Red sky in morning...

...sailor, take warning!

And the morning horizon was a blazing pinky-red.  Oh, yeah....we're in for that storm they've been forecasting.  Our forecasted snow totals have gone from an impressive 6-8" to an alright 4-6", and back to a rather solid 'uh-oh' 8-10"!

We won't be shoveling, not much.

I may go out one last time early in the afternoon to fortify our larder since, once the snowfall begins, we are going to be socked-in for a few days.  Nothing big in the way of groceries, just things like cat litter, hamburger buns (I feel like sloppy joes for some reason), carrots, facial tissue.  You know, odds-and-ends-sort-of-stuff.

I don't think Karl realizes how far he has come with class this semester, and how close to the finish line he is.  The end of April marks the end of the current semester, so essentially eight weeks is all that remains for the winter term.  He is doing well, keeping up with homework and passing exams with ease.  Quite a departure from most school experiences to date!

Thank you, God.

I know Karl doesn't see the progress, doesn't feel a swell of pride in himself (although I wish he could) at this achievement, but perhaps some day it will make itself known.  He really lives "in the now" for the most part, and only recently began to project his thoughts to the future...but those are fleeting moments.  However it happens, we'll take what we can get.

He is planning on taking a summer class, so now is a good time to begin thinking and arranging.  Perhaps I will take one as well!

More later, right now I feel a surge of doing welling up inside, so I am going to run with it!

Later, 'gator.

Uh-huh, that's right

Yes, I expounded on how I like my hot dogs prepared - what did you want me to write about?

Oh! What did you want me to write about? You know who you are. [squinty eyes in your direction]

OK, here you go.

Cleo was due for a hard day in the evacuating department.  That is to say, her ears were exceptionally hot, she was making frequent trips to the box - and straining - but yielding nothing beyond urine.  Yup, she was going to have one of 'those' days.

As much a hassle as it is for me when she is blocked, for her, it is tiring and excruciating and horrendous....and about 600 additional shitastic-ly colorful descriptives which would all mean rotten and uncomfortable.

I was settling in and mentally preparing for the familiar long poo day when mom called. 

While I was on the phone with mom, Karl came to the staircase to announce that he had wanted to go to the bathroom but that Cleo had 'used' the bathroom first - and had left a dash-and-a-dot and a puddle on the bathmat!

Yea! 

For those of you thinking "ew," this is a crisis averted.  Be happy for 'the pup.'  Her ears are cool and she is relaxed and chatty, so sincere prayers are answered. 

Thank you, Lord.

Finally, we're off to the polls

Four years ago Brian, Karl, and I attended the polls together.  For each of the boys it was their first time ever to vote in a national (in any sort of, really) election.  And standing there with them I felt so proud.

I wanted a photo to mark that special marker in their lives, but the boys gave me a hard time about it, so I have only my memories of standing with them in a long line outside of our polling building, in the sun and crisp autumn air.

We elected the right man in 2008, and my family will do so again today.  Brian is currently at work, but Karl and I are now on our way out to make history happen once more.  Bud will make his way to vote after work, and then....we will watch in wonder and horror as the spectacle unfolds.

Holy smokes!

Received a phone call from an HR person for a health care facility/hospital position I applied to yesterday!

In fact, I responded to four different positions in four surrounding cities for the same organization yesterday, and I was delighted to get the message from Brian when I walked in the door!

It's been so long since I've spoken with anyone about anything (job-wise), that I am afraid I am going to trip over my tongue.

I've already phoned in my response to the HR person's call, and left a message on her voicemail, so I guess now we wait and see how long before she gets back to me.

Prayers muttered, finger's crossed. I'll let you know how it goes - when it goes........if it goes.

Progress

Wonderful progress!

When our children are younger - caught up in those milestone moments of learning to walk, talk, use the potty chair, feed themselves, etc., graduating from toddlers to the years called 'childhood' - we have hopes and expectations. We have dreams and goals. We have a sense of achievement for their futures.

We want for them all the things we maybe didn't have for ourselves. Or, if we had a blessed and prosperous upbringing, we desire that to continue for their sake.

While I had a decent, moral upbringing, I still wanted my sons to know something more than I had. I wanted them to not know divorce...but we don't always succeed when so many forces are beyond our control. And I wanted the boys to have friends - lots of friends. People with whom they could confide in, play with, learn from, lean on and be good friends to in return. But, we can't control how people return friendship (or not).

And then there are the factors (physical, mental, emotional, etc) that we can't foresee, we don't expect and wouldn't ask for; those things that eventually become part of our lifelong equation of life.

Karl's autism has perhaps slowed down the rate of progress toward maturation, and extinguished some milestone markers in their tracks, but he still occasionally experiences moments of shining hope for his future, and when they happen...it simply brings me to tears. This weekend saw one of those moments unfold, and I had to fight the urge to pull out my camera and immortalize it on the spot.

His circle of known flesh-and-blood friends is small, and most of them he occasionally-to-rarely sees. I would even go so far as to say there may be a couple of those he could go for most of the remainder of his life and never see again face-to-face, and he would be alright with that. Although, he has lately grown a little more comfortable leaving the house periodically to interact with life outside these four walls, I am not pushing too hard to make it happen, but accepting his moments of courage with happiness and hope.

There is another small group of folks he knows, but only in the www-ethereal way. Those online voices and personas with whom he has conversations and shares web surfing time, those folks are kindred spirits (to a degree), but they will never meet.

Do they know he is autistic? Most likely not. They may notice some strange behaviors or vocal things during games or discussions, but mostly he is just some person somewhere who sits at a computer and plays games and laughs at articles and silly memes found out in the web cosmos. Sadly, it seems as though these folks are at other ends of the country, or maybe even on different continents altogether, and the time zone differences make interactions next to impossible.

Such is life.

Excuse me. As usual, I have wandered away from the subject at hand.

This afternoon, Karl was able to assist in getting three friends and himself together in one place, and they spent nearly five hours roaming the mall and chatting, as young people do!

Dropping him at the meet-up point for the rendezvous was a high point for me, and overwhelming as his parent to notice he had combed his mop-ish hair and put on a nice, pinstriped Oxford shirt for the occasion!

I watched from a distance as the awkward gang clamored into another friend's vehicle and proceeded to the mall parking lot to embark on an afternoon of whatever, and I couldn't have been happier knowing Karl was going to blend into the crowd of neuro-typicals for a short time!

Progress in all its forms is a wonderful thing.

Rain, please

That's it. Just some rain for those poor farmers, and the areas suffering through horrible, horrible drought conditions....and where wildfires are raging.

That's all. Please, Lord, just rain.

A quick word of good news

Brian picked up his car this afternoon - very late this afternoon - but it is mostly done, and he has wheels once again!

The collision shop did a beautiful job finding all matching parts for his car, so there is no necessary paint job! He still needs to return to them next week, Monday or Tuesday, to have them finish some little bits here and there (an under-the-car-guard-thing and something to do with an exterior mirror), but it is driveable and in one piece...so, thank you, God.

More another time. For now, smiles. Lots and lots of smiles.

Mistake, or MASSIVE mistake?

I'm hoping for neither.

I am here at home, car-less.

I allowed Brian to drive himself to work in my beloved John Wayne. Yes, 'The Duke' is in Brian's hands. [oh-my-Lord-what-was-i-thinking]

I had very little fear as he rolled out of the driveway and down the street, but as this first hour has passed, I have become more regretful in the (lack of) judgement I used when handing him my keys.

[cringe]

I do not know how I am going to get through the day worrying over my car.... (oh, yeah) and Brian's safety (and my car's safety). Those Fenton/Holly drivers are a rude, self-righteous, self-important, me-me-me bunch of road hazards. Entitled and stupid, and they're all on the road with my sweet little JW....and Brian (in my sweet little JW).

Did I make a mistake?

Abundance

How do you interpret abundance?

The dictionary says: "plentifully supplied."

Do you recognise abundance in your own life? In yourself?

Can you find it in yourself?

Do you stop every once in a while to give thanks for it, or do you simply suppose you are entitled to what you have and blithely ignore the very real possibility that it could be lost to you - through any means - in the wink of an eye?

Do you just have it figured that since you worked hard to create and build your piles of [whatever] that they are yours, and unless you give them (it) away, nothing or no one can touch it??

I know I gave thanks for the job I had; for the upward growth and opportunities; for the unimagined income that came from working hard and changing directions and taking on new challenges. I know I never took it for granted.

There were many moments when I would look over my shoulder and wait for the other shoe to drop. It felt too good (not the fearful waiting but the great job and unexpected pay), not like I had earned it. That was a wonderful mystery, although I did recognize I had been graced with bosses who saw my worth in the beginning.

Just being in the right place at the right time was all it took, but I knew it could be gone in a heartbeat. I just didn't know that instead of 'dropping,' that other shoe would be flung at my head!

When that life ended, I do know that I was thankful to have been able to put away money to have as a "rainy day fund." I had been fortunate. I was grateful to have had the cushion in my paychecks to be comfortable and pay bills, and live life without squandering or having to scrape by like so many others.

I was delighted to have money to bank and count on in case of some emergency.

Who knew the 'emergency' would last half a decade?

Throughout all this time (the job drought) I have taken chances on idled dreams and what-ifs (by the way, "what-ifs" are better undertaken when you are younger so that there is not so much water under the bridge and so many wrinkles on your face). I have tried new things, walked new avenues and started at square one several times over - and have had a blast (and tears) in the attempts and the successes - short-lived though the successes may have been.

Currently, I am starting another path, and not one I am keen about, but one that should at least garner me a steadier job, possibly with benefits, and an ongoing paycheck for more than the run of a film project.

My abundance here? The working mind and body which God has graced me with, and the creative energy and talents imbued in me. My ability to learn and adapt is also a gift I treasure and put to good use. My beautiful mother who has made the ultimate sacrifice and kept the wolf from my door and the food on our table. My friends and extended family, few and powerful, who stand in my corner and cheer me on and believe in me - even when I have doubts in myself and fears which overwhelm me. My children who love me unconditionally and give me encouragement from time to time.

I am rich in my adversity.

Yes, I recognise my abundance, and I give thanks to God for His love and grace. May He be as good to you.

Slow but eventual

The preliminary list for accepted artist works finally posted this morning. My name was not on it.

However, they did also leave a note with the list saying that any further additions to the list will be made and available for viewing by five this afternoon. Since there are a good deal of folks who submitted more than one entry - and have both entries listed (by the way) - restrictions of space can't be the issue.

The attempt now will be to get through the rest of the day and try to keep my mind off of it; trying instead to concentrate on studying.

R-i-i-i-i-i-ght.

I know it doesn't read like it, but I am still trying to remain on the positive side, and eventually my name will be there.

Prayers for portions of Europe

My heart breaks for the 5-year-old girl who was dug out from under her flattened home and 33 feet of snow, after an avalanche killed her parents and eight other relatives this weekend. She was trapped for more than ten hours before rescuers could find her.

God bless those men and women.

People in Kosovo, Bosnia, the Balkans, Albania, parts of Italy, and more, are suffering from the worst weather reported in a century or more.

I am sending prayers out for those homeless people who have already suffered through so much, and now to have to endure this cruel onslaught from Mother Nature.

Nice surprises

Sometimes good news comes in a phone call.

The boys heard from their father last night, and it seems "the family" has decided the grand kids will receive a stipend from the granddad's estate. The man had a lot of money saved - never parted with a penny if he didn't have to - and believe you me, he found a myriad ways to hang on to every cent.

I always felt horrible for my (ex)mother-in-law, because there wasn't any reason for her to live the way she had all those years, except because of the whim of her husband. But that was her life and her way, and now that both parents are gone, their children are dealing with the final bits and pieces.

Since the demise of my (ex)father-in-law, I always wondered why nothing ever fell to my sons. He and his wife both intimated the kids would benefit a little once they passed.

I never ghoulishly sat on the fence and waited for that day, I (we) never had a need; the kids were fine and life was proceeding as life should. A few lumps here and there that maybe could have been less rocky...but that's life, and the boys are the better for those knocks and lessons.

As there were only three grandchildren between the five siblings, it seemed the grand kids would have some sort of nest egg to inherit and have tucked away in a back pocket for 'some day.'

Well, it's taken a while, but the boys are each now receiving a nice sum of investible, save-able money.

As Bud has lately experienced the feeling of achievement in saving a portion of his paychecks (and the grief at having to use some of that savings when "life happens"), he has cleverly decided how to portion and save the total amount to his best advantage, and for that I am very proud.

Karl is still weighing his options, but is receiving advice in a considered - and considerate - manner, and will be investing or saving the lion's share as well.

Thank you, Lord, for sublime miracles and Your loving favor.

Uh-oh

The boy may have a car problem = $$.

Dear Lord, please let it be minor and as painle$$ as possible.

Lists

Things I Need:

New fridge (old one is laboring and the seals are shot)

New dryer (old one sounds like a trash compacter running inside a cement mixer)

The new stove to be hooked up and working (requires wiring to be completed)

Things I Want:

The staircase finished

The kitchen finished

All the wiring to be completed, drywall done and to be able to paint (and put things away - I guess this should actually go under "needful things")

The lower level bathroom to be an actual bathroom (instead of a concrete sub-floor and plumbing pipes sticking out everywhere)

Air conditioning (and a dehumidifier for winter)

A new, energy-efficient furnace

Chinking on the house to be done (top to bottom and side to side)

Under both of those lists would go "job", but that really isn't a "thing" so much as a necessity (however, I do NEED and WANT one very badly). And for some reason, it also didn't feel like anything I should add to this sort of list. But, then again, there is an awful need for me to compile this next list, which also really doesn't fit in with the first two.

Things To Be Thankful For:

My family - my sons and my mom

My mom

Good friends (you are most certainly a blessing)

This house (which I still have because of my mother's love and sacrifice)

A working car (also due to my mom)

Fairly good health

Both of my sons' good health, working bodies, beautiful minds, abilities and possibilities

Food for the table

Power and heat

Extended family (I love you all)

A bright and working brain

The talents I have been blessed with

The future my Lord has been making ready for me

A country like America to live in (as messed up as it is)

Desires and dreams which keep me going every day

The chances I have taken and the opportunities I have been afforded

What I have learned about myself over these last 4.5 years

Can't tell you how glad (and thankful) that I am to see that my "thankful list" far exceeds my other two. Ooo!!! Add that to the list!

Let me sew, let me sew, let me sew!

Of course, today it's snowing.

Karl didn't get his white Christmas, but I hope this falling snow will lighten his mood a little - even if it is two days late. And it looks as though this patch of snow will be sticking around a little while, too. According to our weather weenies we are in the 'band' of predicted 2"-6" snowfall.

What does that mean? It means I should've worked more on cleaning out the space in the garage to park in rather than the quilt!

As for the quilt, it is coming along. Finished top stitching the toughest area - the center - and now I am branching out to the wide open spaces of the top, bottom, and left and right sides. [smirk] If you don't quilt you wouldn't know, but the stitching at the center of the quilt is the most difficult (as you can imagine), and as you work your way out to the edges, it becomes infinitely easier - but that only makes sense, right? My particular selection for this portion of the quilt was a little more involved and detailed, making the work that much more time consuming and difficult - but it was so very worth the effort!

That said, now that I am working my way out from the center, and adding my other objects to the overall scheme, I am finding myself far less enamoured of my choices for the background work. Doesn't that just figure!?!

Brian survived the retail onslaught of the twenty-fourth, enjoyed a delightful day with nowhere to go, and then worked the day after Christmas. He came home last night relatively unscathed from the retail twofold nightmare (A.K.A. "the day AFTER Christmas). Between the returns (which he said were relatively light) and the stupidity of customers demanding to know where they could find sold out Christmas merchandise, it wasn't a bad day. They closed $3000 above the expected total for the day. Always a good thing.

Oh, and it turns out Bud had also managed to contract whooping cough from some infected child of a ne'er-do-well parent/customer who probably figured they could skip getting their kid vaccinated! So, the coughing/vomiting (among other symptoms) he's been experiencing the last week-and-one-half weren't just a rough side effect of some bug he caught from me. Nope, he was really sick.

Hey, parents! Get your children vaccinated - you @zzhole$!

He is feeling much better and the coughing is abating day by day. He hasn't vomited after a coughing fit in the last two days, and he has said his breathing is easier, he feels less congested and his ears have drained! Thank God.

Now my chief concern is to get Karl to the doctor and get him checked and update his booster. He certainly does not need to come down with whooping cough. After last year's late summer episode of myopericarditis, I think he's entitled to a pass for a long time.

Anyhow, it's time to get back to the sewing table. I have a lot to get done before I can submit it for entry in time for the fast-approaching quilt show deadline.

Had a long day with Karl at his college campus yesterday, straightening out crooked lines (dealing with issues) and scheduling him for an impromptu tutoring session. Then I waited....and waited, and waited some more for him to finish with class and then tutoring, etc.

I kept busy with the quilt while I waited; turning over the surplus backing to the front and basting it down (this helps to protect the edges of the quilt while I do the top stitching).

Today, I looked for work (like normal), made us a decent breakfast, and then got busy with creating the stencils for the top stitching/quilting. Currently I am in the middle of cutting out the first of (too) many, and man! - I just want to get started quilting!

Bud has a day off, and Karl is going back and forth between studying for his final, complaining about studying and goofing off on his PC when he should be studying. Please think motivational thoughts for Karl, and say a prayer if you're of a mind to. He needs all the help he can get to pass his final this week. Thank you.

It's just a blah, icky, wet day here. Whatever snow was left from the last squall is now melted and washed away with the constant rain, leaving it looking very un-Christmas-y outside.

Well, I need to get back to what I was doing, just wanted to stop in and say "hello" and to see how everyone is and what you're up to.

Be well, be happy, be creative!

December First: A fruitful meeting

In so much as I gleaned a couple of really good ideas from Trish about how to experiment with my quilting design (for the competition piece), I am now chomping at the bit to get started today.

Too bad I wasn't in the same location as the quilt for several lost hours. [awe....snap!]

It's another sunny, gorgeous day, and with so much of our first snowfall still on the ground the light is brilliant indoors for what seems like hours more for this time of year. It's a mind game, I know, but I don't care. Sunshine is sunshine and I will gladly take it! The snow just magnifies and bounces the light all over for an uplifting feeling.

Two more book sales appeared late last night for the online bookshop, so those will need bundling and posting, taking away from the precious daytime work hours.

For those of you keeping track, still no reply to the questions at hand for the film job I was offered late-October/early-November. Also, very little else in the way of corporate jobs to apply to, either. Opportunities are scarce and I feel a little like a deer in deep snow, pawing at the ground to find some sustenance.

Dear Lord, thank You for your gifts of the day, and for the promise You place in tomorrow.

24 hours, 2 notes

It was just about this time yesterday when I watched the serving (delivery) of a notice to evict on the neighbor's home across the street - at least I believe that's what the proper term is.

Foreclosure is an unceremonious and dubious activity...and I wonder what the scoundrels who drive around and perform this activity make in a day?

Sort of like watching a repossession of an auto, but without the tow truck or histrionic person chasing after their vehicle as it disappears down the street and out of view.

The rat who performed the duty drove up to a sudden stop in a clunker automobile, exited the car looking shifty and nervous, and walked swiftly up the driveway to the front door. He never knocked but went to work taping a bright neon blue notice to the front door for all the world to see.

Looking over his shoulder several times, he then backed away from the door, turned and skulked about halfway down the drive, all the while looking for gun barrels, flying bricks and snarling dogs. I can only imagine that he has had his share of run-ins while delivering "the bad news."

Swiftly...efficiently...he drew a camera from his pocket and snapped a photo of the front of the house with the neon note fluttering against the door. Then, he raised his left arm to shoulder height and snapped another picture with his watch and a smaller note in his hand, with the house featured in the background. I guess this is 'proof' that he visited this unlucky soul and served the heinous note 'in person.'

The soon-to-be-non-homeowner cannot say that the note wasn't there, wasn't visible, wasn't.... Here was proof in living color.

Just as swiftly as he arrived, he scurried the remainder of the distance down the drive to his waiting beater, hopped in and pulled away as quickly as could be. The sound of his failing exhaust system could be heard for about a block as he retreated.

It wasn't until this afternoon that I realized there is a similar note hanging inside the screen door of the house neighboring the one just served! It isn't neon colored, but it is large print and looks very official (and very ominous).

Thank you, Lord, for my mom and her sacrifices.

Epiphany

Pretty certain I woke this morning after having an epiphany that was a little late in arriving.  But then, aren't epiphanies always late?

I guess I haven't done what I am supposed to have been doing during this whole time "off."  I am beginning to realize that perhaps God has been trying to get me to utilize His gifts more fully, and I've just finally heard the wake up call. 

Just finally felt the two-by-four to the cranium. 

Finally experienced the wet fish slapped across my mug. 

Finally seen the cow pattie splat-dab in my path (yes, I know it's "smack-dab" - my version is more sound effective).

I've finally tripped over my obvious 'lead twinkie'.

I've been questioning: "When is it going to be my turn?"  Maybe this is my turn and I am not recognizing it for what it is.

When I think about it in this way I become angry at myself for not having utilized the last four-plus years in a better fashion.  I am despondent over not having taken full advantage of the time allotted me to achieve the thing(s) God put me here to do.  How could I have wasted such a precious gift?

My entire adult life I have questioned how I am supposed to recognize God's hand in things.  I have been a classic doubting Thomas.

What if I've heard His whisper in my ear - felt that tingle of instruction and intervention, and had His push in a direction that I ultimately avoided taking because I didn't recognize it was Him?  Didn't recognize it was His will.  It's been this way at least the last 25 years, and now I am wracked with the pain and despair of knowing I have wasted more time than just the last four years.

I am filled with doubt.  Self-doubt, doubt in others and lack of faith - not in God, but in my abilities to make right decisions.  And now my doubt in myself has become gloom and deep regret and disappointment.

Oddly, my waking epiphany wasn't about my misdirection and false starts, it was that I should have mixed the flesh tone I wanted for my screen print using white as a base then adding a good dash of yellow and an even smaller touch of magenta.  The Pantone recipe was off....way off.

How I got to my current state of awareness I don't know, but I have arrived.  Thank God.

Always amazed

I am always amazed at each new day, when the sun comes up and makes the world look new and promising. After yesterday's showing of endless grey clouds (which I did not regret), today is a complete one-eighty.

At present, the rising sun makes the green trees glow and sparkle. The freshly turned earth looks like velvet, and the air smells of ocassional flowers and overnight rain.

I was grateful for the shade I worked in throughout the day on Monday, and was hopeful for the promise of rain to do my watering for me, but realized after the sun had gone down that we most likely were not going to get the sort of rain that was needed.

I had raced the clock to get as much done in the garden as I could throughout the afternoon and into the early evening. I debated a trip to pick up another helping of bagged topsoil until much too late. Even moved those last fourteen blocks around the house to the retaining wall in the back! All the while I kept an eye on the sky, praying and hoping the weather weenies weren't wrong about the rain.

Managed to transplant the Jackmanii from the front bed to its new home in the back on the south pergola upright, and happily turned loose an assortment of three leggy pincushion plants and one grand Veronica as its neighbors. The reclaimed Foxglove went back to a more permanent place in the weedfree garden, as did the path of stepping stones which span that seven foot portion of the perennial bed. A found Astilbe was also placed in the new grouping, and I left enough room for my beloved 'ick' (my Echinacea friends) to join the mix. Next year, when I have work - and income - I will add Cosmos and Petunias (and one or two other annuals) to fill in the spaces here and there, but for now I am glad to have the bulk of the cleaning work completed and the plants returning to a better way of life!

It gives me hope that the rest of my life will fall in to place when I see this ordered bit of beauty from my kitchen window.

[heavy sigh] Aahhhh...slightly less chaos.

There is still the matter of filling in the remainder of the bed and re-establishing those plants, but it is all going well (thank you, God). The repositioned Daylilys and Boxwood are doing fine, as are the heeled in plants still awaiting their homecomings. Oh, and I still have two Peonies to bring around from the front to the back, but that should be a quick process.

The remainder of this week will only get hotter day by day, but I am keeping my fingers crossed that I'll be able to keep up the pace and finish the back bed very soon, and then be able to move around to the front in short order.

Once it's all completed it will be far easier to keep up with (at least that's my theory).

By the way, there may be non-gardening 'news' to report, but it will have to wait just another day or two. Promise, though, you will know what's brewing l-o-n-g before I move around to the front perennial bed! Ha!

:^D

Time to get moving, Karl's MRS rep is due over around noon, so there are some inside chores to tend to beforehand. Make it a good day everyone!

P.S. Regarding Cleo - She had a fairly good day yesterday. Slow-paced, but up and moving, versus her Sunday off her feet once the stool passed. Tried to keep her drinking, short of literally putting it down her throat. I don't believe she poo'd yesterday, but I also didn't follow her around, so that is hard to swear to. This morning, she hit the box and had an issue with the bisquit completely exiting, so I think there is definitely a trip to the vet in her near future. Ah, pets.