Fiscal Year Closeout

It doesn't mean much to me anymore, but military and other government financial people are burning the midnight oil today to make sure everything evens out as they close out FY2012.  Me?  We're packing our suitcases and finalizing plans for the "The Big Trip."  Or whatever I can call it to differentiate it from previous other October trips to Mecca Hershey, PA.  I don't particularly care for this trip.  This highlight this year will be getting to see Wendy (insert heartfelt "Yay!" here) and Eric as we zip by their neck of the woods.  I'm trying to stay positive and approach this year's trip with a lighter heart and more enthusiasm.

The Good Stuff:

• Making good progress figuring out Joomla!  It's a pretty powerful platform, which makes WordPress look like child's play.
• I hesitate to say this, but I feel as if I can more easily get down on my knees.  I don't feel like I have to stop and spend five minutes figuring out how to make the transition like I used to.  Must keep doing these exercises.
• I'm putting this under good stuff, because the sense is we're going to have a good outcome from it.  Grandma went in the hospital Thursday night after going to her doctor in the afternoon and enduring a battery of blood tests and a chest X-ray.  The word we got was severe anemia, modified to be a severe infection (white count way high as opposed to a low red count), and then congestive heart failure.  Latest word is a blood infection caused by infected fluid on her knee.  She's resting comfortably and we hope the IV antibiotics they put her on when she got there are doing their work.  I believe the infection could cause congestive heart failure or at least the symptoms of it, so I suspect they'll continue treating the infection and monitor her heart performance (which I imagine will improve).  The question I have (and I'm sure we'll hear more on it) is whether there is any damage to the heart and if so, what the appropriate treatment will be for a 94 year old.  She was walking and taking basic care of herself before this brought her down last week, so I would hope she'll be able to do that again.  I think it's a matter of how much bounce she has.  She's always been remarkably healthy, so we'll see.
• I put it off a long time -- all week, actually, but I've gotten a fair amount of work done on PBOTL today.  I felt inspired and have been putting out fresh words the seem to be working.

The Not So Good:

• Did I mention I subscribed to a six month access to a website containing HTML, CSS, PHP, WordPress, Joomla!, and Drupal training?  I had a coupon code I'd paid $37 for but goofed upon registering for the site and wound up paying the full $99 subscription fee in addition to the $37 for the coupon.  Tech support was very helpful and supposedly corrected that, but I haven't seen the credit come to my credit card yet, so I'm putting it in not so good for now.  If the $99 credit show up in my account, this is definitely a good stuff entry, because the training is broken down into very basic steps and seems almost too easy.  But I'm learning stuff, so I think that's a good thing.
• My weight has ballooned the last two weeks (up nine pounds).  I'm not happy at the moment. 
• Hubby is still finalizing the route for the trip, and I think he's doing a good job of it, but we both feel as if we're behind the curve on this trip.
• I heard a cat crying outside yesterday and went out to look, and it was a 4-6 week kitten screaming by the heat pump.  As soon as it saw me as I came around the corner (we saw each other at the same time), it hightailed itself under the house under the A/C ductwork.  Now I keep hearing what I think is a kitten crying under my feet (that's where the ductwork goes).  I'm sure the kitten will be fine -- it looks like it's mama is trying to wean it.  I've seen a big orange cat in the yard lately, which I believe is probably the daddy.  There's a neighborhood gray tabby who I believe if the mama, because she's thin, indicative of a cat who has litter after litter of kittens without adequate time to rebuild her health.  She was lounging on the front porch last night.  She usually hangs out at the house behind us.  Hubby, of course, groans when I tell him this, because he doesn't want me adopting another cat.  I don't want to either, but I hate to see the critters suffer.  I'm thinking about becoming the neighborhood catch, neuter/spay, and release lady.  I don't mind the stray cats hanging around, but I don't want them reproducing either.  Hubby will not be happy if he finds out, but I put a bowl under the ductwork last night and three a handful of catfood in it.  It was empty this morning (I suspect mama and not the baby ate it). I put more in today, and it hasn't been touched.  Either mama moved the baby, or something will eat it later tonight.  This is only temporary, because we won't be around for a couple of weeks.

The Week Ahead:

• Finish getting ready for the trip
• Dinner with Wendy and Eric later this week (sorry, we're not driving by anybody else's house on this trip)
• Begin brainstorming for NaNo -- so far I'm bombing out on my efforts
• Have safe travels.
• Happy New Year!