Happy New Year!

The past couple of weeks have been a big bad blur. It started with birthdays and my walking pneumonia and flew into Christmas. Although still not feeling well, I headed to my parents for Christmas on Christmas Eve. Princess P stayed behind because of bad weather (torential downpours) and I was heading back to work on the 26th. When I came home, she had shown her displeasure at being left behind by puking from one end of the apartment to the other. I headed back to my parents on saturday night. When I came home on the 28th, I was greeted with more puke.

I noticed the food bowl had barely been touched but this is not abnormal, she goes dormant when left alone. Monday night she barely ate, vomited after drinking some water, and I swore the litter box had not been touched. I thought P was on a hunger strike, punishing me. Testing her, I brought wet food on the way home tuesday night. She inhaled the food and I thought I had caught her at her game. But then an hour later, P was crying and vomiting from her toes. Tomorrow, I thought, we go to see Dr Allie. At 1:30 in the morning, I awoke to the sounds of her vomiting, yet again and again. I was terrified and off to the emergency vet we went.

The final vote is she has a virus. They gave her some intravenous fluids and sent her home at 6 am. We have spent the afternoon on the couch, asleep. P has eaten twice and kept the food down. We are taking it slow and easy but are ready to head back to the vet should we need to.

The ex was supposed to come out tonight for New Years. I kiboshed that. I was prepared to spend New Years eve with the cat and my couch... At 5pm, my friend Jenn called. She was at the supermarket and had deserts if I could provide dinner. We had chinese food, carrot cake, chocolate cake, and cheese cake. It is 11pm, Jenn is headed home and I am headed to bed with P in tow. It was my type of New Year's eve- good conversation in confortable clothes with good food...

Happy New Year's, all my blogger friends. Here's hoping it is a year of dreams achieved, good health, and the making of wonderful memories :)

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone in blogger land!

This is one of my favorite Christmas Cards. I sent it out several years ago and have yet to find one I like as much. The painting is by William Beard, titled simply Santa Claus, and can be found at The Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design.

Dear Santa

This year I have a simple request. No diamonds or pearls, no catnip or tuna. Simply this-

I have been sick, now going on three weeks. It started with a nice case of sinusitis, traveled to my chest and bronchitis, and NOW it has progressed to walking pneumonia. I feel like garbage. So much so, that I have not put up my Christmas tree and am pretty sure it won't get done in the next three days.

So Santa Baby- I would like a magic pill to knock this bug on its rear so that I may enjoy Christmas with the loved ones I hold so dear!

One sick little elf...

So my friend, Happy Wife Happy Life, over at http://mommimusings.blogspot.com has tagged me to do the meme, 7 random tidbits about yourself. Here are the rules, do the meme and tag 4 others to do the same.

So without further ado, here are 7 fascinating and random tidbits about me...

1. I sleep in either the middle or left side of the bed. I cannot sleep on the right side of the bed, no matter how hard the cat tries to push me to the right.

2. Although I am not always watching it, the tv is always on in my house. Living alone can be lonely and creepy at times. The tv provides background noise.

3. I have many guilty pleasure tv show: Dirty $exy Money, Real Hou$ewives, Grey$ anatomy, Say Yes to the Dre$$...

4. My friend Jenn and I speak on the phone every night, often watching the aforementioned guilty pleasures together, on the phone.

5. I drink coffee in the morning on my way into work. I would kill a small man for that coffee most mornings.

6. My worst nightmare is recurring from childhood. I dream that a Vampire is levitating above the bed, only inches from me. I always wake up with my heart pounding and usually cannot go back to sleep.

7. I love stovetop stuffing but the stuffing on thanksgiving grosses me out. Something about being cooked inside the bird skeeves me out.

I tag whomever would like to play along...

Happy Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving in our house is always a hectic experience with preparations that we all bitch about and then dinner is served and we gather around the table and a sense of peace ensues. The conversations fly around the table with three or four going on at the same time. Laughter rumbles around and eventually the dinner ends and those who must go home leave and the rest lapse into a slow coma...

The fact is that I would not trade this for the world. If and when I marry, I hope that my beloved will be willing to accomadate my need to be with my family on these days. There is nothing that I would rather do on these holidays.

Here is hoping that all my bloggie friends have had a wonderful Thanksgiving spent with loved ones.

How could it possibly be 16 years ago, today,

that my grandmother died?

Because in my mind, she is still waiting in her warm, cheerful kitchen, with a huge hug. I see her in the kitchen window watching us come in the gate and meeting us at the front door. Of course, her mountain of a dog, Saki, is still in the yard running to meet us.

I miss this graceful, classy, wonderful woman every day. And as I write this, I am crying in my office... I got dressed this morning, knowing what today was the anniversary was. I can still see my mother coming in the front door to tell us she was gone. I put on the Winnie the Pooh necklace she gave me and hoped it would bring me a good day. It is a cold, snowy day. No snow accumulating but it is the biting cold that reminds me of Christmas at her house. Appropriate, don't you think?

Anyway, it seems like yesterday that she was with us and we all miss her, terribly. So much so, it seems, that I am having a hard time articulating it.

The Flat Tire Was a Sign

The flat tire on monday morning was just an indication of the rest of the week. It is only wednesday and I am already exhausted. The life of the Nurse Specialist in Critical Care and Pulmonary Medicine can be rather depressing at times.

In the past three days, I have informed 3 families that their loved ones had less than 6 months to live. Two of those families will probably not even get to spend Christmas with their loved ones.

I love my job and find it largely rewarding, just not this week...