Updates

D had a great weekend in Arizona. She got to spend time with friends, watch Santa parachute into a shopping center parking lot, and check out some new housing developments. After seeing the incredibly beautiful houses that can be had for a fraction of what our condo costs in San Diego, she's ready to buy a house in Arizona. She will then pick up that house, put it on a flat-bed truck, and drive it to San Diego where the weather, beaches, culture, and friends all make life beautiful.

I spent the weekend playing nurse to Willow. She was showing some more signs of pain on Thursday, even worse than before, so we went back to the vet. We got a wide assortment of medications....steroids, antacids so the steroids don't cause digestive problems, painkillers, etc. Every twelve hours I had to make her drink a slurry of blue liquid, wait an hour, feed her, and then give her three pills. The vet also suggested we keep her locked in a kennel for two to three weeks, which is laughable for anyone that knows Willow (and us). We know it's in her best interest, so we're trying to compromise. We're keeping her from jumping up or down from the furniture using stairs and strategically-placed pillows, we're locking her in our bedroom when we leave, and we're refraining from doing anything that would cause her to run, jump, or make sudden movements. She spent a couple of days walking really gingerly, but she seems to be feeling a bit better today. She's more mobile, and hasn't been looking pained.

We're working on plans for our Hawaii trip next week. We've got the hotel and flights worked out, so we had dinner tonight with a travel book, trying to plan out our days. The highlights will include manta rays, waterfalls, volcanoes, and hopefully some turtles. Though we have each day generally sketched out, we won't book anything until tomorrow afternoon. So if anyone has some suggestions about can't-miss sights on the Big Island, please post them in the comments ASAP. We'd love to hear from people that have actually been and have firsthand experience with what we're reading about.

We spent this evening doing some shopping for Christmas, and managed to get a good portion of presents squared away. However, we still have far too much to do before we leave on Sunday, so we may be relying on the good old fallback of gift cards for some people. In those cases, we'll at least make sure the stores are well chosen, and hope no one is offended by the impersonal gift.