A 4th Unlike Any Other

You know your kids are growing up when they don't want to buy fireworks. We've hit that mark. When my kids were little, a co-worker who had older kids said, "As they grow up they're less work physically, but more work emotionally. There are fewer gifts to buy at Christmas, but they cost more." That is so true. They want less, but what they want is more expensive, from shoes to electronics. Even last night. We used to budget $50 for fireworks, but Mark wanted instead to go out to dinner at Cool Hand Luke's to try them out. $100 later, we had a great meal.

We were blessed to run into Mark's babysitter from when he was 2-3 years old, her family, and their friends at the restaurant. Her daughter had a baby girl 2 weeks ago. It was great seeing them.

We spent the day working around the house. I did all the floors, even cleaned the garage floor. Greg pulled the rest of the stucco off outside. After dinner, Greg and I took our mile walk, then the four of us hit the patio. Greg and I pulled all the rest of the nails out of the beams and walls while the kids carted off the stucco and wire. I finished by vacuuming the patio clean while they picked up debris in the yard. All ready for Jim next week.

We watched a little of the Olympic trials on tv then the NY fireworks. It was so nice not having to drive somewhere and hit the traffic of the fireworks watchers. It almost felt like New Year's Eve, just hanging out with the family watching the festivities on the tv.

An update on the cat. She was still throwing up so we took her to the vet last week. He thought it might be her thyroid, so he did more blood work. The lab's machine broke down and we had to have her there for two days waiting for the results. It's not her thyroid. She's lost more weight, only 6.5 pounds when we took her in, she seems thinner now. He switched her food to a high calorie canned food, which she ate a lot of at the vet, but not much here at home. He gave her fluids and antibiotics there and sent her home with Amoxicillan and Flagyl. He's 90% sure it's a bacteria in her stomach common to ferrets. Other small animals have done well on the Flagyl with this bacteria, so we're hoping that will fix it. She's mostly sleeping and purring. She did throw up Thursday night after we got her home but not since. Please pray for her.

Blessings on this clear, blue, Saturday.