Hello, friends.

Hello, friends. I hope you all had a lovely Thanksgiving and weekend. As for us, there is a lot to say.

I'm not big on holidays as it is, though Thanksgiving is one of my favorites (not because of what it celebrates [horrible things were done to the Natives, and I believe in being thankful every day], but I do like it because I don't cook yet I still get to eat a lot.) This year had a couple of extra layers of stress. Thanksgiving would have been Shaun's mom's birthday had she not passed away earlier this year, so it was rough on a few levels. Thankfully, we got through the day.

Friday was my birthday, and that is the day we started doing some house repairs because dad was free. You know you're officially an adult when replacing a floor is a wonderful gift. LOL It took 3 days; we just finished up today. The contents of Shadow's room are strewn about the house (and have been for days) so it's driving me crazy. We're about to go through it all and see what we can purge. Woo.

In other exciting news, we caught a good Black Friday sale on the web and got Kira a bed just like she wanted: black, full-size, and with drawers underneath. 😃 It will be delivered tomorrow. A few weeks ago one of our friends gave us a couple of dressers he no longer needed, so my mom and Kira spray-painted them her favorite color today. We've had her stuff in one of my closets and some of Shadow's drawers, so this will be much better. I'm super excited to get everything re-organized and put away.

In even OTHER exciting news:  Kira got braces on Tuesday. We loved her smile as it was, but she wasn't happy with it - and her opinion is the one that matters. We'd planned to do this before Emma's unexpected hospital bill, but we don't believe in breaking promises to the kids if we can avoid it at all. Thank goodness for Care Credit. We have a year with no interest, so that will help a lot.

Speaking of Emma's bill, I am so thankful to each of you who donated. I have some very generous friends and I will be thanking each of you personally ASAP. There has been so much going on lately with my mental health and with losing Emma and then all of this house stuff that I just haven't been able to keep up. I also need to thank all of you for the birthday wishes, as well as wish a couple of birthday twins a belated Happy Birthday, as well. I hope you all will forgive my behind-ness; maybe this super adorable picture of Kira will help. 😊😍❤️

It's been a rough day.

It's been a rough day. Shadow's bedroom floor has been sagging - we think because of that pipe bursting in the house last spring. His room got the worst of it since it's right next to the bathroom. We thought we got all of the water up, but clearly we did not.  Thankfully, my dad has some time to help me with repairing it this weekend.

He came over bright and early to lead the way since I know very little about carpentry. We ripped the floor up, down to the joists. It was worse than we thought. Shaun stepped through the floor, dad cracked it with his butt, and I straight up fell through. I have some scrapes and bruises and I'm sore, but I guess I'm fine. I'm just thankful that it's being repaired.  Side note:  Congoleum is bomb-ass flooring because it kept us from falling through before we pulled it up. Just sayin'. 

I'm tired. We have more work to do the rest of the weekend. I have a test on Tuesday. Shadow and Kira have a web project coming due that I said I would help them both with. I did rest up most of the week, but I guess it was just so I could power through Thanksgiving and this weekend.

Sharing my sad Emma post one last time (for realsies). Worth a shot, I guess.

Highlight of my day: Baja with the fam and finding $4 in a store parking lot. Happy Birthday to me.

It's my birthday now.

It's my birthday now.

My wish: To have my girl back.

Since I can't have that I'd settle for help with getting this bill paid. We're more than halfway there.

https://www.gofundme.com/f/jpsdq3-emmas-medical-bills

I'm finally starting to feel like I might not have an elephant on my chest...

I'm finally starting to feel like I might not have an elephant on my chest and I'm thankful for that.  My mood has been up and down, but if it will stabilize somewhere in the middle I'll be ok ("ok" meaning that I'm not hiding from the world on my couch or in my bed, and with enough energy to kind of function like a human).

Friday the post man recognized my name and asked if I was the one who runs Happy Tails Lost & Found Pets of Calhoun County.  I felt slightly famous.  LOL  He told me that the group had helped someone he knew, so that made my day.  🙂

As for today, we're doing Kira's nails.  I did the base and they look pretty awesome - if I do say so myself.  She's getting really good at stamping, so she's going to finish them off with that part herself in a little while.  If I can get up the energy I might do mine, too, but they are not in great shape anymore because I've severely neglected them this semester.  🙁

Anyway, I'm finally starting to feel like I'm on the mend.  It's unfortunate that it has taken so long because we have a ton to do this week, but better late than never, I suppose.  I hope you all are doing well.  ❤

Today was my first decent-ish day since I lost my girl.

Today was my first decent-ish day since I lost my girl. I still had to nap when I got home, but I was able to get some things done.

I'm trying not to be too pushy, so I'm gonna share this today because it's payday for most of us and then I'll stop.  It's been a hard time around here and I've gotta stop seeing it.

I am not trying to forget my girl, but I am just not doing well with this constant reminder of what I've lost. It's bad enough that we don't have her here doing things like jumping up and going to bed when we turn the Xbox off at night.

I really appreciate all of the help and support from my friends. I'm hoping that some down-time this coming week will help me recuperate. I love you all. ❤️

I apologize for not being around again. I feel half-dead.

I apologize for not being around again.  I feel half-dead.  Losing Emma was terribly hard and every time I come here I see her beautiful face.  If not in my profile pic, then on the GoFundMe.  I'm just not able to process what we've lost.  I've avoided my personal Instagram since last year when I lost Scooter.  I just can't right now.

I actually made it to both classes today, so that's an improvement over any other day this week.  I was only gone from my house for a few hours, but I have zero energy left and feel that if I don't nap I won't get anything else done today.  Aside from feeling depressed I'm having fatigue from this arthritis flare-up.  I'm just over-all in a bad place.

I still love you all and hope you are doing well.  I do come on here to approve posts and members in Happy Tails, but I've otherwise been avoiding notifications and I apologize for that.  I'm hoping that some down-time will pick me back up soon.  ❤

Sorry for being MIA, friends, but I'm not doing too ok.

Sorry for being MIA, friends, but I'm not doing too ok.  I've been alternating between running around doing stuff (trying to stay occupied), and lying in my bed - literally unable to convince myself to do anything (even tell anyone how bad I'm feeling).  It's really not a good place to be, but even my Celexa couldn't save me from it.  I'm hoping that Thanksgiving week will allow me to recuperate before finals.

I finally got around to checking the GoFundMe that my friend set up and I've gotta say a big, fat "Thank you" to everyone who's donated and shared.  I will get to the personal thanks very soon, but for now I've gotta rest.  I have class early tomorrow and zero energy to get through it.  It's gonna be all I can do to get the animals settled for the night so I can get to bed.

I love and appreciate you all.  ❤