Zipprer's Ear

In November, we decided to get Gaby fixed. When we took her in, we also took Zipper. He had developed a sore on his ear and it wasn't getting better. The vet looked at it and said it was most likely a cancer spot; given the fact he is a white cat and they sunburn so easily. He told us to watch it for a few weeks and see what happened. It got rapidly got worse.

Then two weeks ago, I came home from work to find a piece had fallen off, with his ear. So I called the vet and got him an appointment as soon as they could get him in.  Also, the night before his appointment, we felt a sore starting on his other ear. 

Here is a before picture the morning of his surgery. He wasn't happy because we had locked up all the food and water the night before and both cats were convinced they were on the brink of starvation. Until Gaby saw the cat carrier. When Josh put Zipper in it, she was a blur as she ran upstairs and hid under the bed. She did the same thing when I brought him home that afternoon.

  

I went to the vet on my lunch break to see if I could pick him up early. The front desk receptionist thought he was still too sleepy, but then the assistant saw me and told me I could take him now, while he was still to groggy to bite. I think he had let them know his displeasure earlier in the morning and they didn't want to see it again.

They were able to burn the newer sore off of his one ear, but they had to completely cut the bad one out, ear and all. They actually saved more ear than we originally thought; but there's no hiding it, he only has one and 3/4 of an ear now. It seemed tender for a few days, but now he's back to his normal self. We are hopeful they got it all, but we will have to be diligent now to always be checking so we can catch cancer spots sooner and just freeze them off in the future. 

Savannah's 31st Birthday

This year, my birthday fell on a Friday. So I decided to treat myself to a day off from work.

Josh and I like to start the day off with one present, and then save the rest for that night. While I was getting ready that morning, my mom called and offered to take me to lunch. Josh decided which present to give me first since I was going out that day.

A new wallet. I love it.

Each year, he always find the best birthday cards. This year was no exception. 

That afternoon, my mom took me to lunch at Cafe Rio in Vernal. She bought me a tote for scrapbooking supplies and a cute shelf for our new home. 

When I came back from lunch, I found these pretty flowers Josh had bought for me. 

As the day wore on, it just kept getting better and better. That evening, Melanie and the boys came to see me. They brought me balloons and a cute bottle with a flower in it. I LOVED seeing my favorite boys on my birthday and made sure to get a kiss from each of them. 

They even signed their names to the card. 

Gaby also loved the balloons; they came with string. 

  Jessica also came by with a gift. She bought me this cute Pocket Tote from Thirty-One. She had to show me how it works, but I love it!

Dinner was one of my favorites, Chicken Parmesan Wraps and Cranberry Cake. 

After dinner, I opened the rest of my presents.

I feel pretty loved and spoiled. I bought the Wii game for myself (and a fishing one for Josh). 

Josh got me:

new licenses plate covers

a wallet

raspberry sticks

i-tunes card

a book

and a hand held vacuum

First Home Improvement

We spent about a year looking for the perfect house. One of the problems we faced, was everything in our price range, was a fixer upper. We did not want a fixer upper. So when we found our town house, we were just as shocked as everyone that it was the one we fell in love with. But it was the right size, a great location, and in great condition. 

Sure, it has it problems like any other new home purchase. But compared to some we looked at, it was heavenly.

When we made our offer, we knew it would need new sod planted in the back yard. We weren't able to do it last summer, but hope to this year. The thing we failed to notice, was the back gate. We are now pretty sure it was broken before we moved in and the previous own and rigged it. 

Within the first few days of moving in, we learned that the wind whips it horribly. It had broken the latch, knocked a few of the panels loose and it wouldn't stay closed. So we drove a stake into the back of it to help keep it in place. Then, we had to set the dog house in front of the broken panel to keep Sage from getting out. She thought this was her personal peep spot and she loved to look out of it and watch what little she could. 

It was another project we were thinking of leaving for the coming summer. But now, the school district plans to build a new elementary school. I'm still not positive of the exact location, but I know it is either right across the street from us or right next to us (to the south). But when the school bond election passed, I was worried they would start construction, and it would be right across the street where Sage could watch, and bark at them, all day long. She doesn't bark much; only when she notices activity across the street. But I'm pretty sure construction would result in her barking a lot more. 

So I decided we better get our fence fixed now. 

It was hard to find someone. I left several messages with several companies and they never called me back. I'm sure its because they felt my project was too small and not worth their time. But I finally found a guy in Vernal who said he could do it.  He came over the same day I called him to look at it. He even offered to try and fix the one to make it last until the new one was in. 

The longest part was waiting for the parts. He told me to order just my stuff would kill me on shipping, so I agreed to wait until he had a large order to place and he could add my stuff to it.

Last week, he came and replaced our gate. We didn't replace the fence at all, but we did have him add some steal posts to the inside of the corner posts to give it more stability. Then we also had him move the hinges to the other side so that hopefully the wind won't affect it too much. 

Sage won't use her dog house. We thought maybe by moving it closer to the back door she would, but she still won't. Now she sleeps in the dirt spot where her house used to be. She still tries to peak out of the small crack, but I don't think she can see much now. 

I was so excited for our first home improvement that I almost didn't care about the bill. 

I think next on the list is to plant some sod back there. Then the only other big thing we want to do is paint. But since we both despise painting, we'll probably put it off for a few years until we can save up and pay someone else to do it for us.