A hush...

I'm trying to type quietly so as not to wake the kitty, who's sleeping on my desk.
She was sleeping on me, and I was typing one-handed.  Then I moved a little.  How dare I?!  She showed me...
We took the kitty back to the vet for the umpteenth time Friday because her cough is worse worse worse, and the vet said she has pneumonia and it was very serious and she could die from it.
That was enough to send me into tears...the vet quickly backpedaled and said that because she's gained weight in the past week and she's still alert and playful, they're not keeping her.  They just changed her antibiotic (for the third time) and sent us home with a prescription and we have to take her back in a week, but keep an eye on her if she gets worse.
Even her 'meows' are hoarse.
We did get a laugh out of the pharmacist at Walgreens, when we dropped off the kitty's prescription...she's on Zithromax now...I think the pharmacist must have been new because she asked for the date of birth, and I said, "She's a cat," and the pharmacist just looked at me, and looked at her computer...then went into the back...
When we picked up the prescription later that evening, I said, "I need to pick up a prescription for 'G------'", and a different pharmacist working then, "First name?," and I said, "Well, my name is Michelle, but the prescription is for my kitty...," and she said, "Your cat's name?"...
So I brought home the prescription that had been filled for 'Josie The Cat G------'.
:)
Took my daughter to Holiday World for her birthday on Thursday.  It was so HOT AND HUMID!  My daughter had a great time.  I tried my hardest not to whine and whine and whine, because usually that's my daughter's job...let me just say sunburn...on my right arm and shoulder...ouch ouch ouch...
I finished reading the Half-Blood Prince...the world is a darker, sadder place...the end of the book raised many questions I'm hoping the last one will answer, and until then, I'm so :(

No lines...

I keep waiting for things to return to normal...HAH!...what's normal?
I gave blood at the blood drive at work on Friday, for the first time in five years, because they've finally changed that rule (I've been eliminated since 2000 because I had lived in Europe for more than six months since 1980...they have finally changed it from six months to five years, so my three years are finally okay! Yay!)
I didn't used to have a problem giving blood, but I guess because it's been so long, I've gotten rather attached to it...I felt really faint and queasy, seeing it go away from me in that BIG BAG...bye blood...
My daughter's volleyball fundraiser was Saturday morning at 7 a.m.... yard sale/car wash... and oh boy, THAT was really fun, sitting in the 100% humidity for hours and hours while your daughter is her usual cheerful and not at all rude self (I'm being sarcastic there)...
And then we had her birthday party that same evening (her actual birthday is on Thursday)...
My grandmother graciously allowed me to have the party over at her house, because my house is trashed while we're redecorating (and now that I'm writing this I'm not sure if I even said 'thank you' again after it was over? oh my gosh I'm as rude as my daughter, obviously that's where she gets it from...)
The combination of losing a gallon of blood the day before (okay, a pint or whatever it was), and a gallon of sweat that morning, and sitting in the heat all day, and getting a sunburn, and running ALL OVER town between the yard sale and the party, resulted in a very exhausted me and I totally crashed at the party.  I think I slept for at least two hours on my grandma's couch...
My family spoiled C, as usual. 
And D, always the ultimate in spoiling her, bought her a portable DVD player. 
Oh. My. Gosh.  Maybe she'll let me borrow it...
Whatever.  Maybe THEY spoiled her, but I don't see THEM subjecting themselves to what I'm going to have to do...
I bought her two tickets so that we could go see Hilary Duff in concert next month. 
HILARY DUFF!
It's what C REALLY, REALLY wanted...
I tried to convince D to go with her instead, but he said...well, I can't write in print what he said, but it was along the lines of a very firm 'NO'. 
I've banged my head at Metallica and KISS concerts...I've clapped my hands at Dolly Parton and Garth Brooks concerts...I've mellowed out at Rod Stewart and Beach Boys concerts...
but this one really has me nervous!  How do you act at a concert THAT YOU'RE TAKING YOUR THIRTEEN-YEAR OLD TO?
THE DAY HAS FINALLY COME, I'VE REALIZED THAT I AM OLD.
Good night... :(

Tales of the kitty...

Our new kitty is four months old.  C has named her Josephine Haden, or 'Josie' for short.
I LOVE MY KITTY!
She's taken over our life...our house...my checkbook...
The vet gave us a ton of medicine for her, which she doesn't like at all, at all, at all...
I'm having trouble convincing her to sleep in her bed...every morning I wake up and guess where she is?  In my bed, lying either down on the corner by the window, or up on my pillow...
My daughter is in heaven...she brushes Josie's fur every day...gives her a bath with 'kitty wipes'...she even is cleaning out her litter box without complaining.
She's also vacuuming every day, at my insistence...she IS complaining a little about that!
I've learned the real meaning of 'scaredy-cat' - all we have to do is walk by and the kitty jumps a mile and runs away...and 'curious as a cat' - if it's there, she will find it!
She's got black and orange fur, with a tiny bit of white and cream mixed in on her paws and belly...you can brush her fur all day but the moment you let her go it's all crazy again.
SHE'S SO CUTE!
And she's awake right now, playing...(that may be a euphemism for trying to tear up the furniture and the carpet with her cute little claws...the cute little claws may be a problem...)
(BANG*CRASH)
(just a minute)
She just knocked over all the books on the bookshelf by my window, and so is now lying on my bed, pretending like she's asleep.
(sigh)
Even so, I STILL LOVE MY SWEET, NOT-SO-INNOCENT KITTY...

Cautious dreams...

Thursday evening, we came home from C's school volleyball meeting and she went out in the backyard for a little while.

She came running back in a few minutes later, ALL excited about the stray cat she found in my grandma's backyard (next door).

"That's nice," I said, and went back to reading my book.

But then twilight came and she still hadn't come inside.  I went out to retrieve her and found her sitting on the ground by the fence that separates our backyard from my grandparents.  She'd been playing with the cat for all that time.

"I can't leave her, Mommy.  She's lonely...and look how skinny she is, she's obviously hungry.  Can't we just feed her something?"

I've heard variations of this from her over the years.  I never had a pet growing up...and C's never had one.  I wouldn't even know where to start.  But standing there in the backyard at twilight, I made that life-changing decision...

"C, stay here...I'm going to the store to buy some catfood!"

Obviously, the years and years of begging has worn me down, as well as the ELEVEN stuffed kitties that now occupy our home, and not to mention the endless pictures of adorable kitties I see from colleagues at work and my friends online, most especially my dear friend Julie, who I know is rolling on the floor laughing now!

Our new cat's name is Josephine...we've decided that she's a girl even though we're really not sure yet.  We're taking her to the vet this week.  If she turns out to be a boy, her name is... Joseph!  LOL!

I'm going to look at my new cat now.  She's really C's cat, but I'm sharing in the excitement, as this is my first pet also...it's lovely and scary and entertaining and, oh yeah, PRICEY!