So Many Emotions

A couple weeks ago we found out that the four kittens and their older brother (from another litter) have tested positive for feline leukemia.

Now, this brought back some pretty painful memories from 2004. Where a vet that my family went to lead us to believe that our cats were vaccinated for it. They were not. On September 14, 2004 we had to put down my kitten, Muggins, who was only 8 months old. We got him on July 12th of that year, along with Bella. On September 20, 2004, not even a week later, we had to put down one of our cats, Annie. We had found out that our vet was a liar and we had Bella, Bocephus, Mitzi, and Buddy that tested positive. We found that out after we had switched vets. One of my main concerns at the time was my cat, Alley. She had cancer and was most at risk. Alley tested negative and was vaccinated right away. In February of 2005 our cat, Buddy, passed away from it. Bella later tested negative and was vaccinated. Leaving us with Bocephus and Mitzi. Mitzi and Bocephus lasted the longest with it. It doesn't effect older cats as badly since their immune systems are stronger than that of a cat a year old or less. So, Bella testing negative before 1 year was a miracle. Oh, and another lie that vet told us: "Old cats can't get it. Don't worry." Yeah... Bocephus was 14 or 15 at the time. Mitzi was 6 ish. Buddy was about 4.

Oh yeah, and the thing that sucks about this: No cure. It's a waiting game.

So, when Aesop and Amelia were going into the vet for their distemper vaccine we had them tested. When I found out, I immediately started tearing up. They are so young. How can they be so active and playful? Our vet also informed us at Georgia and Cognac were not vaccinated for it in June. Umm... Are you kidding me? That was why I made the appointment. I keep track of my cats and their vaccines. I'm not an idiot. I called them in June to make the appointment because they were due in July. And since we'd be busy in July with the wedding, I wanted it done and out of the way.(As a matter of fact, Bella was vaccinated for it on my way to taking her to her new home.) So, not only was I worrying about Aesop and Amelia living, I was worried that Georgia and Cognac would test positive. The next day I discovered a lump on Aesop's stomach. I cried... And cried. The following Thursday we took Georgia, Cognac, and Aesop to the vet. The vet didn't seem too concerned about Aesop. He said tumor growth doesn't happen in cats this young. He said it was probably from the distemper vaccine and that we should watch it for a couple weeks. He also didn't seem too concerned about Georgia and Cognac. He gave them a booster shot. I had worked myself up so much for that appointment, too. I was so relieved.

I'm also filled with happiness. These kittens are so amazing and full of affection. In my mind, they aren't dead yet. And Brian and I are doing all we can to boost their immune systems. They are getting the best food available and medicine. Hopefully if I can keep them active and healthy their immune systems can fight off this leukemia. I mean, it worked for Bella, and we didn't know what to do at that point because we were just learning about fe leuk. Plus, their Mom is positive and she's around 5 years old... Hopefully she passed on a good immune system to her kittens.

Also, coming back from their appointment we noticed that Aesop's eye looks like he's developing a small pupil. It'll be interesting to see how that unfolds.

Here are a couple new pictures:




Aesop does some pretty funny things with his front paws. I've noticed when he's sleeping on my lap that he'll take a paw and cover his nose with it. Paw huffing?

I've been dreading this post because I didn't want to seem too emotional and/or cry while writing it. I'm feeling a lot better about them now. We'll be getting them back in to see Dr. Seidl in about 5.5 months. He wants them re-tested. Who knows, maybe we'll get lucky and they may be negative. And if not, I guess we'll keep trying to beat this.

I just hate this waiting game... So much. It's not fair to them. But, putting myself through this emotional agony because there's a slight chance they'll live is totally worth it in my book. Maybe we'll get lucky. It just sucks because this is the one thing that we can't protect them from.

Also, the prettiest butterfly, ever...

In 3... 2... 1...









Natilee's first Halloween.

I Am Sick

So, this is my second day this week that I've stayed home from work. I'm pretty miserable right now with a throat that feels as if its on fire. I went out to dinner with Brian and his parents last night and had chicken tenders. When I order "breaded" chicken tenders, I assume they are baked... Well, the ones that ended up on my plate were fried.. And not just fried, but they were like a dark brown color and incredibly crispy. Not wanting to make a big deal about it, I ate a couple anyway. After dinner Brian and I go home and not more than 5 minutes after I walk in the door I am almost vomiting. I fought it, because I hate throwing up so much. I used to take a prescription that would make me sick and vomit all the time. It's a miserable feeling. Anyway, this nauseousness last night was hopefully from the fried food, since I don't normally consume fried food. Because my sickness seems to be more cold like than flu like.

Since I'm home, I thought maybe I'd take this time to at least make a post.

Last Monday we had to take the kittens to the vet because Amelia was having really bad tummy troubles. She had no control over her bowels and I was worried. The vet wanted a stool sample, too. I had a cup of poop in my car cup holder. *shudder* The vet went over her stool and found no parasites. And he put her on a kitty Imodium. The vet also put an anesthetic in Aesop's eye to make the third eyelid go down, since it's usually half exposed, and discovered that Aesop has no pupil in his left eye. So, he is partially blind. The night we brought them home from the vet, Amelia seemed to be more spry than ever.

The older cats are getting better adapting to the kittens. They pretty much ignore them. Once in a while Georgia will try to play with one... Then will get mad and smack one. So, we have a spray bottle with water ready when that happens.

This past Saturday I woke up in kitten pee. It was gross. Since Robert was coming over anyway, I asked him if he'd stop at the store and buy some Woolite mattress cleaner. Since Brian and I needed to wash our other blankets anyway, we decided to go to the laundromat in Middleville. It's a poor excuse for one, too. Only half of the machines work, the floor is dirty, there is no person visible that works there - only about 7 cameras. Also, the bathroom looks like it has 70s wallpaper. Robert joined us, which was nice. Then after that we went to GR to make our final payment at La-Z-Boy... Then to Pet's Mart because the vet wants us to put all of the cats on Science Diet. After that we headed to Gaines area and went to Target and Meijers.

Sunday, we attended Catholic Mass to attend the baptism of a wee young lad, Carter. I had never been to an actual Mass before. It was quite enjoyable. Brian was pretty excited about it, too.



I enjoyed that they sang a lot of older hymns, too. At TVC, where Brian and I go, they don't really do that.

Also, yesterday our sectional was delivered!



We are quite pleased. It's definitely worth it. Our living room is kind of long and narrow, so a couch and a loveseat wouldn't have worked out.



The far left seat is a recliner. Brian's pretty happy since he's never owned a recliner. It was a must have in my family, though.



The seat to the left of the chaise is pretty neat. The foot area slides out and there's a drawer for extra storage. And the back of the chair folds down to reveal a tabletop area with cup holders.



I picked out the fabric. Brian was a little skeptical, but it does indeed match our carpet.

I felt up to taking some pictures of the cats as well. There are more pictures of Amelia than Aesop... He's pretty active and playing almost all the time. It's harder to get him to stay still.

Anyway, here are some pictures...


Double trouble...



:) Amelia has a permanent smile look to her fur pattern.



Georgia with her tongue out.



So cute.

Lastly,



Bella is laying on our old couch. See the icky pattern?

Stuff & Things

I stumbled upon a couple of blogs that I've been following...

Cake Wrecks (Click Here) is a funny blog. From what I've gathered it's a blog that's run by a woman, and sometimes her husband will post, about cakes that people bought/ordered that were wrecked. She's quite witty and I've enjoyed reading her posts.

Love-A-Cupcake (Click Here) is a blog about cute cakes.

Ever since the wedding and deciding what I wanted our wedding cake to look like, I've been a little intrigued in all of the work it takes to make something so gorgeous. Not to mention that the possibilities are pretty much endless.

Last weekend Brian and I decided for our three year dating anniversary that we would take a trip to GR, stay in a hotel for a couple nights and then do some local shopping.

We lodged at the Crowne Plaza in Grand Rapids. I must say, it was pretty horrible. The first discovery made was the hair in the toilet that we hadn't used yet. Then a little bit later Brian found a toenail on our freshly made bed. He called the front desk, told them of our situation, and he asked for fresh linens. What we got a few minutes later was a member of the housekeeping staff knocking on our door, handing us new sheets (which were not the correct size), and then walking off. Brian then went down to the front desk to make sure that they understood that he wanted someone else to come and re-make our bed. Which eventually happened.

Throughout the night someone in the next room had their TV blaring. Brian even remembers waking up from his slumber in the middle of the night and heard the Spanish channel blaring. Awesome... Not. Then the next day we discovered that our shower had black mold in areas, the drain was clogged, and there were questionable black spots on the ceiling that I guesstimate could have been mold or insect eggs.

This is not all...

Our second night in the room I was woken up by someone pounding as loud as they could on the door across the hall from us... I did not sleep well after that and managed to have a string of bad dreams until...



... I woke up to Brian killing this earwig. Yeah, that's just great. To brush up on your Earwig trivia, click here.

When we checked out we told them of everything that was wrong with our room. Wanna know what we were told? And I quote, "Unfortunately I cannot help you because you paid online. I can offer you a free breakfast for your troubles." Ummmm.... NO thanks. After I'd seen the bathroom in just one room, I was sure I didn't want to eat something from their kitchen. Brian and I plan on writing a letter.

The weekend wasn't a total bust, though. We did some shopping and got some great deals. I got a pair of dress shoes, a pair of slip-on shoes, and a pair of heeled boots... Not to mention a few other things here and there.

Sunday, Brian and I brought home not one, but two, kittens. We were originally going to take one... Then my Dad wanted to keep all of them... Then that became too much for him... He asked Brian and I to take two. If one of them is separated and alone it cries constantly.

We brought home...



Amelia (tiger striped) and Aesop (black). Anyone remember Aesop's Fables from Rocky and Bullwinkle? One of my all time favorite cartoon shows.

Having had them for almost a whole week now, I'm almost certain that little Aesop is blind in his left eye. Though, it doesn't slow him down any.

They have kept us on our toes. When they're not snuggling... They're wrestling... And it's always a laugh when they snuggle wrestle. :)

They kept making a mess of things in the shelter we had for them. It involved poop and it was not pleasant - twice. So we decided to venture to Hastings and head to the Tractor Supply Store to look for a kennel that would be larger. (With the bigger cats, we can't really leave them unattended. Georgia is the biggest grump now.)

Back to the story... Whenever I'm in there I must look at the baby bunnies in their cages. I love bunnies. There was a top cage with three bunnies in it. And then I noticed their water bottle was bone dry since they were trying to get a drink. I quickly found someone, appropriately named "Dick," and informed him that the bottle was completely empty. He said, "Thanks. But we only re-fill them at night." Ummm, excuse me? ANIMAL ABUSE. They were obviously trying to get a drink, all three of them, and were unable to. So, I took the bottle from the cage underneath them and held it up for a minute or so and one drank from it. I was livid. I went up to complain, but "Dick" was up there, so I'll be filing a complaint with the store.

After all of that, Brian and I did a little more shopping in another store and came home.

I baked oatmeal raisin and cranberry cookies for my Father-in-Law. It was his birthday on the 7th and we're heading over tomorrow to spend some birthday fun time with him.

Since I've been writing this post from my kitchen floor, the kittens prefer it, and my butt is rather numb now... So, I'll be heading off to bed.

....

....

Well, how about one more snuggle picture?

Kittens Make Me Smile

Yesterday I traveled to my parents house to help feed and take care of some kittens. My friend Yvette will be taking a kitten... Brian and I will be taking one... And my parents will keep the other two.

My Dad is an absolute sap when it comes to kitties that need a home. On Thursday he was walking up to our back porch and stumbled upon four of the tiniest kittens he'd seen in a long time. The Mom was out hunting. Determined to keep at least one he scooped up a little calico. You have to be sneaky while dealing with wild cats. If the Mom saw my Dad there, she would have run off with the others and hid them... And they probably would not make the winter. (She did that two years ago.) He got the little calico to the vet. She was about 4 weeks old and she still needed formula for the next several days until she could be weaned off of it and put on kitten chow.

Being the big sap he is, he couldn't let the other ones die, either. And I don't really blame him. I would be deeply saddened if I took only one out of the cold and left the others.

We've seen it many times... This same mother cat... She'll have a litter and favor one of them and the other(s) die. And since winter was coming, her survival instincts would kick in and she'd most likely fight to the death for food.

Anyway... Enough about that...

I took pictures.



Doesn't it just look like they're in some sort of dance club? The toy could be a disco ball...



These are the two that my parents will be keeping.



We'll be adopting this kitten. Not sure if it's a boy or a girl just yet... I believe this little one has Horner's Syndrome. That, or he/she's partially blind. Doesn't really matter to me... I'll love it just the same.

If it's a boy, I'd like to name it Simon. If it's a girl, I'd like to name it Willow or Daisy. (No reason why...) Buuuuuut, I don't know how Brian feels about those names.

Next weekend Brian and I will be staying at a hotel in Grand Rapids. We'll be celebrating three years together on the 30th. It's pretty dang exciting. :)

And on the 18th we'll be going to a baptism for our friend Lindy. She recently gave birth to a bouncing baby boy named Carter.

Where The Heck Have I Been?

It's been a long looooooooong time since I've posted a blog. Brian and I have been so busy with everything.

On labor day we went to Grand Rapids and ordered new furniture. It's a custom sectional (with a recliner!) so it will take 4-6 weeks to receive. Brian and I have been so terribly antsy for it to come in. We currently have one couch. It's an old couch that Brian got for $60. It's not that I hate the couch, it's just not what we both want. We'll be re-arranging the whole house in a few weeks so that we'll be able to get the sectional to fit properly. We'll be hanging onto the old couch for additional seating.

Also on labor day we went to the John Ball Zoo...


The zoo seemed kind of sad in some parts... This tiger never really got up. Just kind of stayed there.


These guys were adorable, though.


Brian took this... Every time I got near this guy, there were several kids in the way... So, of course the moment I go to the bathroom Brian gets this awesome shot...


My boys. :)


Tortoise 'tocks. :)


The bears were our favorite... They wrestled each other...





In other news, Thursday I got a call from my brother, Jason. A mother cat decided to have a late litter of kittens. Brian and I will be keeping the one kitten that is blind in one eye. We're currently trying to give a home to one...



She's about 4 weeks old. Currently being bottle fed.

This is the kitten we'll be taking...

Ah, Nothing Like Baby Giggles...

Okay, I know this isn't much of a post, but I've been meaning to get this video on here... So... WATCH IT!



I promise you totally awesome pictures on my next post. Pinky swear.

Recent Happenings & Some Wedding Pics

Friday night we had dinner with Brian's family to celebrate Colleen's birthday. We dined at the County Seat in Hastings. Happy Birthday, again!

Saturday we decided to have the yard sale again because this weekend would be perfect for it. Mom, Robert, Brian, Sara, Natilee, & myself hung around and worked the sale. Brian got a call that he had to go to his parents house in Battle Creek because they had left for a few days. They had forgotten to lock the door. So Robert and Brian left us and headed to Battle Creek shortly after that call. Sara, Mom, and I actually wished they wouldn't have gone. Mainly because we had a group of about eight or nine Mexican people show up. They were being loud and trying to distract Sara and I. They kept trying to pay with hundreds and fifties from their huge wad of cash. Even though we could visibly see they had ones and fives. Their little grifter plan didn't work though and they ended up paying us with a smaller bill instead.

Apart from that, the sale went really well. We made about $70 and Sara racked up about $40. Awesome, huh? Way better than the last sale when were rained on and everything.

Also, yesterday, the wedding pictures arrived in the mail...

Here are some:







Getting ready in the bathroom.



Nicole helping me get the dress zipped.



My Family.



My second family. :)



A close up of the cake.



Brian meeting my friend, Lindy, and her husband, Darren, for the first time.



Dancing with my Dad.



Jon caught the garter! Woot!



Makes me smile. :)