sad things and happy times

our 2013 xmas card

 today is the day after xmas.  we had a really nice xmas!  the kids were a treat, as always, and they liked their presents.  sirus received a ton of legos and nano-big things.  seamus wound up with 40 different kits to make differenty types of bracelets.  i am hoping she will make a few for me!  her big gift from santa was a pair of stilts.  she was super surprised and was a little afraid of them at first.  but once she practiced some she was trekking all over the house on them.  they are set on the lowest level so she has plenty of inches to grow!  AND her wish from santa came true!  when we went to go visit with santa she had asked that her big front tooth came in.  and sure enough on xmas eve, it just started coming in!  it is peeping out!  she had her surgery on the 9th, and the little chain is attached to that tooth and it is starting to work!  she was very excited and it seems as though santa was able to work something out with the tooth fairy afterall!
eric got me a scale...  ok ok, i asked for the scale, so he wasn't being mean, but my mom did get my a hair removal kit.  what?  i didn't ask for that!  what was she implying?  turns out it was a free gift with purchase thing that she got as part of something else and not a comment about my personal grooming.  later in the day, xtie and her bf and his little boy came over for dinner. it was fun to spend time with them all, and we brought out all of the fancy china and it was the one meal of the year that i contribute to, making homemade apple sauce and cranberry relish.  eric cooked up a turkey and grandma brought over some icelandic bread that she made, some icelandic butter and some icelandic skyr pie/cake thing.  it was a fabulous and fun day and evening!

 

all of the xmas goodness was welcome after the rough xmas eve we had.  we got up as normal, we started our day as normal, which meant i stayed in bed longer than anyone else.  i tried sleeping, but nadj was there in my face, purring and trying to get me to pet her.  so i lifted up the covers and she crawled in and cuddled and we slept for another hour.  then it was really time to get up.
we packed everyone up and headed to the gym.  eric and i did some gym stuff, i spent 20 minutes with a giant grin on my face while watching elf in the cinema room while on the elliptical.  love that movie!!  then we lifted some weights.  we did some of this and some of that and just took our time.  then i loaded up the kids into the car and we headed to starbucks for some hot chocolate and eric ran home.
at home, we got into the house and i went up to our bedroom to put some stuff away and then, that is when it all happened.  seamus mccat was on the bed next to nadj.  she stood up and started meowing the second i walked in the door.  nadj was making a terrible gasping / hissing noise which confused me.  i went to look at her and she was laying there limply, making that terrible noise.  i ran to get the cat carrier, yelling to the kids to put their shoes back on.  i quickly lifted nadj's limp, but warm body and set her on the towel in the box.  i called eric quickly asking him how far away he was and he said he would run right to the vet and meet us there.  it was xmas eve and i wasn't even sure if the vet would be open, but i went anyway, and we ran inside, i was crying and told them nadj was dying!  they took her right back and started taking care of her.  i sat in the waiting room crying, the kids sitting on either side of me not knowing what to do.  the tech came out and said they were giving her oxygen and trying to get her stable enough to transport to an emergency facility.  but by the time eric got there, the vet came out and said there wasn't anything she could do.  she was tearing up while telling us what she had tried and how nadj must have had a clot or something, but her lungs were full of fluid.  i asked if we could see her, so they went back and wrapped her up and brought her into a room for us.  i picked her up, hugged her, kissed her and cried.  the kids each petted her some.  then eric went and made arrangements for her, and then he and the kids left for a little bit.
nadj was my friend.  i was sad when pawpi died, 3 years ago, in december as well.  but nadj is different.  she and i were good friends, i loved her very much.  she was always there for me and went through so many tough times with me and was always there giving me purrs and cuddles.  these past two days have been strange, there is no one to chase me as i head into the bathroom, there is no one sitting on the bathmat while i take a shower.  eric offered, but its not the same.  no one walks all over me as i am falling asleep, or purrs in my face as i am trying to sleep in.  seamus mccat is alone, too.  she came up on the bed to sleep only for a little bit, but she has to know what happened, since she was there with her friend.  but now nadj is with pawpi. 

Nadjalene and Seamus Mccat Dec 23.

goals

i haven't been swimming.  i did really well and went 1 time a week for 3 weeks in a row, and then something happened and now its been like 3 weeks without swimming.  i think my coach is getting ready to fire me.  but this most recent week at work was super hectic and busy so i asked him to not even schedule a swim because i wasn't going to do it and i really didn't want the added guilt of missing another swim.  so he obliged and then put TWO swims on the schedule for this week.  so mean!!!  and he wants me to run outside!!  OUTSIDE.

this

that is all i have to say about that.
but what else has happened?  not a ton.  i did another 5k.  i did the same one back in 2008 and won my age group!  this year i came in 2nd in my age group AND was like 30 seconds slower than the mustache dache.  not making a ton of excuses, but it was a totally different coarse than in 2008, and it was freezing!  we had a big cold spell not too long ago and it was COLD that day.  so cold that i did my warm up in my Oiselle Lux Layer, my Oiselle race singlet, a heavy duty cycling jersey AND my puffy coat!  thankfully, i got too hot in all of that and took the two outer most layers off and was perfectly dressed for the race.  then i also did the Kirkland Christmas 12k.  I haven't ever done this one before and i hadn't planned to do it until the day before.  it turned out to be a lot of fun!  some friends and i just ran it, didn't race it, and that was the perfect thing to do.
now we are in winter vacation!  i don't go back until jan 6th!  that is 16 straight days of no work!!  sleeping in hopefully and relaxing! 
and xmas shopping.  too much shopping.  too too much.
and quickly approaching is december 29th.  the significance?  that will mark 1 year from the last time i drank alcohol!  and now i am trying to decide if i will continue to go booze free or if i will put it back in!

decisions decisions!