Black Friday

Got my Black Friday shopping done, LOL.  In truth, all I did was visit Sephora's website and pick up a couple of their $10 deals.  A palette for me and an eyeliner & mascara combo for my friend's daughter.  And I had a code for a sample bag, (the code is fromsephora if anyone wants it) plus I went through Ebates so I'll be getting 10% back. Ebates is great for people like me who do a fair amount of online shopping.  They keep track of my purchases and send me a rebate check once a quarter.  I always put my checks into our vacation account, so we can do something special on vacation.  The link above is a referral link, just so you know. 

Anyway:  I have no intention of braving the hordes of bargain hunters at the local stores.  I used to do Black Friday, but after too many years of hearing , "Sorry, those are gone," ten minutes after a store opened - at the crack of dawn, no less - I decided it just wasn't worth it.  So now I do my little bit of shopping online, and if the website is down or the items are gone, no biggie.  It's not like I can't find some way to spend my money during the holiday season.  As far as Christmas shopping, my mom doesn't like gifts but she does look forward to her annual calendar from Alaska photographer Susan Stevenson, which I already bought.  The older nephews just get cash, so that leaves the three little ones - Diva, Cubby, and Squeak, to buy gifts for.  Walker and I don't exchange gifts, nor do the adults in our families.  Just to make things interesting, Diva's birthday is in December, Squeak's is in January, and Cubby was born in March.  So when I shop for Christmas gifts, I look for birthday gifts, too, and tuck them away.  I have no idea what any of the kids want this year, but I do know that Diva was trying to sell enough Girl Scout cookies to win an iPod.  Since she didn't make it, and since I have a brand new pink iPod Shuffle that has never been out of the package, there will be music in Miss Diva's future.

My Ernie seems to be having issues with constipation again.  I'm not sure how bad it is.  She seems okay - eating, running around, jumping onto the furniture - but there have been no packages in her litter box.  Last time we had her at the vet they told us that what we're doing for her is all we can do, unless we want to travel to the University of Madison, Wisconsin to their vet clinic and have surgery done to remove part of Ernie's colon.  The last couple of inches have become very narrow and seem to be the cause of her problems.  I won't be taking that route, though, because she's still having kidney failure and there is no cure for that.  I won't put Ernie through the trauma of a trip and surgery.

I did some research into home remedies, and as long as she's strong and active I'll keep trying those.  We just have to take it one day at a time. The vet did say they could try another enema, though her chances of surviving the anesthesia are not great and there is nothing to prevent this from happening over and over. The only alternative the vet can give us is euthanasia.  Not so great, for any of us.

Updated:  I no sooner published this post than Ernie gave me a present.  I guess I should have outed her sooner, LOL.