Happy Thanksgiving!

Fluffy and Panini bird watching - Molly's out in the background!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I certainly have a lot to be thankful for. I took Panini to the vet yesterday because she'd been sick since the weekend. I had taken her for her shots on Friday, and to get a culture of this strange lump she has on her neck. She got sick the next day so I figured it was a reaction to her shots or something with the lump, since it had been punctured.

Well, the lump turned out to be a localized infection and not cancer or anything (thank goodness!) and seems to be going away. But she was still sick, and getting sicker. She hadn't eaten in 2 days and we were getting really worried. Yesterday she just seemed in pain, so I called up the vet and whisked her in. Well, it turns out she wasn't sick - she was injured. She had eaten one of my mom's sewing needles, and it lodged in the back of her mouth, several inches down into her neck! :( I'm still cringing at the thought - my poor kitty!!

Mom keeps her sewing supplies on a high shelf, out of the cats' reach, but she must have sneaked one away while Mom was sewing. It still had the thread attached. She needed emergency surgery to get it out, and after a little resting, we took her home. She immediately chowed down a whole can of food upon her return, and I hadn't seen her so active and animated since we first brought her home from the shelter!

I'm glad that trauma is over and she's feeling a lot better now. Now we need to work on beefing her up, as she's almost 5 months old and only 3.5 lbs - look how skinny she is! She's always been half the size of her sister (who got adopted the other day, by the way!), but her multiple illnesses have just set her back. She'll have a special serving of turkey set aside for her today :)

And on the subject of cats, today is Murphy's 7 year anniversary with us!

Thanksgiving 2003, he followed the neighbors home while they were walking after their meal. They called us up and asked if we were missing a cat - we weren't, but because they're not cat people, they dropped him off with us. We posted "found cat" signs, and several people came to see him, but no one claimed him. He's still with us after all these years!

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween! It's been a quiet weekend, I didn't go to any wild costume parties but my BFF came over yesterday and we made brownies and watched the finale of Project Runway, and this afternoon I treated her to a mani-pedi for her birthday :)

I'm sitting here by the fire with Panini and my laptop, waiting for trick or treaters, although so far we've only had 3 groups (all neighbors) and I doubt we'll have many more!

Panini is feeling much better today, although she still doesn't do much but sleep, and has the shivers from time to time, she's been eating when we feed her and is more responsive. Hopefully she'll be back to her old self in a few days! (This picture was taken a week ago, before she got sick.)

Free fun at the mall!

Everything in this photo was free!

I went to the mall yesterday for a nice dose of freebies and fun! My mom and I are members of a group called "Spirit of Women" - a nationwide network of hospitals that host events to spread awareness of women's health. It's a great program and their events are always a blast!

Because October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, they were hosting an event at the mall followed by a members-only "Girls' Night Out" afterward. The general event provided information and free blood pressure, cholesterol, and other screenings - as well as some neat little freebies. The heart-shaped clip, lip balm, hand sanitizer, and mini-first aid kit in the photo are all from there.

At 4:00 they closed the public event and opened up the real fun! They also allowed walk-ins for those who wanted to become a member (which is free!) on the spot, so really anyone could participate. At the entrance we were given lovely pink pashmina scarves, which was pretty amazing considering the price they usually go for! Those over 21 were given a pink ribbon shaped "silly band" as an identifier since wine was being served.

We received raffle tickets, which we could place in a basket of choice for a selection of gifts. There were a variety of info booths and freebies like hand cream and the Healthy Life magazine, which is a Hearst publication. There were several speakers, including doctors, and a demonstration from a fitness center called Stiletto Strength - they actually work out in their stilettos!

I can barely walk in stilettos, let alone work out in them! Way to go, ladies!

 
The highlight of the event was all the free food! There were gourmet grilled veggie wraps and butternut squash and apple soup being prepared by chefs right there. There was a buffet of heart-healthy foods like apple cider, veggie sticks, fruit, nuts, turkey sandwiches, and mounds of cheese. (Is cheese really heart-healthy though? Who cares - I love cheese!) A local vineyard was sampling their wines, and fancy dark chocolate truffles were passed around.

The Picture People portrait studio was offering free photographs, so we had a mini photo shoot and received a free 8 x 10 print (which surprisingly turned out nice and is already framed on the wall!). They also had these little pocket things that fold out with a mirror and a comb - so perfect to carry in your purse!

They also had various tie-ins with other stores in the mall - a scratch-off coupon for JC Penney's, a coupon for a charity event at Macy's in a few weeks, a postcard for a free trial size mineral foundation at Bare Escentuals (which I definitely claimed!), and one for your choice of skincare/makeup demos or freebies at Estee Lauder (which I'll be doing next time!)

All-in-all, it was a great event for a great cause, and I'm happy with my load of freebies and dinner :)

Other things in the photo were from elsewhere in the mall - a free magazine at H&M, body lotion trial size from Bath & Body Works (printable coupon I mentioned in previous post), and samples of Fekkai hair products I received a coupon for the last time I made a purchase at B&BW.

Whew!

It's been a long week! I received my replacement computer parts but I haven't had any time to put it back together. On top of working every day (and working after work too) it's been crazy! We also were hit with the tropical storm the past two days and it's been a rainy, windy mess. We lost power this morning when the lines were knocked down, so it was no fun getting ready for work in the dark with no running water!

Thank god it's the weekend! It's probably going to be a busy one too, but I hope to get back to my regular updates again soon!

Long weekend :)

Happy Tuesday! I hope everyone had a nice long weekend! I spent most of my weekend like this:

Okay, not really, because I am not a cute fluffy kitten with a spotty belly. Nor did I sleep as much as I would have liked, although it was more than I get on your average weekday. But I did get to relax, do some shopping, hit up a library book sale, and do a lot of reading.

I love library book sales, mostly because of the last day "stuff a bag" which is common, around here at least. On the last day of the sale, you're given a large shopping bag and you can fill it up with as many books as it can hold for a flat price (usually $5, sometimes as low as $3 or even free!)

Because of the many book sales I've attended since the start of summer (which would be four, if I'm not forgetting one), my bookshelves look like this:

And that's only one of three shelves! This time around, my mom and I got over 100 books for $10! Although they weren't all novels, in fact around 70 of them were children's picture books. We use them for crafting - making ATCs, greeting cards, envelopes, or whatever else we might find use for. Some of them are so cute, especially the retro ones. I found a bunch of inspirational mini-books from the 1960's and I just love the little drawings! I definitely won't be cutting some of them up!

Seriously, how cute is that!?