And so we've come to the new year. I didn't do a very good job of taking photos daily, but I did get to the end of the year. More or less. I think I'll hold off on doing another project 365 for 2014. I'm burnt out from the 2013 one, and I didn't even properly finish it.
Anyway, here's the remaining photos.
12/9: Playing in the snow
We got maybe a dusting, but that didn't stop the Small Human from wanting to play in the snow. He had a fascination with snowball fights. I was less than amused.
12/10: Now it's snowing for real
OMFG Snow! So now we had to dance around and throw snow at each other. I took a ton of photos, most of them I won't share here.
Here's one of the flowering cherry tree that I love so much:
12/10-12/13 I got nuthin'.
12/14: Christmas tree slaying
It was a perfect day to go out and chop down a tree. Normally, the field where we go is muddy. With the ground frozen, we didn't have that problem. The Small Human thought that every tree was the perfect one. When asked why, he said it was because he was bored and just wanted to get on with it. *shrug*. Anyway, it wasn't long until we came upon the perfect tree. We cut it down, and it wrapped up, tied it to the roof of the car, and brought it home. We had just enough time to get it into a water-filled stand when it was time for the Small Human's first basketball game:
They don't keep score at the basketball games, and it's just as well that they don't. From what I understand, parents can be complete assholes about the score. This way, both sides automatically tie, no matter how bad one of the teams may play. The kids try their hardest, and right now, that's what counts.
12/15: Happy birthday!
BIL got another year older, so we gathered to celebrate.
12/16: Under the tree
The Fatties Boombalatty all loved hanging out underneath the tree. Here's the white beast. The Red Beast hung out under the tree the most, but that was because he was dying. While I do have a photo of him under the tree, I'm not going to post it. Poor cat was miserable. The Red Beast was euthanized on New Year's Eve. I'll write more about that later.
12/17: Making cookies
At Thanksgiving, I call it the family bake sale. There's enough pies for each adult to have one. The bake sale continues at Christmas, when there's enough cookies to supply an entire girl scout troop. Here I am doing my part to add to the pile.
Let me tell you, my family makes some damn good cookies.
12/18-12/19: Nothing here.
12/20: Venus
The little white blip is Venus in its crescent form. Hubby got a $2.50 telescope from the thrift store, and has been fascinated with it ever since. The man almost never takes photos, but this time was so tickled by what he saw that he took a picture of our neighboring planet.
12/21: Santa rig
The Small Human got to see Santa twice today. Once in the mall, first thing in the morning, and then again via the fire truck down the street.
12/22-12/23: No photos here
12/24: Awaiting Santa's arrival
My MIL got the kids matching PJ's to wear as they eagerly awaited tee fat man in the red suit. Here's a photo of the 4 of them.
Christmas Eve is fun at my in-laws house. They do the Feast of the Seven Fishes. And a feast it is! Seafood soup, clams casino, fried shrimp, pasta with mussels, stuffed calamari, fried cauliflower, macaroni and cheese, and I forget what else. My favorite this year was the seafood soup. It probably had 7 fishies all in one dish.
When my dad was alive, he always asked about the Feast of the Seven Fishes. He was fascinated by it, and intensely curious as to what kinds of food we ate there. Every Christmas Eve, I think of him.
12/25: Christmas!
To make up for the severe lack of photos, here's a whole bunch.
Santa, of course, made an appearance:
The Small Human had a great time opening his gifts:
Between the dinosaurs, ninja turtles, and hot wheels track, I'd say we had a successful morning.
The Small Human got Hubby a small Eagles blimp, and for me, he got a peace sign necklace with little pink gems in it. I haven't worn a peace sign since high school. I have worn it since then, since it makes him happy to see me wear it.
After watching Hubby diddle around with the thrift store telescope, I decided to get him a real one for Christmas.
The sucker weighs 18 lbs and was a huge pain in the ass to wrap. But seeing how excited he was totally made it worth it.
We went to visit Grandmom and Pop Pop later one. Here's the two oldest cousins posing in front of the tree.
You'll notice that there's tinsel all over the tree. That's because Santa leaves magic on the tree after he drops of his presents. Santa keeps the magic to himself when he visits our house, because he knows that tinsel is very bad for cats to eat.
The whole family got together for Christmas dinner:
And a good time was had by all. The kids got a ton of gifts, and there was an abundance of cookies for everyone.
12/26: Jupiter
It's impossible to see from this photo, but when you looked at it directly through the scope, you could see the bands on Jupiter's surface. It was way cool.
12/27-12/30 No photos.
12/31: Goodbye, Red Beast
Two months ago, I brought the Red Beast in for his check up. He had lost 2 lbs, despite having a very low thyroid count. I knew then that the end was coming, I just wasn't sure when. I tried adjusting his thyroid dose, and I tried feeding him Fancy Feast, but it was eventually no good. Then he had a stroke about 2 weeks ago. I warned my family that the cat's death could be imminent, but still he held on. As it got closer to New Years, the cat started hiding. He'd spend his day under the Christmas tree and howl. I noticed that his breathing became labored. The day before he died, he'd purr but with an open mouth. So the next day I brought him into work.
X-rays of the Red Beast's chest showed no lung space left but one little lobe that was working as hard as it could. I The rest was solid tissue. His cancer had finally metastasized to his chest, and there was nothing that could be done about it. I sat there, crying in front of the screen, knowing that it meant that the nice thing to do was to end the Red Beast's life. I brought my son into the room, and I said, '"The Red Beast is going to die." And we talked about what was going to happen next.
My colleague put him to sleep. There was no way I could do it. The ladies I work with are awesome. I got hugs from everyone, and was told by all that I was making the right decision. The Small Human was amazingly brave throughout the whole ordeal. I didn't have him in the room with me when the cat died. Later, as we were leaving, was when the Small Human lost it. He cried and cried, and we cried together. At one point he said, "Mom, can't you do something to make me feel better?" I wish there was. I told him no, that it was ok to be sad.
We brought the Red Beast's body home so the other two cats could see what had happened. They did a double take, sniffed him, then sniffed each other. And that was it. Seeing that it was New Year's Eve and the practice was closing, we had to get the Red Beast's body back to the office, lest he spend the weekend in the freezer here at home. One of the techs was nice enough to stay late for us. I brought the Small Human to Burger King, and that seemed to help him feel a little better.
Picking up those three bowls at night and putting down only two was hard. Today, on January 9, we discussed cancer and why it's bad. It's still hard.
Rest in peace, my red friend. I shouldn't have favorites, but you were it. You saved me from the darkest days of my life, and for that I'm eternally grateful.
So that's it. A year's worth of photos, more or less. It definitely got harder as the year went on. There were days I just had no idea what to take a picture of. And, of course, there were plenty of days where I just didn't take a picture, especially towards the end. Like I said before, I'm not doing a photo a day for 2014. I might keep this blog and write about the photos I do take, but it won't be every single day.
Thanks for reading this.
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