Dethroning, Debacles and Repairs

Last week was one of the roughest we've had in a while and I hope to be one of the last for a long time to come, please??  It all started with facing the fact that it had finally come down to either finding our cat Pumpkin a new home or getting him declawed.  Despite his destructive ways, he is a very good cat.  Especially when it comes to the kids.  We've had our ups and downs with him and he has tore up many a rug and curtains around the house. We thought his scratching ways had come to an end because he hadn't appeared to be doing so anymore.  We had also started putting claw caps on him, which he had become quite proficient in getting them off about a quick as we would put them on.  When you consider one package of claw caps runs about $30/package and buying one/month and at times more often, it just becomes too expensive!  Finally, the last straw had been pulled.  I came out one morning because my Son told me he heard two pops come from the living room.  In my mind I could not imagine what would make such a sound, until it hit me, suddenly!  Sure enough I came into the room to find that our cat Pumpkin had done this.........................

 To our chair and this............

To the arm of the sofa..............

Just think, he did all that damage with only one claw cap off.  Imagine if he had, had more.  And thus it was decided that it was time for declawing.

Here he is, looking miserable.  Perhaps feeling a bit dethroned from his rule of the house.

Honestly though, he doesn't seem to be hurting so bad and he also has been on pain management medications.  The decision though, weighed heavily on my heart.  I stressed and have had feelings of guilt since.  On a more positive note though, we have been actually enjoying one another's company most recently because there is no more worrying about what he will destroy next.

Thankfully, Ashley Furniture is working with us to do repairs.  They ordered the materials and are doing repairs, for FREE!!  All we have to do is pay for the materials.  How awesome are they?!  A HUGE thank you to Ashley Furniture!!

The night before Pumpkin was brought home from the Vet, our Water Heater went out!  I had asked Daddy to take a look at it because I had taken one very hot shower earlier in the day.  No matter how much I turned up the cold, it would not cool down.  Needless to say it was a very short shower.  I knew something was wrong because hot showers were something that just didn't happen with our lousy old Water Heater.  We knew it eventually would need replacing, but we had hoped we could make do for months, possibly years, to come.  Unfortunately, it had other plans.  Daddy went to check only to find 6" of water throughout the entire basement.  Our Sump Pump had also quit working, so Daddy had to kick it on(on a side note, it too will have to be replaced sooner than we would like).  Once it started working, all the water had drained out of the basement, but it is still currently working on drying out.  Ever hear of a "Money Pit"?  Yea, we are living in it!  After purchasing a new Water Heater(and deferring a couple payments), we finally have hot water again.  Now it's time to figure out how we can start to pay off some debt, which we were working on before the fall out, hahah!  So much for that.  We are back at square one.

On to more happy things, here are a few photos of the new hair clippies I made!  I know everyone LOVES seeing these.  I also added a bonus, BLL modeling her pretties and just a cute random photo of LBF(just because you can never take enough photos of a couple of cuties).

We were in Michaels the other day, when I came across a couple of pretty flowers and BLL being the little diva she is, says to me, "Make hair pretty for me Mommy?"  Absolutely!

 She of course couldn't wait to put them in her hair, once I put them on a couple of clippies.  I may too have to wear these.  Maybe we could match!  LOL!

Look at that precious face :)