You better get some superpowers out of all this.

You better get ALL the superpowers out of all this.

Psssssst, Ginger, have you checked your side porch today?

Yes, I have. I suspect you're responsible for the giant box.

I sent you an alien!! Beware!!

Whew, got the delivery alert hours ago and worried that it was stolen.

You are a wonderful person, javachick. There's no way to thank you for your awesomeness.

It was in a box large enough to ship a body.

As heartfelt as that was, I didn't need to say it twice.

Everyone should have an alien.

For those in need of distraction:

Cilantro hating may be genetic [link]

Dr Who hand carved chess set [link]

And in me news, they decided to fill me full of iron in the hopes of increasing my red blood cells, so I had a long day in the infusion room. I hope it works, because I'm tired of being tired.

This is how I've had to deal with my anemia and those infusions really help. I hope it kicks in quickly for you. And I hope you get the superpowers I never got.

javachik is ever amazing.

Guys, I'm really shaken up by something that so isn't a big deal, but it taps into a phobia I didn't realize I had. I've whitefonted for those with rodent issues...

So we've had a mouse/rat (don't know which, don't really want to know) infestation over the past couple of months. We've heard them in the walls, which I don't like but can deal with, but about a month ago we discovered that they had found a way into our (very old) built in kitchen drawers and made a mess out of two drawers worth of pet odds and ends and the big heavy drawer with all my baking supplies.

Neither ND nor I had the emotional energy to deal with it at the time, so we lived in cheerful denial and didn't open any of those drawers for any reason.

But my mom is coming to visit for the first time in two years, and she arrives tomorrow night, so I buckled down to clean all the things, including those nasty drawers, tonight. They were foul. There is no other word to describe the pestilence of the drawers, the poop, the pee, the horrific smell, the equally horrific fact that they were in my flour and sugar. It doesn't matter that I hadn't touched any of the above--just the fact it existed disgusts me.

I had on rubber gloves, but cleaning out each drawer and wiping them down and throwing everything way was frankly so traumatizing that I nearly broke down in tears in the middle of the process more than once.

Given the depth of my horror and the trauma I'm feeling, this is apparently a phobia I've developed. I don't have a problem with mice in general (pets, etc) and have never screamed and jumped on a chair when one runs by--I actually think they're quite cute. But the feces and urine and general feeling of UNCLEAN have me feeling really upset. I keep washing my hands and trying to talk myself down from the idea that I must now have Hanta Virus or the Plague or something equally awful. I may have to take a Xanax. I think I'm on the verge of a panic attack, which is ridiculous.

I know this is nothing compared to what Sean and Scrappy and Ginger and so many of you are dealing with, and I apologize for the long post, but I'm so upset right now that I just had to get it out somewhere.