Thanks for the advice about my kitty! Jelly seems to be a little perkier today, and quite enjoying the extra attention and petting. She only threw up once today (right in the middle of our dinner….yuck!). Right now she is doing her usual driving-me-nuts-thing where she rubs her head incessantly against my laptop and closes the screen. That’s a lot more active than she was yesterday, and we even spied her over by the food bowls eating!

She is ten years old, by far the oldest of my three crazy felines. Frankly, all of them have been in perfect health for the past five or six years – I shouldn’t be surprised that one of them finally got a little sick. I’m going to make her a vet appointment for next week (earlier, if things take a turn for the worse) and try switching her to some wet food. I’ve heard that as cats get older, they sometimes have trouble digesting the kibbles.

Since the day she crawled off the street and through my bathroom window, looking for a place to give birth, Jelly has had a pretty cushy life. All the food she can eat and plenty of stacks of paper to sleep on (her favorite!). We got through a difficult delivery (she almost needed a $3,000 kitty c-section) and have moved to three or four apartments together. It’s probably about time for her to slow down, spend more time getting hair all over my fleece blankets, and enjoy her twilight years. If this illness turns out to be a sign of something more serious, at least I’ve given her many years to enjoy being warm and getting fat…

Oh my, I had a crazy week! Full of complicated articles to write (on deadline, of course), class assignments, pre-holiday events and general running around.

Then, on top of things, my cat started vomiting. Didn’t think much off it at first, but she’s been vomiting. And vomiting. Maybe twice a day for the last two or three days, when I can’t count on two hands the times she’s done it in the past six years. She’s also acting moody and very sensitive to the touch – I tried to pet her hind-quarters and got a clear “don’t-you-dare” nip. On the good side, I watched her drink a bunch of water this evening and she’s holding it down. I don’t think she’s in any immediate danger of dehydration.

I really can’t afford the weekend emergency vet fees, so I hope she’ll be okay until Monday….?

I hope everyone had a chance to see family and be thankful this season! I’m so happy that I had a chance recently to visit my dear friends in Jersey City and spend some time with the new addition to their family, Carolina. I’m just in love with her! (I’m going to make a nice print of this photo as an early Christmas present for them…)

I was also lucky because the rain clouds parted and I got to spend most the holiday weekend outside, enjoying the sunshine and chilly air. On Saturday, D. and I hiked along the cliffs of Ralph Stover State Park. We climbed rocks, watched the  stream below and enjoyed an actual day off together. I couldn’t ask for more!

And what would a photography lesson be without a little black and white action?

After a very sleepless night looking up building code regulations, D. and I decided we just weren’t comfortable with the state of the apartment we had intended to move into. Even if the landlord agreed to fix visible problems in our unit, it left us with a lot of concerns about the wiring throughout the building – and fixing the problem to our satisfaction would be, we figured, a massive investment of time and money on the landlord’s part.

So we met with him, were upfront with our feelings about the situation and reached a mutual agreement to end the lease.

On the good side, my current (two bedroom) apartment was still available, and my landlords agreed to let D. move in and were happy to keep us there.

We have a little readjusting to do, but I’d say overall we’re both really pleased and relieved with this outcome, and with the money we’re saving  we’re ready to make the old place a home we can both be happy in for the coming year.

Thanks for the comments and support – the blog should be back in full swing next week!

Long hours at work, plus trying to pack boxes and get rid of things I don’t need …I’ll try to post again when I find some time!

Hoo boy, getting ready for a move is tough.

I tried to go through just one closet tonight and throw out junk I don’t want… it’s harder than it first appears. Sure, the old 2008 calendar is an easy decision. But what about the perfectly good but garishly colored bedsheet, an unidentified computer hard-drive or your mom’s antique, hand-woven but worn rug that you no long longer have room for?

Still, I managed to take out about 10 garbage bags full of trash (I swear it reproduces in dark corners), so I still feel ahead of the game. A little less than a month to go….

Not feeling real well today… I’ve been going non-stop for the past few weeks, and I have a feeling my tonsals are getting ready to stop me in my tracks, whether I like it or not…

My mom, who is afraid of heights, always talks about how she got talked into going on a ferris wheel one time, and what a terrifying experience that was.

I always kinda laughed at it, but you know, I think the older I get the more scary it gets rocking back and forth all the way at the top! (Still don’t mind roller coasters). I had a chance to ride the ferris wheel this weekend at the Jersey Shore, and my, the view certainly is pretty!

Heading to the Jersey beach with my girlfriends for the weekend! Or, as they say it around here, “Down the Shore”!

Have a great Memorial Day weekend!