3 Lives Down, 6 To Go

Once again, I haven't written in awhile. And once again, there are a million different not-so-fun reasons why. As the title suggests, our fat cat Fergie gave us QUITE a scare earlier this month. She suddenly stopped eating, drinking, moving, responding, etc., and according to the vets, the situation looked pretty bad. Long story short, she's a lucky kitty, and an expensive one now, too. Turns out the "mass" they found in her belly was probably pancreatitis (swollen/inflamed pancreas) and NOT a tumor. Wish we could've known that BEFORE the ultrasound was done that cost about as much as our car payment! But at least it provided some peace of mind that whatever she had was completely gone, and that it wasn't cancer. So I think this little episode has cost her at least one of her nine lives. Combined with the fact that Fergie's former owner lost/abandoned her after getting her declawed (thus poor Fergie was wandering around outside completely defenseless and without the means to catch food to eat, who knows what could've happened to her - BAD CAT OWNER!!), and we then rescued her from a shelter that would've put her to sleep if no one adopted her, I figure she's used up at least three of those nine lives already! This picture was taken while she was almost fully recovered. I was packing to leave for a few days, and apparently she wanted to go with. Always demanding attention!!

Speaking of fat cats in suitcases, I went home to Illinois to visit family and to go to my best friend's baby shower. I had been SO STRESSED because of my fur-child being so sick, and because this new-teacher business is just sucking the life right out of me, I'm just so tired from trying to figure it all out. So I was worried about leaving it all for four days and being able to keep up. Turns out the trip couldn't have been more perfect, I got to see everyone I had planned on seeing and more, and all my flights were turbulence-free. No panic attacks mid-air this time!

Also going on this month after I got back from my trip was my first formal observation by my principal. I was a nervous wreck, but turns out it went perfectly, in my opinion. Really couldn't have been much better. The kids were perfect angels, the lesson I had chosen flowed smoothly, and the whole situation felt so relaxed. Afterwards, it felt like a HUGE crushing weight had been lifted off my chest. Progress reports were also due last week, so there were a couple nights where I had only gotten a couple hours of sleep, since I had to stay up late figuring all that out. Who knew my high school teachers when through all this crap?! And made it all look so easy!!

With all this juggling going on, I had to stop taking Alli. The "treatment effects" were simply too unpredictable and inconvenient for the kind of week I've had. Every morning at school, my planning period was spent near a bathroom, instead of actually planning or getting paperwork done. And with all that traveling, I just didn't want to be driving in the middle of nowhere in the rental car and suddenly be racing to the nearest exit for a bathroom. Just not worth it. But now that all that stuff is behind me, I started taking it again this weekend. I think it works best for me to only take on weekends, and then sparingly during the week. And I've still done quite well, considering that I had stopped taken it, was traveling, and didn't exercise at all. Honestly, I've just reached a whole new level of stress where I don't even feel like eating lately. Wow, never thought I'd say that, since my natural response to stress is to eat everything in sight.

And now for the progress report: