Sugar's update

It's been about three weeks since the cat pulled a doozy on us, eating string and having a liver infection.  She is healing slowly but surely.  On her first check up she has lost a little of weight on her scrawny self, but her appetite is good, her litter habits are good, and we are continuing on with the antibiotics.  The vet wasn't particularly worried since she had been through a lot with surgery and all.

She's been keeping a very low profile, sleeping on the floor of my bedroom during the day, and right next to me at night.  There's been a lot of petting and purring going on.

Her sexy old lady cat belly scar will eventually be covered in fur and all of this will be a distant, yet terrible memory.

Summer goals revisited

 The last set of goals were:

*Stop with the wine.
Greatly reduced

*Practice better oral hygiene.
Yup - doing this, too.

*Take my vitamins without fail.
Well, getting better at this - but I'm not 100%.  I hate swallowing pills.

*Drink more water.
Trying!  Doing great at work, just need to do the same at home.

*Eat more veggies, less crap.
Yup - Hubby and I are definitely doing this. He's trying to lose weight, and I may as well, too.  I have drastically scaled down the amount of red meat we eat, and added in fish once a week.

*Work on getting things finished.
OMG - I got the blinds done.  They arrived and look GREAT.  Why does it take me so long to get something done when I really want to do it?  It's a mystery.

*Master the stairs.
Well, this one got sidelined a bit when I strained my knee doing yardwork.  So, it's on-going.

So that was early Summer.  Here's what I want to do for late Summer/early Fall:

*Get a bike and start riding it a couple times a week, keep working on the stairs
*Text my sister more often
*Plan our 30th anniversary weekend
*Keep up the healthy habits above
*Start another project around the house and see it through
*Visit The Girl and my mother a couple of times before Thanksgiving.

The morning Hands Off

I'll be the first to admit that it's hard to stop doting on your kids.  You want them to be self-sufficient, but you also want them to be fed and clothed and cared for.  It's a balancing game that you shift little by little with each passing year, until they are taking care of themselves and can make their own way in the world.  Which is not to say that you can't be there for them when they need you.  Because, duh, you're the parent.  Even so, you wait for them to ask for help - you don't just swoop in and rescue.  Or, rather, you shouldn't.

This summer I have been letting Gray get himself up in the mornings, make his own lunch, get his water jug filled, etc.  This is in stark contrast to last summer when I babied him through band camp mornings.  The problem with doing too much for him is that he doesn't have to bother to remember things, stick to a schedule, and manage his affairs.  What I thought was helpful wasn't really helpful.  Hence this summer being drastically different.  So this summer, I am free to drink my coffee, sit on my rear, and let baby bird learn to fly.  Hands off.

Sugar

I don't even know what to say about Sugar.  I'm just so super stressed and down in the mouth about it.  She got up into my box of embroidery thread and ate a good long chunk of it.  Then puked bile and about half of the string.  When I pulled on it, it wouldn't budge.  So I knew it was deep.  Shit. I was going to "wait it out, give her some vaseline, see if she would pass it.  But two vets told me over the phone that I better bring her in pronto.  So, I did.  It was the right thing to do.  But $2000 later, I wonder if it would have been kinder to euthanize her.  She's 11.  Has been dropping weight.  And the vet says her liver looked strange.

So as of this writing, I have a senior cat recovering from major abdominal surgery, a huge Capital One bill, and a full-time job, so I cannot babysit her, nor can I afford to board her.  And I just want to bring her home, so she can sit in my lap and be told sweet things.  Because I made a promise to care for her when I adopted her.  And she's my cat.

This sucks so bad.