Goals, New and Newish Clothes, Keeping Busy

We start each new school year in September. Usually after we get back from vacation. I'll be going to the homeschool store probably next week to get what Kelly needs for 10th grade. She already has World History, Geometry, Grammar, Vocabulary/Spelling/Poetry, and Biology. She just needs to get Literature and two electives.

Sean got behind in his schoolwork and wouldn't have gotten caught up until some time next year. Mostly because he's soooo sloooow and lazy. So rather than draw out 12th grade, he's going to GTCC to get his GED.

From what I've read, getting your GED at the end of 12th grade is something some homeschoolers do anyway. Just to have something more "official" (in the eyes of some ignorant college officials and/or employers; I don't use the word ignorant as an insult) than a diploma you can order or print out on your printer.

While homeschooling is becoming more and more popular, and more colleges are becoming more aware and accepting of homeschool graduates (especially Ivy League and other universities of great reputation), knowing that Sean is not likely to go to a normal 4-8 year college, getting his GED and then learning a trade* is something I knew he would end up doing. (Learning a trade; not so much the GED.)  Besides, from what I've heard and read, a lot of college graduates are struggling to find work in their chosen field, having to work retail or in restaurants or sales just to have a job and pay their bills. I hope Sean will be successful doing what he's chosen to do.

*Google (and YouTube) Mike Rowe to learn more about the need for more blue collar workers, how in demand they are, and how well some of those jobs are paying. Some welders are getting paid $150,000 or more a year. I told Sean that he should have that as a plan B.

Sean started school when he was 6, was supposed to graduate this past May or June at age 19. Not a big deal. A lot of kids start at 6 instead of 5, for various reasons. Sean has always been a bit behind physically and not quite as mature as other kids his age. It didn't bother us that he would graduate at 19. But he'll be 20 in April and still working on 12th grade if he sticks with the homeschool work. He's ready (and so am I) to just go ahead and finish by getting his GED and then start Aviation Mechanics classes in the spring.

If he wasn't so slow, he could be finished by the end of this year or early next year if he worked really hard, several hours a day, but apparently that's too much for him. So, GED it is. He should be done by the second or third week of September.

Last week he took a test to see what he knows and what courses he needs to take. He did very well on the Reading, Social Studies, and Science portions of the test. He also did pretty well on some of the Math (fractions, decimals, geometry, division), but not so great on the rest of it (multiplication - he ran out of time, percents, maybe one or two other parts). So Math is the only subject he has to take a class in. He goes from 9 AM to 12 PM, Monday-Thursday and, as I said earlier, he should be done by the second or third week of September. He will take the test at that time and hopefully pass and get his GED.


Anyway, I'm glad he has a goal and a plan and is working towards achieving it. Of course, since he doesn't have a car or a license (we'll try to get that done this year), I drive him to class and pick him up. That's close to 60 miles a day - there and back, and then there and back again. (No Hobbits traveling with us though.) I also have to go to bed earlier than I normally do and get up earlier. It's been really tough on this night owl. lol I miss my late nights. But it's worth it.

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I haven't done as much shopping over the past couple months, I don't think. Well, I've shopped, but not bought a whole lot. :-)

I got this skirt at Kohl's about 3-4 months ago. I got it on sale, but don't remember how much I paid for it. Maybe $30?

I got this dress at Belk a couple months ago. It was originally about $50 and I paid about $25.

I saw this at Belk, but they didn't have my size. I happened to check Dillard's website and they had it for about $30 cheaper than Belk, so I ordered it from Dillard's about 3-4 weeks ago. I wore it with the red shrug below.

I got this dress at JC Penney about 3 weeks ago (a couple days before Evie died). Originally about $60, I paid $30. Comfortable and looks good on me.

When I was looking for the dress above this one at JC Penney's website, I saw this red one, available online only. Originally $60, I paid $35. I ordered it a few days after getting the floral one.

I got this dress at Kohl's this past Friday night. Originally $69, I paid $43 and change after tax. It's really comfortable and fits well.

I got this tank at Kohl's to go under the dress above. Originally $14, I think. I paid about $12.

I got this skirt at Stein Mart about 2 weeks ago. Originally $25, I paid $18.

I got this shrug at Kohl's 2-3 months ago. I think it was about $50. I can't remember if I got it on sale or not.

I got this at Kohl's about 3-4 months ago. I think it was on sale, but I can't remember how much I paid for it.

I got this at Stein Mart about 2 weeks ago. I think I paid about $30 for it.

All skirts and dresses cover my knees. (I'm only 5'0".) All sleeveless dresses are worn with shrugs. The vest, of course, will be worn with a top of some kind. I'm all about the modesty. :-D

That might look like a lot, but if you read the descriptions you'll see that I bought a couple things 3-4 months ago, a couple things 1-2 months ago, and a few more recently. And all but the dress I ordered from Dillard's were on sale and even that was $30 cheaper than what it cost at Belk. :-)

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Besides shopping (on Fridays and/or Saturdays) and taking Sean to and from school, I've been doing a lot of work on the family tree, a little reading (currently Time Siege by Wesley Chu), vacuuming the church on Saturdays, and, of course, the usual wife and mom things of cooking, cleaning, laundry, etc. :-)

And I still miss my Evie Lynn and still cry sometimes, but now only a couple times a week rather than every day.


Better end this blog entry now. It's after 1:30 AM and I need to go to bed so I can get up early in the morning and bring Sean to school.

:-)

Goodbye, Sweet Evie Lynn

Evie Lynn

January 2003 - July 3, 2016

I've put off writing about this for days. There was no way I could write about it in the first week. It was too fresh and I would've sobbed the whole time and may not have been able to see my screen through my tears. I may still cry.

(Great. I'm already crying.)

My sweet Evie Lynn (full name Arwen Evenstar; named for the Lord of the Rings character) died late Sunday night, July 3rd, about 10 minutes till midnight. I had noticed she was breathing weird (Saturday night or Sunday morning) and at first I thought that she needed to throw up and was having a hard time. She threw up once or twice a week pretty much all the years that we had her.

When we got home from church around 1:00 or so (church starts at 11), she seemed to be having a little bit of a harder time with it and I was a little worried. I hoped that she would eventually throw up (never thought I'd want that to happen) and start doing better, but she never did.

By that night, I noticed that whenever she would lie down, she would sit up again after a couple seconds. After she did that a few times, I figured that lying down made it harder for her to breathe. Then I really began to worry and get scared. Before that, I had decided that I would call the vet in the morning and bring Evie in. But after seeing her seeming to not be able to breathe when lying down, I couldn't let her sit up all night, desperate to lie down and sleep, but not able to because she couldn't breathe unless she was sitting up.

I called the emergency vet (the one we'd brought our dog Pippin to in October for pancreatitis) and told them what was going on. They told me to bring her in right away. (Evie had also started to drool and they said that cats do that when they're in pain.) I got dressed and told my daughter Kelly and her friend who was spending the night to get dressed. My husband Charlie and son Sean were already dressed.

Without thinking, I put Evie in a carrier. One that was too small for her to sit up in. She was forced to lie down. I will never forgive myself for being so stupid. :-(

Evie meowed a few times (not her normal meow) before we left the house and then a few more times after we got in the car. I thought it was just because she didn't want to be in the carrier, and that was probably part of it, but I think it was mostly because she couldn't get a good breath and was uncomfortable. We were about 10-15 minutes (maybe less) down the highway when she died. She made some sort of commotion. I think probably fighting death and then collapsing. Kelly (my daughter) was holding the carrier in her lap in the back seat.

I told Sean to shine his phone into the carrier so I could see Evie and I could see that she wasn't moving. I said, "Oh, my God" and then looked at Charlie, who was driving, and said, "She's not moving. She can't breathe." But then I immediately realized that she was gone.

Kelly and I began to sob. We cried the whole way to the vet ( which is more than 30 minutes from our house). When we got there, Kelly and her friend Rene stayed in the car. Kelly was leaning against Rene, with Rene's arm around her, sobbing.

Charlie, Sean, and I went inside. Charlie was carrying the carrier. The woman behind the desk looked at us and I shook my head. Charlie put the carrier on the counter and the woman said something like, "I think she's gone." I nodded my head.

Charlie and I were brought to a small room (Sean went outside, but came back in and left again a couple times) and they brought Evie to the back. I sobbed loudly (I'm sure the whole place heard me) several times - any time I thought about the moment she died and how she died and when one of the vets (or assistants; I'm not sure) asked us what happened.

 I cried every day that first week. Usually several times a day.


I feel so awful that I didn't get her to the vet sooner and that I put her in a carrier instead of a crate. (Which is pretty big, but she could've sat up and breathed a little easier and maybe survived the trip to the vet.) Maybe she would've died anyway, but she would've had a better chance of survival, even if it was just a small chance.

I think what may have killed her was she probably swallowed something she shouldn't have ingested (which she did a lot - plastic ribbons and thin plastic like the kind toilet paper comes wrapped in) and got it lodged in her esophagus or maybe she inhaled it (or maybe vomit) into her lungs. Something like that. We didn't have an autopsy (necropsy) done and it could've been something else entirely, but just based on past behavior I think it's very possible that that's how she died.


I miss her so much. She was so sweet and funny.

I miss her puffy face (an expression she would get when she really wanted something, or sometimes for seemingly no reason at all; the area where her whiskers were, near her nose and mouth, would kind of puff out) and her ticklish feet.

I miss her soft, fluffy fur, and her purrs, her beautiful eyes, her sweet face, and her adorable meows when we'd enter a room that she was in or peep around a corner at her.

I miss her funny hisses (sounded kind of like how it sounds when a car's tires splash through a little water on the road) whenever Sam (one of our other two cats) would pester and chase her.

I miss how much she loved being in the bathroom with me (or Kelly) and how she loved lying in the sink.

I miss how she loved for us to pour water into the water bowl from several feet above the bowl - she'd get that puffy face and try to drink from the stream of water as it came down.

I miss how much she enjoyed trying to catch the laser from the laser pointer and would try to run up the wall to get it.

I miss her bouncy butt when she'd run down the hall.

I miss how her top lip would sometimes get stuck where her top right fang used to be after she'd yawn.

I miss how she would just stare off into space, not seeming to be really looking at anything or thinking about anything. I said she was an airhead. Charlie said she was a hippy - laid back. :-)

I miss how she would watch TV sometimes if there was a bird or other animal moving on screen.


Anytime I enter a room and one or more of our pets are there, I say hello to them and anytime one of them enters a room I'm in, I say hello to them. I miss being able to say, "Hi, Evie Lynn" or "Hi, PooPoo". Because she isn't there anymore.

It still feels like she should be in Kelly's room (her favorite place) anytime I enter. It doesn't seem real or even possible that she's gone. She's a part of our family. She belongs here. She should be here with us. :-(


Goodbye, sweet Evie Lynn. I will always miss you and I will always love you.

July 2004, about 7 months after we got her. I had gone to the shelter in December 2003 to get a dog for Charlie for Christmas, but came back with this sweetie instead.

May 30, 2009

June 2009. She loved to lay on her back.

January 2011. She was watching my kids sled down our icy driveway.

October 20, 2014

 April 12, 2015