And now, back to reality ...

Greetings, friends. I hope all is well with everyone. It has been a while since I last posted. There are a couple of reasons for that. I have been inundated, and mean inundated, with nothing but challenging problems! My mom is not doing well - she can not go home because she is unable to get up and down by herself so she can not live alone and she can not live with me and my husband because we work far too much - it would be a safety issue for sure. Her insurance company only gave her three weeks for recovery when the surgery requires eight weeks. She is not eligible for government assistance because her income/assets have to be UNDER $8,000 in order get "help". So I am trying to get an extension and I am also trying to get FMLA approval at work in order to have the time to deal with all of this crap. I am literally losing my mind! My mother is a very difficult person to deal with as it is and that is not helping things at all. She may need to sell her house in order to live and she refuses to face any type of REALITY. And I mean NONE what ... so ... ever.

And, if that isn't bad enough, yesterday we found out that our cat Teddy has roundworms so we are trying to treat all six house cats because they use the same litterboxes and are also infected now. You can not buy roundworm meds at the pet store - only tapeworm. So, while looking around in Petsmart yesterday, there was a cat rescue trying to get some adult cats adopted and we were telling them our problem with Teddy and the roundworms. They said to go to The Tractor Supply Store (they buy their worm meds there all the time) because they have meds for farm animals that, according to VCA Animal Hospital, are safe for dogs and cats as well as long as you follow the dosage directions according the animal's weight. My husband looked into it online and said that it is supposedly safe. We have absolutely no time (or money) right now with all of the BS that is going on with my mom and her problems to make appointments for all six cats at our vet. We will try this first and if we have to we will take Teddy to our vet first. I have already disinfected all of their litterboxes and Teddy is being quarantined in the large dog cage in the cat's room. We have a digital scale at home so we used that like our vet always tells us to do.

For Sure!!

Fun Friday

Happy Friday all. I just wanted to share a couple of pics from my goddaughter, Kylianna's, High School prom. WHERE has the time gone????? 

From that sweet little girl to ...

This grown up beautiful young woman - both inside and out ...

A few 'throwback' pics throughout the years ...

💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗

My Mother's Day Story ...

For us, this was not our usual Mother's Day celebration. It all began when I received a phone message last Saturday morning from my mother, who was upset, informing me that she was in the emergency and they were getting her prepped for surgery! Okay, so what happened now? She never explained WHY she was there or anything, only that she was there! After a call to the hospital I was told that she fell on her other hip (she fractured her left hip a few years back). Long story short, she spent a day in Reading Hospital then they shuttled her over to their rehab center for a couple of more days, now she is currently trying to rehab at a facility called, "Mifflin Center"...

After having several serious discussions with her Case Worker, Alisha, my mom has a very long road ahead of her and due to a lot of other medical issues it is uncertain at this time when or IF she will ever be able to get released to go back home again. Time will tell.

That being said, yesterday I ordered a Mother's Day bouquet of flowers from our local Royer's Floral Shop to be delivered to her at Mifflin Center. In order to not confuse things and in an attempt to not have our order screwed up by mistake, I did not order two bouquets (one for my mom and one for my MIL), I only ordered ONE and we were going to order my MIL's today (Sunday). 

My mom called me, understandably confused, and said that she received TWO bouquets from my husband and I! Oddly enough, even though I did not order two, two got delivered and it ended up working out in the end anyhow ...

After visiting with my mom today, we stopped off at my MIL's house to deliver her the other bouquet my mom received ...

A pretty pic of my mom's blooming bushes ...

A little nightcap at the Sinking Spring VFW ...

Have a good week everyone!

Happy Mother's Day

 To all the mom's living or in Heaven, human or fur baby  - Have a Blessed Mother's Day!

Small world ...

I have posted previously about my personal trainer, Debbie,  who took me under her wing and year ago and cared enough about me to go out of her way to see "outside of the box" in order for me to be able to see what I was doing and perform my job well - Hell, to perform it at ALL! Not only that, she exhibited the patience I needed to not give up - and she never gave up on me! Because of these things, I can NOT thank her enough!! ...

Coincidently enough, I recently found out that she had also once lived in the very same third floor apartment that I had sometime after I moved out of Shillington, PA . Some old pics of the place ... (1991-1998)

She is not just my personal trainer, but one of the few co-workers who communicate with me on a daily basis during work hours (our lockers are also side by side). Her boyfriend happens to work at Pepperidge Farm and he and his co-workers are allowed to take home the cookies which do not make the grade and will not be sold in stores. She brings in HUGE bags (at my request) of Milano cookies - YUMMY GOOD! This week, she threw in a small bag of Chessmen for my husband. VERY thoughtful of her!  MANY THANKS, DEB!!

Have a great week everyone!!

Weekend This and That

Happy Saturday everyone! I have an update on my claim against the bogus ETSY seller, Ms. Lili Heide of BareNaturALLS. After a nightmare of a fight in order to get my money back from this crook, I FINALLY received an email just this morning from Pay Pal informing me that they decided in MY favor and I will indeed get my refund! ... THANK YOU, Pay Pal for doing the right thing!

I fought HARD for weeks. Why? Because for me it was not all about the money. For me, it was more about the principal. These bogus, unethical people make my blood boil! After a bit of digging around on her ETSY site reading through the other comments, my sister Aurora Skye saw a few other customers whom Ms. Heide pulled the very same BS with and they also were forced to open up a claim against her - and won! GOOD FOR THEM! BRAVO!!! 😃

Moving on, this past week we had an uninvited guest crawling around on our bathroom sink wall - a disgusting centipede! ...

Now, let me say that growing up in Berks County, PA we have always been plagued with these horrid things we more commonly call thousand-leggers! They love the damp and cold environment so they usually reside in either the basement or the attic during the winter months. I know they help control the infestation of other insects such as spiders, but I have never gotten used to the sight of them even after all of these years. They are venomous; however, they are usually only deadly to other insects as they do not carry enough venom to actually harm a human - unless of course you happen to be allergic to it. It is worth mentioning that they CAN be harmful to a pet - dog, cat, etc. -if they are ingested! 

Therefore, I looked up a natural way to kill them without endangering our fur babies:

Natural Ways to Get Rid of Centipedes:

Centipedes might not be desirable houseguests, but you don’t have to resort to harsh extermination treatments to get rid of them. Here are some natural ways to get rid of the centipede convention in your home:

Run a dehumidifier. Removing the moisture from your home will make it less attractive to centipedes.

Seal up cracks. Examine your foundation, as well as openings around doors and windows. Add more caulk or sealant as necessary to keep insects and other pests from entering.

Spray vinegar. White vinegar is often used in other household applications, so it’s not toxic. Spray it on the bugs—you don’t have to dilute the vinegar in water—to kill them.

Spray tea tree or peppermint oil. Mix a bit of either with water and spray around crevices or other places you’ve seen centipedes. While these oils are fine for human consumption, they are toxic to centipedes.

If these natural remedies don’t work, or it seems as though the centipedes are increasing, call an exterminator. There might be another pest problem that is inviting your centipede visitors to overstay their welcome.

Fun Friday!

Blessed Beltane, Happy May Day (and other things) ...

Beltane Blessings, all! Welcome May!!

As you can see, the boys are so excited today ...

Sir Leo, Butterscotch, and Teddy snuggling up together in their favorite spot on the couch.

Last Wednesday, for some unknown reason, we were given these nice baseball caps at work ...

And last, but not least, allow me to introduce you all to our newest "home boy" outside kitty, "Charlie". As you can tell, Chester gets along with him just fine as they eat together side by side in the garage ...

And so, it would appear that Chester now has a buddy!