Hi all! My original post is still mostly true and not a lot has changed in my life, except I'm married now to my beloved NoiseDesign and we no longer have our sweet older dog but do have a cute, mischievous puppy. Oh, and I've changed my name yet again. KristinT->Kristin->PixKristin->Pix. Yeah. All me. I think I'm tied with Aimee, starborn, Jamie Stemple Aims!

I went back to see if I posted an introductory post, which I did, though it was short on personal detail (shocking for me, I know). But it led me to skim through the first 1,000 or so posts, in which there was a spectacular slap fight over the serial comma. (Of course I was a part of it. I have no shame. Or manners.)

Poor lurkers.

Original post sarameg "Delurking 1: Because we don't always check our e-mail." Oct 1, 2009 7:11:13 pm PDT I've only become more and more infatuated with my house and my neighborhood. Epic blizzards OMGWTF led me to meeting most of my neighbors when we cleared the streets at least twice, which resulted in a new circle of friends, (to the point where my keys are strewn about the hood and I have most of their keys) saturday dates to the farmer's market with them, wine nights, margarita nights, the Stoop...etc. My now-probably 18 year old diabetic cat is hanging on, building his winter coat. I've started experimenting with walking Loki (the 2ish cat) on a very purple harness. It's...going.

Still getting the hang of home ownership: ice dams, what downtown looks like from my roof after a storm, leaf blockages, LEAVES EVERYWHERE oh, and I am all but 9 spindles away from stripping 80 years worth of paint off my banister. Then I get to sand, lift stain and stain again and seal. Yay me?

All in all, I'm me, just more talky meat in the meatworld.

Bmore representing! Since my original post I've become even more of a project manager (slash business analyst evidently), my very elderly dog has passed away, and I've gotten engaged to my super awesome Chicago guy. And he got cancer which was a big part of our year this year but he's doing really well right now. The cats are hanging in there pretty well too.

The only change to my original post is that I acquired a job in February that I enjoy quite a bit. I think I'll keep it.

Right. I kind of skipped over the whole horrific month of ND critically ill in the hospital in that update. But he's doing great now, and that's the important part.

Lisah, I must have missed the news about your fiance somewhere along the way. I'm sorry he's been battling cancer, but I'm glad to hear he's doing better.

My original post is still pretty accurate. Too bad, since I really wish the job were different. Any lurkers know of any work for a bilingual former professor, now editor--delurk!

Thanks, Pix. We've been really lucky. They think they caught it early (it's colorectal cancer) and he just had surgery, no radiation or chemo. He had an ileostomy while he healed from the tumor removal surgery which was hard but manageable. He had the surgery to reverse that in July. Now he just has to get scanned every 3 months for a while to make sure nothing comes back. Really, really lucky. For each of his surgeries he was just in the hospital for 3-4 day and, knowing how rough that was for me, I can't imagine how hard it must have been for you with ND in there all that time.

lisah, I'm glad your man is doing so well.

Here is my original intro WindSparrow "Delurking 1: Because we don't always check our e-mail." Oct 4, 2009 2:45:29 pm PDT Things that have changed are few - I have the same job, it's just owned by different people. I don't think I mentioned in last year's post that I work supporting adults with developmental disabilities in shared living environments. IOW, I work in group homes. While full time with one company, I work at four different locations. Some days I get paid to relax and watch tv, and some days I get paid to be silly. One of my coworkers tells me I am good at the mental chess - I use the silly as a tool to prevent verbal and physical violence. I love my work.

And I love my cats. Harvey is, if possible, even snugglier than ever. And Sammie is as fluffy as ever. They are currently crooning at me. You see, they are starving to death. They have never been fed. They are not even sure they know what food is. They just know they would like to try some.

In the last year, my H and I have relocated from NC to WA. We're having fun exploring our beautifully scenic area, and have just spent a wonderful summer out of the killing heat and humidity of the southeast--for that alone the move was worth it! We're rehabbing and redecorating our first house, and meeting neighbors, evading election to the neighborhood association board (so far. further evasion is eventually doomed, we know).

H and I are rediscovering each other and why we were originally drawn together, and forging a new era in our relationship. Aside from being required to love each other, we're finding out we actually like each other. So that's neat.

The cats were abandoned to the tender mercies of StY, who was also left behind (at his choice). Somebody had to leave home, you know? Turned out it was us. There are no plans at present to add pets to the sawdust and paint buckets.