In memorium of the oldest cat I have ever known

So my mom finally broke down and took the family cat, Crystal, to the vet to be put to sleep last Thursday. Crystal was 21 years old, suffering from severe arthritis and assuredly many other undiagnosed underlying conditions.
Crystal came into our lives on Christmas 1986 when my mother finally gave into the frequent begging on the part of my sister Emilyand asked my Grandpa Jim to find us a kitten. (Grandpa Jim was a vet and had the connections to know of litters with extra kittens) Since Emily was the one who wanted the cat she got to be the one to name her. Emily was all of 4 years old at the time and I have the suspicion that it had to do with my mom owning several Krystal Gail records at the time. I know that looking at record covers with a woman who had hair down to her feet deeply impressed me.
So that is generally how the little bundle of fur came into our lives. She was skittish, and liked to hide, and for years her collar had a bell on it so we could track her down. She was an attention hog and used to bite my hand when I was reading in order to get me to pet her. She ruled over our home, defending us frequently from invasion from other cats in the neighborhood. As she got older and more rickety she would spend most of her time between the warm sunny spots of the living room and the warm spots in my mom's bed. Not content to peacefully share the bed, she would plop herself down and stake out the exact middle forcing you to scrunch to one side or physically move her over. Considering her infirm state she put up fairly well with Bella's overeager toddler affections, only occasionally crying and nipping at her when Bella's fur petting became fur pulling. Her presence has become so much a part of my mother's home that last weekend I kept being startled by movements out of the corner of my eye. I kept having to reexplain to my brain that the shifts and rustling from the houseplants was due to the air conditioner and not a cat winding herself through the leaves. It's a part of our family history gone and she will be missed, but I have to admit that the practical side of me is giving a little cheer that maybe now we will be able to get some of the cat hair out of my mom's sofa.

Bella Videos

Here are a couple videos of Bella that we took last week when Aunt Emily was over doing her laundry. Bella decided to help by pulling all the clothes out of Auntie's basket and then proceeded to play dress-up with Auntie's shirt. She carried it around with her all over the house. I also love the first video as it gives a close-up shot of my new favorite funny face.

Ponderings of what to do next with my life

Ariadna
Originally uploaded by Daniel Naranjo

I have recently been giving a lot of thought to what I would like to do career wise with my life. The whole having my hours cut at work has been somewhat of a catalyst making me look at my current life and family situation and plan out a bit where I want to go. So if you will indulge me I'll share my current list of choices on the table with my thoughts for each plan. Here are the options I have come up with so far:

1. Continue with the status quo: For those of you playing along at home, the status quo is me working one day a week at the clinic, and the other days staying home and being a full time mom/Relief Society president.
   

• Pro's: Plenty of good mommy time with Bella. Financially we can swing this option with no major lifestyle sacrifices or acquiring extra debt. No need to add complications to the current childcare situation. A stable situation that would not be unduly complicated if we decided to add another child to the mix in another year or so.
  
• Con's: I don't do very well being at home all day with little structure. When my main goal for the day is showering and getting the two of us dressed, that is sometimes all we manage to get done. I often find myself frustrated from limited adult interaction and not using my education and clinical skills to their full potential. I really like my job and the population I work with and would like to improve my skills but this is happening in a rather piecemeal way right now.

2. Go back to school and get my PhD. in Social Work: I have my Masters degree and advanced LCSW licence so this is the next step up. The funniest thing is that I was exploring this option on the U of U's social work PhD page and my picture is on the page. It must have been taken my last year in grad school. Talk about a sign.

• Pro's: I could see myself doing some teaching on a college level and there is a lot of focus in the U's program on Geriatric social work and they have a research institute set up with that focus so if I decided to go this route I should have support in my area of interest. There is also a grant opportunity from a foundation offering $25,000 a year for PhD students doing their dissertations in Geriatric Social work. It is competitive but a possibility. Plus the U has some decent childcare options for students which may address the what to do with Bella question. I have a supportive boss and should be able to work my schedule around to be able to keep my job while I do school if I would like.
  
• Con's: This is a big, long term commitment. It means less time with the little one, and life would be more complicated by the addition of any other little ones to our family. The Blue Prince still has two more years in his plumbing program and it may be hard to have both of us doing school at the same time. We may need to take out student loans if grant options don't pan out. The application deadline for this program are in Feb. so if I do decide to go this route I wouldn't even actually apply till next year.
  

3. Getting a Gerontology certificate or Masters Degree: Since I already have a master's degree in a related field, the certificate would be more realistic. This is actually the middle ground between the two above options that I am the most strongly considering for right now.

• Pro's: It seems to be a fairly flexible program, giving you up to 3 years to complete 15 credit hours of classwork and practicum. Some of the practicum options look very intriguing including some private Geriatric Care Management placements which is an area I've strongly considered working in (basically a private practice where you give advice and help seniors and their families make plans for their current and future needs). Doing a practicum in this area would give me a feel for the business end and much needed mentoring. I could do the program as a matriculated or non-matriculated student (which might be cheaper) but if I do decided to go on they would only count hours I did as a matriculated student. They start the program every semester. When I called they said that summer semester starts this week and that they would be happy to have me jump right in, but I think a bit more planning is needed so I would probably shoot for the August start instead. Again I could probably still work things around my current work schedule and keep my job.
  
• Con's: I would need to look into childcare options and figure out how to pay for it but at least as a matriculated student I would be able to take advantage of on-campus resources.
  
  Anyway, sorry for the long post. I think this was more for me than anyone else in order to get my mind sorted out, but I would love comments as to what other think of my plotting.