Ahh!  It's been so long since I've updated, sorry!

Been a crazy couple of weeks with running around and helping out my friend Crissy with a hospital visit and her children and then hurricane Sandy and now we're apparently going to get hit with a Nor'Easter this week.  What is the world coming to?!  I'm hoping this new storm keeps its distance.  The North East and the East Coast need a break from Mother Nature and her beatings.

I've been pretty stressed out and busy but luckily, with the help of my Cymbalta, my mood swings have been in check for the most part.  I'm craving some normalcy and relaxation now though. 

An update on my boy Boogie:  He's doing okay.  Not much has changed actually. I check his mouth every few days to be sure there's no bleeding or puss or anything. It's still a bit large looking and i'm amazed that he's able to close his mouth at all honestly.  He's still hungry, thirsty, silly and playful as ever.  He still snuggles up with me at night on my pillow and 'pets' me with his big, fat paws. :)  He's still my little love bug.

All 3 girls are doing fine.  Emma's Feline Hyperestesia Syndrome hasn't changed that much, despite my trying to treat her with the Spirit Essences that I bought last month.  I was diligently putting it in her water bowl and even by mouth but things didn't improve, in fact, she seemed to have more episodes than usual!  I stopped it for a few days and she calmed down.  I think a lot of it is the stress of being the alpha cat in the house. She was our first, and pretty shortly after we got Brooklyn (like a month and a half later).  Their personalities were & are so different and I think Emma felt like she had to take care of Brooklyn because Brook was such a scaredy cat.  Emma takes on more stress then she needs to, sometimes I wish she could talk to me so I could explain these things to her.  I know that's silly and you're calling me a crazy cat lady - well, I am!  But seriously, when my kitties are upset or sick or hurting, I feel their pain.

In other news, looks like tonight Kevin & I are going to do a little Christmas shopping.  We have 2 really good coupons for the Christmas Tree Shoppe and I think I will be able to get quite a few stocking stuffers for Kevin and Rachael there, as well as something generic for whomever my Secret Santa at work will turn out to be. Other than those little things, the main gift I need to get is for Kevin and that is quite pricey.  Sometimes he is a bad gift-receiver but I think this gift will be an amazing thing and he will love it. I just have to get my ducks in a row and get the ball rolling.  It's so expensive, but I know he will love it, now I just need to get the funds in order. 

I guess that's all I have to say for now.  The heat finally came on today at work so now that my fingers working and aren't numb, I should do some work :)

Wishing you all a very Happy Thanksgiving!  I hope you remember to count your blessings - not just around Thanksgiving, but every day!

xoxo,
Kittygirl

Hi there and Hello!  I've been back from Florida for a little over a week now and I haven't updated, sorry about that.

Things seem to be going pretty well.  It's never fun going back home after vacation and having to head back to the grind of work and routine life, but all considered, I'm feeling pretty good. We did some fun things while we were away, including the Florida Aquarium (it's been ages since I've done anything like that!), Ripley's Believe It Or Not museum, saw and hung out with friends and had some really good eats!  Below are some highlights in photo-form, in no particular order:

Anniversary dinner at Texas de Brazil, Top Sirloin

Gringo Sushi, the bomb!! Chicken Teriyaki roll

View from dinner at Sea Hags, Saint Pete Beach, FL

View from Livingroom to our pool at house we rented

Pretty birds at Aquarium

DisneyQuest for our anniversary :)

On the plane to Florida at 6am

Japanese Mochi (rice ice cream?)

Musical car at Ripley's

We rubbed these guys for good luck

Saint Pete Beach sunset

Our first full weekend back home, Kevin went to Brooklyn after work Sat. to see his mom and granny and just got back home yesterday (Monday night).  It was a nice little break from one another, which is somewhat important for a healthy marriage, but it was really good to have him back home so we could both sleep soundly.  I slept for 12 hours straight which is like a miracle -that never happens!

All is well on the kitty front with Boogie. No more scary eye issues, although the tumor in his mouth is still very much there, it doesn't really look any larger.  He's still eating, drinking, going to the bathroom and playing so I'm really happy to see that!  Oh, that reminds me.  Emma started having her little allergy fits a lot more frequently lately. She has had these fits randomly for the last 2 yrs or so.  Her back ripples like she's itchy and she'll start whipping around wildly trying to lick herself, when she stops, twitches, she looks around for something to pick up off the floor in her mouth and runs away with it. Very strange behavior. So I decided to finally Google it and see if there are other cats out there with this weird tick.  Turns out I'm not crazy. There is such a thing!  It's called Feline Hyperestesia Syndrome.  I love Jackson Galaxy, watch his show, read his biography, follow him on twitter & facebook. Love everything about him and all the good he does for pets, especially cats.  I read in his biography that he partnered with a woman and developed Spirit Essences which is a holistic way of treating (some) health issues in house pets. I decided to look up Emma's FHS issues on their website and found something that I could put in her water/food or on her back/fur to help soothe her.  I only started it this weekend so I can't tell if it's working yet.  I guess I'll get back to you on that as time goes on.

Other than that, nothing is really new other than the fact that it's freezing in New York and its only mid-October.  I just bought some winter clothes because apparently I have none?  Hopefully the snow will hold off until mid-December, that would be awesome.

That's it for now - Until next time folks!

Kisses & Cheekmarks,
kittygirl

Florida-bound!

Good morning all!

I've got a few free minutes so I figured I'd use this time to update my blog. :)

It's Hump Day, most of the time people love Wednesday's for that very reason. Not me!  Wednesday's are one of the slower days at work and slow = long around here. Luckily I still have a bunch of little things to set up so that my customers at work get taken care of in my absence next week. That's right, the Mister & I are going on our anniversary vacation starting very early Saturday morning!  We are so excited to get away for a while.  Our 2yr anniversary is Tuesday so we are going to lounge around by the pool and probably go out for lunch and dinner.  Just a lot of much needed and deserved quality time together. :)

Luckily, I work with one of my best friends. Rachael sits 2 feet away from me at work. I'm happy to leave my weekly customers in her capable hands.  I've also been showing her how to pull the Friday 'end of week' numbers so she can do that for me as well.

Getting back to our Florida trip... I have a sneaking suspicion that we are over packing.  When we went to Cape Cod in June I had no access to a washer/dryer so I packed quite a bit of clothing, never knowing if I'll need extra.  At the Florida house, we do have a washer/dryer and yet I find myself putting more and more clothing in my bags!!  We have 2 big suitcases and 2 smaller carry on bags.  I'm packing all extra shoes and a few beach towels in one of the small carry on's, but still... 4 bags of stuff when we have a washer/dryer in the house is CRAZY.. oh well .. ya never know what the weather will be like anywhere ya go nowdays, and its currently Hurricane season, so if extra clothes means we're comfy, so be it!  The cats know something is UP!  They are investigating and playing on and in our luggage while I am trying to pack.  The older 3 know what the luggage means, but I don't think Heartly really understands yet. We've only been away once since we got her last September.  She is the most needy out of the 4 of our furbabies, and I hope she wont be too lonely. At least she has her siblings to keep her company.

A quick update on Boogie:  He's still doing well.  Playing, eating, running around after his 3 sisters.  While cleaning I found the laser pointer and he seems to like hunting it down.  Oh, and we found out that Heartly 'chips'!  I have never had a cat do that (in my presence any way). It's quite funny! :)



I guess that's all for now.  Probably no updates until we get back in which case you should also check out our food blog because we plan to eat at a few new places while in Florida and will likely update upon our return!   (Ellis Family Food Blog)

Wonderful news!

Good afternoon everyone!

We had some good news come our way on this passed Wednesday or Thursday.  Boogie Down Bronx miraculously started to feel like his old self, and the swelling in his face and his eye subsided almost completely!  The appointment we had to put him down was for Friday at 5pm, we ended up cancelling because there was no way I could put down my boy when he was feeling so much better. So all this drama was absolutely both the low point and the high point of this passed week.

So Kevin & I are happy to report our boy is still alive & kickin' ...as I find myself saying a lot lately... Gotta take it one day at a time.

There is something else we're excited about.  One more work week before we leave for Florida!  We are heading out on Saturday 9/22, very early in the morning.  I think our flight is around 6am.  We have so many people to see it's crazy!  We rented a great big house with a pool and cannot wait to get there and 'play house' and enjoy our spacious 4 bedroom rental.  Since we will likely never own a big house, this is our chance to really relish in having a big kitchen, a gorgeous new ensuite bathroom with jacuzzi tub, a lanai with a gorgeous, large inground pool, all in a perfectly landscaped development in Clermont.  To say we are excited is actually a total understatement. :)  Kevin is mostly excited about seeing his best friends, Scott & Autumn who live in Leesburg, FL.  We plan to spend a day or two with them, so that will be a lot of fun.

Tuesday 9/25 is our 2 year anniversary.  We plan to just enjoy eachother's company, go swimming and then go out for a yummy dinner that night. No doubt there will be an entry made to our food blog which you'll be able to see here in case you're interested :)

There is something else I wanted to mention, but it's a little premature and I'm not really ready to say anything about it, but Monday I have an appt. that might lead to some good news. So wish me luck, even if you don't know what it's about :P

Welp, today has been a gorgeous September day. I truly hope everyone was out and about in the sunshine, I know I was!  Have a great rest of your weekend and check back often for updates!

xoxo,
kittygirl

The Beginning of the End.

Hello & Welcome to my blog!

 I'll be writing mostly about the misadventures of my life with my husband and our 4 cats.  As you may or may not know, I'm totally obsessed with my cats and I take photos of them almost every single day.  Yes, totally obsessed!  I may also be putting up recipes, doing reviews on books or movies, and sharing tons of memories.

For my first entry, I wanted to actually review a book I finished 2 days ago - Jackson Galaxy's 'Cat Daddy'.  If you have never seen the show MY CAT FROM HELL on Animal Planet, you should get to it! It's great. Jackson has an amazing way of helping people and cats who are at their whits end.

This beautiful & inspirational memoir by Jackson Galaxy about his life came at a very difficult time in my own life. My husband & I have 4 gorgeous adopted cats, ranging from just a year old to 3 and a half years.  Our young, 2 yr old boy 'Boogie Down Bronx' or Boogie for short, was diagnosed in early May 2012 with a destructive cancer called Ameloblastoma. He had surgery to remove the rapidly growing mass only to find out that it actually broke part of his facial bone! Several teeth and part of his gum had to be removed along with the mass. The cancer is pretty rare in felines, more common in canines. Either way, a terrible disease. Tests, x-rays, surgery and several hundred dollars later, we had 2 opinions, the final from an veterinary oncologist who said the prognosis wasn't good. He told us we probably had 6 or 8 months time to say goodbye to our beloved boy.

This brings me to the main reason for reviewing this great read. Toward the end of Jackson's book you find out about the last few days of 'Benny', one of Jackson's house cats who has a lot of different mental and physical issues. At one point, Jackson is so distraught and upset with himself for not being able to 'figure out' Benny's problems that he finally asks the cat to just give him a sign when he has had enough and when Jackson should let him go. The sign comes in a middle-of-the-night head butt, something Benny has never done before. Jackson says he just knew right then that this was it.  It was time.

Boogie has been very restless and head butting me a lot in the night over the course of the last 3-4 weeks. I just assumed he was hungry (at almost 15 lbs, my big boy is ALWAYS wanting more food). But after a serious head butting session Monday night, I reached up to touch his face and pet him and my hand came away wet. I took him into the bathroom to inspect his face and found his eye was watering...a lot!  I peered into it and could see massive swelling on that whole left side of his face, where the cancer has been slowly growing back. It looks like it has spread to his eye which is something our local vet was thankful it hadn't done 4.5 months before. But it looks like the cancer has indeed spread and we have an appt. to have Boogie euthanized this Friday. I cant put him through anymore traumatic, long car rides to strange vets, to be poked, prodded, cut on.. he deserves the best and that is to be comfortable and to finally rest in peace. I finished Jackson's book Monday night, just a few hours before I found Boogie's eye issue.  I have never been a big believer in signs. But Jackson's book was so touching and honest, I just knew he was right.  It's might be a sign that I have to let Boogie go, like Jackson had to let Benny go.

I have a hard time making people understand where I'm coming from when I say how devastated I am that I am about to lose one of my babies.  Kevin & I don't have children.  Who knows if we ever will. But we do have these 4 tiny creatures living with us who need & depend on us. We give them nourishment, clean up after them, take them to the doctor, give them lots of love, watch them learn to do things and grow up.  Isn't that the very epitome of what having a child is like?  Kevin & I both feel like we are losing part of our hearts, and I just wish that those who cannot or are just not willing to understand, would get that look off their faces long enough to let us grieve.

Was all the head butting and restlessness Boogie's way of telling us that he was ready? Maybe. But I know it's whats best and I thank Jackson from the bottom of my heart for sharing his amazing story and helping us see beyond our own sadness in order to let our little boy go when the time is right.

xoxo,
kittygirl