oh, hai hallo!

Invisible Sammich! (if you've never seen LOLCats.com, go there immediately. Not only will you laugh, but you will then understand this joke, as well).

Remember me? I used to blog here. What I initially planned as a couple weeks off in order to get aclimated to my new job has turned into like 2 months of hiatus. HIATUS, I SAY! That all comes to a screeching halt right....now.

So, let's see. We need to get you caught up on the latest happenings. Here is a brief-ish list of things that have been going on while I've been gone:

- I started the Kiri shawl over again in the same yarn but on smaller needles. Also, I learned how to read the chart so that it doesn't feel like my frontal lobes are exploding every time I knit a row. Charts GOOD. The shawl is looking much better now.

- Mark agreed to wear a kilt for the wedding. It wasn't my idea...it's actually something my mom started picking on him about before we were even engaged. She is of the opinion that all male inhabitants of the British Isles wear kilts at all times. She's a little behind, I know. Regardless, he's agreed to it...and I'm interested to see what it will look like.

- My mom spent a week in the hospital. She had an emergency bypass on the artery around her kidney. It wasn't a good scene at all. There were some complications and stuff, but since it's all over and done with, I don't really need or want to re-live any of that again. Suffice it to say that she's been home about 2 weeks and is doing better, although they still aren't sure when she's going to be well enough to go back to work.

- I found wedding bands that we really like. They are, of course, like $700 bazillion dollars and so we won't be getting them...but still. If you're interested, they're "Sparta" by Scott Kay. With the black viney things. Way cool.

- Stopped taking the Effexor the week my mom was in the hospital, mostly because I ran out and my insurance doesn't kick in until Sept 1st and I didn't want to shell out $124 again for something that mostly makes me feel like crap. So...I just didn't get it refilled. I think that being so worried about my mom that first week kept my mind off the fact that I wasn't on the med...and I have actually felt REALLY good since it has gotten out of my system. I actually get out and DO stuff more...I don't just go from couch to car to chair to car to couch. So far, I haven't had any panic twinges and I feel almost like I've kind of been allowed back into my own head, if that makes sense. I was just sort of on autopilot with the Effexor. I wasn't flipping out, but I wasn't doing anything to help myself or really much of anything else, either. I was numb. Not a fun happy numb (hello, Valium!)...just an empty fuzzy apathetic numb. I don't need that shit.

- I made 7 loaves of zucchini bread...out of 2 ENORMOUS zucchini from the garden. These suckers were epic. I didn't get pictures of them, but I wish I had. Seriously...they were bigger than my mom's shih tzus.

- Speaking of which - mom and dad got two new babies (BEFORE my mom went into the hospital. That wasn't really the original plan...hah!). Petey and Bandit are two 1 1/2 year old littermates. They are shih tzu, and they're kind of creamy white with brindle patches. Pete was the runt of the litter...he weighs MAYBE 8 lbs. I call him Mini-Pete. Bandit is about the size of our other boys. They were being given away by their family (we're honestly not sure why because they're angels) so my mom and dad took them. Then they promptly had to lay out like $750 to have them both neutered and have some major arthritis treatments for Pete because he has degenerative hip dysplasia. The x-rays show that he has almost no hip sockets at all, and he's only a year and a half old. So, we're going to do the best we can for him and give him a good life for as long as we're able. The prognosis wasn't particularly GRIM, per se...it was just a matter of "this isn't going to get any better, ever".

- Also in the dog section of life, I have to report a VERY sad loss: Beck's black lab Oscar was hit and killed by a log truck about a week ago. He wasn't even 9 months old. He never played near the road (they live on a back dirt road anyway) but he happened to that night. Everyone was, of course, quite heartbroken. He was a lovely dog. Becky and Shannon are slowly beginning to heal, though.

- I found THE wedding cake. I am in love with it. I saved the picture on the computer and I look at it every day. It's beautiful. It also probably costs $974 million dollars and so I probably won't be having that either...but it's still fun to look at.
I think that about covers everything, honestly. New job is still going well. There's some BS, of course...but I've never heard of anyone working anywhere where there's no BS at all...so I'm ok with that. I do my job well...that's what matters most to me right now.

So, yeah. I'll be back around regularly now and will try to keep everyone more updated on wedding stuff, knitting stuff, and just plain stuff in general.

You are now free to roam about the cabin.