I hope your mom will be ok, ND.

Oh Drew, I am sorry to hear that, for your, your sister's and your mom's sake. I hope it turns out to be dehydration or something easily solved and resolved.

Oh, no, Drew. I hope it's something quickly identified and easily solved. Thinking of you guys.

Now I really need this:

Ooh, shiny. I want it in dark gray. And I want it a lot.

I assumed that it was a different generic, but according to the pharmacist, they are not equal. I'm LIVID.

As well you should be! That is beyond .... words, apparently.

Oh Jilli! I was just about to post how cute your outfit is. You're just cranky and it's rubbing off on the clothes. I suggested the application of tea and chocolate.

What Burrell said.

Oh, ND. That is so incredibly shitty. I wish you and your family nothing but the best.

I'm so sorry, ND. I hope she'll be all right.

Oh, ND, Pix -- the universe needs to lay off you guys, RIGHT NOW.

I hope everything turns out for the best.

I wish I could say they were as effective as I know you want them to be, so I will lie and say they were.

Dear one, you don't have to lie and say you feel something you don't. It's ok to say non-committal things like "thanks for taking the time to try to encourage me". It's also ok to not magically feel better just because someone makes encouraging noises at you. Or... well... there are people out there, that what they say to encourage others is more about them than it is about the person needing encouragement - to them, you might want to pretend, just to get them out of your hair. But not here. You are safe here. You can be in pain here. Yes, we want you to feel better, but I don't think we want you to have to pretend when you do not. When you are in deep, it's not easy. Words don't magically make things better when it is bad. I think enough of us here have been in deep enough that we get that.

ND, much ~ma for your mom and for your whole family. Tons and tons of coping~ma for you.

the universe needs to lay off you guys, RIGHT NOW.

Is anybody else starting to get the feeling that this phrase is a bit like Xander saying "What could go wrong?"

NOTE TO SELF: Try not to rub the corner of your eye after mowing the lawn until after a thorough hand-washing. Ever. Again. KTHXBYE.

ND, lots of ~ma for your mom.

After I spent about half an hour crying on the phone with my mom a few days ago, she's been trying to figure out if she and my dad can take me for a long weekend at a beach somewhere. The logistics aren't really working out, though. I'm trying to figure out if there's any way for me to propose a day trip to the beach to my friends, when they're the ones who own cars, but I haven't figured out anything that's not either rude or horribly passive-aggressive.

Question for the cat-smart folks: Mal is undergoing treatment for yet another UTI, but this time there were no white blood cells or obvious signs of infection, just lots of crystals. Crystals have been an issue before. I've been trying to read up on special diets but all the sites i'm finding just say "special diet" not exactly what that entails. I'm switching him from dry food (Evo grain free) to wet food (the kind from TJ's that i had in the house for post-bath treats) and mixing in lots of water. His appetite is still terrible from the owee so it's not going over especially well. Are there particular brands/varieties of wet food that will help make his pee more acidic that i can get at the specialty pet food stores (rather than from the vet)? I kinda don't trust cat food brands that the vet is promoting, since they're awfully keen on Iams and Royal Canine dry brands which i see as pretty junky. I'm not up for preparing meat in my veggie kitchen, so i need to be able to buy any cat food pre-made.