Gone Fishing

Nick and Christian spent a few hours this afternoon at Big Creek fishing. They caught quite a few. Most of them were pretty small. I'm not sure of the final count as Nick is still in the garage filleting away. At least I know if our economy tanks and we can't buy food, they can catch it. The only issue there is- only Christian will actually eat the fish...

Here are some pictures from Thursday night's football game. Two of the football player (#73), one of Michael's reaction to eating all the sour sprinkles from the bottom of a bag of Sour Skittles (as dared by his sister for $1), and then what the little kids do to entertain themselves at the end of the game- slide like snakes across the bleachers.

Bad blogger

OK, I am a complete slacker on here lately. Let's see if I can sum things up. A sentence about each person, er, family member...

I forgot to post a huge CONGRATS!!! to Nick- he got an AWESOME raise at work while I was on vacation!

Christian has a home football game tomorrow night- will post pictures for sure, I promise!

Bella got tap shoes tonight and learned that perchance you should not try them on the laminate floor as you will tap your toes really quickly before the back of your head taps the floor.

Zach is the cutest darn thing that you ever did see.

Muffy is alive and kicking- even back to boxing at the dog, so her spunk is back!

Eustace is still plotting the demise of all humans in the house by weaving between your feet particularly on the steps.

Abby enjoyed a Kong full of dog food today and even though it's empty now she's carrying it everywhere with her- just in case it magically regenerates the goodies she found inside.

Myrtle and Squirtle are hibernating.

And as for me, I am experiencing starvation similar to Muffy's- I started Atkins this week.

That's it for us!

Still kicking...

The ill cat is almost off the endangered list... she's doing quite well. Getting stronger each day. I think we are out of the danger zone- as long as she doesn't go anorexic on us again.

This is a busy weekend. Tonight was the homecoming game at the school. Tomorrow I have to work, Christian is in a punt and passing contest in the morning, he's going fishing in the afternoon, and then we are going to dinner at a friend's house. Sunday luckily has nothing on the agenda. I think I'll schedule a nap.

I'll try to post some pics from the contest.

Have a great weekend.

Muffy Ann

The lab results show that Muffy is extremely ill. She is bordering on liver failure and her hemoglobin is very low. The vet was actually surprised she is still alive. He was even more shocked that I have been getting her to eat and that she is using the litter box. We are going back to see him tomorrow morning so he can see her strange walk. He feels very confident that it is not a stroke though, so that was a relief. I think with the lab numbers she has the fact that she is breathing is a positive so he's not going to pick on her walking quite yet.

She is just the sweetest cat anyone could ask for. A blood draw, IV fluids, being syringe fed Cat Ensure against her will, and through it all she just purrs. She hasn't snarled, hissed, or nipped at anyone. I hope she can pull through.

Home again, home again

It's good to be home! I arrived shortly after midnight on Saturday night. I, of course, could not resist waking up the kids. While Zach snuggled for quite a while, Bella had a cheery "Hi Mommy!" and Christian mumbled a "hi" before going back to sawing logs- the member of our family most excited about my return was... Abby! She was jumping and wagging her tail and going completely crazy in the middle of the night. I was hoping for that reaction from my kids or husband, but at any rate, it was nice to be missed.

When I got home I found that my favorite kitty, Muffy Ann, has gotten really sick. This morning she was so weak she wasn't able to lift her head. I took her to the vet this morning, he drew blood work and gave her some fluids. She has lost a ton of weight- from 11 pounds to 7 pounds in the past few weeks. The labs will be back tomorrow, so I hope to know more then. He gave me some high calorie food to feed her and I picked up some CatSure (Ensure for cats). She has been eating the food and tolerating me squirting the vitamin drink down her mouth. I hope for good news tomorrow. But she is walking very strangely and I'm a little worried she may have had a stroke. It's so hard to be "medical" and come up with all these horrible thoughts but be rational enough to know I can't afford a CT for my cat. I hope with a little food and fluids we can get her perked up again. Only time will tell...

A Family Apart

I write this today from Telluride, Colorado. The rest of my family is at home- I am out here to celebrate my friend Megan's 40th Birthday. It is a beautiful place. Today I think I plan to hit all the shops on the Main Street in town and see what treasures I can unearth for the kids.

Yesterday we went on a hike. It is the easiest hike the town has to offer. Well, between my out of shapeness, the thin air, and my asthma I would like to say it was anything but easy. I mean, a hike in Iowa is usually relatively flat. A hike in Colorado is going up the side of the mountain. There were many times I wanted to turn around, but I had a good group that didn't mind waiting for me to catch my breath.

I miss my kids and wonder what they are doing at home... Oh, and Nick too :o)