lighter look in the living room ~ and a semi-update on clementine

It is still very much winter here in northeast Illinois. Nary a sign of spring: no bulbs poking out of the ground, freezing temps, biting winds, but at least not much snow. We've actually had a lot of rain lately, which is weird to hear in February. 

I'm done with winter. At least I can bring a lighter, brighter look into my home by changing up some decor. Pretend that daffodils are blooming and the winter robins are back.

It's a challenge for me to decorate my mantel; I think in part because it's extra long. When I saw a post from Brenda at Cozy Little House and how she decorated the mantel in her new apartment, I was inspired by how she used white pitchers. 

Other side of the mantel.

You can see how this fireplace takes up a big chunk of my small living room.

I changed up the decor in the "fauxyer", too. Spring art, a bright scarf, and a springy looking pillow. I need to repot the snake plant into a smaller container so the stalks don't fall over. See the framed art on the wall to the left? That is there temporarily. There used to be a vintage teardrop shelf that didn't make that area have too many hard lines....

When I was moving things around, I experimented with putting the teardrop shelf in another area. I didn't want to put a nail hole in the wall, so I cut off a small piece of a Command strip and used that on the back of the shelf. It wasn't strong enough and the shelf crashed to the floor.

 I mentioned in my last post that Clementine was now having dental problems. The results of her blood tests came back and besides her kidney values not being good (we knew that...she's had kidney disease for over four years), now there's some markers that show possible heart problems. She is having a simple heart test done tomorrow that will tell us more. We have already decided that even if this test shows that her heart would be strong enough for dental surgery, we're still not going to put her through that at her age (13) and with chronic kidney disease. We realize that she can't live much longer with the broken fang though, as it will become infected without surgery. So we know more heartache is coming in the near future. All we can do right now is take one day at a time.

Thank you all so much again, for all your compassionate comments and emails. There are many of you out there that are also animal lovers and fur baby parents, so it helps to know that others understand what we're going through.

Just so you know, since comments on my blog are moderated, they come through my email. I reply back to comments if I'm asked a question or that warrant a return reply. However, if your comment comes to me with your email address being a no-reply comment blogger, which some of yours do, I can't respond. There are ways you can fix this in your Blogger, Word Press or Google settings if you're interested in looking it up and changing your email settings.

Have a lovely week!

💓

big love

Thank you all so much for your kind and comforting comments on my last post about Monkey. We had a vet from a mobile hospice and euthanasia business come to our house last Tuesday afternoon to help Monkey transition. We experienced this with Zippo in 2018, so we knew what to expect. But this time was a little different. It was more traumatic. I also did not like this vet compared to the one we had with Zippo. She didn't take her time with each step, never asking if we were ready. I know I should've spoken up, but when you're in the thick of things and entrenched in grief, numbness takes over.

Brian and I, of course, spent all the time we could with Monkey last Tuesday, laying on the bed with him while talking to and petting him.

Notice how his eyes were fully dilated? We had noticed that the day before. I looked it up and one of the possibilities was that he was in pain. The vet said it probably meant the cancer had gone to his brain and was pressing on his optic nerve. We are glad he's not suffering anymore but we miss our Monkey boy incredibly much. We are having a harder time with his death than we did with Zippo...we think because Monkey's illness and death came on so suddenly.

Dear friends of ours sent us a gorgeous bouquet of flowers and a beautiful card.

In the meantime, to add insult to injury, Miss Clementine is now having major dental problems. I noticed a few days ago when she yawned, that her upper left fang was missing! I took her to our regular vet who referred me to a vet dentist. We saw her this morning and Clementine will need surgery to remove the remainder of the fang that's still up in the gums. When she's under anesthesia and doing x-rays, they will be able to tell if she needs more dental work and/or more teeth pulled, which is a good possibility. And which makes the bill go higher.

She had blood tests today that will tell us if she's healthy enough to even undergo anesthesia. With her having kidney disease for over four years now, there's a possibility that this dental work might be too much for her.

I hope you all understand when I say that once Clementine crosses the Rainbow Bridge, we are done with pets. At least for the foreseeable future. We've had pets our entire marriage - almost 38 years. We've had six cats, a rabbit, two hamsters, a parakeet, two pairs of rats at different times, goldfish and beta fish, and an African dwarf frog. 

The last few years have been especially challenging with our cats. Worrying about their health issues, the stress of many vet visits, not being able to take a vacation or even go away for a weekend due to either lack of a pet sitter or medical needs with Clementine (she gets subcutaneous fluids at home every other day), the time involved with their care, the cost of their vet care and special food, and most of all, the heartbreak of having to let them go is more than what we can deal with anymore.

Sending love to all of you, especially on this Valentine's Day. Thank you again for all of your compassionate comments and emails. I hope to be back soon to show you all some updated decor in my home.

💓

it's almost time to say goodbye to monkey ~ and a tray of hearts

I am keeping this post short today as I can barely stomach writing on this subject. We decided today that it's time to say goodbye to Monkey. We've been talking about it for days and I just wasn't ready. I kept thinking he was going to rally like he'd been doing. But there's no more rallying. 

The only time he eats is in the morning and it's just a few bites of his food as we hand-feed him. He is even refusing fresh chicken and a lick of Kerrygold butter (his faves). He hides a lot of the time or just lies on our bed. The only times he moves is to go downstairs to use the cat box (we're surprised he can still do that) or to use the scratching post in the living room. He hasn't groomed himself in about two weeks so I've been brushing him every day.

I put him in his "nest" this morning just to see what he'd do. It used to be his favorite spot where he'd snooze all morning after breakfast. He sat there for a few minutes and then jumped down and went back into our bedroom.

We are using a veterinary hospice and euthanasia service where the vet comes to your home. There are four female vets on staff. One of those vets will be here tomorrow afternoon. It is time to give him the gift of peace. Brian and I are devastated and heartbroken. We have already shed many tears. This sucks. It's not fair because he's young (11) for a cat. He was perfectly healthy until this rare nasal cancer happened out of the blue. 

To change the subject and end with something pretty, I dug out all my handmade hearts and displayed them in a tray for Valentine's Day. Some of these were made by two blogger friends: Penny at At Home in English Valley and Carol at Art and Sand. The tiny vintage ones with the bows as well as the large quilted white and gray one on the right were purchased as a set several years ago at an antique shop.

Thank you for your support. It means so much to me. If you would like to pray for us tomorrow afternoon or if you're not the praying type, just send some love our way ~ all of it would be greatly appreciated and accepted. 
💔