Scenes from a weekend #55

Kicking off another week with some scenes from a weekend! Friday evening I was in full work/workout mode as I got in my Elf for Health challenge for the day – a circuit workout –  while taking some photos for a guest post I have coming up tomorrow on Love, Life, Surf.

On Saturday, I had a lovely package delivered. A little while back I entered a giveaway contest on Moms Little Running Buddy and I was thrilled when Katie contacted me to tell me I’d won the runner bracelet from Linkouture Jewelry! It’s a beautiful, handmade bracelet which is perfect for this mother runner! 🙂

Not so long ago I mentioned that one of our cats, Cassie, had been to the vet to get her front paw checked out, since she was limping and it was a little swollen. Unfortunately, she is not doing so well. Since then, she’s had a biopsy on the paw and it turns out she had a large mass between her muscle and bone – we should have the results back today or tomorrow, but the vet was pretty sure it was cancer from how it looked. We’ll discuss treatment options once we know what it is, but probably chemo or amputation will be the next step.

Throughout the whole ordeal, Cassie has been a trooper. She doesn’t seem to be in pain, she is still happy and loving, chowing down on her food and enjoying some snuggle time.

What has really surprised me is how many people have asked Fran and I if we’re going to have her put down, or insinuated that it’s a better option than paying for continued treatment. Maybe we’re in the minority, but despite the fact that while yes, it’s costing us a small fortune, there is no way I could live with myself if I had an animal put down because I didn’t want to pay for its medical bills. Cassie and her brother are rescue kitties – we took them in after they’d been abandoned. I’m not going to abandon her now because vet’s bills are expensive. When you adopt a pet, you have to take into account all the expenses that might happen in future and if you’re not on board with that, then don’t get a bloody animal! Okay, rant over, but it just astounds me that people are cool with offhandedly asking if we’re having her put down.

On a happier note, we also went to a friend’s Christmas party this weekend, which was really lovely. Maybe you’ve noticed, thanks to these scenes from a weekend posts, but grown-up nights out are pretty few and far between in this house! 😉 We had a lovely evening among adults, with awesome food, company and cocktails for the non-preggo grown-ups.

Our hosts organized a fun Secret Santa kind of gift exchange – everyone had to bring a gift, under $25 and gender-neutral. People got creative! Someone brought a ham (!), there was a hand-carved pair of cherry wood chopsticks, matching pairs of felt Dutch slippers, among other cool ideas. Fran and I actually bought nearly the same gift for the exchange – I bought two etched wine glasses and he found two gold rimmed whiskey glasses. Great minds. 🙂

I ended up receiving one of those Lego 3D puzzle sets of the Empire State Building and Fran and I are planning on putting it together with Roman’s help (he is beside himself with excitement about it). Fran also got an awesome present, a popsicle maker! I’m excited to try it out with fruit and yogurt pops this week.

This is the start of my last week of Elf for Health challenges! I’ve had a wonderful elf buddy for the second half of the challenge – we’ve been supporting each other and sharing how we’re going to tackle the daily tasks and it’s been a lot of fun. My elf even did my Full-Body Circuit Workout from the blog last week as her Friday challenge! (And yes, she was sore on Saturday). Here are the final week of challenges, if any of you guys want to jump in on some of them! 🙂 Have a great week, everyone!

Do you think I’m overreacting about people asking us if we’re having our cat put down?

Have you ever won anything awesome?

Would veggies with breakfast be an easy challenge for you? I’m all for savory breakfasts, but I know a bunch of people find it difficult to get their veggies started so early in the day.