Life imitating Alias:

They had lived for more than a decade in American cities and suburbs from Seattle to New York, where they seemed to be ordinary couples working ordinary jobs, chatting to the neighbors about schools and apologizing for noisy teenagers.

But on Monday, federal prosecutors accused 11 people of being part of a Russian espionage ring, living under false names and deep cover in a patient scheme to penetrate what one coded message called American “policy making circles.”

An F.B.I. investigation that began at least seven years ago culminated with the arrest on Sunday of 10 people in Yonkers, Boston and northern Virginia. The documents detailed what the authorities called the “Illegals Program,” an ambitious, long-term effort by the S.V.R., the successor to the Soviet K.G.B., to plant Russian spies in the United States to gather information and recruit more agents.

Posey! I love her already.

Welcome home, sara! I did not shed in your house! Possibly I brought some cathair from my house though. There is a metric assload of it not attached to the cats.

Best friend is having fairly major surgery today and Bob has 4 appointments of varying degrees of seriousness over today and tomorrow in advance of his reversal surgery next week. All vibes for best possible outcomes are welcome.

And, after his next surgery, I am very much hoping for a looooong time passing before any more loved ones are in the hospital for anything other than followup appts, work, or giving birth. This year has been too much.

Oh lisah! Best of luck to Bob.

I slept in! Bless be the night nurse!

Yay for sleeping!

Good luck to Bob and your friend, Lisa.

I brought my rent check and stamps into work, but no envelope. Now I can't find a non-letterhead envelope here. Oh well.

Thanks, guys. My biggest worry is that something will show up that will either postpone his reversal or worse. I'm being positive about it all but it's hard not to worry.

Fingers crossed for Bob and for Best friend!

My biggest worry is that something will show up that will either postpone his reversal or worse. I'm being positive about it all but it's hard not to worry.

I totally understand this. But the status quo would be better than a problem, which isn't reassuring, but still. I hope everything goes well, lisah.

Jesse, welcome back! I've missed you.

Thanks, Kat! I finally used the awesome Bobbsey Twins notebook you made me years ago for this trip, and it was PERFECT -- I think I have one blank page left. And many people complimented it, and were super-impressed that someone I know made it.

HA! I just found another one I had made, The Great Depression, but the cover is almost off. SAD.

I miss making things. Right now, my life is full of things I can't control.

We're leaving for Idaho on Thursday. I need some book recs... anything I must read?