Yes, I am still alive ...

Greetings and many blessings to you, my dear friends! My deepest apologies for not posting here on my blog for a couple of months. I will not try to make any excuses except for the fact that life has been very challenging as of late.

That being said, I will skip the "challenges" and give you all an update as best I can. 

We took Bennie to our vet to get her tested for feluek, FIV, and other cat diseases. Well, first of all, HE turned out to be a SHE; however, we still kept the name "Bennie" as in the movie, "Bennie and Joon" which btw is her middle name - Bennie Joon. After our vet's approval, we began acclimating her to becoming an inside kitty and introducing her to our other seven fur babies ...

She is coming along rather nicely ...

She is so very sweet and so far, the other cats are accepting her with grace. After all, she is an exceptional little girl with her own disabilities who needs to be loved - and that she is!

Moving on, last weekend my seester Aurora Skye and I celebrated her yearly birthday. Not an easy task given the fact that I am forced to work every damned Saturday on end, but that is an entirely different issue at the moment. However, fortunately we found a bit of time to get together ...

Chef Jesenia's son, Luis who is also a licensed Chef, baked her birthday cake ... Blueberry Lemon with Cream Cheese Frosting ... YUMMY! ...

Ginger and Charlie are wishing everyone a wonderful week and A Blessed Summer Solstice! ... 🐈

My Birthday week in review ...

Greetings all! Yesterday was my 62nd birthday, but I celebrated it this past weekend with my seester. However, before I get into my birthday weekend I just wanted to post an update on our Charlie. I took him into our vet after noticing a skin irritation on his shoulder blade. It looked much like feline dermatitis. So after having him checked, Dr. Hoy did indeed confirm that he has dermatitis so she gave him a shot of convenia (an antibiotic which lasts approximately two weeks) and a topical dose of Neosporin twice a day. I asked them to run blood work on him since we haven't had that done in a year since we took him in from outside. 

UNFORTUNATELY, we received a call the very next day informing us that he was diagnosed with kidney disease! We were devastated! He is currently on a special RX kidney food diet in hopes we can prolong his life. Now, we already lost TWO cats who have passed away from kidney disease and IT IS NOT PRETTY! In fact, it is utterly heartbreaking! We are doing everything we possibly can for him. :( 

Okay, now that I have told you all about the BAD NEWS, I will move on to the rest of the weekend. 

My seester Aurora Skye treated me to a wonderful birthday lunch at Ganly's Pub and gave me a really COOL set of earrings and a beautitful card ...

We also went shopping where I found these neat little items - a pen with amethyst gemstones and a pava shell bracelet ...

We also stopped off at our local Yankee Candle Store to check out the new Spring items ...

Spring/Ostara Luma Lid.

My co-workers were so kind and surprised me with these cards and gifts! ...

From hubby ...

From my fur babies ... lol!

And from my Twin Soul (sister) Rhiannon and her son ...

And, Blessed Mother's Memorial Day 💖💔💖💔💖

Another Christmas season come and gone

Greetings, all! I hope you had a very blessed day! With my side of the family no longer with us, my hubby and I spent the day with my MIL and had a holiday dinner as per usual. We cooked a ham, seasoned potatoes, and had corn as a side dish. I think about my parents every single day of my life, so today I decided the only way I could honor them was to wear a cameo pendant locket with their pictures inside, keeping them close to my heart ...

Some pics from my MIL's house ...

My hubby surprised me with these special gifts ...

A mermaid shower mat to go with our nautical themed bathroom and a pretty pair of mermaid earrings ...

And, the kitties got a little treat "Thanks!" to my hubby's cousin and her family ... 💓

A couple of pics of our fur babies before we left for the day ...

Weekend happenings

Such is the case with my "seester" Aurora Skye. She was once technically my sister-in-law as she was at one time married to my husband's brother; however, that never mattered because from the very first time I met her we had a connection. Family came second after that. She and I will always have a close relationship even though we are no longer legally in-laws. 

Yesterday, we finally had a chance to spend some time together before the holidays and also exchange our gifts to one another ...

She gave me a wonderful gift bag of goodies! Among them were this cat book marker ...

This really cool cat bag ...

An awesome Yankee Candle which smelled GREAT! ...

Inside the cat bag, were two essential oils to help me with much I am currently going through at the moment ...

We did a little shopping and I found this cute little Hello Kitty Ceramic Christmas Tree to add to my holiday decorations this year ...

We also stopped off at Murdough's Christmas Barn and I bought these really cool items ...

These two Jim Shore treasures - the purrfect pumpkin and Peter Cotton Tail ...