And snow to you all! (no really...we got some too, believe it or not)

Happy New Year to all. It was a quiet night for us; Mermaid was at a party with a friend (and had a sleepover), and the Guy worked late-ish, until 9pm. Tall Boy had two of his friends over playing war with his new Nerf guns all through our small house.  We didn't end up watching the ball drop, or ANY kind of new year celebration on TV, but watched some Rockford Files instead, and drank some champagne. Tall Boy had some Sprite.  Very low-key.

Today, on our 15th wedding anniversay, the Guy went back into work. There are some years where we both forget about it--the wedding itself was kinda anticlimactic after having been together about 10 years or so before the actual marriage.

What the big stuff was, I told the kids that to get them out of the house, I'd take them to Mount Asia in Santa Clarita, over the 5 pass into the Antelope valley. Well, that's how it STARTED, because as we approached the pass, we saw warnings that the road was closed much further up, so I didn't think much of it. We'd still be able to get to the place. Turned out the kids experienced their first snow storm EVER, and saw snow in the road, and on the mountains, and everywhere! Falling! And it was cold! When I pulled off the freeway to turn around, I pulled over for a few minutes while they played in the snow for about five minutes before jumping back in the car because of the chill. LOL  They were so excited!  And since it's been about 10 years or more since I've driven in the snow, I took it real slow, even as I saw some dumbasses in big flat bed trucks zooming by us.  Mermaid thought we'd had an adventure, so she was all happy even if we didn't get to Mount Asia this weekend. She starts school tomorrow, and she knows we'll head up there again next weekend, weather permitting.  They're so bummed out we don't get snow where we live, just a couple miles south of the snowfall.

How I spent my New Years Day

First, I woke up late, for me. About 9am. Then I hung out on the computer and then Goldy lay down near my chair obsessively licking his leg. He'd acted a little strange on Thursday, too, where he lay down under my desk and *would not move*, even when I did. He usually gets up when I move around the house and follows me, but not that day. He moved over to the other side of the desk at one point and stayed where he was for hours then, too.

At 11ish, Mermaid got back home and said, "Mom, Goldy's face is swollen up."  Sure enough, the entire right side of his nose/face was swollen up, and it looked really bad. I called our vet down in Lawndale, and they said to bring him in. So, did the 1-hour drive in about half that. New Year's Day traffic was really light, thank heavens. Brought him in. We all thought it was perhaps an allergic reaction, so the vet gave him some Benedryl and told me to call them back after a few hours of observation. He called me back around 5pm and told me the Benedryl wasn't doing much, so he took a closer look. He thinks it's an abcess from an infected gum or tooth. That's not good. Goldy has a heart condition, and that makes anything surgical a very risky possibility. He could die on the table while getting his teeth cleaned and the abcess removed.  So the vet gave him an antibiotic shot, and I drove the 30 miles back to pick him up. Goldy was doped up from the Benedryl shot he'd had earlier. He was so out of it.

He's looking MUCH better today, but still puffy. I'm calling his regular vet tomorrow to make and appointment to see if there's some way to get him better. Or at least as much better as he can be with his heart and lung disease.