The necklaces went over well with my cousin's little girls. They all had big smiles on their faces when I gave them to them. Oh and they are just precious, beautiful little girls.

Pam and her husband and the girls spent the day yesterday touring the space center, and it was exceptionally crowded due to spring break and the fact that Endeavour was landing last night. They kept the visitor's center open later than usual and they didn't get out of there till almost 8 o'clock last night. Still, we really wanted to see them and they were leaving on a cruise in the morning so we met them and hung out for a couple of hours in the restaurant at the hotel. Shortly after they got there we heard the double sonic boom from the orbiter returning home. The little girls were impressed, I think.

I was really glad we went to meet them, even though it was late. They were lots of fun and the girls were so sweet and funny. The middle one kept begging to go in the pool, but it was dark outside and coldish. It was so good to see Pam and Alfred and meet the girls. We stayed out past ten o'clock and didn't get too much sleep last night, but we didn't mind. I would love for them all to come back and visit, especially if we have another family day at work so the girls could see the space center up close. I think they would really have a ball.

Andy was telling me about his trip today. His family lives in a very rural area of small towns. His Aunt was a first grade teacher at the same school for 37 years, and her death was a terrible shock to the community. There was a huge turnout for the viewing, over two hundred people (which is a massive number considering how few people live there) showed up. Andy said there was a couple there that both the husband and wife and all four of their daughters had been in Aunt Deb's first grade class. He said that they found out a lot of little things about her, like how she would bake cookies for the guys from the phone company when they came to fix her phone, she brought cookies to the workers at the post office, all kinds of little thoughtful things she did.

For her funeral, the school officials wanted to close the entire school down for the day. It is a K-12 school so there are quite a few students. Deb's parents asked them not to close the school because they did not want to have half of the town attend the funeral, they wanted it to be a little more for the family. So the school was kept open and they found enough substitute teachers to allow seventeen of the other teachers to attend the funeral. In the afternoon, the school had a memorial service for her as well. She was well loved by many, many people. Her thoughtfulness was remembered by all.

I think that some of her selflessness may have contributed to her demise, unfortunately. She never thought of herself and always spent all of her energy and time on everyone else. After her death, the family recalled a lot of little clues as to the fact that she hadn't been feeling well for some months, but it seems like she took great pains to hide it from them. When they went to clean out her house, it was not kept in the way she normally lived. It wasn't dirty, but there was clutter everywhere and things were a bit of a mess. Andy mentioned that there had been certain activities that she had always enjoyed that in the past year she decided she didn't want to participate in anymore, but the rest of the family really hadn't thought much of it. She just said she changed her mind about going to the events, but now it seems as though she had declined to go because she was sick. It is possible she knew how bad her illness was and just kept it a secret because she didn't want to worry or alarm anyone. No one knows, because she did not share her health problems with anyone until it was too late, apparently. Maybe the outcome would have been the same, anyway, but it is sad that she thought so little of herself to even tell anyone close to her what she was going through. Rest in peace, Aunt Deb.

Andy is packing up his things and getting ready to go up to Ohio for Aunt Deb's funeral. It comes at a bad time in terms of things at work, but death is never convenient, so you have to do what you have to do. He is leaving early tomorrow morning to fly out of Orlando and will return late on Saturday night. That will allow him to be there for the viewing Thursday and the funeral Friday. It just sucks all around because she is gone already. It would be so much different if he would be able to actually see her. At least he was able to spend time with her in March when he went up there for a visit. That was when she was still healthy and had no inkling that there was anything wrong, so fortunately his last memories of her will be good ones.

I always hate it when Andy flies somewhere. I am always afraid that he will be taken away from me- it is just the worrier in me. It doesn't help my confidence that Aunt Deb was just ruthlessly taken from us well before her time. But he'll be fine and so will I. I will have the company of a bunch of animals to keep me occupied while he is gone. Actually I should be quite busy taking care of everyone by myself during his absence. They are a lot of work!

Despite the best efforts of the doctors and nurses, there was nothing that could be done for Andy's very special aunt and as of this evening she is disconnected from all of the tubing and equipment and will soon be gone.

Andy's Aunt Deb was one of the sweetest, most thoughtful, and giving people I have ever met and I am very sorry to see her go. She was not my blood relative, but from the first time I met her I felt like she was my real aunt. The trouble came on so suddenly- just over a week ago I got a birthday card from her and a cartoon she had found about alligators "bobbing for poodles" and now she's gone, just like that. I guess you never really know when it will all be over, but it still comes as a shock.

Aunt Deb, we love and miss you; no one was ready for you to go. There can only be better things beyond this world for such a kind and gentle soul as yours.

I only posted a quick photo yesterday, because a lot was going on. First was a minor thing, poor Cody had a bad scratch in his eye. He is almost completely blind now due to his cataracts, and I noticed that there appeared to be almost like a chunk taken out of the surface of one of his little eyeballs. It was very watery too, and didn't look good at all, so i took him to the vet. They stained the eye and looked at it under a blacklight, but it didn't even require a blacklight to tell that there was some damage to the surface of his eye. Fortunately it is not too much of a problem. We have to put ointment in his eye three times a day and give him some pain medication, but he should make a full recovery.

When I got home from the vet with Cody, Andy said his dad had called and his aunt was in the hospital. The particular aunt that is not doing well is probably one of the nicest people in the world, a really sweet giving person. His aunt has taught first grade for around thirty years and loves children. She was just this year afflicted with some liver problems and diagnosed with Alpha 1 Antitrypsin deficiency, and was scheduled to see a specialist this coming week after she had been put off for months due to doctors being too busy to see her. She started having severe liver pains late this week and went to the hospital, and then had a heart attack there due to a freak clot- she had no hardening of the arteries or blockages. She was doing very poorly yesterday, but then began to do much better overnight and this morning, when she was actually able to sit up and eat breakfast.

Sadly, she took a turn for the worse this afternoon, when her kidneys began to shut down and her lungs started filling with fluid. She is now on a ventilator, and the prognosis is not very good. She is only in her mid-fifties and we are all very worried about her. Please keep her in your prayers; she's going to need them.

Just now as Andy was sitting next to me on the couch eating a bowl of ice cream he suddenly was struck with a violent nose itch. He rubbbed his nose forcefully and said, "it is because someone is thinking about me."

I said, "It is because something is itching your fucking nose, nothing more."

He said, "I guess that means you weren't the one thinking about me" and we both chuckled. Hehe.

From a phone conversation between Andy and while I was driving to an appointment and he was at home:

"Your tortoise is in his tray eating and he just laid a big turd."

"Well, it IS a real time saver to eat and shit at the same time. Imagine if you could combine pooping with your meals how much time you could save."

"Gross"

"Just think, you could have dining tables with toilets all around them instead of chairs. Think of how efficient it would be."

I am the most horrible person in the world. I cannot for the life of me after weeks of searching find the perfect birthday gift for Andy and his birthday is Thursday. I have even resorted to asking him what he wants, but even that did me no good as he said "nothing."

Friday morning he leaves to fly up to Ohio to visit his family for the first time in five years or so, and I will have to spend the whole weekend without him. I want to do something nice for his birthday before he leaves but I am at a complete loss, because I am apparently a dumb ass. If anyone has any fabulous ideas, let me know. And sweetie, if you are reading this, don't read the comments in case someone has a good idea that I want to use!

Andy is planning to fly up to Ohio to visit his family toward the end of March. The last time either of us was in Ohio was nearly five years ago, and after that one miserable rainy trip I don't care to go back, but I understand that he needs to take a quick trip up there because one of his grandmothers is not doing too well. So it works out well that I don't want to go anyway, because someone has to stay here with our little zoo of animals. He is looking for a plane ticket and will fly up there on a Thursday probably, and back on Sunday.

Thing is, I keep teasing him that he'll never survive the cold. He may have been born and raised in Ohio, but he is fully a thin-blooded Florida wuss now like the rest of us down here. This morning it was probably the coldest it has been here all year, in the upper forties, and we were inside the grocery store with the heat on and he was wearing two shirts and a coat and he said he was freezing. I just looked at him and said that he was never going to make it in Ohio. It was nine below there this week. I can't even fathom cold like that.

Every time a new creature comes into the family I am on a mission to find the perfect name. I can't explain it, but names are very important to me. I like for everyone or every critter to have a name that really "fits" and a name that works for that individual. I actually even have a pet name book that I have consulted on several occasions in my quest for ideas for the perfect name. My sweet Louie was named from an idea from the book as was our parrot Charley, though Annabel and Denny were both named by a foster mother and transporter with the poodle rescue. Louie was just a name I loved and Andy liked also; Charley was named after the black poodle in the book "Travels with Charley" by John Steinbeck, Annabel was a cute name and really fit her, and Denny just sort of felt right after a while. Denny was named Dennis Hopper by his transporter with the poodle rescue because he had a broken foot and hopped around, but we shortened it to Denny. Michaela came with her name from the people that surrendered her so I haven't had to think of a name in a while. I have been poring over my pet name book looking for the perfect name for my new tiny tortoise, but it is tough to choose. There is a section for multiple pets with names that go together like Fred & Ethel and that sort of thing. The funniest one in the book to me is Get off the rug & You too. There is also one for a trio of pets that is Hey you, Who me, Yeah you. Talk about confusing! So far for my little baby I am leaning heavily towards the name Virgil. I dunno, does that work? I really like Virgil for him, I think.

My conversation with Andy earlier today:

Me: "I love you"

Andy: "I love you too."

Me: "Still?"

Andy: "Yeah, I will always love you."

Me: "Even if I was terrible?"

Andy: "You're terrible now."

Me: "hehe"

Andy recently e-mailed his parents some photos from my sister's visit here last month. You know, the one where she brought my adorable niece and nephew. This was his mother's response:

Hi. The pictures were really good. I didn't realize how much Jen and her sister looked alike. You look good holding a child. Maybe it's time you thought about that. Love you. XXOO Mom

Is it just me or is that e-mail wrong on so many levels?