Monthly Archives: May 2011

I held my breath and said, “May I have the next one?”…*

We shall now break from our regularly interior-focused blog posts to dedicate one entirely to the bloom of the month: lilacs. *Lyrics from Polkadots and Moonbeams as sung by a young, and dashing Frank Sinatra.

Welcome to Lilacland indeed.

Every year, as the lilacs bloom, we who are lucky enough to be near them, inhale their sweet fragrance with appropriate hunger. Lilacs do not last long, but they are powerful, delicate and abundant while they do. Last year my older sister shared with me the location (and knowledge) of lilacland, and this year my younger sister decided to make the journey home just to visit this place. I believe she said it was worth the bus fare. It was even worth the inevitable allergy flare-up.

read on…

Late at night I toss and turn and dream of what I need…*

Firstly, an update on the pup. Thank you guys for caring, and for sharing your own stories. Pet love cannot be underestimated, taken for granted, or fully explained if you haven’t experienced it. And I, for one, am among the lucky who get to experience it. The doggie had her visit with the specialist today who was pleased to see that the palliative care medicines that she’s on are helping. A lot. Still, that doesn’t change the fact that she’s got cancer, and that she’s not a candidate for surgery. After a long visit, and a slightly less-long conversation amongst ourselves, we’ve decided to just try to keep her comfortable for as long as possible. Chemotherapy, while possibly (20-30% chance at 20-30% improvement) assisting in keeping up her physical quality of life for as long as possible, would no doubt strain our baby’s nerves, thus degrading her emotional quality of life (vet visits are the bane of her existence and always have been). Short term problem, sure. But when we’re looking at only a couple of months (at best) for our little one, those short term problems really add up. So, for now, we’re on a hospice-like path. She’s regained her usual spunk, thanks to the steroid/painkiller combo, and has her appetite back. We’ll see how long the current drug therapy works, and adjust as we go. We’re hoping that if she were able to choose for herself, this would be the choice she’d make.

read on…

I really feel that I’m losing my best friend, I can’t believe this could be the end…*

I don’t know how my every-other-daily blog posts turned into week-and-a-half-ly blog posts, but there you have it. Things have been slow on the home improvement front. And it’s difficult to photograph paint drying. But, I can report that I have completed the painting of the cabinet and shelves, the second coat is on the wall, and a coat of enamel paint is curing on the countertops. I finally tackled the stripe treatment that I threatened (promised) to do, even if I did simplify it a bit (for expediency as well as design – sometimes less is more). Everything is coming together nicely, and the weather improvements mean that I can open the windows while I use toxic enamel paint.

read on…