it's kind of been something else of late, some good, some bad, but something else.

we took the boys in the get fixed—gambit had gotten out and run over to the next neighborhood over. a lady over there found him and gave us a call. she works for a place that does low cost spaying and neutering (plus a few other things, though not full care). she mentioned getting him fixed would help keep him close to home. when i said we wanted to but it just wasn't affordable for us at this time, she filled out two certificates that would cover the cost of the neutering as long as we had proof of rabies shots. one of the things this particular place does is mark the animals with a tattoo to indicate they are fixed. before the end of the first week, shadowcat was starting to sleep a lot and not eat. we checked him, and he was swelling in the area around the tattoo. by the time we got him back in tot hem, he wasn't drinking water and there were lesions/ulcers in the swollen area. they fixed him up and sent him home with antibiotics and an e-collar. he's back to his old self and wanting out and so on. this past weekend (a week and a half after the surgery) wasn't showing any other symptoms, but my daughter discovered he was experiencing swelling as well. so in he went on tuesday for the same treatment. he's also doing well. we've been pretty happy with the place's follow up care, but are concerned that maybe the tattoo needles were dirty or not sterilized the way they should have been.

in the middle of this, youngest was hired by the same cafe that saxy works at. she's in training this week and is really loving the place. the atmosphere is so much better than the one she experienced at wendy's, and so far, the company is willing to work her hours in around his. apparently they pay more than the usual 2.25 tipping wage, but we won't know for sure until she's done with training and actually clocking in.

thanksgiving was nice. quiet, with just the four of us initially, then one of youngest's friends came by and we invited him to eat since he wasn't going to spend thanksgiving with anyone else. we went small—ham, stuffing, greens, a few other things. we didn't make as much of anything either. the one extra was a pecan pie that hubs wanted. i wasn't at all happy with the results though, so went hunting for another recipe and will be trying it before christmas, i think. if i can try it beforehand, maybe we can do it for christmas.

meanwhile, we're still in frantic mode with the money. i'm barely making the bills that cover our living expenses and the car. everything else is so far behind that we're going to end up with more crap on our credit. i'm frustrated. hubs works too damn hard for this, and we have a grand baby coming that we'll be raising. this can't be happening every year. and hubs has finally faced the fact that dragon con is probably unlikely next year. between having a baby in the house, the funds to pay for it, and the money to cover ourselves after the con, it's just impossible.

and we have teh sick going around at the moment. it started with me, something that resulted in a swollen lymph node under one arm, low grade fever, low energy, but no other major sick symptoms. now hubs and froggy have something similar, though their swollen lymphs seem to be in the neck. we can't afford doctors, so we've been drinking cranberry juice (my go to for most infections anyway). hubs is pretty miserable, but hopefully it'll clear up soon. mine took a bit, but other than a little tired, i'm doing much better. and my tired could be weather related—like the damn nasty migraine that put me down on tuesday.

my oldest has had to move (the manager refused to renew their lease after the whole fiasco earlier this year), and through a series of miscommunications and fiascos, they lost the apartment they had lined up and had to move in with her ex's grandparents. oldest grand daughter is staying with us until christmas break, but the biggest problem has been their cats. the grandparents have pit bulls, so they couldn't take them. we have too many cats as it is, and two of them are having health issues that need to be cleared up before we bring any strange animals in the house, so she let them loose outside our door, and we're doing our best to keep an eye on them and feed and care for them under the circumstances. we've put our cat crates outside with blankets inside to provide a safe place for them with at least a little warmth, but i'm really worried about how cold it'll get. last winter was atrocious, and this year doesn't look much better. one of them has taken to wandering the neighborhood, the other is less inclined to wander. heck, it took me several tries for her to realize the crate was a good place for her.

so, yea, mixed bag the past few weeks. everything's also kept me pretty busy in one way or another. well, except the day i was hit with the first sensory sensitive migraine i've had in some time. i spent a lot of that day (or at least most of the afternoon) in bed. as for the rest, it kept me busy enough to not get much writing in, among other things, although i did get word of a short story sale.

this week is going to be a rough one: hub's check is short, so not much will get paid (we have one auto-payment i'm worried will hit before our rent check, and our rent check will hit before the electronic deposit, so, um, yea, that's got me a bit freaked out), and i'm pretty sure i'm going to get another "pay this amount or we'll be repoing the car" notice soon. it doesn't help that we're still dealing with a huge mistake in my account that's really costing us. i downloaded a budget app to attempt to avoid a similar mistake in the future. i'm pretty sure this one was all a matter of timing and missing an auto-payment or something in there, but once you get hit with one nsf fee, you might as well write off anything else outstanding. so, yea, budget app. :P

really hoping next year is better than this one has been.

which reminds me: still need to put together a new whysper layout for next year. once again, i'm running waaay behind....