thank you ~ and a frenzy of activity

Thank you from the bottom of my heart to those of you who left heartfelt comments on my last post about the passing of my beloved cat, Zippo. I cried reading them but yet felt the love. I know a lot of you can relate. Our hearts are slowly healing, but we all still miss Zippo terribly and it's painful to look at his photos. I know this will get better as time passes. Heck, we've certainly been through a lot worse with the passing of Phil - our son/Tim's brother nine years ago. Actually, there is no comparison of the pain and loss in that regard.

But, the passing of a beloved pet - which is indeed a family member - hurts. A lot. And now that it's been a week since Zippo's passing, we are now able to realize how sick he truly was before he passed away. It breaks my heart to realize how much he must've been suffering. The thing with cats is, they don't show when they're in pain. They're very good at hiding it.

Two days before Zippo passed away, Tim moved out of our house into his own apartment. I had taken a spur-of-the moment shot into Tim's room as he was packing things up and I didn't notice until I looked at the photo later, that Zippo was sleeping on his bed. Tim had spread out a towel because Zippo's nose was bleeding. See how Zippo's head is hung? He was doing that a few days before he died. He couldn't fully relax enough to curl up into a ball or even put his head down to sleep. I wonder if it was because he was in pain? I know I'll never have answers to these questions, but they're just ones that have gone through my mind.

It was a crazy 48 hours with moving Tim into his apartment. It started late Friday night with him getting home from work and packing more stuff up and wanting help doing last minute things, to Saturday - moving day - helping pack up the U-Haul and our cars and carrying load after load of stuff up three flights of stairs - 34 to be exact - to Sunday when we went shopping at Wal-Mart to buy a ton of needed stuff for his new place.

We hadn't seen his new apartment until moving in day, and we were pleasantly surprised. There's a nice galley kitchen...

 and a large open living and dining space, with a small balcony and storage room off the dining area.

 The vaulted ceilings and open concept looking into the kitchen make the apartment look and feel more spacious.

 Tim also has a huge bedroom, his own bathroom (same with his roommate, who has the same on the other end of the apartment) and a big walk-in closet that I'm envious of! He's only two miles down the road from us, so it's nice still having him nearby.

My mom had asked if Tim was going to hang any of photographs around his apartment and I tried to explain to her that Tim was a single guy moving into a bachelor pad with his friend. Neither one of them are exactly into decor. This was the extent of their current decor the night they moved in. Ha!

How are you all doing with Thanksgiving prep? I went to two grocery stores today and was surprised to find that both of them weren't as crowded as I feared. And the one thing I love about holiday time is that most people in public are in good moods. The shoppers and checkout people were extra-friendly and all wishing each other a Happy Thanksgiving. In one of the stores, the man in front of me let me go ahead of him since I only had a few items. I paid the kindness forward by giving extra in the Salvation Army bucket on the way out of the store.

I am going to a Friendsgiving celebration tomorrow night and bringing a corn casserole and these pumpkin bars. Thursday, we will gather at my mom's house and I'm making another corn casserole, green beans with orange-almond gremolata, roasted carrots and parsnips with honey and fresh thyme, and a pan of brownies. 

I also made a big pot of soup today and will be making a pot of chili tomorrow. Not only are they for our lunches and dinners up until Thanksgiving, but some of each will be packaged up and delivered to a friend who's mostly housebound right now, as her husband is on hospice care at home.

What else...oh yes, of course the contractors we are dealing with have both decided that this week is the perfect time to work on our house! This afternoon, the roofers were here (yes, that project is still ongoing...they have been quite incompetent) fixing some last-minute stuff that they didn't get right the first time and tomorrow morning at 7:00 AM, the deck builders are going to be here to start ripping out our front porch/deck.

One of my blessings in life is the many friends I've made through this blog. Thank you for your kindness, support, words of wisdom and love over the years. 

Happy Thanksgiving from my house to yours. 💗