fatrockstar

Not even a day after posting it, my "I am Loved" plaque was purchased (thanks, Michelle!) I shared this news with a couple of the people who I had shown the finished product to, and they were a little bummed. "You should make more," they said. I will probably do that. I bought enough balsa wood for it. I like the whole "remind me of good things" theme.

There's a tin in my oven right now with a raised and "gilded" guitar design on its lid. The rest of it is covered in black and silver. Usually I line the inside of the tin with felt, but this time around I'm thinking something else would do. It's got a guitar on it, maybe a music emergency kit? I could insert some foam and include a 9v battery, some slots for picks, and an extra guitar string or something. I dunno. I'm just brainstorming here.

Tonight I finished a violet-and-gold heart-shaped pillow bead that I'm pretty proud of. It's on a satin cord now awaiting some clasps. I have another heart-shaped pillow bead necklace that is done and ready-to-go. I need to whip out the light box and start taking pictures. I know absolutely nothing about jewelry -- hopefully it's nice enough to get someone's attention.

Someone pointed out that there is a lot of testosterone in my house. Even the pets are male. Oh well. At least I'll never have to lift anything heavy or have to struggle for items on a high shelf.

This was taken about a week ago. Since then, Grady has made a habit of stalking Flea. At one point he even took a swing at him (but no contact). Normally Flea terrorizes cats. Grady seems immune to the bird's aggressive posturing, probably even fascinated by it.

For the record, the swat Grady took at Flea was after Flea reacted poorly to Grady's attempt to sniff him. It was hilarious.

Grady is now more intrigued than ever, and Flea just wishes the cat would hurry up and recognize his superiority already.

Yesterday I arrived at work to find a card addressed to Grady on my desk. It contained well wishes and a large sum of cash, but no signature. I am immensely grateful for the windfall, but I wish I knew who to thank. The anonymous nature of the gift leads me to assume that it was someone who knew me. I usually don't receive such large gifts comfortably even though they are greatly appreciated. Whoever you are, thank you!

Later the same day a man came by my office, introduced himself, and contributed his own sum to the Grady fund. I am touched by his generosity. Grady doesn't realize it, but he is touched, too. Thank you, Don, for your donation!

Both of these donations took a huge chunk out of Grady's hospital bill, which was a little larger than the estimate.

After work I went to SVS to pick up Grady and get a primer on how to take care of him and his feeding tube. They gave me a LOT of stuff, including extra syringes, stoppers, gauze, and antiseptic. Grady did not want to sit still for the demonstration of what went where. I couldn't tell if that was the process or the environment.

I got home and Ethan & Tristan were there having dinner. Ethan's parrot, Flea, was hanging out as well. In an attempt to feed Grady in a cleanup-friendly environment I brought him into the dining room, but that proved to be a poor choice. There was too much activity and noise going on in there for it to go well, PLUS I had not prepared anything in advance like I probably should have. It was like trying to thread a needle with a sack of wet hamsters in your arms. Not fun. Grady got sick in response, so I put him in a quiet bedroom to calm down before trying again. The next attempt went a little easier.

Even though I had set up a nook for him to hide in, he decided he was happier under the bed. I don't like dragging him out from under there, but I did this morning to change his dressings and see how he was doing. He was very wiggly during that. Note to self: Have even more of the materials ready-to-go when changing the dressing next time. Once calm, I gave him his meds without incident. He practically napped through the whole thing. Same with the feeding an hour later. If he's calm, things go okay. If he's held, he will protest. We're not out of the woods yet.

I must have checked on him one too many times this morning, because after his post-breakfast feeding he moved to a box in the corner of the music room to hide. We have an agreement that I don't mess with him there. He is safe until I have to feed him again.

I still have hope. Next week I will have the house to myself for several days while Ethan is in Hawai'i for a songwriting conference. Keep your fingers crossed that most of his improvement will be during that time.