Forks & Corks

Last night Chad & I volunteered for Forks & Corks - an annual event downtown KC that benefits Harvester's.  UHC really promotes volunteering.  It's something that I truly enjoy but don't often make time for...so I'm trying to make more time to do so.  

Forks & Corks is right up our alley though.  It was held in the Grand Ballroom of the Convention Center - a ridiculously large room that held several breweries, wineries or wine distributors, and KC restaurants.  Each restaurant had 1-2 "bites".  So basically the patrons just walk around and eat/drink for hours!

Here's a couple pics I snagged of the event from my volunteer location.

(This was before the event started, so it's a bit empty...and just one corner of the room.)

Our volunteer job was to guard the silent auction.  Definitely an easy job, but oh so torturous!  We basically stood in the middle of the room watching everyone eat/drink for the first 90 min!  (I did manage to sneak away a couple times to fill my glass and grab a snack.)  Once our shift was over, we got to enjoy the event!

Here's Chad in his stylish Forks & Corks apron...scowling at me for taking his pic.  LOL!

This was the UHC bunch that volunteered that night.  Fun times!

This weekend Judy is visiting.  More fun times ahead!

Cheers!

 

Egg Huntin'

Chad & I were not able to make it back to The Lou Easter weekend with Smokey being sick.  We thought we'd be "brunching it" at a local restaurant until...Calyn & Ben offered to host.  We missed everyone back home, but were thankful to be able to spend the day with Calyn, Ben & the kids, as well as my Mom and John!

Here's some pics of our fun day!  

Lehni is a mastear egg hunter, but Miles wasn't quite sure what was going on.  LOL!

When the Easter Bunny hides eggs in the weeds, it's up to Uncle Chad to fetch them.

A few more fun pics!

Thanks Gakinya Fam!

 

Another Kitty Update

Wednesday will mark the end of Smokey's first two weeks of meds.  It's been a tough two weeks, but it has definitely gotten easier.  The first week he was on an antibiotic in addition to the steroid.  Even though this particular antibiotic is not supposed to effect the GI tract, it sure seemed to!  Since we stopped the antibiotic last week, things have seemed to improve - seems more consistent.  It's also gotten easier to give Smokey his meds.  So hopefully this means that we're all (Chad, myself & Smokey) getting used to this process.

After 4 weekly doses of Vitamin B12 injections, 4 weeks of prescription food, 1 week of antibiotics and 2 weeks of steroids, I truly feel that he's getting better overall.  His coat seems to be getting healthier and a bit more shiny.  (You can tell a lot by a cat's coat.)  I still think we have quite a ways to go though.  I'll be much happier when I see him actually begin to gain weight...and the frequency of his bathroom trips decrease.  I do think we have a solid start though, and less worried about him than I have been in weeks.  

I wondered how Lucky would react with all the hoopla with Smokey.  She actually can't wait for Smokey to get his meds each day.  We've been using cat treats as a reward for Smokey taking his meds.  But when Smokey gets treats - so does Lucky.  She can barely contain her excited for medication time!  LOL!

Beginning Thursday we go down to just daily dosing of the steroid.  Fingers crossed things still continue to improve!  Here's a pic of Smokey relaxing on the balcony of our last loft. 

Randomness

We've been lucky to have visitors recently.  My Mom and John were here a couple of weeks ago, Rebecca visited last weekend...and Judy will be on her way out next weekend!  Love visitors from home!  We had a blast with Rebecca...but managed to not take a single decent picture!  Oh, well - it happens.  We did, however, take Rebecca to some of our favorite haunts:  Cinder Block Brewery, Grinders (a DDD fave) and Cooper's Hawk Winery.  Lots of good eats & drinks were had...and we even had time for some "girly stuff" like mani/pedis and shoe shopping - things I totally miss out here!  Thanks for coming out, Rebecca.  Let's do it again soon!

This past week was another busy one, but Chad and I managed to have a little fun.  We tried out a new restaurant a few blocks from our building - Barrel 31.  I must say that we were quite impressed, especially since it has only been open for a couple of weeks.  Barrel 31 is essentially a whiskey bar & restaurant.  I don't know the first thing about whiskey...but I do know that Barrel 31's Whiskey Sangria was quite tasty!  The decor is sleek rustic and the food is super yum!  Here's a pic of the Flaming Gouda Ale Fondue that was on special during HH.

Thursday afternoon, we took a few hours off work and headed to Boulevard Brewery for one of their special tours & tastings - The Smokestack Tour.  This is a special tour that takes you to places within the brewery that you don't visit on the typical free tour, such as...

 The Hops Fridge

(very aromatic)

The Roof

(Great view of the city on a hazy day...)

(...and a nice view of our building too!)

The tour started off with a full pour of Tank 7 (always a crowd pleaser) and ended with a guided tasting of several of their other Smokestack beers.  Super fun!

Today I decided to get my lazy butt back to a organized exercise class.  I love having the gym in our building, but I know that I don't work out as hard or as frequently as I do when I partake in an exercise class.  I was thinking of going back to hot yoga, but also had been reading a lot about barre classes...so I decided to give the barre a try.  There are several in the KC area, but only one that is fairly close to where we live - The Bar Method.  I made it through my first class, and everyone there was super nice.  I have to say that I didn't come away all sweaty and gross, as I typically would with exercise classes, but that doesn't mean the workout was still tough.  I felt it in my arms, legs & core just a couple of short hours after the class finished.  I think if I mix this with some OPP gym cardio & yoga, it will be a great fit for me.  Here's to the next class!

Have a great weekend!

Kitty Update

As I mentioned in a recent post, one of my kitties, Smokey, has been sick since January.  The vet believes - as I am beginning to - that he's been sick for quite some time.  He's always been the signature "fat cat" weighing in at 15.5lbs prior to moving to KC at little of 2 years ago.  Since then he's lost almost 5 lbs much of it being since right before the new year.  I knew he had lost a little, but I had been more conscious about what type of food they were eating and how much they were being fed.  Well, the vet thinks the move in December and a routine vet visit in January pushed him over the edge of his stress limit.  Since then it's been constant GI issues and he's beginning to look muscle wasted.  Here's a couple of before and after pics to give you an idea.

Smokey - 2010

Smokey - March 2014

The only good thing about his weight loss (and I'm reaching here) is that he can fit in all the small spaces that he once loved as a kitten.

 
Yesterday consisted of another trip back to the vet for a scheduled abdominal ultrasound.  We're still trying to find out exactly what is going on with him, since his bloodwork was essentially normal as was his stool sample...and changes to a grain-free diet and a high-fiber diet have not improved much.  

The ultrasound went well, and he doesn't seem to be bothered much by his shaved belly.  The vet said that he has lots of inflammed & thickened bowel.  Apparantly the layers of bowel are typically very well-defined on an abdominal ultrasound (u/s).  If there is bowel wall thickening with well-defined edges, then it typically indicates Irritable Bowel Disease (IBD).  If the edges are blurred, then the diagnosis is typically lymphoma (the Big C).  Smokey's u/s showed lots of bowel wall thickening with mostly well-defined edges.  The radiologist mentioned that there were a few blurred areas, but that she was leaning more towards IBD.  Good news - hopefully!  

The vet gave good advice.  She mentioned that we could do lots more diagnostic testing, but that we should only test for diagnoses that we would want to treat.  This was a tough thing for me to hear even though it made a lot of sense - just hate thinking about not treating him.  He's been with me for 13 years through a lot of ups/downs.  I'm such a pet person!  I like them more than a lot of people most days!  So Chad and I have decided to treat him for the IBD, since all treatment is conservative in nature.  If we decided to treat for anything else it would require an exploratory surgery and biopsy - something I'm not prepared to do at this time.

So for now, the IBD treatment will consist of twice daily steroids.  We will continue our Vitamin B12 injections and are also finishing up a round of antibiotics.  (His Vitamin B12 injection last week was the first injection that I've given, since I left patient care 12 years ago.  I was a bit nervous at first, but it all came rushing back.  I must admit it went very well.)  This new treatment is going to force us into a new routine.  I'm hoping we'll all adapt well.  Keep your fingers crossed for us!

Weekend Catch Up

I haven't had a chance to blog recently, so I'm playing catch up on tonight's post.

We had the chance to go visit Calyn, Ben & fam a couple of weekends ago for a late celebration of Miles's 1st Birthday!  Thank goodness you don't remember much when you're 13 months old.  LOL!  Better late than never, right?

Here's a few pics of the fun afternoon...

I got to feed Mr. Miles a couple of times.  Obviously, in this pic, there was something much more entertaining than the food.

Hanging out with Uncle Chad

Love that they both have the same expression in this pic!  Chad was asked to watch Miles, so he climbed right in with him.  Coolest Uncle ever!

We also took the opportunity to have a spontaneous "shower" for my step-brother, Jerod, and his girlfriend, Kerry.  She's is due this Summer!  I can't wait to be an Aunt again!

Kerry has two cute little girls, and they're about to have a third!  Poor Jerod - he's definitely outnumbered!  Here's a cute pic of the girls with Lehni...

...and one of just Lehni, of course!  So gorgeous!

What a fun Sunday!!  This past weekend was a bit more low key.  We started off Saturday participating with the UHC team in Walk for Wishes, which is a fundraiser walk for the Make A Wish Foundation.  I used to volunteer for Make A Wish when I was back in IL.  What a fabulous foundation!!  I really hope that I can find the time in KC to volunteer again.  Who wouldn't want to make a child's wish come true?!?!

The walk itself was kind of comical.  I hadn't paid any attention to the details of the walk other than the start time.  When we arrived I found out that the walk was only 1 mile.  Miss Johnson County led everyone in the walk - outfit, tiara, sash and all.  LOL!  Needless to say it wasn't the exercise I was looking for, but it was definitely worth it for the cause!  If you know me at all, you know that I HEART mascots!  I missed the KC Chiefs mascot that day, but found another...the UMKC mascot!

After the walk we headed down to an area of downtown KC called the West Bottoms.  This is a warehouse district on the West side of downtown, which houses a lot of vintage, antique and craft stores.  We're not vintage/antique people, but we wanted to check it out.  I've heard that there's a lot of reclaimed wood crafters.  Now KC has an event each month called First Fridays.  It's on - you guessed it - the first Friday of the month.  It's an event that includes walking around downtown checking out art galleries in the Crossroads District...and many of the restaurants downtown have specials too.  The West Bottoms always has their Warehouse Weekends that Friday-Sunday of the same weekend...and boy is it packed!  We barely made it through 1/3 of the warehouses.  Can't wait to go back.  Here's a shot I took while walking...

This weekend Rebecca is visiting!  Looking forward to a little girl time - shopping, mani/pedi, wine!  Yay!  Here's a shot of Smokey keeping Rebecca's sheets warm.  (I obviously let them sit out too long - had to re-wash them.  LOL!)

I'll provide an update on Smokey soon.  We're off to the vet tomorrow. Fingers crossed!

Cheers!!