The Good and The Bad of My Day

The good first: It was the YG's fourth birthday today! Yaaay!

Here are a sample of this year's birthday looks, ALL courtesy of my sister, the spoiler of nieces:

First, the flowered, full-skirt dress:

The tiara adds a nice touch, no? The dress says "sweet little girl," the tiara says "on your knees, bitch."

Next, the "good girl," ultra-feminine, innocent, soft pink A-line:

Soft, lovely, just right for those occasions when we're lazing on the veranda sipping sloe gin.

Next, the SHOCKING! look for spring: the orange cha-cha dress, with satin headband, gloves, pearls, AND...wait for it...white go-go boots!


And, finally, the clingy sixties nylon clingy number, also accessorized with the boots and gloves:


The MIL has presented us with another dress; a gossamer white fluffy cake-ish confection of tulle and satin roses that we have not even gotten on yet for a picture. Thankfully, it will not be wasted; it will be worn, as will all of the others, constantly. They go on, off, and on again, several times per day, depending on the mood, and the occasion.

I love you, too, YG. It's fun to have a girly girl to dress up, and it's good to have a counterpoint to the Star Wars-obsessed tomboy who has taken up residence in the other end of the house. Welcome to KidDom!

----------------------
The bad: We put Molly to sleep today. Molly, my fourteen-year-old cat of twenty lives, the cat we have wrenched from the jaws of death time and time again - at the cost of literally THOUSANDS of dollars that we really didn't have - finally succumbed to illness and age.

She took a big downturn this weekend, while I was gone. The Man said that she had more or less stopped eating and drinking. I filled her amoxicillin and prednisone prescription when I got back, and started trying to force-hydrate her with syringes full of water (and bits of food,) but she wasn't really responsive. (She was still pissed, though, and though she was very weak, I still got a few swipes at my hand for my trouble.)

Most troubling, it looked like her herpes had returned, both in her eye and her mouth. The mouth was bleeding A LOT, and her eye had swollen shut, with more swelling around her forehead and cheek. I figured that the end was near, but I kept with the medicine, in hopes, and figured that she would just go peacefully at some point.

When I woke up this morning, her eye had closed completely with a horrible amount of junk in it,the swelling was worse in her cheek and head, and blood was continuing to drip in a steady stream out of her mouth. The herpes had definitely returned, and it was clearly not responding to the medicine. I called our vet - a very good and decent man - and asked if she was in any pain, and he asked if he could see her.

I dropped her off, and actually run away, like I thought I was going to escape this conversation somehow. By the time I got back to my office, the vet had called me back almost immediately, and said that he felt that, yes, she was likely in pain from the infections, even if she couldn't show it, and that her heart had slowed to the point that further intervention would not likely be of benefit.

So, The Man accompanied me back to the vet, and we held her and petted her, and she seemed to know that we were there. (In true Molly fashion, she flicked her tail in irritation a few times due to us petting her too much, but she was not able to move any more than that. It felt oddly good to piss her off one last time, though.)

We stayed for the anesthesia, but not for the final shot; honestly, it was all I could bear to even do that much. Neither of us had ever done that before, and it was so very sucky, let me tell you.

So, here's a picture of Molly in happier days, when she would love to cram her big butt into way-too-small places:


That's my girl. (We've all been there, right, ladies?)

Thanks for all your kind words. We loved her very much.

---------------------
One more bit of good...do you want to see the guitar?


It's a Gibson Les Paul Melody Maker, satin cherry finish. Not real fancy, but it feels nice in the hands; light, slim bridge, easy on the fingers...seems a good "girl guitar." Holds a tune nicely. I am having a sudden urge to take lessons with it; to heck with the OG!

Here's Gina Schock's autograph (obsessive closeup courtesy of the OG:)


I heart this guitar. And I want to learn something besides what I already know, which is basically major-key rhythm chords that cover only the first four frets.

Hmmm.