Oh the ears on Vlad! Adorable kitties!

Hooray Barb! Awesome first competition!

Kitties! And congrats, Barb, that's awesome.

I am skipping a several hundred posts because I again got hopelessly behind during the first-week-of-new-job-and-closing-on-a-house adventure. In short: the job seems just as awesome now as it seemed during the interview, the house is even more beautiful and interesting than we expected (we keep discovering surprises, like flower and vegetable beds that are so hidden under weeds we thought they were just overgrown lawn patches, and an old linen closet that was painted shut and turns out to be very nice inside), the rest of our furniture comes today so we can sleep on an actual bed tonight instead of a leaky air mattress, and we met Kate P in person the other day! Which was awesome.

Life continues at a brisk pace, and all is well. I will hopefully have a more consistent schedule starting next week and will be able to check in more often.

You guys continue to be awesome.

Gris, that is so terrific to hear!!

Laura, blown-in insulation? Long sleeves, I hope!!!

Wow Barb, tres impressive competition there! A first!

And yay too to Gris for the continuing good job sitch and to the Reasons for such lovely little kitties. Egad are those two cute. I don't think you've lost your minds at all because KITTENS!

I can't believe my husband and son are still asleep, snuggled together in MY bed as a matter of fact. Isaac never sleeps in. Franny and I went to get bagels and cream cheese and have been having mommy-daughter bonding time. Delicious morning.

I have been skating this morning and my coach was pleased with my progress today, so that's a great start to my birthday!

yay Scrappy!

Laura, blown-in insulation? Long sleeves, I hope!!!

Very ancient insulation, like sawdust stuff, plus any scraps of construction debris they tossed in there. Total yuck. Long sleeves, masks, goggles.

Yay Scrappy! And Happy Birthday!

Nice progress, Gris.

Happy birthday, Scrappy! You sexy bombshell of roller skating awesomeness!

Guys, I am still sick as shit, so I sent my boys off to Iowa to meet with the grandparents at their annual ballooning event (yeah, my in-laws own a hot-air balloon, isn't that COOL!?)

I am sad not to be going, and feeling kinda like a shitty DiL/stepmom, but there's no way I'd be able to deal with a 3 hours drive, then being out in the field all day, then getting up at 4 am to prep the balloon, do the launch and drive 3 hours back to KC.

I said a mumbly good-bye, call when you get there, sorry I suck to them at 8 am, and then went back to bed till almost noon. I feel...a little better. Not well enough to do anything strenuous, but well enough to work on some work things, drinking pots of tea with honey and maybe, MAYBE, do a few 10 minutes jaunts of straightening up the office and bedroom. Kleenex, water glasses and tea cup/pots explosion, and I need to put clean sheets on the bed. I've felt so gross for two days that I can't stand the thought of sleeping on germy sheets one more night.

Also, my words are back for a bit, at least! And my fever's down to a manageable 100.3.

BARB! First place! And after your shitastic week! I love you, and am so proud!

GRIS! Thrilled about your domestic bliss and more bliss to come! We've missed your pixels!

BONNY! YAY for resolution with your friend-colleague!

MARIA! SO GOOD to see more of your pixels, even though still love you when they're absent.

I know you said DH is meds-resistant for anxiety, but Lorazpam is a milder version of Xanax, and most low-doses that relieve anxiety don't impair cognitive function or cause drowsiness (in most peeps). You might mention that, and that lessening stress could improve his body's strength in fighting back.

He's former mil, IIRC -- sometimes the best offense is a good defense, and in a fight, you learn to take anything that comes to hand and use it as a weapon. Perhaps that would make a good, rational...er, rationale that's more palatable.

Drs. are doing recon and possible full assault with the heavy artillery -- he can do strategic planning and meds could help to sweep for body booby-traps and establish his body as a battleground with established friendlies as allies before the mission goes live? W/o them, perhaps the anxiety could transform neutral civvies into hostiles that could FUBAR the mission?

I dunno -- trying to be useful; tell me if I'm being a nosy jerkface, and I'll take my nose back where it belongs.

Good (sniff, sneeze) afternoon, y'all!

And becuase it deserves its own post:

HAPPY BAD-ASS ROLLIN' REDHEADED BIRTHDAY, Le Scrap!