Wish me low pain and easy extraction ~ma as I have all four wisdom teeth removed today! Perhaps there will be entertaining Percocet fueled posts later!

We put Marie, our 16-year-old Himalayan, to sleep yesterday. Her kidneys had failed completely. We both spent the day with her, and she had her best day in some time -- she walked around, she had an appetite, she even climbed into the litter box.

She passed away in her favorite bed, surrounded by her loved ones.

On Monday afternoon, my father-in-law died, with his oldest son holding his right hand and the SO holding his left hand. We sang to him, and he passed peacefully. It has been a privilege for me to be his daughter-in-law and to be accepted by this extraordinary family. We will miss him, but we are deeply grateful to have been able to have him in our lives and to have had this experience together as a family.

The memorial service will be this Sunday in Indianapolis. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in the form of canned goods to the church's food pantry or in monetary form to its memorial fund. No ties necessary, jeans encouraged!

Those of you unable to attend in person, we would love to hear messages from you via the guestbook: [link] where you can leave notes, photos, or videos that the family will see.

If anyone got a message about an Alzheimer's 5K and fundraising, without a subject line, it's legit, and it's from me. Sorry for any double messages; my inbox is OLD.

My dad was recently diagnosed with Alzheimer's and it's tearing my heart out. So I'm doing anything I can to help -- even getting up ungodly early on a Saturday and exercising.

Info is in emails I sent, on my Facebook page, and also here:

[link]

Thanks for anything anyone can do, from donating (no amount too small!) to encouraging me to get out and walk for training in the next two weeks, to info about Alzheimer's.

Thanks, and sorry for any confusion. Their website is not super efficient.

Caveat:

For Buffistas who are FB friends with me, my mom called this morning about my posting about Dad's probable Alzheimer's on FB.

So I edited some posts, and I will now use/prefer people to use "friends and family" rather than direct references to my dad on any posts of mine referring to Alzheimer's 5K, fundraising, or references. It was totally my bad; I didn't think, but mom was really upset and wants it to be a private thing for the foreseeable future.

But thanks for all the support, guys, It means a lot. This is really emotionally tough for me, and I'm SO GRATEFUL to have you all here.

You're the best, and much love to all.

I could use some job-ma tomorrow morning at 10:30 Central. I have a phone interview that I really hope goes well, both in terms of them liking me and me liking them.

Baltimore peeps! I have a niece in your city! She is studying law there. I told her I knew good people there and was wondering if anyone would like to share contact info? She's a little vulnerable after some bad experiences in her last home town.

My profile email is good. I'd like her to know that there is someone nearby if she is in need. Can we stretch the Buffista tent to cover her?

Hard week. Had to take 92 Mother to the ER Saturday. A friend was taking her to a movie and she managed to lacerate her shin badly stepping into the car. (7 centimeter deep laceration from shin to half towards knee). It started bleeding again Sunday, and I managed to stop the bleeding with pressure re instructions from consulting nurse. Monday, she went to her primary care. They changed the permanent dressing. (I'd been doing nonstick pads over the permanent dressing.) Said it was not infected. Tuesday, it was red and inflamed around the wound. Took her to urgent care. It was a severe infection which they treated with IV anti-biotic plus oral keeflex. They are going have her come back to urgent care tomorrow night to check if there is improvement. If not, an other antibiotic IV.

Just one quick last reminder (because not everyone is on Facebook):

i'm 3 days away from my first 5K to benefit Alzheimer's research! I've surpassed my $150 fundraising goal and am at $190 - SO MUCH SINCERE THANKS to all who have donated!

Can we make it an even $200 (or more)? I've been training hard, and today my training schedule finally includes the full 3.1 miles of a 5K!

(Couch to 5K in 2 weeks, and OMG, it's kicked my ass.)

Alzheimer's affects so many people: patients, partners, kids, other family, friends...If you can donate, even a little, I'd be deeply grateful.

[link]

Holy frijoles, I woke up to find my $150 fundraising goal has burgeoned to $220. I haven't had much coffee yet, so I had to look 2 or 3 times to see if I was right!

You guys are THE BEST! So generous -- thank you so very much. My last two days of training are today and tomorrow, and I will be really inspired by not only my family and family of friends with Alzheimer's, but by all you wonderful, generous people.

Gracias, grazie, dōmo arigatō, merci, shukran, 多謝, rav todot, dhanyavād and go raibh maith agaibh!