Friday, May 29, 2009

tono is off with the vet...

Went back to the vet to board tono for the weekend, since my husband and I are attending a wedding in upstate New York. Tono's blood test came back negative -- so basically we've ruled out everything except for a brain tumor. It's really hard to grasp, and as I read online of treatments and methods..there's really nothing you can do but to put them thru an MRI, chemo, radiation...and that's just too much for a cat his age.

I don't think I can handle writing about him and his condition any longer, so this is the last post I'm going to make about Tonji. Of course, unless he ups and miraculously gets better. In reality, his condition is slow and gradual, and I can't keep downing myself and everyone else by writing about it daily.

Well wishes and prayers are most appreciated.
Have a good weekend -- I am hoping it's nice weather over in the East. :)

tono's recheck

Tono went for his recheck yesterday, and all symptoms we were treating were getting better (the ulcer and his mouth problem). But before we went to the vet, we came across another very serious problem: he was losing his mobility in his hind legs and now he wobbles to get anywhere. We got more blood test done, so we'll see if those tell us anything (will update later). Our poor boy is gettin' old...
Here's a picture of what he used to do ALL THE TIME -

I'm liking my husband's t-shirt right here too.

Thursday, May 28, 2009

oh so cuteness...

I have been eyeballing these vases for a long lo~ng time - telling myself I do NOT need them, but geez, I lovingly gaze at them all the time. And here I am with TONS of vases at home with no flowers (the cats would destroy them if I tried...) But these are so cute! eek! Self-discipline is so difficult when there are so many freakin' adorable stuff out there.

ridiculous cuteness from prettyrandomobjects
click here for more!

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

yippee skippee!

It all started with a few vertical hairlines going down the panel of our Toshiba TV. We had meant to get it fixed long ago, but you know...things get away from you. By the time we called the electrician from ABT (that's a local electronics company in the chicago area) the hairline was a blue/green line about 1/8" thick. It turns out the telli had a bad panel -- and thanks to the warranty we were given a new tv!! horray! Three cheers for warranties! I mean not only do we have a new one, we have one that's better and thinner. It feels like we went shopping for free.:)
Now all we gotta do is wall mount the sucker...

Meet our new Samsung

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

and after a long weekend...

of lot of meds and eye drops, i think tonji is feeling better... at least he's eating like a dog (i am currently giving him 3 cans a day!) His eye isn't looking much better than before, but i am glad for his appetite. He has a recheck in 4 days - we'll know for sure then.

on a brighter note, we went out for some fishing over the weekend, which was nice and relaxing. Explored the forest preserve and found some nice spots. My husband caught a mini bass while we were out there :) none for me that day.

it's not a big guy..but it's a fish!

Friday, May 22, 2009

my poor tonji 2

So tono is home and in isolation: the vet believes that he is stressed from the kittens, and it would be best to let him be in a room of his own. He was diagnosed with an ulcer in his eye, and some sort of infection in his mouth/teeth that's preventing him from opening his mouth completely. (the cause is still unknown, because we need to fix the ulcer first) Poor thing. He'll get drops and antibiotics...and muchos love and care from me. Thank goodness it wasn't a virus or leukemia. He's still in pretty bad shape, but hopefully he will get better in the coming week.
I end this week on a down note, but here's a picture of the lovely tono before his declining health.
have a good memorial weekend, y'allz.

my poor tonji

I took my big 'ol cat to the vet yestserday for what I thought was an eye infection, but it turned out to be far worse than that. They suspect something under his eye (like an ulcer? or a tumor??) which is making it swollen, and apparently there's something wrong with his jaws. UGH. And this morning I wake up and my macbook does not turn on! oh..why does stuff like this always happen at once? Therefore I come to you this morning from my husband's laptop, sans picture. I will update later today with (hopefully) good news and pictures.
A small prayer for tonji!

Thursday, May 21, 2009

I'm guilty...

I guess the question is: who hasn't flushed a public bathroom with their feet? I sure have. MANY MANY times. They should have thought of this a long lo~ng time ago. kudos to the designer.

StepFlush by Lorenzo Buffa

Check out the rest of this wonderful design concept here ---> click it!


Wednesday, May 20, 2009

big cat big box

I have such a soft spot for tubby cats. Especially when they can move (and jump). This big boy is freakin' adorable.

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

FAIL

My new favorite website. I love the engrish mistakes.

••FAIL••

Monday, May 18, 2009

wedding announcments

These were wedding announcements which were sent out to friends and family who are abroad. Of course, hand-made. Though I used a punch out for the dragonflies used on the lower left corner. I used different whites and off-whites, but unfortunately you can't really see that in the picture.


Friday, May 15, 2009

the trekky self...

The new Star Trek movie seems to be getting some pretty good reviews, and I'm actually inclined to go see it. And in conjunction to this new release, Entertainment Earth brings to us a replica of Captain Kirk's original swivel-throne chair from the bridge of the Starship Enterprise. I'm sure people pee'ed in their pants when they saw this..I myself think it's kinda neat..but for $2200?! I don't think so...

I'd rather get this..now THIS is cool:

Retro Mini Handheld offered by ThinkGeek

It actually plays old school cartridge NES games! Who wouldn't want to play those awesome retro games in the palm of your hands...and all yours for 50 bucks!
Happy Friday!



Thursday, May 14, 2009

sweet dreamer

You know that sound a cat makes when they are looking at birds out the window? Trying to mimic the bird's chirping. Pretty darn cute. Well, Kuro was taking his usual nap by the balcony doors when he totally started making that sound in his sleep. I swear to you his eyes were closed and he was not looking out the window. Do you think animals dream? I wonder... I think Kuro was dreaming of catching some dinner...



Wednesday, May 13, 2009

magazine

I've been working on this magazine cover design for a small contest over in NY. phew... I've been up late and waking early to get it done..here's a sneak peek. The black is thin washi paper and cut out, and i've pasted bright bold colors behind it. yep. papercutting at it's best.

quite funky, eh?

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

some kitty home decor

I've been thinking about how to decorate the HUGE wall we have in our living room, and decided that this is the best thing to do. I fell hard for these when I came across them. Can you imagine, all three of my kitties on my living room wall?? I swoon just imagining it...
curve wall mount pet bed - walnut by Akemi Tanaka

Monday, May 11, 2009

superior rocks

When we were up in Marquette, we stopped over on the banks of Lake Superior to take some pictures. We ended up looking for cool rocks for 15 minutes and came home with a bag full of them. What we're going to do with them, I'm not sure...The round one at the top was one my husband decided to bring back...it weighs like 10 pounds.

The rock composition and shadow provided by my hubby.

And here's a picture of me trying to jump into the lake.

Friday, May 8, 2009

'tis spring!

And for this friday, I leave you with this picture - the now gorgeous tree in our back yard in full bloom. It was barely green when we left for Marquette last weekend, and look at it now! I'm lovin' spring.tree before
tree now!
And a Happy Mother's Day!

Thursday, May 7, 2009

Now this is blue..

Maybe it's because it's a bit north and the air is just a little bit crisper, but whatever the reason, night time was a beautiful blue in Marquette. Imagine, these are jpegs on a website - how royal blue the water and the sky looked in real life!


from the dock in Marquette

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Graduation

So Marquette is this small town in Upper Michigan where my sister went to grad school. Though compared to some of the itsy bitsy towns we drove through, Marquette was a lot more populated and diverse.
Graduation took place on Saturday morning, in what is the famous Superior Dome-it's the world's largest wooden dome (who knew! in Marquette!) It was actually pretty impressive. Kinda smelled like a wooden cabin inside.


          The Superior Dome entrance and rooftop

The graduation was nothing out of the ordinary, though the entire graduating class was there, and each person's name was called out (no not by school or degree...EVERYONE) which was just..too..long. But heck, we all endured, and we saw my sister finally graduate! yay!


left: my sis 'n' me right: my sis 'n' her boyfriend, who didn't even smile for our wedding pictures with Elvis!

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

On the way to Marquette

While on the way to Marquette, we were a little south of Green Bay, when we noticed some unusual blur in the distance. In the car we were debating whether it was low lying clouds or smoke. I said smoke, and that there was some major accident. I was wrong about the accident part, but it was definitely some major smokage! We think it was a wildfire on the side of the highway...it was pretty intense. I wanted to take pictures, but at the same time felt bad since there were people working so hard to extinguish it...snapped a few though. That's the first time we've witnessed that!

I was freaking out, so could not take very many good shots...
The last one is of when I am especially freaking out.

Monday, May 4, 2009

my little *gift*

I had a lot of fun going up to Marquette this weekend for my sister's graduation! More updates about the trip to come, after I upload all the pictures onto my computer. So for this monday morning, I thought I'd share my gift I gave to my sister for her graduation/birthday. Since my sis is a major fan of murder mysteries and detective stories, I made a papercut original of a Sherlock Holmes design; I collected some images and looked at book covers for inspiration. I used a double glass frame for it, and printed (I know, I cheated) a Holmes quote on some acetate to float it under the papercut. Isn't the shadow effect pretty neat?

Friday, May 1, 2009

happy may 1st!

A cloudy may day calls for a super cute scarf -

flora on charcoal by alena hennessy

Tell me that wouldn't brighten up your day?

Happy Friday! Off to Marquette, MI this weekend for my sis' graduation. 6+ hour card ride.
That outta be fun! It's so cold up there still..