I guess it is time for an update. I am not really sure why it is time, since blogging seems to be disappearing. Of my admittedly small blogroll, only two are posting with any consistency, and one other has recently updated. My tracker shows that in the last week only two people beside myself have visited this blog, though I am aware that there is one other person that can check if there is a new post without actually coming to the blog...however, I can simply talk to that person face-to-face. It's a bit of a vicious cycle...people don't come read, that makes me feel less inclined to post, which makes people less inclined to come read...not sure what the solution to that is, if there is a solution.

Well...the update. I have good news and I have bad/sad news.

First the bad/sad because I would rather end on an up note. Our elderly (16 years) kitty whom has had fairly serious health concerns over the last several years (heart murmur and borderline hyperthyroid dx'd 6 or 7 years ago, clearly arthritic the last 2-3 years) is dying. She is really D's kitty, and doesn't like me all that much, but I have been nursing and comforting her since Thursday because D is out of town until Sunday night. This involves giving her a natural pain med that a relative that is a vet tech recommended, mixing wet food with warm water to make it a gravy (and stinky) to encourage her to eat, standing guard at the same time so the younger two boys don't push her out of the way and take her food, carrying her back and forth to the water bowl and litter box trying to get her to use both, and checking every few minutes to make sure she is still breathing. *phew* She will barely eat a tiny bit, she barely drinks, I haven't seen her use the litter box since Thursday night, and she isn't grooming herself. I am basically just trying to keep her comfortable until D gets home tomorrow evening and is able to make a decision. Really, the decision was made a long time ago (if blah blah, then blah), and D is completely aware of the situation...I need her to be able to say good bye.

And...the good news. The interview went well. It felt like a 10-15 minute conversation, but when I hung up the phone, I realized it had been 40 minutes. I took that as a good sign...not the actual length, which I hear is about average, but the fact that it didn't feel long at all. To me that means there wasn't any awkward silences, stumbly responses, but rather a flowing conversation. On Monday I got a letter from them, not a thin one, but also not the fat one I was hoping for, it was clearly more than one page. The letter was to inform me that I was being offered a spot on the wait list for January, with an option to be reconsidered for May if no spot opened for January. There was a form to return to indicate if I wanted to be on the wait list or not and an envelope to return it (by Oct. 7). I filled out the form and mailed it at the post office before 8 am the next morning...and yes, I indicated I want to be on the wait list. I am hoping that my early response gets me a spot near the top of the wait list! So I am waiting by the phone, hence the picture. I really, really, really want to go to this school! Meanwhile I am preparing to start a CNA program at the local community college, and I have an offer of a job after the CNA (not as a CNA), if I don't get in for January. The job would be with my sis-in-law who is the clinical director in a sleep lab. I have been looking into the "ticket to work" program through SSDI. I would have to go talk to them when/if the time comes, but it appears that under the program, if I make more than $700 a month, I can continue to receive full benefits and collect pay checks, for 9 months. If I go past 9 months, then I get partial benefits (keep Medicare if needed) but if I am not able to work after benefits are reduced, then I get expedited reinstatement of benefits. It seems good, or at least worth a try if I am waiting to get into a program. At the very least, it would give me an opportunity to get some money put away for school or to pay down some of the student loan debt I already have!

~Sera