Deena, please give Kara an extra hug from me, and tell her that her fairy gothmother thinks of her all the time.

Hang in there, Deena and family. Sorry to hear about the rough times.

Much love, my Deena!

Good to see you around here again, Deena. I'm so sorry it's not under better circumstances.

Deena, echoing what everyone else said. All the best.

Good to see your pixels, Deena. Take care of yourself and let us know what we can do.

I have another hour before I can go to bed. Aidan wets the bed unless we get him up at midnight to go to the bathroom, and I thought I'd catch up one more time. You guys make me feel so comforted. Jilli, if you, or any of the rest of you, would like to email Kara, her email address is karapunkinbunny AT aol DOT com. Thanks guys. I'll check in again sometime tomorrow, if I can.

Hugs to you and yours, Deena.

{{{Deena}}} It's not fair that someone so wonderful has so much to deal with. Wishing you all good things in the next year.

I wish I could do a proper meara here, but I'm typing on my iPhone at the airport, and I think it's beyond my poor numb fingers, so I'll leave that part at (((((Deena)))) anda reminder to those who find themselves in Alaska (cruisy-types, I'm looking at you) should look me up in Juneau.

About me, my landlords told me this spring that I had a month to buy the house my apartment was in or move. I'm a packrat and had been there 10 years, so my first response was to freak-the-hell-out, but it turned out to be a good thing, as I now own a condo and have gotten rid of LOTS O' STUFF. Once I moved, my brother invited himself to stay with me. I was apprehensive, but it, too, turned out to be a good thing. We've become good friends and I miss Jim already now that he's with my dad.

In the moving process, I was homeless for a while (it makes one thankful for good friends, one set of which took the cats and another set of which took me). It kind of freaked out the cats a bit, and my little black kitty was having a hard time coming back from it, so I took them for a vet checkup for the first time in mumble, mumble. It turned out she had cancer in her tail. In the testing prior to surgery for that, they found a large mass in her chest. It didn't seem right for metastasis, so they did an ultrasound and biopsy, which popped it and made both her and me feel much better. She has now had her surgery and she's the cutest little manxy cat who can't wait to get her stitches out so the cone can come off. She's doing well and the prognosis is good.

While all this was happening, my uncle had a health emergency and passed away a few days later. He was a brilliant, sweet, gentle man and I miss him very much, but he had a good life and nearly 10 years on dialysis, so it was not unexpected. I went to California for the funeral. He had lived with my dad for nearly 15 years, and so I really thought I needed to be there for him, aside from wanting to go anyway. It turned out to be a wonderful trip. I saw cousins that I hadn't seen since I was 13, and more distant relatives that I had never met, and was reminded of what a cool family I have.

I was heading home yesterday, but was turned back for high winds. I kind of wish they had figured that out before 2 hours in the air and 2 harrowing attempts at landing, but am now even more thankful to be alive. Supposedly, the weather is better today, and the odds of getting in tonight are good.

Whew! I miss you all, and am so glad for the opportunity to catch up. It actually makes waiting at the airport kind of fun.