Thanks to you all. Telling the story is part of the grief process for me I think. I appreciated the opportunity to do so here. I think the time will come when I don't cry when I think of her, but right now I miss her running across the driveway when I pull in, to go with me into the house. ❤️ ❤️ ❤️

I could have written this post. Same situation for us -- my parents live northwest of Phoenix and we visit sometimes. I suppose if someone told me I absolutely had to move to Arizona to live, I'd choose Flagstaff. Or Prescott, from what BD makes it sound like. I haven't been there but it sounds doable.

Thank you. You may be right, although the details may have been different. I talked to the vet tonight and Mira was actually fully of "vim and vinegar" according to the the vet. She was as feisty with them as ever -- they all knew you had one shot with Mira. Need to draw blood? You better get it right the first time because she won't let you try again. But yes, once she got home, apparently, she began showing that she felt poorly. Or her kidneys didn't start failing until she got home. Either way, I'm glad she was at home and not at the vet.

He's lovely and I am sure you miss him. Have you gotten another cat? We will eventually. My daughter was looking at Petfinder the night Mira died, sitting right next to her body lol, but I'm not ready to think about it yet. After Mira had her head cleaned up, a couple of weeks ago, we were supposed to keep her in for a week or so. She loves being outside and this was hard for her, but we knew she'd be fine. I took a video of her meowing at the door one day; I'm so glad I have that.

Thanks to all who replied. Your wishes and words mean a lot. I added a picture, love this one. I'm starting to get over the memories of watching her die, and just remembering her the way she was those many years. I just got off the phone with the vet and she thinks it was her kidneys and the stress she was under just being at the vet and under anesthesia.

That's what one of my sons said Sunday night. Our dear 13.5 year old cat, Mira, passed away in her favorite chair Saturday night. She was actually healthy enough for an indoor-outdoor cat, she just tended to to fight at night and she'd had a doozy a couple of weeks ago. After that, an infection developed in a cut on her head, which we had cleaned up under anesthesia, but then the infection move to her right eye. We thought we were going to have her eye removed, but when I took her in for that surgery last Thursday, the vet called and said she thought it looked better and that with my permission, she'd do a different procedure, one that is less invasive, to try and save the eye. They called later and said that went well. When I picked her up on Friday, they still said all was well, but when we got her out of her box (long story, but a cat carrier was not an option; we used a plastic storage bin to transport her) back at home, she didn't seem well. She stood in a funny position for awhile. I put her in her chair and we went about our plans that night and next morning. I told myself it was just slow recovery; I didn't really know. By the next afternoon, she was just lying under the kitchen table when she did a weird struggling flip thing accompanied by a strange cry. I went to pick her up -- and I knew it was bad. I cradled her on the couch and could tell that the life was fading from her. She was unresponsive by this time; she urinated on me and I set her gently in her chair. She died about three hours later. I have no idea what happened (haven't talked to the vet yet about possibilities) and that makes me saddest of all. She was fine (except for the eye) when I took her in on Thursday and so to have her gone so suddenly has been a bit difficult. There was a slight indication in her pre-anesthesia blood test that something might be starting with her kidneys, so it could have been that. It could have been sepsis with the infection moving into her blood, I suppose. She was a unique cat to us. She wouldn't win any awards for Miss Congeniality, lol. She was somewhat warm with us, but on her terms (mainly if she was in the house because she wanted to be). To the end, we had to be careful not to startle her or do something she didn't want, or she'd swipe at us almost involuntarily. In her friendlier moments, when she was ready for it, she'd cuddle up next to me on the couch in the evenings and I'd give her a good head rubbing, which she loved. My 16yo daughter was also one of her favorite people; she could pick her up almost any time and nuzzle her. I miss her a ton. We buried her in the flowerbed out front where she loved to stalk prey (and my son threw some hay on top of her body because she loved sleeping on the top hay bale in the hay shed). 🙂 Rest in peace, Mira Capira. ETA 1 - While I wonder why they sent her home when she was in pain (they may not have known because she would have fought them when they put her back in the box and they would have been dealing with that), I do realize that I'm so very glad she died at home with us, and not in the clinic by herself over the weekend. ETA 2 - For those wondering about my subject line, there's a boardie saying that "a kitten dies every time you use an apostrophe to pluralize."

I'm SO uncreative in this way, but this is an acquaintance of mine (a homeschooling mama to many) who makes personalized soy candles. https://www.etsy.com/shop/TheDancingWick

I'm not going to be a huge amount of help (because I won't be able to explain the reasons why), but I work online for a living and need a fast, reliable, and preferably long-lasting system or I'd lose my job. Three years ago, my computer guy got me to switch away from one of the cheaper Dells (which I'd purchased for years and which would last a couple of years) to a Lenovo ThinkPad. I just began year four and we're still going strong. My second recommendation is to purchase through a local person if at all possible. It's so nice to have "a computer guy" (or gal) to go to if/when the need arises.

My cup is about five years old, I don't think I've ever done a deep clean (I rinse it and rub some soap around on it after my cycle), and it's almost completely red from staining. I'd say it'll see me through menopause (which is barely sorta just beginning). Cupwipes, LOL.

In the Orthodox Church, a large portion of the wording of the Divine Liturgy is based on the Bible (so we're "hearing" it constantly), and then we do have an Epistle and Gospel reading as well. There's no expository type preaching, so there's really no need to bring the Bible book to church; there's not much time when we're sitting and looking at something; most of the time we're participating in the liturgy. When I was protestant, though I took my Bible to church a lot of the time.

I was just talking about the item I'll mention this morning with a friend at church: Baby wipes! I haven't had a baby in dipes for a long time now, but since about Baby #2 (of seven), I always made my wipes. The other one I'm stuck on is homemade yogurt. Cup for cup, it costs me about one fourth of the largest store bought container (in other words, not comparing to the single servings -- because that would be a far greater savings -- but comparing to the large 32oz container).

Hmmmm, I wonder how this plays out with a procedure that is initially "preventative" but (with traditional insurance) no longer is because something was found. I told this story here once before, but I had my first preventative colonoscopy because my naturopath wanted me to and because it was supposedly free. Well, they removed two very small polyps during the procedure, and in the ensuing months, I learned that my insurance would not in fact cover everything because finding those two polyps made my colonoscopy "diagnostic" instead of preventive. I didn't get it then, and I don't get it now (to me, finding and removing the polyps prevented future cancer -- the purpose behind preventive care [the colonoscopy] in the first place), but so be it. So with a Medi-share type program, would this work in my favor? Since the procedure found something, is it now diagnostic and not preventive, and therefore shareable?

My daughter asked if we could get a second horse if we win the big prize and I said we could buy the $4 million equestrian estate up on the hill if she wanted. ? I honestly think I'd want to sell our house and no longer live in an owned house. No worries about upkeep and the like, and no care about building equity. I kind of don't mean renting instead, either. I think I mean travel, do this, do that, go here, go there. When in our home town, short term rental through Airbnb or a hotel. My husband doesn't concur though. He'd want to pay off the property we own and stay here. I guess that's probably what we'd do. Newer vehicles would be nice. Helping family pay off their houses. Buy starter houses for the kids. Definitely start up some kind of charitable cause that I could put a lot of my time and effort into. I've thought about purchasing a tract of land and putting several (10-15?) tiny homes on it so people who can't afford more could start small with home ownership. Or a beach house where I could host foster kids waiting for adoption for the summer. I actually love my job so don't know if I'd totally give up working.

Do they have to be fleece? I wear these every single day of the year (capris in warm weather, long in cooler temps). They are soft, super comfortable, and they hold up well.

Buy a package of lunch meat and one of cream cheese. Freeze the cream cheese for a little bit (not solid, just super firm) and then cut slices of the cream cheese from top to bottom along the long side. Cut each of those slices in into three or four "sticks" (again, the long way). Roll up each of these long sticks in a piece of lunch meat. Voila.

I'm so very sorry. I know that must be so hard. Our cat will be 14 in the spring and I dread the day. She's indoor/outdoor so we're always prepared for sooner rather than later as a possibility. Maybe your cat wasn't turning her back on you. Maybe in her final moments, she was trying to protect you from having to see what she was going to go through, trying to protect you from being too sad.

My sister has a gated driveway and they give the UPS driver the code.

Lovely room! This is one of Patty Joanna's favorite color recommendations: Palladian Blue. She says it can appear to be more bluish or more greenish, depending on time of day / light. I have it bookmarked in case I can find a room in which to use it.

A small thing, but just wanted to mention that we don't use a pin when putting beads on a candle. We just push them in with our fingernails.

Oh! Patty Joanna's St. John's IS a different one from the one I was thinking of. Here's the one I was thinking of: https://stjohnmonastery.org/all-departments/

If you're ordering from St. John Monastery, throw some Cucumber Aloe intensive face cream into the cart! It's thick and rick and not greasy -- totally yum. It's all I use and will ever use on my face. I don't love the hand lotion as much because it has more of the greasy feel that I don't like.

I have purchased the more slender taper candles from where Patty Joanna purchase hers (it's within driving distance for me, so no shipping), but I have also purchased pillar types from this Etsy shop and it was lovely --> https://www.etsy.com/shop/AmberLBeeswaxCandles . I feel like if it's 100% beeswax, you really can't go wrong. What I don't like is when the candle is made up of rolled beeswax sheets, though. Those may not even be real beeswax, I don't know. They look cheesy to me.

Adding more to my above Dagny: After naming our first son Will, I wanted to name the next boy Way. ("Where there's a Will ... ") I also liked West, but never got there mostly because our last name begins with S (think Smith, although it's not Smith). You really had to enunciate the ending T clearly every time to hear it; otherwise it just sounded like Wes. I really wanted to name a girl April Mae! My mum's middle name is Mae and I love the name April.

Dagny. Yes, really. Really bummed I didn't get a little final pink thing named Dagny Blue.

Martina Navratilova has always been admirable in the sport. She was on top when I was a high school tennis player 30 odd years ago. These are some of her words today and I especially concur with the final quote below. "[W]e cannot measure ourselves by what we think we should also be able to get away with. There have been many times when I was playing that I wanted to break my racket into a thousand pieces. Then I thought about the kids watching. And I grudgingly held on to that racket." "Had I behaved like that on a tennis court, I would have expected to get everything that happened to Serena. It should've ended ... with the point warning, but Serena just couldn’t let it go." "There is a huge double standard for women when it comes to how bad behavior is punished — and not just in tennis," but "I don't believe it's a good idea to apply a standard of 'If men can get away with it, women should be able to, too.' Rather, I think the question we have to ask ourselves is this: What is the right way to behave to honor our sport and to respect our opponents?" [Emphasis mine.]