Happy 4th of July and Happy Birthday Punch

Happy 14th Birthday to my cat Punch. She, and her sister Judi, who has left us already, were born on the 4th of July, 1994 at the home of my friend, Stoney. They were a housewarming gift from me to Kevin. Kevin did NOT want one cat, much less two. God love him, we now have five. Granted, that's about five too many most days, but we love them all. We are awaiting natural attrition to occur. Punch had a hematoma on her ear a few weeks back and has stitches in her ear right now. She goes Monday to have those removed. She is the most loving cat in the world. She loves all people, but absolutely HATES Lucy Grey, another kitty we have. She loves to drink from the bathroom faucet any time you are in there. She's a snuggler who likes to sleep close to you. If she wants you to move, she sticks out one claw and gently pokes you with it until you move. Here are a few photos of the Birthday Girl.

It has been a very quiet 4th around our house. We are living in the land of recuperation. Josh is still pretty out of it. We had this great plan of doing his pain meds for two days and then just letting him ask for it when he wanted it. Today was two days post-op and I'm not seeing him slacking up on his requests for pain medication. It's pretty well clock work for him -- every four hours. When he eats, it seems to be worse for him -- as I'm sure it is. The doctor told us to let him eat pretty much what he asks for. While I thought that was crazy at the time, I didn't realize he won't ask for much. Since surgery he's had mashed potatoes, mac and cheese, potato cheese soup, pancakes and ice cream. He works on the smallest portions for the longest time. I feel so bad for him. As I write, he is clean, after just taking a good long bath and is snoring beside me. He moans a lot at night. Finally, this morning at 7, I asked Kevin to come lay with him so I could get some sleep. All of us fell back asleep and didn't wake up until 10:30. We might not have awakened then except the phone rang.

And now, here it is five minutes after midnight and people are STILL shooting fireworks. This really wouldn't bother me so much except that the poor neighbor's dog has been barking ALL day. How he has a voice left is beyond me, but he hates fireworks. I'm sure they scare him. People are so inconsiderate. Alas, I must be getting old. No, that's not it -- I'm just not rude enough to think that just because I want to shoot fireworks all night long that other people should have to listen to it and stay awake because of it. Anyway.... I'll step down off my soapbox now.

Speaking of fireworks, we missed most fireworks this year. We did see a lot of the ones shot around here (and I'm still seeing them out my bedroom window), but we didn't get any or get to go see any. Next year, we are going to get back into the 4th of July celebrations. We usually have a party at our house, complete with fireworks. Last year (was it last year??), when we nearly burned the neighbor's barn down, singed a few hairs on some heads and almost killed the neighbor's dog (same one that barks about fireworks) due to an incorrectly shot batch of fireworks, we decided to call that quits for a few years (and give folks time to forget the bad memories of it all!!). Looking back now, it was pretty fun; then, it was pretty scary.

In three more days, our coordinator will be back in country and hopefully by Wednesday we will know whether our case was included in court this session. In all honesty, I just don't think it will be -- I'm not trying to be negative, but I just don't think it will be. It makes me very sad because I REALLY want to get back and pick up Ellie, but I have no control over it.

Football games start the last week of August and run every weekend until November. It is my favorite sport that Josh plays and I don't want to miss the games. If we get court this upcoming week, we will be home just prior to the first games.

Kevin has been working on installing the cabinets out in our office/craft room. He has all the wall cabinets hung and is working on running all the cords behind and up through the counter top. Then, he will secure the rest of the base cabinets and the counter top. I'm SO excited to get that done so I can get out my scrapbook supplies and hair bow supplies. I want to make a few hair bows to match Ellie's outfits. I also need to get to my scrapbook supplies. There have been several occasions where I wanted my card stuff and couldn't find any of it and gave up and bought a card. It could take days to get it all organized, but I can't wait!!

That's pretty much it in Latham world. We are going to spend next week recuperating. Kevin has to go to Pennsylvania and Texas this next week so Josh and I will pretty much be a home. I've bought him a Slip n Slide for when he is better. We are looking forward to some time with that. We might head out to the free movies next week -- depending on how he feels.

We are gearing up for one of our final fundraisers. On July 18th and 19th, we are holding a yard sale. We have lots of items in our storage building and anticipate getting more soon from folks who have told us they have things for us. We need to raise a few more thousand for the return trip. I see a project trip in my future. I'm going to be honest. I hope I NEVER have to fund raise again. I want to just go back to normal life after this adoption is complete.

So, Happy Fourth of July. Thank you to all who have served our country and continue to make this day possible. Happy 4th of July, Ellie. Get well soon my little man Josh.