Summer is winding down

I can't believe that summer is technically over!!  School is back in season and the weather is cooling off a little.  This summer was too HOT!!  We had about 2 months of 100+ weather.  I like summer but this was a bit too much.

In June, I had a 3 week vacation that was great!  I went to St. Louis for CKC and also got my first out-of-state geocache.  I also had a goal to get at least 30 geocaches in June and I got 35!  My nieces and I went geocaching for a day and we found lots of ticks!!  We decided to wait on crawling in the woods till tick season is over.

July brought lots of sadness for me.  I lost my cat Chloe.  I came home from work on morning and she was dead in the hallway.  She was just fine before I left for work that night.  She had been fighting hyperthyroidism but her levels were finally in optimal range and she seemed to be doing better.  It was quite the shock for me.  I have been wanting to make a blog post in regards to this.

Navy Pier

Then in the middle of July, I traveled to Elburn, IL to see my Scrap Jammie friends!  One was traveling all the way from Australia!  We even took a day trip to Chicago which was a blast!!!  I need to order pictures and get to scrapbooking them!

I got back from my trip and my A/C wasn't able to keep up with the 100+ weather.  It is leaking freon and I need a new system.  They at least got it working for me but I need to start saving $$$$ for a new unit.  Ugh!!  At least the weather has cooled off to the 80's to 90's which is nice.

August I have been working on getting my house better organized, especially my extra bedroom!  I made good progress but still have lots to do.  I have lots of stuff I just need to get rid of.

I am hanging out at the Mudhouse trying to stay caffeinated!!

Thanks for reading and have a great day!

Crazy cat incident

Isn't this a cute kitty?

She has long beautiful hair but comes with a bit of a temper if you have to brush her.  Normally she just meows or will hiss a little when being groomed.  Last night, she went to far! (or maybe I did!)

Chloe's hair seems to get tangled easily.  I try to keep up with her hair but sometimes I am unable to keep up with it.  I just untangled all her hair over a week ago.  I had noticed that she was getting badly tangled so I decided to work on her hair last night.  I took her to the bathroom and had her on the counter.  We were doing good and I was able to get some of the tangles out.  She meowed nothing much.  Then I had my dog barking at her and then my other cat Felix was on the counter.  Felix walked up to Chloe and smacker her!  I had to get him down.  They were not helping the situation!!  Chloe wasn't a happy camper at this point.  Shortly after that, she bit my arm!  It didn't look like she broke the skin but I am bruised in that area.  I should have stopped at that point but was getting close to being done.  I actually start trying to cut this tangle out since she didn't like me working it out.  Then I tried to brush what I cut out and she bit my hand in between my index and middle finger!  She clamped onto my hand and then I had blood running down my hand.  I gave up at that point.  I washed my puncture wound out and put some antibiotic ointment on it.  I also applied a 2x2 to keep dirt from getting in my hand.  It hurt but I was okay.

I was working on cleaning and organizing last night.  I found my moleskine books and material I had bought earlier in the year.  I even got on etsy.com last night to find a few fat quarters to make some other books.  :-)  I have to say, my kitchen and dining room look clean!  At least I had gotten most of it done before Chloe bit me.  I noticed that my hand was a little swollen but it was localized to the area.  I finished cleaning and finally went to bed about 0330.

When I woke up this morning, my hand was all swollen!  Ugh.  I am a little freaked out about how my hand looks.  I can't bend my fingers all the way without pain.  I think Chloe was won a trip to the vet and I am going to have them finish what I started.  I got a lot of the tangles out but on her belly.  The spot that I did cut out is a little to noticeable.  I can usually cut a little and you can't notice it.  I didn't do a very good job this time!  She might be a lion kitty again but the only good thing about that is no tangles! I also need to make a doctor's appointment.  I have seem to many people come into the hospital with cat bites and ended up having surgery to have the wound cleaned out.

But besides the cat drama, today has been a good day!  I went and saw my cousin play hockey today and her team won the tournament!  Here is the trophy picture:

She is an awesome hockey player and she can skate!!  The last game was a little tough but they won 2-1.   I was a fun afternoon.

I am at the Mudhouse but typing is bothering my hand.  I am looking forward to watching Dexter tonight and to also write down some ideas I have for the sketchbook project I want to do.  My sister knows how to draw and she has a book that she thinks will help me.  I can't wait to read it!  :-)

Sedated kitty

This morning, I dropped my cat Chloe off to get her teeth cleaned. She was started to get tarter build up and needed to get this taken care of. I had a cat that his teeth was to far gone from eating moist food and not getting proper cleaning. My cats now don't get to eat moist food and only get dry food. That has helped save their teeth.

Since Chloe is almost 10, she had to have lab work done. I was happy that her labs were all okay. Last year her liver enzymes were too high and she had to be on medicine for a month. I am glad that they are staying down after a year. :-) Then she was cleared for dentistry. She has to be sedated for the procedure so it took all day.

We have been expecting a snow storm this week so I decided to pick her up that evening. I was going to have her spend the night so I didn't have to fight my dog and care for a sedated cat. The weather hadn't started that evening so I decided I had better get her while I could! She was able to lift her head but that was about it when I picked her up. I was told to keep her warm. I was planning to attend the camera club meeting so I went home and set Chloe up in a box with blankets.



Phoebe was driving me crazy and wouldn't leave Chloe alone. Chloe couldn't defend herself very well since she was still sedated. I did catch a picture of Phoebe actually sitting staring at Chloe!



When I returned from the camera club meeting, Chloe was trying to walk around the house. Her balance wasn't very good and would fall over walking. I had Phoebe sleep in her crate all night so Chloe could wonder the house and not get attacked by the dog. When I woke up in the morning about 0500 to check on her, she was sleeping on the bottom of her scratching post she tends to sleep on. Then when I woke up later in the day, she was on top of the scratching post and acting like her normal self! I was glad that her sedation had worn off.

Pandora is the next one to get her teeth cleaned the end of February.

Lion Kitty!!

Three years ago I took Chloe to get groomed and she had some tangles in her hair. They warned me that day that they may have to shave my cat. I didn't want them to but they said it might be the only way to take care of her tangles. They said that they would try to get the tangles out but they may shave her. They called me before picking her up that they did have to shave her and that I had a lion kitty. I vowed that I was never going to have her shaved again! That was tramatic for me and her!

Well, in December she was ill and I didn't realize it. She had a UTI and eleveated liver enzymes. I had to give her medicines for a month. The antibiotic three times a day for a couple of weeks. She wasn't a very happy kitty but it was to help her. I had taken the time to get her hair all combed out about the time this all happened. In a months time, she had gotten tangled on her belly. When I took Chloe to get her check up to see if the medicine was going to work, I was told that she may have to be shaved. I was determined to get these tangles out!! I realized her tangles were a little too much and decided it was best to get her shaved again. I couldn't believe that in a month's time her hair had gotten that bad of shape. She was mad at me for giving her medicine and she didn't want to be near me. I wasn't able to keep on top of her hair and keep it tangle free.



I took her in to get her shaved - a lion kitty cut! The last time they left her tail all fluffy and forget to tell them to leave it fluffy again this time. I went to pick up my kitty and she was so tiny without all that fur!! She was pretty mad! I didn't notice her tail right away but they shaved her tail all but the very end! It is cut like a lion! I just love petting her as it feels like velvet now!



After I picked her up at the vets, I took her to Petland to get her a sweater. They were still on sale and she was going to need one with the cold weather still upon us! I had Chloe on a leash and I took my lion kitty to Petland! The girl in the boutique loved Chloe and her lion kitty cut! She seemed to be more calm and I even had a cute sweater on her.



She wiggled out of her sweater later and it has warmed up some so I haven't put the sweater back on her. She has been sleeping real close to me some nights. I feel asleep last night and woke up with Chloe on my neck! It was funny and she was just happy! I am going to do my best for this not to happen again as I like my kitty best with all her fur! The groomer did tell me that they could shave her belly as that was were she was tangled the worst and she will stillhave most of her hair. I might consider it when her hair grows back.