a birthday party tonight - she says that the birthday boy is her best friend at school. When I called to RSVP, birthday boy's Mom was so glad to hear from us. Apparently, Tea is all he talks about at home. He even gets in trouble at preschool for not sharing Tea with the other kids that want to play with her. Too funny!

Two of the teachers at Tea and Crackers preschool got married over the weekend. They are a cute couple and I am so glad that we got to share in their special day with them. It was a lovely wedding and there were lots of little kids there to share in the day.

My 20th high school reunion is coming up this fall. I am apprehensive but I am going. A friend of ours is flying out from back east to come, so it will be a fun weekend no matter what.

Crackers has to have some dental work done and because he is so young, the dentist has recommended that we do it under general anesthesia. So, July 18th (just 4 days after he turns 3) in he goes to get the work done. We did the same thing with Tea back in 2006, so we know what to expect, but it still hard to think about your little guy in the operating room.

I'm Back . . .

I'm so sorry that I have been ignoring the blogosphere. We have been a fun having, busy family and here is the proof.

Tea and Crackers started swimming lessons last week. Tea is in the big kid's class and doesn't get a parent to swim with her. Her best friend and her best friend's schoolmate are also in the class and they are heck on water! But, all three are doing well and enjoying themselves. This is such a turn around from last year.

Tea also started ballet classes again this month. She tried them out right after turning three and did not enjoy herself. She appears to be having a blast now! Their first recital is on May 31st - keep an eye on this space!

Crackers is in the water babies class, so he gets to (has to) have a parent with him, since he is not yet three. He seems to love it, but then he always has. Even for an indoor pool, the water is still cold, and the showers are too hot, but we manage. Momma swam with him Thursday.

Tax season is over and I did well this year. Better than I expected to, as a matter of fact. Next year is going to be a challenge, with Tea starting kindergarten and only going for half days. Half day kindergarten is a mere 2.5 hours. We'll figure out the work schedule when we get closer. I really do enjoy this line of work and appreciate that it lets me get out of the house, bring in some extra money for the family and still be with the kids. Grandma (DH's mom) helped us out this year by babysitting for us during the tax season, so it was really a win win situation all around.

Enjoy!

EarthFlakes, Shakers, Tremors, Tremblers, whatever!

Since February 28, 2008, our area has been stricken with over 350 earthquakes (earthflakes as Tea calls them).

This is a great link to the local earthquake map. It only goes back a week, but what a week it has been! If you scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on List of Earthqaukes on this map, you get a line by listing of the happenings around here. The ones over 3.0 are in red.

We were hit by two successive quakes last night at 11:39 and then 11 seconds later. The first one was a 3.3 and the second was a 4.7. The kids and I were still awake and it scared us, to say the least. The epicenters for these quakes are about 6 miles west from us, so these strong ones were really felt.

We had another one at about 12:29 that was 3.7. That's when the phone started ringing. My sister lives about 4 miles west from us and they sustained damage. Their toilet tank broke, things fell off the walls and shelves and broke. The falling things broke other things. They have a lot of drywall damage, nail pops, etc. and a new hump in their front yard.

My parents live about a mile to the north and they do not appear to have any damage. We have a couple of new cracks and stuff fell off the walls, but we are all okay. Thank goodness for that.

There were some houses that sustained major content damage - we saw a picture on the news of a house that had all of its kitchen cupboards come open and everything fall out and shatter. So sad.

How Nerdy are You?

I am not very nerdy. Go figure :)

A Letter to my Family

Dear Son,

Please stop putting unwanted items in our cart at the grocery store while I am not looking. We don't use mouthwash and don't plan on using mouthwash. Are you trying to tell us something?

Love,

Mom

Dear Daughter,

Please stop putting said unwanted items on the checkout stand while I am not looking. Just because your brother put it in the cart does not mean that we wanted it. See above.

Love,

Mom

Dear Husband,

There are two of us grocery shopping with the kids. Can you please pay attention to the kids while I have my back turned looking at something on the other side of the aisle? See above.

Love,

Minty Fresh Mom


please note:

I love my family and I am mostly joking, but this is the second time now that I have come home with something that I did not plan on buying. I guess I have to be more vigilant! :)