Rhymes With Orange

soon, I promise

kate will post again soon, i promise.

Until then, enjoy some pictures she updated in the albums... and enjoy me messing around with this post... WEEEE!!!! partay time!

What to talk about.. well.. I need to mention everything in the tags I added so...

Anger: I'm not angry right now

Annie: Hi Annie, i'm sure you'll read this

Bethy: Howdi Beth

Blondness: i'm not blonde...

Books: read any good ones lately? Share them in a reply. I'm fond of Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy, chronicals of narnia and dave berry books

caspian: he's doing much better now, we had a major scare with him, but he's recovering nicely.

Chloe: I never noticed both of their names started with C... and here we thought C was for cookie... NO COOKIE FOR JOO

Daily: Hello.. at the tone the time will be 11:40pm on Sunday August 26th.. BEEP

Depression: sucks, nuff said

Family: hi everyone! I dont steal her blog often enough... love ya'll.

Goodbyes: Not yet, still have many tags to go...

Google search: search for my name... youll find some CEO's of coporations and stuff.. interesting.... What are some of the cool stuff that people the share your names have done?

happiness: opposite of depression. Much better and happier for all!

House: it's still standing. We need to repaint it soon...

Japan: it's a country.. we live here. hi Japan! and Hi Yoko Ono!

MSN Search: Did she ever post about google and msn searches? one has to wonder.. reply below.

Mike: Thats me!

Music: Itunes is great...

PMS: Never had it. explian below if you're a male and have had PMS.

Pictures: Weee... kate likes pictures

Piper: God bless her...

Quotes: I wonder what quotes will come from this post...

Random Stuff: i think this post covers this topic itself.

Romeo: poor guy, he was very cute and loveable.. if only he wouldn't have been so scared =/

Sadness: I'm kinda sad after talking about the pippa and romeo... meh..

Television: We'll be glad to watch actual TV... not AFN.. AFn is ok, but i'll be nice to pick whatever we want to watch, not what they want!

travel: Louisiana is next on the travel list

Worries: I worry about many things. Post what you worry about. We can talk about it...

yarn Stuff: I dont have any yarn stuff except the sweater she made me. She should make more stuff for me! I want toe warmers!

permalink: I dont think this is actually a topic, but I dont feel done with this post quite yet...

comments: I expect alot of comments! Now post! Comment away!!!!!

Oh, and thanks for all the birthday comments and replies! If anyone sent me anything personally, i'll get back to you soon! I promise. been busy, very very busy....

I hope ya'll enjoy the post!

-Mike

Always be my baby.

September 2005, Mike and I found out that he was being deployed at the end of the year. Some how, I got it into my head that I wanted a baby. So Badly. Looking back, I know this was a totally selfish desire, but I was so scared of being alone that the idea of being pregnant became so appealing. We of course didn't actually try for a baby, but this didn't stop me from crying for days every time I got my period. After a few months of this, we had a long talk and decided I needed a pet.

November 2nd, 2005 Pip came home with us. I'll never for the first time I saw her. She was hanging upside from her cage meowing up a storm. A small, wiggly ball of white fur weighing a little more than a pound, tiny enough to fit in the palm of Mike's hand and the biggest ears I'd ever seen. Love at first sight. She was my baby.

After Mike left, I poured all of my time and energy into Piper. We went through hell and back together. She was there when I changed antidepressants and never wanted to get out of bed ever again. She was there when I'd cry so hard from missing Mike that I'd get sick. She was there when I found myself sobbing helplessly in the middle of the kitchen floor from sheer loneliness. And through all of it, she was my constant companion. A small, warm and noisy reminder that I needed to keep going. That life doesn't stop just because you miss someone, and that was what I really needed. She was a gift. Here for the time that we needed her the most.

She was so special, and she brought such joy to our lives. I'm sure that as long as I live I will never meet another cat quite like her. I know that my heart will heal, and there will always be room to love more kitties, but Piper will always hold a place in my heart all her own.

Our last few minutes with her are still fresh in my mind. I snuggled her close to me and kissed her head and quietly whispered, "I'm so sorry Piper. I love you. You will always be my baby. No matter what."

Piper, we miss you monkey.

Piper Jane Margret Watrous                

August 1st, 2005 - June 22nd, 2007

And then there were three.

My baby is gone. I still can't believe it.

On Tuesday night, Mike and I were playing with the cats when we noticed that the pupil in Piper's right eye was bigger than her left, so the next morning I took her into see the vet. They poked and prodded her. Looked at her eye for a long time and told me to come back next week for a recheck because they were pretty sure it was glaucoma.

She seemed to be fine except for being a little tired until Friday morning when we noticed she was breathing hard. I chalked it up to her eye hurting, but by that afternoon she was breathing so hard we took her back to vet. They listened to her chest and heart for a while before asking us if they could take an x-ray. When the x-ray came back, it was bad news. Her entire chest cavity was filled with fluid, her heart was enlarged, and she had a mass in her chest. The diagnosis was Lymphoma, and the prognosis was she would be dead by Monday. I completely lost all composure and started sobbing hysterically and dry heaving in front of everyone.

We were then posed with two choices: Let her die of slow suffocation over the weekend, or put her to sleep now.

It was so hard. So much harder than the choice we had to make with Romee. Not that it was easy, but he was barely conscious and was almost completely unaware of what was happening around him. Piper was awake and alert. Making noise, giving kisses, purring, trying to wiggle free and explore. She seemed so full of life. I always thought we'd have more time together. I imagined her getting to experience snow for the first time, being there when we brought our first child home, getting to meet mom's dog...She would have loved Maggie. So many things that I thought she would be there for.

We took a long time with her. Trying to soak up as much love as we could. And then the vet scooped her up and took her away. She looked back at me as they were leaving, and my heart breaks every time I picture it in my mind. I hope that she knows we didn't want to make this choice, but we couldn't have bared to see her die in agony. I hope she knows that we loved her so much and that we would have done anything to make her well again. And I hope she knows that she will always be in our hearts. She made such a difference in our lives. She helped us through some of the hardest things we have ever gone through, and she was a blessing to everyone who met her.

I just can't believe she's gone. She was fine on Monday! She was so full of life. I feel like I want to scream. She was my baby! It was my job to protect her and keep her safe, and I couldn't. Not only could I not protect her, but I had to make the decision to end her life. This morning I pulled out to dishes to give them food and started calling for her to come eat. I've almost called out, "Pippa! Where are you bunny?" about a million times. I miss her so much sometimes I can scarcely breathe.

Mike and Casp are taking it really hard. She was Mike's kitty. She adored him. She greeted him everyday after work, brought him her toys, cuddled with him and slept wrapped around his feet. I don't think Caspian actually remembers life before living with us, so he's taking it especially hard. He misses her some thing fierce and has been searching the house endlessly.

I apologize for this post being poorly constructed. I just don't have it in me right now to be creative. I need some more time. There will be a memorial post for Piper though. I just have so much to say right now, but all words seem inadequate to express how I feel.

We are so blessed by all of the support and prayers being poured out by all of you. I can't even begin to thank you enough.

Piper: Porcelain Expert Extrodinaire.

Remember that little post about the cats, and their new found facination for the toilet? Turns out that as interesting as it is, Cas really doesn't care much for it. Piper on the other hand has developed some strange love for the icky potty.

Looking back through photos of Pip as a baby though, I see now that we shouldn't have been at all surprised by this sudden interest in the Loo.

Too smart for their own good.

Early this morning, Mike awoke to find that the cats had figured out how to lift the toilet seat in the middle of the night and had somehow managed to dump toilet water all over the bathroom floor. He found them sitting, dry I might add, admiring their handy work. I'm afraid it's only a matter of time before they figure out how to work a gear shift and steal the car.

Now with more shedding!

The Pip is back.

After Romeo died, Piper became pretty depressed. She no longer wanted to kick puppy around, make messes, or drive me crazy. All she wanted to do was sleep. And so that's what she did. For three months.

Miss Piper woke up last week and decided she was all done being depressed. Now she's making up for lost time. This week Piper has:

• Pushed everything off of the fridge repeatedly.
• Pulled just a wee bit of stuffing out of puppy.
• Pushed Caspian off the bed ala Garfield and Odie.
• Attempted to eat the world's largest snail on one of our walks.
• Brought me two balls, three mice and a squid at 3am.
• Taken sips of my coffee when she thought I wasn't looking.
• Climbed to the top of the screen door repeatedly.
• And taught Caspie how to open the kitchen draws.

She's driving me crazy! And I'm so happy I could cry =)

Evil genius

Today Piper taught herself how to open the kitchen drawers so that she can rummage in them at her leisure. Now if I could only teach her how to bring me the box of cheeze-its I'd never have leave the couch again.

We hope she learns to use her powers for good and not evil.

Yarn, Piper, Caspian and also toilet paper.

I've been trying to get knitting done, but it's so hard to do when this is going on in the next room.

Pip's jealousy is slooooowly fading. She doesn't want any extra attention, treats, or love. She's still very angry that we would replace Romeo. I think it's gonna take her a while to forgive us.

Caspian has proved to be more of a handful than Piper at this age, but in a totally different way. Apparently the difference between raising boys and girls also applies to cats. Where Piper was into trying to see how crazy she could make me and how much sleep she could deprive me of, Caspian is into seeing how much damage he can cause.

The toilet paper never had a chance.

He's far more physical than Piper. Chewing on everything and jumping on anything that moves. He especially loves anything that dangles. Yarn, the waist ties on my sleep pants, bra straps, yarn, the strap on the camera, shoe laces, yarn, cords, yarn, yarn...

The one thing Casp does do that is totally different from Piper is he sleeps...and sleeps...and sleeps. All night! When Pip was this age, she didn't sleep and neither did I.

Small amounts of knitting have been done, but it's really hard to knit when you have a kitten chewing on your needles.

This is supposed to be the cuff of one of the sleeves on the Shimmer Shrug from Knitty.com. I think I'm gonna frog it and start over...again. It's just a twee bit too big.

I knitted this hat out of Debbie Bliss, but it looked really plain, so I decided to try my hand at embroidering. I think I still need more practice.

I've been knitting on other projects too like Nick's sweater and a few scarves for Christmas gifts. The thing I really need to do is organize the ol' stash.

Help...

BORED people, BORED.

What's that internet? You want to see another picture of the Pip? Well...if you insist.

Piper is sloooooowly getting used to the idea of not being the baby. We're trying to give them equal amounts of attention, but that's very hard to do when all one wants to do is sulk.

Mike is working nights right now for a base wide exercise (where they pretend to be at war), and it totally sucks. He has to sleep most of the day because other wise he falls asleep on the job, and I know this, but it doesn't stop me from being whiny because I am BORED. OH. SO. BORED. and I expect him to entertain me. Who cares that he has to work a twelve hour shift? I'm BORED!

Nah, I would never actually make him wake up, but I do miss his company. I have to stop myself from running in there and jumping on the bed, or sitting there and staring at him till he wakes up.

(Oh, for those of you who asked, the name Caspian comes from the Chronicals of Narnia. The fourth book is called Prince Caspian. I'm guessing C.S. Lewis got it from the Caspian Sea =)

Pip of my dreams

This picture makes her look so angelic. She was actually trying to eat one of my hair ties.