Thankful Thursday

I have to say for this thankful Thursday I am very thankful for my family, friends, and health. 

But, most of all, I am thankful that I had my sweet cat Nermal in my life for the short six years I had him. As most of you know I had to put him to sleep recently and it has been sooo hard!! I am sad daily but I am trying to just focus on the fact that I was just lucky to have him in my life. 

He was such a super sweet, funny, crazy cat and he truly was my snuggle muffin!!! Actually, he was everyone’s snuggle muffin! He snuggled and groomed all my other cats daily and snuggled me too! I think they are still trying to figure out who should groom them now…ha! I miss him everyday but am grateful that my other cats are still in my life even though no one has yet to step up and become a snuggler yet. Lol!

I hope he is so happy and healthy again up there at that Rainbow Bridge because she is sooo very missed everyday here on Earth both by me and the other kitties!!!!

I love and miss you my sweet Nermal!!! I am so grateful I had the time I did with you in my life!!!

Hugs! 

Schools Out For Summer!!

Hi everyone! I’m crawling my way out of a bit of a blogging funk. I try so hard to only post positive things and it was a pretty crazy, stressful, sad beginning to 2022. 

It was a pretty stressful semester in nursing school and my last post here in blog land was when I had to put my precious Nermal to sleep. I have to say both have been pretty rough. I think of Nermal daily and miss him daily. He was that cat that was on top of me snuggling every waking hour I was home. But I know he’s in a better place now and I definitely did the right thing for him.  Now no cat snuggles me… my remaining cats are more standoffish …I keep hoping that one day one of them is going to step up and start snuggling me… Ha ha! Fingers crossed!! Below is my sweet Nermie…

My clinical group the past semester was awesome! I had a great instructor and the best clinical classmates ever!!!! Here they are leaving our final clinical of the semester … me in the front, teacher in the fuzzy white jacket, Mable and Katie students like me!!! 

Missing from the Picture above is Caitlyn. She was my clinical bestie!!!  She found out she was pregnant prior to the start of the semester and went into labor two weeks before the end of the semester. Talk about a crazy semester of nursing school. Needless to say, she missed the final clinical week and has to finish up in the summer but here’s a picture of her, her husband and her new baby boy Maverick!!! Yay!!! 

As you can see below I finished with a 3.6 GPA for this semester so I will be on the Dean’s list! Yippee! I was hoping for straight A’s but I’m also very happy with my 3.6! If you look at my grades below; at least I’m trending upwards… Ha ha!

So the great news is I’m off school for summer! My final semester will be fall 2022 and then I will officially graduate from nursing school with my degree. Next step after that is to pass the NCLEX and get a real job again!

I will be working as a CNA at a local hospital in my area for the summer in the Med-Surg area. I am planning to work a few days a week and have my weekends off for lake visits with my parents.

One really awesome bit of news is that I will be heading to Nicaragua in the next few days. My mother and I will be going with my professor and a few other students on a nursing trip. We will be staying in Granada Nicaragua and traveling to remote villages each day to distribute medical supplies and to perform  standard first aid for the villagers. I am so excited as we’ve been planning this for so many months… It’s truly going to be a life experience. This made me realize I need to get back into blogging again! I’ve got to share this amazing experience with as many people as possible.

If you’re on my Instagram, then you know that I set up Venmo for people to donate. If you are looking for a great cause you can donate using my Venmo below and we will use ALL the monies to go directly toward medicine and medical supplies for the villagers. I will be blogging everything that we purchase so that you will be able to see everything that your donation went toward.  Apparently they are in dire need for prenatal vitamins and basic medicinal supplies.

So, that’s my update! I will be posting every night, if possible, from the hotel. I would love it if you follow my journey!! 

Sending so much love and so many hugs to everyone out there!!

Again, sorry for the long blogging break I think I am finally ready to come out of my shell again. It won’t be long and you will be begging me to take another break!!! Haha!!!

Have a spectacular day!!!

Hugs to everyone!!!

Nermie hard decision

Hi everyone! I hope everyone is doing fantastic this week!

Just wanted to check in because you guys have been so super supportive and I wanted to keep you posted.

We’ve had multiple check-in‘s with the vet regarding Nermal and his glucose numbers. For those new here- Nermal is my cat that was diagnosed with diabetes about two months ago after losing four pounds in one month. After we first started shots his numbers were in the 700s. After about two weeks we got them down to 500. That was giving him 2 units in the morning and 2 units at night and basically hand feeding him special diabetic cat food.  When I took him back the next time his numbers were back up in the 700s again. So the vet moved him to 3 units at night and 3 units in the morning. We tried that for about two more weeks and when I took him back this time the numbers were still up. So then the vet wanted to try 4 units in the morning and 4 units at night. I explained to him that Nerm is not acting like himself anymore. He never plays and all he does is lay in bed and sleep all day. I told him I was considering euthanasia due to him not having any quality of life at all. My vet said since he’s only six he did not agree and didn’t think we should even consider that yet.

I’ve been doing 4 units in the morning and 4 at night for a couple of days now and he is still filling the litter box within 6 hours with pee. He’s moping around the condo or he just lays on the bed all day. He doesn’t even watch birds anymore or try to play. He used to play all day. He really just lays there. He is not the same cat he used to be and I just can’t justify making him suffer anymore. My vet wants me to continue trying but I’ve decided I can’t put him through this anymore.

I contacted the at-home euthanasia vet that I used before when my last cat had liver cancer. She agrees that it’s time. So I’ve made an appointment for Saturday at 1 PM to allow him to pass on peacefully.

Any and all prayers are definitely appreciated. I honestly just can’t justify putting him through this anymore.

Please pray for me-this is going to tear my heart out but I simply can not watch him suffer with no quality of life any longer.

Beach House Fresh Condo

Happy Thursday everyone!!!

One of my very favorite quarantine projects was painting my condo. it had not been painted in 15 years and it needed done so desperatly.

Quarantine gave me to time and excuse to paint...there was LITERALLY nothing else to do! HA

Here are the pictures I took....

Here is the color difference after edging. I chose "Beach House" by Baer as my color.

It is so nice and clean and fresh now! I am so happy I did it!

Remember my cat that was so scared she would not leave under the bed? Well, after months of using Jackson Galaxy's Stress Reliever and Grouch sprays, Grace is finally venturing out with the other cats.

This is her on the top of the cat tree with Nermie below...

And this is Grace and her sister Faith sitting at the back door getting fresh air. See how large she is??? That is from months of hiding under a bed. She is starting to lose that weight quickly now that she is movng around.  The only cat she does not hang out with is Trouble...they are NOT friends but I do not know why...

I also hing this awesome hammock swing on my porch!! I love sitting out here!!! It is hard for me to want to come in. It is sooo comfy!

I got a little update from work...it looks like I may be done in September. Then the job hunt begins...yippee.

I hope you are all well and so many HUGS to you all!!!!