RIP Tipper 1997-2011

I took Tipper to the vet today and made the final decision to have him put down. He was severely dehydrated and according to the blood work, he had kidney and liver problems. I stayed with him until the end; petting him so he (me) would feel safe. I watched the vet euthanize him, it was peaceful and yes I did cry. It was hard and I felt guilty but I know he's in a better place. I brought him home in a little casket shaped box and Joe and I will bury him tomorrow alongside all our other beloved dogs.

Animal Update

Well it looks like Sunny will live for a few more days. Her antibiotics and steroids made the swelling go down virtually overnight. She is eating, pooping, and peeing like she is supposed to and the vet said as long as she was acting normal she was okay. However, that said, I think the cat is slipping by the day. I am having a "do not resusitate" (sp??) attitude where the cat is concerned. Monday, he threw up all day and kept acting like he needed to take a dump but had no action. He hasn't eaten for several days, is staying out of sight under the china cabinet only coming out to pee on my rug and walk into the kitchen where he lays on top of the water bowl for about an hour, occasionally taking a sip, then goes back into hiding. It's sad, but he has held us captive for 15 years and I'm ready for him to go. I'm letting nature takes its course; he really hasn't contributed to our household very much - occasionally killing a mouse, but otherwise ruining every square inch of carpet he could get to. He is a sweet cat, but has always been pretty lethargic; never having been a playful cat at all. I know this probably sounds awful to most of you, don't hate me, but as I said before, I'm ready for the cat to go - I probably won't even cry a little.

Sunny's Prognosis

Unfortunately, I did not get good news today when I took Sunny, our golden retriever, in to the doctor. Sunny has a cancerous tumor that is growing large quite quickly and is too large to remove. As soon as her quality of life starts to slip, it was suggested that we have her put down. I was given some antibiotics and some steroids to give her for about the next 4-5 days to ease the swelling and possibly the growth. Long enough to let the family get home from the ski trip so we can all say goodbye. Sad day. I've cried off and on all day, but as I told Joe on the phone toda, I am okay, it's just my way of dealing with it for now. Sunny can barely get up and down as it is, she has arthritis and she is fat (112 pounds at the doctor's office today). If Oklahoma's heat didn't kill her, something else would. We knew that she would probably be the one we would have to someday make the decision on; just thought it would be a couple of more years. All our other dogs died when they were 15; Sunny is 10. I guess size does factor in there somewhere.

December Images

All these pictures were stored on my iPhone from this past month. I finally got to them!! If you live in Norman, this is a common sight; however, it can scare the pants off of you and give you nightmares a la Hitchcock's The Birds. This picture doesn't do justice to all the birds that are actually in this busy intersection by our mall. If you'll look along the bottom telephone line it seems to look darker than the others. That's because of all the birds lined up waiting to crap on your car. Birds are on the traffic light pole. They are all over the ground on both sides of the street and are usually hanging out on top of the mall too. The mall had to get rid of most of the trees around the parking lot because of the mess the birds leave behind. The city has tried firecrackers in the trees etc. but the birds like hanging out at the mall (they must be teenage birds). It freaks Kaitlyn out whenever we go to the mall.Joe and I had a date last Saturday night and went to dinner in Bricktown, then went to the OU vs. Houston basketball game for the All College Classic. This is a blurry picture I took in Joe's office to show the "shrine" he has to the girls. I lost count after about 30 pictures.... He loves his daughters. I think there is one or two of me in there somewhere.

The little stacking dolls were given to him (actually he sent money with his employee whenever she went home) by one of the ladies that used to work for him. She was Russian and the dolls are from Russia. There are 3 sets, one for me, Kristen and Kaitlyn.

Here's Joe-boy hard at work answering e-mails before we walked over to Bricktown to eat dinner.

I took a picture of part of the OKC downtown skyline while we were walking to dinner.

Here's the new Devon Energy tower they are building. It's higher than anything in OKC. The highest tower we had before 2011 - 34 floors. When this is completed, it's 50 floors, I believe. We can see it from Norman and we're 20 miles away.

This is a shot looking down the canal in Bricktown. Some of you may remember when we went and ate at Toby Keith's restaurant we looked at the water taxis on the canal (but down on the other end). Lots of restaurants and clubs back up to the "river walk."

Since Joe is an elite member of the Oklahoma All-Sports Association we got center court seats, 4 rows up. There weren't a lot of people there (this picture was before the game started actually) but I loved our seats.

Joe, Kaitlyn and Michael left last Sunday to go to Colorado skiing for the week. I put Kristen on a plane Wednesday night to join them. Joe took this picture of Michael and Kaitlyn and sent it to me in a text but I was FORBIDDEN to put it on Facebook. I flew it up there for about 5 seconds and Kaitlyn caught me and made me take it off. She was mad because she doesn't have any makeup on. Boo hoo! I talk to Joe almost every night and they are all having a blast in the COLD and SNOW. As you can see in the background, even at Winter Park, CO they still don't have a lot of snow. I like my 45 degree weather where I am, thank you very much.

I woke up yesterday and noticed that Sunny looked a little swollen. She's had a small mass (about the size of a walnut) around her collar over the last couple of weeks that looked like it had started to swell. When I went to pet her I noticed that her whole neck seemed to be swollen so I called the vet and set up an appointment for today since I'm off work. Today, it's worse, her face is mis-shapen.

She's too big for me to physically pick up and put her in my car (she weighs close to 100 lbs), so Lindsey (Kaitlyns BFF from high school) and her twin sisters are coming over about 11:30 this morning to help me load her in the car. I guess I'll have to have the vet help me load and unload later. Will let you know what it is. Poor sweet Sunny, all she wants to be is loved...

New Financial Journeys Client Birthday Card

It's time for our new 2012 company birthday card. This one was taken in Sweets & Spurs in Norman. The owner sells cowboy boots (for ladies) and cupcakes/mini pies. Our caption on the birthday card will say "Have a boot-scootin' birthday! Jann and Cindy"

I'm Obsessed with The Twilight Saga

A couple of weeks ago (before my birthday) I happened to catch the movie Twilight on television. I was instantly hooked. I have never liked books about vampires. That's why I quit reading Stephen King back in the 70's. Salem's Lot made me so upset I never read another one of Stephen King's books again. I guess what I liked about Twilight was the age of the characters (teens) and the romance in the book. (FYI, I also quit reading romance novels a long time ago). It brought back strong memories for me when I was about the age of the characters in the book.

Anyway, I decided I would like to read the books in the saga so I found them on Amazon, fortunately for me in a total package (all 4 books). I asked for them for my birthday and Kristen and Kaitlyn gave me an Amazon gift card so I could purchase them for my Kindle. I REALLY like my Kindle and I like that Kindle has an app that I can put on my iPad2 and my iPhone. So literatally I can pick up where I left off wherever I am. I keep my Kindle in my bedroom, my iPad2 on my love seat and my iPhone in my purse with me at all times. I read the first 2 books non-stop last weekend. It helped that Joe was gone all weekend hunting, Kristen was in New York, and Kaitlyn was... wherever Michael was. So I read uninterrupted as I haven't read since before the girls were born. It was heaven. I couldn't put the book down. I don't think I moved off the couch ALL WEEKEND LONG!

During this past week, I've completed the 3rd book and am a little more than half-way through the 4th book. Tonight while Joe is working the Transiberian Orchestra concert down at the Chesapeake Energy Arena (recently renamed from The OKC Ford Center) I will be watching my own little marathon of Twilight movies. I rented the 2nd and 3rd ones this morning from Hastings. Then when the 4th one (and hopefully it will) comes to the dollar movie, I'll go see that. Or wait to rent it on DVD. I don't know what I'll do when I'm through reading and watching the movies. I guess I'll have to sew something.