Tree Trouble

Crazy, crazy times here. House will have 1st floor walls being framed this week. (IF it ever stops raining, that is.) Last time we built it was started during a drought. We started construction and it poured and poured for weeks. Looks like the same thing, now. Rained last week and is supposed to rain all this week. Oh, well- not much I can do about it and hopefully it will fill up the lakes! Anyway- I've gotten a few good deals on stuff for the house in the past couple weeks, but that is a separate post..... I'll get to this one's subject. Ok- it's about our youngest cat, Annabelle, the little girl calico. She's pretty much my cat and sleeps beside my head at night and loves me the most, blah blah. Anyone who knows me knows that I treat my cats like they're my kids sometimes and she is no exception. So, I got concerned a couple of weeks ago when I saw that she was getting these "scab" like things on her neck and the side of her face. She started scratching them until they were the size of dimes and bleeding all into her fur. I asked B what he thought it may be and he guessed that maybe when the cats were play-fighting, she got nicked with a back claw and scratched it until it turned into a sore. I didn't buy it, because they fight all year long and this only happened twice. Once last winter and once this one. She'd also been laying around a lot and acting like she felt bad. So last night, I couldn't go to sleep and I started thinking about what it could be that is wrong with her. I knew it happened last winter. I knew it had started this time about 2 weeks ago. I knew when it happened last winter that all of a sudden it just went away. Then I figured it out. It's the Christmas tree. She must be allergic to it. Shoot. As soon as B woke up, I told him I had figured it out and he couldn't believe he didn't realize it before me. Poor little Annabelle. I had started calling her "Scabby" and it was our fault she was suffering! SO, needless to say, she's going to be getting a cortisone shot tomorrow and also be given Benadryl until the tree goes out right after Christmas. Then we will be looking for some realistic artificial trees (hopefully on sale) to get for the next 10-15 years. We've always had real trees, but we really don't have a choice, cause I am not getting rid of that cat. If anyone knows of any realistic looking artificial trees, let me know where to find them! I love the ones on http://www.balsamhill.com/ , but they are a bit expensive..... I have started reading the first book in my grief counseling curriculum. It just makes perfect sense to me, which I think is great because it encourages me that I am on the right track. I've only made it through a couple of chapters, but so far it is all making sense and clicking for me. We'll see how it goes. I'm excited about it. Well, enough for now- gotta hit the sheets. Early morning tomorrow!