Weekly Wrap Up 3/25/22 -- Saying goodbye to a beloved member of the family

We adopted Elvis from the shelter at age 13.  He was alway a bit stand offish and only came to you under his terms but he somehow wriggled his way into our hearts.  He was a one person at a time cat.  When we first got him, he attached very strongly to our oldest,  Firedrake.  hardly leaving her side.  When she left for college, Elvis then attached himself to my husband.  Elvis followed my husband around like a dog (did the same for our oldest)

It wasn't long after we adopted him that we discovered he had the beginnings of kidney disease.  We switched him to a special diet and were able to keep him healthy.  Around the age 15 he developed a very severe infection in the mouth which affected his appetite significantly.  He had to have 6 teeth pulled and was put on monthly steroids and antibiotic shots.  It was expensive but he did well.

 A few weeks ( he is now 16 yo) ago we had to take him to the emergency vet and it was there that we were told he was now diabetic.  His blood sugar was in the high 300's.  The emergency vet suggested we get a full blood work up at his regular vet, which we did a few days later.  Elvis blood sugar level came back even higher (high 400's). It was official he was now diabetic and based on other things we were seeing he was having more and more difficulties.   

After much discussion with the vet, it was decided that Elvis's body was slowly beginning to shut down.   This news came on the day our oldest was returning home from college.  Because we knew how hard this was going to be we decided to begin insulin injections in order to give everyone in the family time to say goodbye.

We all had to learn to give Elvis insulin shots twice a day

Elvis who isn't  really a cuddler suddenly seem to want to be around us more and cuddle.

 It was very obvious that week that he wasn't feeling well and wasn't himself.   In some weird way I think he was telling us goodbye.  

Firedrake was able to spend a week with Elvis before returning to college and then with broken hearts we took him to the vet to say goodbye.  We have spent the last week taking pictures and loving him as best we can.  This was particularly hard on my husband and Firedrake who absolutely adored Elvis.

We had him cremated and will be taking his ashes with us to the new house where he will have a special place in our garden.  

Goodbye Elvis, you will be missed!!

Weekly Wrap UP 3/18/22-- 12th grade update

 MarioFan is plugging away at finishing 12th grade strong.  He has already finished a few classes so his work load is decreasing.  Goal is to be finished by early May as we are moving out of state the end of May.  

The Topics that Mariofan has completed are Cybersecurity, vocabulary, driver's ed and Personal Finance (I highly recommend the program Beyond Personal Finance--it was very eye opening for the boys to do weekly budgets and see just how far money goes and how choices they make today can affect savings for their retirement in the future!) 

For Literature MarioFan is reading Ready Player one, which he has been dying to read all year!  He watched the movie a few years ago and wanted to read the book so it was put on our list for this year.

I thought the book was so much better than the film.  I am looking forward to seeing what MarioFan thinks after he is finished reading the book

For Human geography and Social Justice we have been learning about immigration.

The boys were learning about the Push/Pull dilemma of what many immigrants face

I was able to find an activity that put it in perspective for the boys.

For Social Justice they are watching the series "Immigrantion Nation" on Netflix which is about the turbulent period during the Trump presidency.  We have also discovered that Obama deported more immigrants than Trump.  While many claim in all Presidential administrations that they are targeting only immigrants with criminal backgrounds we discovered that this is simply not the case.  More non criminal immigrants are deported across the board.  I also find it absolutely deeply disturbing and horrifying that we deport men and women who served in our Armed forces, something I believe should never happen.

Physics and Spanish classes continue online and are both wrapping up mid May.  

Weekly wrap Up 3/11/22 -- Building update

 They are moving so fast on our new house.  We are scheduled to go out to do a pre dry wall visit in a week or two.  Just waiting for them to finish up all the wiring and HVAC system.  We have hired our own home inspector who specializes in pre dry wall inspection so if there are any issues we can catch them now before the dry wall goes up!  I will be able to take measurements and hopefully have a better vision of where my furniture will go and what we still need to get rid of so that we don't take more than we need with us.  The cost of moving out of state is astronomical so the more we can get rid off the better for our pocket books.

concrete has been poured for the basement

gravel added and more concrete from the garage 

flooring added above the basement

Walls and windows are being added 

Second floor added 

Roof trusses are up!  It is starting to look like a house

some of the brick work is being done on the house!

We have been very busy getting our current house ready to put on the market and met with the Realtors to have an open house next week!!!  Things are starting to come together and I am so excited to be be moving closer to my Mom and for us to enjoy retirement.  Right now we are so busy working on the house and finishing up the school year that it hasn't felt very relaxing, but the end is in sight.  Next update will be when we do the pre dry wall home inspection which is coming up soon. 

Weekly Wrap UP 3/4/22-- A New Driver in the family and other news

 Mario fan passed his driving test on the first try this week!!  He is very happy and we are too!

He couldn't wait to rip off the Permit driver tag off the back window

We met our deadline and got the house ready for sale.  The realtors were in this week taking pictures and they said we did a good job clearing out the place.  I told my husband I am never moving again once we get to our new house.  This process has been exhausting.  

Our new house construction is preceding as planned and it is exciting to get daily pictures to see the progress, won't be long before we get to see it in person.

Firedrake is coming home on Friday for college spring break so the family will be all together again.  She plans on driving the fours hours from college to home, so I will be nervously waiting for her to come through the door.