I am having a Bad Brain Day: I am pretty sure it’s not the case that the entire world and everything in it is crappy, but kind of FEELS like maybe it IS the case. We went to Target this morning for an emergency therapy session, and I’m sure you’ll understand the severity of the issue when I tell you that EVEN THAT didn’t work.
We also went to The Children’s Place and I found a bunch of good stuff on good markdowns, but solve THIS riddle: the Big Girl, Little Girl, and Little Boy section all had a $5.99 jeans sale, but the Big Boy section did not. I even asked about it, and they acted like it wasn’t even slightly strange that a store-wide jeans sale would include three of their four departments but not the fourth. They suggested I look on the skimpy rack of pre-ripped big-boy jeans marked down to $19.99, as if that were similar. Since THREE of my boys wear jeans in the Big Boy sizes, this was a little IRRITATING and contributed to the “everything in the world is crappy” feeling.
Have I mentioned we just found out our cat Mouse has hyperthyroid? and also kidney disease? and that we won’t know how bad the kidney disease is until we treat the hyperthyroid, because hyperthyroid makes kidney disease look less severe than it is? and when we treat the kidney disease, we may find it worsens her possible congestive heart issue? Yes. Well. And so we are entering this territory of “How much should be done for a 16-year-old cat?” We’re starting with daily medication and special food and possibly a CAT DRINKING FOUNTAIN, plus of course the repeated follow-up tests to see what is working, and it is so very very hard to know when to say, “Let’s use these resources to feed and clothe several families in another country instead.”
Last night I put Elizabeth’s hair in braids for the first time.
She really likes the braids, which was unexpected because she fights me when I put her hair in ponytails. She calls the braids “locks” because of a Rapunzel story where the guy tells Rapunzel to “throw down her locks” and Rapunzel throws down long braids. Last night she wanted to sleep in her locks, and this morning we put in fresh ones.
We have a vinyl cover made by my mom for our coffee table, and it is so great because we do all kinds of crafts and snackings on that table. However, after seven-ish years, the vinyl has many rips and cuts on it, plus some permanent metallic gold paint smudges. It also has one big rip because a certain two-year-old grabbed a small rip and pulled. Paul fixed the rips yesterday with duct tape, and while that’s a very SENSIBLE solution, it is not exactly PRETTY. So I got myself a roll of THIS:
Because duct tape in TEAL—why, that’s a completely different story! I plan to cover the entire vinyl table-cover with it.
I am also having that day!
Not just any teal, Tranquil Teal! I might have to cover my whole house (and kids) with it.
I love the “locks”. Maggie calls them “braves”.
Those shorts are super cute! And the braids! Soooo cute!
Sorry about Mouse. :(
Elizabeth’s hair looks much darker than I remember it. Wasn’t it blond before? And has it really been that long since you posted a picture of her, that her hair could have changed color in the meantime? Or is it just the lighting of this particular photo?
Jess Loolu- Partly it’s the lighting, and partly it’s that her hair was wet.
Locks! That is the cutest thing I’ve heard all day.
Colored duct tape is brilliant. When I first saw it I thought it was kind of silly, but then I came home from work one day to find that the dog had chewed through 3/4 of a roll of silver duct tape. So I replaced it with a roll of purple duct tape which he has not shown any interest in (although it always gets returned to the cupboard now just in case!). Plus now when I have a project in need of duct tape the purple makes it a little more fun.
I love colored duct tape. We use green on my daughter’s soccer team. My husband is the couch and used to spend a large amount of time tying shoe laces. He brought a roll of tape to the game and any kid who had their laces come undone (or who was a chronic lace tying asker) got a strip of tape around their laces. Problem solved and it matches their team colors.
Aww… Elizabeth and her locks just melted my cold, cold heart.
I feel your pain about the CP jeans. Why are they so expensive? This is why my children look like hobos. They put holes in their knees within a month of having new jeans, and so I put off getting new ones…until my mother comments about their hobo-like appearance.
Locks…that’s awesome. As is colored duct tape, as long as it’s not left in the hands of teenagers with far too much time on their hands and it turns into prom dresses. There’s something not right about that.
The boyfriend made many stupid purchases before I moved in, including a $70 cat drinking fountain new in the box that he never even bothered to open. My suggestion before you fork out that type of money would be to search eBay, Craigslist, and FreeCycle first b/c you would not believe how many ppl are trying to get rid of them!!
I wonder if my 4 y/o would sit still for an inexperienced braider. She turned against barrettes about six months ago so we’ve tried ponytails and headbands but she’s having none of it and her hair is long and always in her face, but I can’t bring myself to have it cut.
The Children’s Place seems to have a lot of wrong-headed sale policies. And I’m sorry about Mouse. I feel like you have had more than your fair share of Sad Cat Troubles in recent history. Sigh.
Elizabeth looks so cute with her braids!
Damn unfair sales. . . But I do love Elizabeth’s braids!
As for Mouse–I am very sorry. I have an almost-16-year-old cat who was diagnosed as hyperthyroid a week ago, and I am praying that when we get her re-checked after some time on the meds, she won’t have any other problems going on, or I’ll be facing the same tough decision you are. Hang in there–I’ll be thinking about you.
oh i LOVE the locks!
ebay / freecycle is an excellent idea for the catfountains – the cheaper (but still perfectly functional!) ones at petco etc only run about $30 too, i think. i had one until my stupid-ass cat ripped the wires OFF OF IT because he spent so much time trying to figure out where the water was coming from.
Locks = *giggle*
Its a wonder that simple braids made her look grown up!
Ooh, poor Mouse.
The braids are so cute!
I keep meaning to do a blog post about hair, but then I forget about it again.
That little girl with her locks is cute as a button!
I got a cat fountain for Bowie and he TURNED UP HIS NOSE at it. He prefers the bathroom sink.
Our cat is 18 and also has the hyperthyroid. It started with the drinking like crazy and peeing in places that were NOT her litterbox. We give her liquid medication everyday on a little bit of tuna. It costs us $60 every two months. It’s a HUGE pain in the ass, but we love her and are willing to put up with it… for now. If things get worse and she needs more intervention/expensive treatments then we’ll probably have to reevaluate.
Oh, I hope your brain is feeling better soon.
And vet bills are right up there with buying, say, softener salt. Ugggg.
My two cats were just diagnosed with hyperthyroid as well. It seems to be the “cool” disease with all the older cats!
They are both doing well on the pill medication. We use pill pockets (brilliant invention, why didn’t someone think of this sooner?) The meds have really helped the symptoms so far and they seem to be feeling much better. Best of luck with Mouse!
I swiped, with permission, some green/blue plaid duct tape last time I was at my parents’. ‘Tis lovely.
Sorry to hear about Mouse! I’ve known several cats who did very well with the medication and ended up living happy lives — although, that diagnosis was the beginning of the end for my sweet polydactl, Bailey.
16 is pretty old for a cat — I hope you have a vet that understands the big picture. We are blessed with a great vet — He understands that he needs to communicate with us.
Poor Mouse! However, if you need a cat fountain, I will gladly ship mine off to you free of charge. Bought the silly thing and it freaked the animals out and they would not touch it. I could not find the receipt and the BX would not give me a store credit so it’s been living happily on top of my dryer for 7 mths. Just say the word and it’s all yours.
We use clear packing tape to fix our tablecloth. I’m so sorry about Mouse!
A- THANK YOU! I will keep that in mind!
We have purple and dark blue duct tape. I use them for our dry erase boards where we keep track of chores and schoolwork. Purple for the girls’ board (which currently keeping score for only Jayden) and dark blue for the boys’ board (which is currently keeping score for only James). It rips in strips SO easily and it just made so much sense to do it that way. I wouldn’t need to worry about accidently erasing my lines and grid when I erase it all up after the week is up. The sales at TCP sometimes make me scratch my head in wonder as well. I love her locks, those are very cute. Jayden won’t keep anything in her hair for long so it stays in a rather short cut just to keep it looking neat.
My almost-16 cat is hyperthyroid, and I have her medicine compounded at a pharmacy … it’s only $5 more a month than the pills, and it’s way easier, since the shithead wouldn’t take the pills. I wrapped them in cheese…and she would EAT AROUND THEM. How you eat around a teeny tiny pill, I do not know, but she managed. The compounded stuff is a transdermal gel that you rub on her ears…she hates it, but it’s much easier to grab a squirming cat’s ear than it is to force feed a cat a pill. Of course, she gets canned food to DISTRACT her (also, because she’s so little, trying to put weight on her)…but we won’t eat the kind that comes in an actual can, only the kind in little plastic containers or pouches. Her favorite, of course, is the new Whiskas in the square containers with purple lids that don’t come in a multipack.
All that’s wrong with my little butthead is the thyroid issue, and I have to leave the sink dripping for her. She won’t drink out of a bowl like the other cats anymore, no matter if I filled it 10 seconds before.
She’s such a pain in the butt, but she’s also adorable, and she’s my baby. If it came to more than just medication, I might feel differently, but she’s still agile and happy otherwise (i.e., she has no problems jumping up on the bathroom counter to drink out of the faucet. Or on my bookshelves. Or on top of my desk.)
I’m fighting with Children’s Place right now. They have some staples that I buy every year. Elastic band cargo shorts top the list. And every year? They quality gets worse and worse and the price gets higher and higher.
Polo shirts and t shirts and socks and jeans are right along side these shorts. I just can’t fathom why the quality isn’t stable. The fabric isn’t the same from year to year. I hate it!
But, I’ve almost completely broken up with Old Navy and even Target stuff is falling apart like it was made at Kmart or something. So what am I going to do? Keep going to CP, because it’s still better than the rest.
Sigh.
Love to you. I’ve been the world’s worst commenter, but lurking as always.