Sierra died today at 7:00 pm EDT. I was holding her. She went out kicking and screaming, but then I wouldn’t expect anything less from her. She was stubborn to the end. Everyone shed tears over her and on her. Del and I buried her together.

This past year has been really hard for Sierra with our moving from Alabama to New York. She never fully recovered from her funk last summer when she got sick and lost a lot of weight, even though she seemed to recover. Over the last couple of months, we’ve noticed that she’s been more stand offish than usual and not wanting to visit with the people she loves. When we took her over to the new house early last week, she got mad and stopped eating. She’d still drink her water every now and then, but she dropped weight rapidly and lost her strength almost as fast. We tried force feeding her canned food to help her regain her strength and maybe whet her appetite, but she’s refusing food. We honestly didn’t think she would make it through till today, but I think she was waiting for Del to be there with her. She loves him so much–he brought her home from the shelter when she was 6 weeks old–and wants him to comfort her. She’s not able to even stand on her feet anymore and doesn’t bother to retract her claws fully. She rests but doesn’t sleep. She knows she’s dying, but she needed Del to let her know that he accepts this change. I don’t think she wants to disappoint him, hence the need for Del’s approval. I gave her mine last night, but it wasn’t enough. She needed to hear it from her daddy. Del is at the house with Sierra, lying down with her and stroking her. He’s crying over her; I could hear him when I left with tears streaming down my face. We’re going to miss her, but we’re glad for the time she gave us. She’s most likely not going to make it to dinner time tonight….she’ll be happier I think when she lets go of the pain and drifts into sleep. Del is going to bury her on the land we wanted to build on. He’s planning on wrapping her in her favorite towel. It hasn’t even been two years since we lost Prissy, and now we’re losing Sierra too. I’m going to miss my kitty.

I’m exhausted this morning. I had my (fasting) bloodwork drawn yesterday and I wasn’t happy about that. I had to get up at 6 am to get to the hospital by 7. There’s a lot of construction going on right now, so I had to walk through the hospital to get to the lab instead of just walking in the front door. I was there for an hour to get a blood draw, then had to meander back through the hospital (got lost and had to ask for directions) to get back to the parking lot.

We had a lot to do yet and Sami was starting to nod off around 10 so we grabbed some ice cream cones from McDonald’s. We had phone calls to make–got the electric switched over today–and checks to cut before I could bring the kids home for their nap. When I got home at 12:30, the kids had been sleeping for almost an hour. I woke them up, fed them lunch and told them they could play. It’s nearly impossible to get them to take a nap after they sleep in the car, so I didn’t fight them. Sami asked to “lie in the bed” around 1:15, so we all laid down for a bit. Delbert was asleep within minutes and was still sleeping when I had to leave at 2:40.

My FIL watched the kids for us while Del and I headed down to the lawyer’s office to close on the house. I never realized how much paperwork was involved in this process!!! So, the appointment was at 3:30 and we left the office at 4:15 and headed up to the insurance agent to get insurance on the house. The lawyer we hired for our part said yesterday that he’s been a lawyer since before the Civil War…..not sure if he was joking or not, but he’s old and has been a lawyer for a long time.

We spent the night in OUR house last night. Since we haven’t moved anything over yet, we inflated air mattresses. We forgot to turn the thermostat up and woke up cold and searching for the thermostat and extra blankets. I inadvertently took Sami’s blanket from her–I thought she was sharing a blanket with Del as she snuggled close to her daddy–and doubled up. She was unhappy about that this morning when she saw me with her blanket. “Mommy, give me back my Dora blanket!”

Sierra wasn’t happy about her move, either. She’s on the side porch off the kitchen and cried all night. She was not only testy about the move, but the kids were making a lot of noise and further freaking her out. Not good….my shoulders and ear are sore from kitty claws digging in…

We’ve got a lot of work to do inside the house. I started tearing down wallpaper in the dining room last night and almost got all of it down. I told Del I don’t like any of the wallpaper in the house and it’s all coming down. Same with the carpets. They’re all coming up. We’re laying laminate in the downstairs living areas and vinyl or linoleum in the kitchen. We have to remodel the kitchen as well. New countertops, new sink and sink cabinets, new flooring.

Lots of work, but I think it will be well worth the efforts once we’re done transforming our house into our home.

1. Savage :: Doc
2. Warrior :: Xena, Princess
3. Daisy :: Daisy, give me your answer do. I’m half crazy all for the love of you!
4. Schedule :: Classes, Time Table
5. Rock, paper, scissors :: Rock crushes scissors, scissors cut paper, paper covers rock.
6. Medical :: Journal, Professional; nurse, doctor; Transcriptions
7. Jade :: Beautiful stone, many colors, lovely green
8. Elevator :: Depression, dreams, small space, close quarters; I get anxious about elevators and would rather climb the stairs.
9. Drain :: bath water
10. Goldfish :: Fairly Odd Parents; 5 given to me for my fifth birthday

Let’s make cookies! Instead of making a chocolate chip recipe and baking, we make a sugar cookie dough and let the kids add baking chips before baking. They have a lot of fun and the cookies taste great. We made cookies last week, and here are some pics from our adventures. I didn’t have the camera for Sierra’s part, but you can see Sami’s face as she watches the cat lick the spoon!

Cookie Dough

• 3 sticks butter, softened
• 3/4 C. white sugar
• 1/4 C. brown sugar
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 2 3/4 C. self-rising flour
• 1 (14 oz.) can sweetened condensed milk

Decorations

• Assorted baking chips:

• semi-sweet chocolate
• mint chocolate
• white chocolate
• butterscotch
• milk chocolate
• m&m’s brand baking chips

Instructions

1. Gather children to kitchen with promise of making cookies. Wash their hands well.
	2. Preheat oven to 350º F. Beat butter and sugar until creamy, beat in sweetened condensed milk.
3. Scrape can with plastic spoon. Let cat lick milk off spoon.
	4. Add flour, stir until combined. Make sure to have a designated dough tester.
5. Roll heaped tablespoonfuls of mixture into balls, place on greased oven trays.
	6. Allow children to decorate and taste cookies as they desire.
7. Bake cookies about 15 minutes or until golden. Cool on pan for 2 minutes, then remove to cooling rack.