I was up in the middle of the night to the smell of poo - and a bit thinner than normal, so even more annoying to clean up... but still this is a good thing.  Her body is still doing it's job and producing.  Today I called the vet once I thought I could get through it without crying... I did not get  through it without crying.  Because we did bloodwork earlier this year the vet was willing to prescribe a few things without seeing her.

I snagged her three meds after work (an appetite stimulant, an anticonvulsant/neuropathic pain med, and a nsaid).Within a few hours of the appetite stimulant she was ready to eat when I presented a bowl of moist food.  I had put extra water in to try and get more fluids in there.  I did stop her midway and allowed her the rest about 2 hours later -- I didn't want her throwing it up or having other issues after not wanting to eat for a few days.  So far everything has stayed down. Hopefully we can make a productive trip out before bed tonight to avoid any other mess.

As for the pee pad - the cat likes to chew plastic, so that didn't work out so well.  Maybe I'll toss down some of the old dog towels in the most likely to be soiled path.

It isn't a cure, there isn't one, and I have to remind myself of that; but I was so happy to see her eat.

The first two days of Kindergarten are in the books.  She was confident boarding the bus and all went well there.  The good news for me is hat it gets me started with my work day a few minutes earlier than I previously started (without needing to go anywhere which is a bonus).  When she gets home she can sit at the TV or table to decompress while I get a last 20-30 minutes in.  Yes, I am able to end my day a bit earlier too if I am not swamped.

I am on an upswing with MacBids.  I may have reported getting a few deals and a few busted up things in the past. This week's scores included like new vacuums (I threw the my basement one away last week as it smells like it was starting to burn up and the upstairs one is kind of crappy) and a ride on toy for the kiddo.  The ride on came w/o a battery or charger, but we can snag that for 70-80$.  All told $100 for a $300 item seems pretty good to me.  She didn't get a ton for her birthday, so we'll call it a birthday gift.  I REALLY need to get the little kid stuff out of my newly arranged garage now to make room to park her little 4 wheeler.

The other thing to note here is that our Saffy is really not doing well the past few days.  By my count she is coming up on 16 and has been thin/frail with hip/back leg weakness for a while, so this isn't surprising but still far from desired.  She is refusing to eat even with a bowl of moist food, sleeping even more than normal (I had to make her get up around 9am this morning to go outside - but it could be the pain meds she got at bed time last night too), and needing the strap/assistance to make the stairs. I'm worried about her.  It's probably overdue, but I guess I will pull out a pee pad - not that she's been trained to use them, but a gal can hope that she might use it if the need/urge comes, right?

I am feeling productive, so I had to pop on and record the moment.  I started my day by throwing goodies into the slow cooker as we headed out to church.  After I folded laundry with the foster cat, Cupcake, in the room.  She was having a blast running around and being in my room I know she was getting lots of smells from the dogs and Church.  She and Church have had a few interactions that have gone well enough, but she is still not very thrilled about the dogs.

I finished my mowing (front and side - I did the back on Friday) and weed eated, vacuumed, and then we had a delish meal.  The roast was cooked with potatoes, carrots, and banana peppers all from my garden.  At this point I was already proud of my progress by 1ish in the day, so I had mixed up a margarita, but I cut it short so we could make a big lots run.  We also got some ice cream, so I had some extra calories to work off.  I am still trying to keep my calories down and get some weight off and I have knocked out about 7 lbs so far.

I don't know what clicked, but when we came home I got to work in the garage.  I've been here for almost 7 years.  I have swept (and even used the leaf blower) to clear out the dust and cobwebs a few times but it was definitely do for some attention.  Now that I have a rack hanging from the ceiling  I need to reorganize as I move the one set of shelves .A few things landed in the trash, other things got reorganized (or re-discovered), and I lots of tidying took place.  I have a nice healthy pile of things that Avery no longer needs, I just need to clean them up and find someone who wants to give me a few bucks for them.  At this point maybe I need to wait until next summer... but at least they're all piled together now and it is less crowded in on the sides of the car.

Don't ask me what all I did NOT achieve this weekend because the list is long.  My work computer had issues early this past week that were not repairable - I need to get the rest of my data moved and a few things installed on the new system they mailed me as to complete my transition.  It didn't happen.  Now that I spent quality time in the garage I need to do the same in the basement.  Wish me luck and motivation ya'll.  I also could use a bit of luck to manage the evolving schedule.  4 more days.

Feeling old... I know things happen to people of all ages, but it's been one of those weeks where I have heard of numerous friends and acquaintances going through stuff that tends to happen later.  One lost his son, I don't know the details, but my heart hurts about it.  I would guess the son was 30?  Another had a friggin heart attack, and she's only 2 years older than me.

I've been trying earnestly since returning from vacation to get my act together and get some of this extra weight off.  I want to take the news of my friend's heart issue, no pun intended, to heart - as to further encourage me to make the necessary changes in my life.

15 days until school starts!  I can't believe it's the middle of August.

Before our calendar becomes slaves to school, Avery and I headed out on one more vacation -- and we had a blast.  Once again I went several days early and I am finding this is key for me to relax and slow the world down a bit.  It results in me feeling like I was gone way longer than I was.

Towards the end of July we flew to Orlando and traveled down to Cocoa Beach.  We spent 3 nights at Beachside Suites.  I admit, I chose it because it had a lazy river and I knew Avery would enjoy it.  It was also very close to shopping, good food, and the beach, so it worked out perfectly.  For my own notes - Nolan's Irish Pub was so good, and Guinness with black currant syrup is next level delightful.  On our first night we walked to the beach hoping to see an 11pm SpaceX launch, but it was scrubbed.  By some miracle it actually launched on our final evening, we got to see it -- and it was amazing.  It was a falcon heavy launch, and the reusable side boosters returned to the ground - sonic booms and all.  It was so very cool.

I had initially planned to go to the Kennedy Space Center, but Avery wasn't feeling it, so I didn't spend the money for the tickets or transportation to and from.  We'll do that some other time down the road, I am sure we'll be through Port Canaveral again.

From there we headed to get onboard Mariner of the Seas.for a 6 night cruise.  Avery wasn't quite tall enough for the ship water slides, but with all of the other water activities on this trip she didn't even seem to care.  She spent some time in Adventure Ocean, but not a lot.  Mariner is in great condition for her age and it was a very nice trip.  The entertainment was good, we only saw the ice show 2x this trip.

Our trip took us to a new to me port in the Dominican Republic where we stayed in the port area (much like we did on our previous cruise).  It was really nicely done.  We spent some time at the free pool and lazy river, checking out the made beach areas, and snagging a few souvenirs.  Sure shopping inside the port area was a bit pricier, but we did come home with some DR chocolate and cocoa that is amazing.

Next we went to Labadee (private island in Haiti) which was remains a delightful destination.  We managed to snag a covered swing mat near one of the beaches that we used as our home base for a portion of the day.  We also spent some time at the splash pad.

Finally, we went to Cococay (private island in the Bahamas) which also remains amazing.  I miss the old Cococay too, but I do love what they've done with it.  They've built up a lot with the goal of pumping people to spend money, but you can easily do a free day there and have a blast.  We spent time at the giant pool and even more time at the free water play area (pirate ship, slides, and splash pad).

I'm so grateful for my time with my baby before she heads off to school.  I'm extra grateful that we managed to come back without being sick.  Everyone I know that has been on vacation lately is bringing home a bit of covey.  We front loaded vitamin c, d, and zinc (I also took n-ac) and continued our vitamins though the trip.  There were numerous ppl on the fb page for our sailing that reported coming home sick, so my prep was definitely warranted.

Now that we're home it's paperwork and appointments, gathering a bag of schools supplies, and all those things.  My favorite egg tended to the cat and the garden while I was gone.  He also hung up my birthday present (a ceiling hanging storage rack in the garage) and a few new lights that I've purchased to upgrade from the builder-basic fixtures in my dining room and kitchen area.

Tomatoes were delivered to three neighbors since my last garden report multiple times and I still have several bowls full rotating in the kitchen -- that is of sweet 100s.  I have one roma ready to come off and I've pulled a few small "beefsteaks" that were trying to rot before they even ripened.  I pulled another round of banana peppers and a few small bell-like peppers (these too were trying to rot before growing/changing colors).

I plucked the last two beets this afternoon and need to cook them to do one more batch of pickled eggs.  Maybe I should can more of them.  Still no pumpkins forming and the broccoli plants mock me (I'm so disappointed).  I had harvested one bucket full of potatoes before we left.