Guys, I know this is a day early, but I have a CT scan scheduled on my lungs for tomorrow. I don't know how long it's going to take and I didn't want to miss out on telling you my news! We have merch! Thanks to my friend, SylverDreamer, we have a line of shirts, mugs, and even a notebook available for order now. The best part? All of the proceeds go towards our house fund. So, if you've been wanting to help out, this is a great opportunity. You could start your holiday shopping early or grab that extra goodie for yourself.

I want to start out by thanking all of you who sent your condolences about Sylver. He really was one of my babies and a well loved member of our family. Yesterday was a really hard day for me.

After a lot of tears and hugs and talking, we decided to honor his memory by adopting another shelter cat. Today, we drove 45 minutes to a fantastic non-profit, no kill shelter. We took along some newspaper and some canned cat food to donate in Syl's name.

It took us nearly 2 hours of looking and petting and talking, but we found our new love. His name is Byron. We've dubbed him LB, short for Lord Byron. I have to say though, stately this cat is not. He's a master sneak attacker and he loves to roll around on the floor and climb up on shoulders.

This is the picture from the website. I'll post some more once I manage to get some. He was too busy playing to pause for pictures while we were at the shelter.

For those of you out there who wished there was something they could do to help ease my pain, I would like to ask you to do something to honor Sylver and the life he led. It may have been short, but it was happy and full of love.

I would ask that you take the time to locate your closest no-kill animal shelter/rescue group. Once you find it, please do one (or heck, all) of the following : a) adopt a pet. there are so many animals out there that need loving homes. b) offer your love and home for foster care. yes, there are animals out there who need a place to stay until slots open up in the shelters. c.) make a donation. It could be your time, your money or some of the things that the shelter needs.

If there isn't a no-kill animal shelter in your area, let me point you to the one we visited today. The people there were so nice, the areas were all clean and the animals were obviously very well taken care of. If you're looking to adopt a cat, they're even waiving the adoption fees from now until August 1st. You can find more information here about the available animals, the things they need and where you can find them.

One last thing...and I may sound like Bob Barker here, but please be a responsible pet owner and have your babies spayed or neutered. There are so many out there already that need loving homes, please don't add to the problem by allowing your animals to have unwanted babies.