Friday, January 10, 2025

Five for Friday, Edition #12

1) This was my first full week in the office since December 16-20. It's exhausting to have to work all day! But it's also been rewarding and full of interesting tasks. There have been a number of people inquiring about coming back after having been gone for more than a decade. Those are always fun cases to work on. I'm also working with returning students who have done prior learning and want to get credit for classes they already know the material in and that requires me to do a lot of coordination with lots of different people across campus, so that's been an experience since most faculty are not really checking their email regularly. BUT! I am going to make it through this week somehow. 

Wednesday's work clothes. Wait! Are those your new shoes, you ask? YES, THEY ARE.


If you want a pair of your very own, here they are.

2) Last week I had a trip to Michigan. I spent a day with my mom, I spent a fun afternoon with Maya, and then I went to a funeral. Womp womp. I mean, it was fine. One of my high school friend's father died. I went to the visitation on Thursday night and the funeral on Friday. On Thursday night, I went with three of my other friends out to dinner and then we played board games. On Friday night, I went to one of my friend's cottage on the lake, and then I drove back on Saturday. It was a whirlwind and the snow seemed to follow me at every step. Back here in Wisco, there's no snow. 

Maya is such a good host and if you ever invite yourself over to her house (like I have done TWICE now), she's sure to come up with a delightful agenda to entertain you. We went for a walk (the snow was SO PRETTY), we did some yoga together, and she fed me delicious food. I highly recommend her place. 5/5 stars

I also highly recommend hanging out with my high school friends, but maybe that's just the joy of knowing people for decades. We took a hilarious photo with one of my friends getting hugged on all sides from us, but the look on her face made it seem like we were assaulting her and we kept sending it to everyone we know and posting it on social media like we were sixteen and thirsting for attention. Anyway. That *gesticulates wildly* entire week happened somehow. 

Maya took this photo of me on the MSU campus. In case you can't tell what I'm doing, I'm holding up my hand in the shape of a mitten and pointing to it with the other hand to indicate where we were in the mitten while standing on a map of the Michigan counties. This is a Cool Michigander Thing. 

3) So, the good news is that Zelda's treatment for hyperthyroidism did work. But now we're dealing with something else. She is in pretty bad GI distress. For about a week, she literally threw up everything she ate. Then she got diarrhea AND threw up everything she ate. Now she can hold food down, but her litterbox is revolting. She's on her second course of antibiotics (have you ever had to hold down your eight pound cat and squeeze her skull to get her to take medication?) and her box is not showing any signs of improvement. Meanwhile, the vet is discussing what happens to "older cats" and how she's "losing weight and muscle tone" and how "you'll know when it's time." This last one possibly caused me to cry hysterically. She's thirteen and a half years old, which isn't a young cat, but it's not elderly or anything. OKAY, FINE, it looks like at fourteen, she goes from a senior cat to a geriatric cat, but age is just a number, right? RIGHT? 

I know Hannah gets a lot of words on this blog, but Zelda is truly my soulmate. I know that at some point we will have to make decisions about Zelda and those decisions will be hard. But I was not planning on making those decisions for several more years. Let's all hope that Zelda bounces back from this GI thing, her weight stabilizes, and we go back to talking about how it's just me and Zelda on the couch. 

4) I published my 2025 goals earlier this week and I want you to know that I'm already failing my 30-day goal and have eaten something sweet every damn day of this month so far. On the bright side, I have had water every day and my exercise goals are going well. Ugh. Let's see how this shakes out. 

5) There are so many things I'm looking forward to in January. Tomorrow I'm meeting up with some local bloggers, next week I'm taking off an entire day, and the following Monday is a holiday off work. I'm going to get to a museum on one of those days, right?!

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What shoes are you wearing right now? 

41 comments:

  1. Aww. Zelda and Lacey are of a similar age. Lacey is arthritic but seems well otherwise, knock on wood.

    I heartily approve of your shoes, btw.

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    1. Thanks. The shoes are a gift from my husband and I am in love with them.

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  2. You are already killing it, goals wise! Day off! Blog friends! Keeping museums top of mind! I am ignoring the sweets thing entirely because sometimes you just need sweets. I am allowing my child to eat cheesecake for breakfast as I type, for instance.

    LOVE your shoes and the whole outfit.

    And I am sending all the good, healing thoughts toward Zelda. <3 <3 <3

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    1. Cheesecake is practically a health food. It's perfectly acceptable for breakfast!

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  3. I approve of all of this except of course the funeral and Zelda being sick. I'm very jealous of your blogger meetup - I have plans to go the "don't get mad get even" route but it's not tomorrow so you win.

    Having been through it, I agree with your vet's assessment that "you'll know when it's time". The point is that today is not "time", and that is the only thing that matters. In the meantime, you've got couch snuggles to get to <3

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    1. You know what? I'm meeting up with some bloggers tomorrow, too! We're twins!!!

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  4. Oh no, I am so sorry about Zelda. I know how hard it is to watch a pet in decline. It's just the saddest thing. I'm so sorry.
    I was telling Maya how jealous I was and she's trying to convince me to book a flight to Detroit to visit some Motown/ Aretha things, and then arrange a blogger meetup for all you Midwesterners! I'm not saying this will definitely happen. But maybe it will happen? I have to look at a damn map and figure out where everyone is in relation to everyone else. I just have a swath of "Midwest" in my mind without any details.
    Your outfit is perfect and I love it! But your question - what shoes am I wearing? Engie! I'm in the house, no shoes. This Canadian girl does not wear shoes in the house. Also it's like 5 in the morning, and I'm getting prepared for yoga.

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    1. Do it! Do it! Do it! <3

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    2. Detroit is AWESOME and you should totally come to the US. I am guessing a whole flock of bloggers would find some way to meet you.

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    3. Detroit IS amazing. I don't know if it's central to the bloggers, though. We've got Maya in MI, you/Birchie/Nance in OH, me/Sarah/Anne in WI, Lisa in WI, surely I'm missing others...would Chicago be more central? I mean, I'd go anywhere, even if you chose boring Indianapolis or something (sorry, Indy fans!). We should do this!!!

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    4. *raises hand tentatively*

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    5. Listen, if a Cool Bloggers meetup is happening in Chicago, I AM IN.

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  5. No, no, no- I refuse to hear the phrase "you'll know when it's time." I want to cry hysterically at that, and she's not even my cat! I'm sending all the positive vibes her way so she can bounce back from this.
    I want to invite myself to Maya's house! Except I don't want to go to Michigan in the winter, so... it sounds like you guys had fun. And it sounds like the whole trip was overall positive, in spite of the sad reason for it.
    i like your shoes! I'm wearing a pair of old running shoes right now, and they're black. Not quite as much fun as yours.

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    1. Jenny, We do have glorious summers in MI!

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    2. Next time you're in Chicago visiting your sister, let me know, Jenny. We can do a meetup. It's only a couple of hours for me by car!! And maybe we can convince Maya to come see us there!!

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    3. I'd totally do it...

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  6. I'm wearing my house 'flip flops', which looks weird with my PJ's.
    Poor Zelda. Poor YOU. I'm so sorry this is happening; it's not fair and for me, fourteen seems youngish for a kitty. Sending big hugs.
    Your new kicks are very cute and hip!

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    1. Zelda should live forever, as far as I'm concerned.

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  7. I'm wearing my soft slippers. Earlier, I stuffed my slippers into my Outdoor Slippers to go out on the front porch to feed my blue jays. Even after I get Dressed For The Day, I'll still be wearing my slippers. It's too damn cold and snowy to go outside. HOW DOES WISCONSIN HAVE NO SNOW?!

    I am so, so sorry about Zelda. I remember when our senior EmilyCat was having trouble with food. We had to give her baby food strained chicken mixed with broth so that it was pretty much like thick soup. I do understand, Engie; I really do.

    In spite of it all, you're hanging in there and looking great. I'm glad you had some fun stuff as part of your trip since the reason for it was a somber one. You have a remarkable way of finding that balance in your life. It's inspiring.

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    1. WE GOT SNOW THIS MORNING. Unexpected, glorious, beautiful snow. I'm in love with winter right now.

      I found the Michigan trip to be sort of guardrail to guardrail. Visit with sick mom. Hard. Hanging out with Maya! Fun! Visitation. Sad. Dinner with friends! Fun! Funeral. Somber. Going to friends' cabin! FUN!! Such a weird trip.

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  8. Engie, I love how we can just jump into spending half the day together like we've been doing it for ages :).

    I am so, so sorry Zelda's not well. I feel everyone collectively wished the treatment would take and it did--so can we all just wish her the best health? I think that should work, right? She's got such a huge personality that I gasped when I read how little she weighs. I hope it's just adjustment to the treatment, and that she'll be fully herself soon. 14 is nothing for a kitty! XOXO

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    1. Maya, you're really a lovely host and I have so much fun with you! I'll just keep inviting myself over to visit!

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  9. No shoes here either. The benefits of working from home. Plus, I have a nice view of the freshly fallen snow from my basement desk. It's been a while since I've seen any!

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    1. The snow is sooooo pretty. I am in heaven right now.

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  10. I am so sorry that Zelda is unwell. Are you giving her meds in pill form? I have a life-changing (for me, anyway) recommendation: get a "pet piller" device. My vet revealed the existence of such a device when my cat was ill last fall, and hoo boy it was a game changer. Example here: https://a.co/d/c9mjOpr

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    1. We are giving her liquid metronidazole, so no need for pilling right now. If it comes to that, though, I'll definitely keep this in mind. Thanks for the tip!

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  11. Oh poor Zelda! And poor you. I probably told you about Phil's speech in our wedding and how he talked about how he would face the good and the bad together as Lisa and Phil. He said something like "we might face challenge in our jobs and in our health, Kitty might... actually Kitty is going to live forever." (her name is Oscar but he has always called her kitty)

    I love hearing about these students who are coming back to finish their degrees. It's so brave and wonderful for them to think about how they could finish their degree! And how cool that you get to help them.

    Right now I am WFH so I am wearing these bombas slippers that we got as a Christmas gift from Phil's cousin. The last 2 years he's sent a box of bombas socks for the whole family and this year he included slippers and they are thebomb.com for a person like me who is always always always cold.

    I am new to Maya's blog but I think I will get to see her this year when I am in the Detroit metro area as she might drive over to see me! I hope it works out!!

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    1. YES!! Phil is right - all kitties should get to live forever.

      You will LOVE Maya. The best thing about meeting bloggers is how it feels like you already know them when you get together in person.

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  12. I'm suffering from serious FOMO with the midwestern blogger meetup. I wonder if I could swing a ticket to fly there...I have a friend with a vacation condo in Chicago, maybe we could all stay there? (I mean, it's two bedrooms I'm sure, but STILL!)

    DAMN IT about sweet Zelda. She is so gorgeous, and she just wants to feel good and cuddle. And WTF with the vet saying 'you'll know when it's time'. IT'S NEVER TIME!!!! (We knew when it was time, and it was far too soon and it SUCKED.) Zelda is going to live to be at least 18. I'm glad she's on antibiotics and I hope they help.

    You look great in the picture at work. I love your job, I hope you do as well.

    I love that you got to do so much on your trip to MI. I'm sorry the reasons were hard, but you got a lot of fun and joy out of it as well.

    I'm wearing my new Vionic slippers that I got for Christmas, and I LOVE THEM. I have high arches, and they have amazing arch support and are super comfy. My step-mom sent me money and I bought them with it, so I got exactly what I wanted. $85 is a lot for slippers, and sometimes I can find them for about 25% less, but this was not that time, so OK. Not my money. (Well, it WAS my money, she gave it to me, but you know what I mean...)

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    1. Hmm...well, the midwestern meetup is just a pipe dream right now. We'll see when/if it shakes out!!

      I do love my job! It's such a great place to go every day and I do feel like I make a difference.

      I have Vionic flip flops that I ADORE. I imagine the slippers are AMAZING!!

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  13. I love the shoes. Very snazzy.

    I'm so, so sorry to hear about Zelda's health challenges. I won't pretend to fully understand the pain since I've never had a pet, but she is such a beloved part of your family and watching her be uncomfortable must be heart wrenching. I hope the antibiotics turn things around and soon. Thinking of you and Dr. BB <3

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    1. The shoes give me life. And I guess that's good enough for me.

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  14. I vote that Julie comes to the Midwest and we enjoy a blogger meetup in Chicago. That sounds like so much fun.

    Your Wednesday work outfit is so cute. You look great. Your new shoes are really cool. My work outfits are sloppy sweats, preferably with pockets. The few years I worked outside of the home, I really enjoyed getting dressed for work.

    My heart hurts for you and for Zelda. I'm sorry that she isn't feeling well. I wish there was something I could say that would make this better. I don't have pets, but I know how important pets are to people who don't have crappy allergies. I'm thinking of you, and hoping her health improves.

    I'm wearing smart wool socks right now, but earlier today when I left the house I wore my Sorrell boots because it was snowing here today. My boots are so cozy and comfortable. Hooray for hanging with old friends from home. Playing board games with old friends sounds like a relaxing, nostalgic time.

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    1. I do enjoy getting dressed for work. I find that on the weekends, I just wear cozy clothes and let myself be sloppy.

      SmartWool socks are really the best. They're really a winter staple for us Midwesterners.

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  15. Love your shoes AND your pants. Man, I want to go to Maya's house.
    I agree, 13 is not remotely old enough for it to be time for Zelda. And as long as your cat is sick, you should eat something sweet every day, because jesus, you are only human.
    I am at work wearing my brown Docs, because they are slightly slightly bigger than my black Docs, and we are at the point in the year when I wear my winter boots to work and then change into my Docs, and it was really annoying trying to get the black ones on last week.

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    1. Everyone should go to Maya's house. LOL. I don't know how Maya feels about me telling everyone to invite themselves over.

      YES!! If I'm cleaning that litter box, I deserve a Hershey's Kiss, right? It's the way of the world. And I have no willpower.

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  16. I really hope Zelda bounces back <3 You're such a good pet mom!

    And thanks for the rec on staying with Maya! LOL! Sounds fab, minus the funeral. Sorry for your loss <3

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    1. Hey, Maya's place is where you want to be!!

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  17. Oh, poor Zelda. I'm sorry she's feeling so bad! And I hate when vets say things like that. While it's true that you WILL know when it's time (I definitely did with Dutch, even though it was heartwrenching), that's such a hard convo and you don't want to have it with your BABY CAT. 14 is still a baby!!!

    I am barefoot. I may put on some fuzzy socks if it gets colder here (currently 56 degrees!) but I'm usually barefoot at home.

    Cool Bloggers meetup in Chicago - let's do itttt. I will fly!

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    1. Right? 14 doesn't seem so old. Poor girl. She's got a big appointment tomorrow, so we'll see how that goes.

      I'm up for a Chicago meetup...as long as I don't have to plan it!

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  18. You are not alone in battling #4. I have not had a day without cake/chocolate/candy in January either.

    Hope Zelda is on the mend.

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