Reflections on a year I was grateful to see go

Well, hello, there!  I said I’d be back in the new year, and here I am.  I missed you!  But I also spent the last couple of weeks masquerading as a slightly insane petsitter.  Slightly insane only because I think sane petsitters occasionally say no to jobs so that they can occasionally care for their own pets; I, on the other hand, had up to 13 jobs in one day.  Thank you a billion times over to my beautiful wife for taking care of our own beasts!

I both love and hate year-in-reviews; sometimes I find it really boring to read about other people’s years, but really, if you find this boring? Skip it.  Because when it’s not boring it’s really interesting, so I’m banking on everyone loving my version of a year in review.  It’s a bit more of a reflection than review, but that’s what you get. Ready? Let’s go.

Our 2010 year started off with us screwing up a dinner party.  Seriously.  We thought we were being invited to just a “let’s all hang out, it’ll be fun!” party and we showed up 2 hours after it started.  Um, fashionably late for a regular old party, right? Yeah, well, as I mentioned – it was a dinner party.  Being 2 hours late is very, very bad.

I tell you this because, in retrospect, it seems like an appropriate beginning to the year that 2010 was.

In 2010, we had in our lives or in the lives of people we’re very close to a birth, a death, jobs lost, new jobs started, a separation, a wedding, we moved, we got a kitten, we lost our kitten, and we each turned another year older.  That last part is just how things work.  Other notable things: I started blogging, I started classes, I dropped classes, I got rejected by roller derby (twice!), our dog bit someone, I changed my life plan, we changed our last name, we merged our finances, and – yes, I already mentioned the wedding, but it feels worth mentioning again – we’re married now.

yes, I know you've seen this picture before... but it is one of my ALL TIME FAVORITES. So here it is again. Enjoy, because it's beautiful.

What I mean to say is that 2010 was a really big year, and I am really grateful that it’s over.  When the clock struck midnight and our little group of friends yelled “Happy New Year!” I felt this sudden and huge wave of relief.  Really, that’s sort of silly: who knows what 2011 brings?  Maybe more stressors, different stressors.  But I find a lot of hope in this: we made it through this last year, and we did a really good job.  The chances of all of these things happening in the same year again are probably not very high, but, regardless, I know we can handle it.

Being engaged and then married has been an enormous blessing throughout all of this.  When things get hard, I know that there’s someone by my side, someone on my team; even when we’re having a rough time in our relationship, we’re in it for the long haul.

So here’s to 2011, with hope that it is full of love and new beginnings and is only somewhat eventful.  Happy New Year, you guys.

The End/I’m always covered in fur

So my last day of work was last Friday and for some reason I expected some downtime.  Did I already talk about this?  It’s all sort of a whirlwind of craziness.  The plus side is that I do need to eat but I don’t have time to shop, so tonight I threw a bunch of ingredients we had around the house (canned beans, frozen veggies, soy “hamburger”, some herbs) into our slow cooker and things smell delicious.  Sadly, it still needs another 20 minutes to cook slowly, so I thought I’d pop in and say Hello! I’m not missing!  I am just, once again, terribly (wonderfully?) covered in other people’s cats.

us, covered in our own animals. I promise these are our only cats. We are not crazy cat ladies... though I think becoming a crazy dog lady is not a bad goal.

Also sadly, it seems that this trend of being covered in other people’s pets (or feeding and cleaning up after other people’s pets) will continue for the rest of 2010, and I am not going to have the time I would like to dedicate to thoughtful blogging.  Lucky for me, many of you have time off of work and so will not be hoping my blog has new content so that you can procrastinate.

So, my friends, here’s to the new year a few days early!  Thank you to my faithful readers; even though I don’t know who most of you are, I appreciate knowing that you’re out there reading.  And thank you to the regular commenters for helping me feel like I’m saying something worth saying.  Lastly, thank you to those of you who have approached me in person or emailed to say you like what’s happening over here: it always seems to come when I need it most.  You all make this worth doing.

Happy New Year!  And Merry Christmas, if that’s your thing, and also happy birthday to me, my wife, and my dad.  See you next year!  No, seriously, I’ll be back in full swing 1/1/11.  Hooray!

Cheers,

Bird

Stylin’ it up (or not)

Yesterday, my inability to get dressed reached a disastrous peak, resulting in an entire futon covered in clothes that I will probably never wear, my running around the house in a pair of tights, a pair of shoes, and a vest (and that’s it), and a few realizations. Before I tell you about my realizations, please enjoy a glimpse into my morning:

Turtle: Oh. My.
Me (panicking because of her tone… did the cat, who we thought was all better, throw up everywhere?): What?!
Her: You really did explode all over the study.

Point being: I really did cover the ENTIRE FUTON in clothes. Stacked clothes.  It’s impressive, you guys.

Anyway, I gained some general insight into my life in the process. Realization number one: I have a lot of clothes that I just don’t need.  And that don’t fit me or aren’t appropriate for pretty much any situation I need clothes for.

Number two: my style, in its natural, unselfconscious-state, seems to be much dykier than my conscious state often allows it to be. While maybe the dresses that I have do look pretty on me, I feel ridiculous in them.  I feel like I’m playing dress up; I feel sort of silly and floofy and like I’m “faking it,” and at any moment someone will be like, “You! You’re not a real grownup! Go sit at the kids table with your frilly sleeves.” But put on a button down shirt with a sweater over it? Nice.

For example, this dress does look pretty on me! But I felt ridiculous in it. REE-DICULOUS.

But! Look how cute I look in my little vest thing here! So cute! Also, so comfortable.

Number three: I need new clothes. Because apparently it’s not comfortable or really appropriate to wear my wedding suit for every semi- or formal event I go to.  Hence the vague panic last night.  Part of the challenge, though, is that I don’t know what I want, and I don’t know what I need it for.  I could find something I like… but is it for an interview? For hanging out with friends? Can I really justify that purchase?

I feel like I showed up late to the game that all the other kids learned the rules to a lot time ago.  It seems like everyone else can just get dressed and – shazam! – they look good.  And they make it look comfortable and easy.  I, on the other hand, spend an hour and half throwing clothes around the room and end up wearing the only outfit I had in the first place.

my best wedding outfit: shirt untucked, pants rolled up, CHACOS. And the best friend who occasionally helps me clothe myself via Google Chat. Thanks, friend.

I feel stuck.  Where do you get your clothes? Does anyone else have an impossible time getting dressed on a regular basis? And, um, does anyone want to go clothes shopping with me?

The Short Version

As I mentioned a couple of days ago, I’m really busy, and I’m really enjoying being really busy.  That said, it’s sort of a fuzzy gray area between, “Whee! Really busy is fun and exhilarating! I love puppies and kitties and cookies and I’m so busy I don’t even notice the huge mess that has taken over our house!” and “AHH NOTHING WILL EVER GET DONE.”  The first one should be said like I’m the simple dog, and the second like I’m the helper dog.

(click image for source)

The exciting thing that’s happening is that I am figuring out, slowly but surely, what I want to do with my life and where to direct my time and energy once this over-employed insanity becomes under-employed insanity.  I’m feeling hopeful and inspired, but I still don’t have the answers I want.  It’s a process, I suppose.

In the meantime, I started blogging every day for NaBloPoMo, and I haven’t really stopped.  It’s sort of like exercising: sometimes it’s hard to just do it, but the endorphins make it worth it.  And by endorphins, I mean comments and emails that you guys send me… thanks for all your support and awesomeoness.  BUT! The helper dog in me has decided that getting up early or staying up late to write is not necessarily healthy anymore, so I’m cutting back – no more weekend posts.

I don’t know if you all have seen Avenue Q – if you haven’t, do it! Go see it! It’s like Rent but with puppets. And funnier. – but there’s a song that’s been going through my head, with slightly modified lyrics:

My version goes, “It’s a fine, fine line between insanity and alive…”

Finally, goats! Because it’s Thursday, and that means it’s almost Friday.  Hooray!

best. honeymoon. ever.

What are you doing this weekend?  Where is your happy place?  Will you still be here when regular Bird who has slept a regular amount on a regular basis comes back?  Please say yes.

Dearest Crate, I love you so.

I love – love! – Daphne’s crate.  While she came to me with a boatload of issues, probably from having never been actually *walked* on a leash as a puppy, she did come to me crate trained, and while I think the family that ruined her puppyhood kind of sucked (because of how much they fail at her puppyhood), I am so, so grateful that Daphne already liked her crate.

From liking her crate, it didn’t take much to make her love it, and it was the easiest command to teach.  I would put her in there, close the door, and give her treats, and then let her out as soon as she was done.  When I left for work, I put her in the crate and tossed the treats into different corners so that she was too busy looking for deliciousness to notice I was leaving.  When we were hanging out at home I’d toss a treat in the back, say “crate” and repeat.

Sometimes we hang out with her in the crate. Um, everyone does that, right?

Crates tell dogs what they are supposed to be doing; they give dogs a place to feel safe and secure.  Daphne knows that crate time is nap time.  And, because she’s super smart, she knows that she stays in her crate when we leave for work… and every day as we pack up our bags she goes in and looks at us: “Mama, are you going to close the door? It’s time for me to sleep in my crate.”  We don’t have to worry about her getting into the litter boxes or getting bored and chewing on stuff or remembering that I left treats in my vest pocket and getting rid of them for me.  She would probably be fine outside the crate – but why bother? She loves it and we love in.  In fact, when I’m home alone and try to get her to sleep with me… she’ll stick around for about 10 minutes before hopping off the bed and going to sleep in her crate.

Why am I telling you?  Because last night I realized how much I love the crate.  And sad things happened.

See, yesterday morning, one of Turtle’s friends called and needed us to take her dog for a week or two.  We said yes because I love dogs and Turtle wanted to help.  This dog is a 1ish year old chihuahua mixed with insane energy dog, and looks like a miniature Daphne.  He has had almost no training – he can sit about 50-75% of the time when you ask.  So he came over last night and all went well for the first little while.  He played with the dogs, the cats hid; we went for a walk.  And then I put everyone in their crates so we could have some quiet time.

this is sort of what the playing looked like. different puppy, though.

With poor Rascal, crate time does not equal quiet time.  It equals THE LOUDEST TIME THERE EVER WAS.  We moved his crate next to Daph’s, hoping that seeing her be calm and quiet would calm him – instead she started whining and barking, too.  What are we upset about? I don’t know but I am upset too! Let’s tell the world how upset we are! EuLALia!

So then! Then we put him in the study with the lights off and the door closed, all “Hey dog! It’s bed time! Sleeping happens now!”  Well, it got worse.

tired and sad

Long story a little shortened down for you, we ended up driving to meet the friend’s dad at a Dunkin Donuts for a puppy handoff, and we feel awful about it.  I was so excited to be the magical dog trainer who taught the dog to calm down and helped him learn the world is a good place – and Turtle was excited to help her friend in such a big way. But the other side of it is that we live in an apartment, and we can’t have dogs barking all night – not to mention we had been planning on getting some sleep.  The other part of the apartment thing is that we are allowed to have a dog and two cats… not three dogs and two cats.  Sigh.

What is your most valued dog command/trick?  Do you crate train? Have I convinced you to crate train yet? DO IT. Do it. It’s fun.

The Thrill of the Chaos

Some people enjoy the Thrill of the Hunt or the Thrill of the Chase… it seems, my friends, that I enjoy the Thrill of Being Ridiculously Busy.

though I am capable of relaxing! see??

Since I’m leaving my job in less than two weeks, and I know it might take me a long time to find another job, I decided to start stocking up on money-making activities here and there.  I mentioned I was looking for something extra and a friend called me when her company needed some data entry done; I put up my petsitting cards at a local petstore (guys, I know it’s owned by PetCo, but I love UnLeashed – such a good petstore!) and now I’m walking and doing some positive-reinforcement training with a puppy in town on top of my regular clients; I stopped in at my favorite cookie-only bakery (okay, so there’s only one of those I know of, but it would be my favorite even if it wasn’t the only one) to buy cookies and on a whim asked if they were hiring – now I’m working there a few hours a week.

sky's the limit on insanity!

So I’m basically working four jobs through Christmas, and yes, I am a little bit stressed out, but also – I feel SO GOOD.  Every free moment is a moment I could do something with.  Quick! I have five minutes while the water boils for tea! Time to make that Christmas ornament I’ve been putting off! Okay, here’s another ten minutes before I have to leave: I’ll put tape on the windows and put the plastic up in a few days when I have fifteen minutes to spare.  I am getting an absolute thrill from being so damn busy.

At the end of the day, I am exhausted and usually either asleep or incredibly grumpy (sorry Wife!) by 9:30 at night, but I also feel so productive.  Maybe I don’t have a Thing, but maybe my Thing is trying to keep my head up without losing my shit.  In a good way.

It's all a delicate balance, sort of like a giant chess game. Like THIS giant chess game.

Are you someone who prefers to be busy than, you know, relaxed?  What do you do when you have too much time on your hands?  Does anyone besides somewhat crazy me ever actually feel like they have too much time on their hands?

Happy Tuesday, everyone!  Hopefully my posts don’t start sounding a little manic as these jobs pick up… please tell me if they do.  Or just sit in the corner being quietly entertained by me, and occasionally check in with my wife to make sure she’s doing alright.

*All photos from our Awesome  Honeymoon, which I may or may not someday get around to telling you about.  Er, about which I may or may not someday getting around to telling you. Yeah.

Gratitude, Inside Out

Things for which I am grateful:

Fighting cats. Halfway through the fighting, they start cleaning each others’ faces. Cutest thing ever.

Bickering spouses. Halfway through the bickering, we realize how silly we are being, and apologies ensue, along with a thoughtful conversation with how to improve our lives, end world hunger, and stop global warming. We are pretty awesome.

bicker bicker bicker

all better! excellent!

How freaking cold it is outside the covers in the morning. It makes me really appreciate a quality down blanket as well as my apparently freakish ability to produce body heat.  Yeah, body, thanks for being awesomely warm!

It's cold out there and I am NOT coming out.

Nonworking internet the one night I finally decide to keep writing wedding recaps. Instead I finally had the time to go through and delete a lot of my photos, so maybe my computer will stop telling me there’s not enough memory to run my applications. Oops.

So.  I had big things planned for you today, but see my last gratitude and you’ll understand why you got this list fifteen minutes before I have to leave the house.  How much do I appreciate you guys? I’ll make sure to put up a post while it’s still dark out. THAT much.

What went “wrong” for you this weekend that really went right?

Integration Insanity

Me: “What should I write about today? How vet care is expensive or integrating animals?”
Turtle: “Write about integrating animals! And how it’s not that different from integrating family!”
Me: “Uh, yeah, except I think they generally frown on locking your family in one room for a week.”

Good morning, folks! Raise your hand if you have more than one pet at home.  And by raise your hand, I mean leave me a comment, preferably linking to an adorable picture of your animals.  Thanks.

"Pssst, wake up! I think she's going to talk about us!"

Today’s topic, which I am an expert on, is integrating your animals.  The reason I am an expert is 1. I work at an animal hospital, and I have worked in veterinary medicine for over 10 years now, so I know what I’m talking about, and 2. I have a household of animals, and we all live quietly, and peacefully.  You can often find the cats cuddling together on the bed while the dog and kitten sleep peacefully at our feet.

It is, of course, always this calm and peaceful in the Bird-Turtle household. Obviously.

I just made myself laugh out loud.  That last part is completely untrue.

Here’s the thing about integrating animals: some people are lucky and bring together two cats that end up loving each other; many people are not lucky.  What I want to tell you about is less, “Here’s absolutely how you should do it and it will definitely turn out well,” and more, “Here are some tips so that you all retain at least a portion of your sanity, neurotic cat probably included.”  Most of these are thoughts I have on mixing dogs and cats; I think if you’re blending a two-dog family it’s all a little different.

First, introductions: introductions should happen slowly and over at least a week or so.  Give a new cat one room that she can stay in, and where she has everything she needs (food, litter, bed).  The bathroom is NOT big enough to serve this purpose; usually a bedroom works well.  Every so often during the week, swap your animals, so that Newbie gets the run of the house while EstablishedAnimal (EA) hangs out in the room, and they can get used to each other’s smells.  Sometimes it helps to feed them in the other area so that something good is happening and associated with the scent of the other animal.

The bathroom is acceptable if you have a TEENY WEENY kitten who needs to live in the tub until he's big enough to walk.

The next step here is sort of personal preference: one of our clients had really good luck putting a screen door up in her bedroom so her cats could meet through the screen door.  Generally, our family is not equipped for that, so we just throw them together and trust the cats to put everyone else in their place.  Cats should always be in charge.

Foster kitten Ida and Finnegan meet/play through Ida's crate.

Second, give each pet their own space. They need to know that there is a place that they are safe from the other pets.  Right now, we have a crate for Truman (the kitten) where he stays for a portion of the day; that’s the time of the day when Piper can come out of hiding.  We also don’t let Daphne in half the house, so the cats know that they can be in the other half of the house.  It was actually the easiest thing we ever taught Daphne – we just walk toward her while saying “Get out!” and stop walking when she crossed the door threshold.  Now that she learns it, she will sit right at the threshold waiting for us.  Smart pup.

Special space for everyone: Jake owns the top of the crate, Daphne owns the inside of the crate and often allows for visitors.

Oh, and remember that sentence up there where I talked about our cats cuddling and dog and kitten sleeping at our feet?  Well, the real story is more like, “And then our cats were swatting at each other while the dog chased the kitten around the room and then the kitten jumped on Piper who screamed like she was being murdered and then the dog barked and Jake ran up and hit her on the head.”  Far from peaceful, but usually entertaining, if a little nutty.  And the moral of that story? Third, keep your fingers crossed and your camera handy.

evidence that the cats existed in the same room and no one died.

Finally, remember that cats and dogs speak opposite languages.  Example: a dog lifting its paw is trying to play; a cat lifting its paw is trying to claw your eyes out.  Example 2: a dog wagging its tail is happy and wants to play; a cat wagging its tail is plotting your demise.

And because I took lots of videos of our cats and dog, I bring you an integration montage:

If you have more than one animal, how did your introductions go?  Are you one of the families whose pets are definitely not best friends, or did they take to each other immediately?

Addendum: as I write this, the dog is wrestling with the kitten on my feet, and then the kitten is taking a break to chase the cats around the house, and the cats are running while hissing, which makes for pretty good entertainment.  Folks, it often is a good idea to put a kitten down for a nap.  Not only does he need it, we all need it.

A few of my favor(ite) things, take 3

You guys! BIG THINGS ARE HAPPENING.

For example, we’re getting married in ten days. Maybe nine days by the time you read this. Don’t freak out because not everyone can freak out, and we have dibs.

Two glasses of wine into my evening, I decided that stamping individual letters onto the seating assignments was probably a little beyond my capacity… what can I say, I’m a small person and two glasses of wine is a a lot of wine for me.  You wouldn’t believe how much spell-check helped this post happen. Anyway.  Rather than make seating assignments, I decided to work on our favors, and that brings me to our last Favor(ite) Things post: the candles.

The candles were the original idea, and, I think, are awesome.  That said, they were the biggest time-suck of all of the favors. The most money and the most effort for the least results.  But, whoa, they smell good, and they’re nice, and who doesn’t like a nice beeswax candle? No one, kids, no one.

So here’s how you do it:

supplies: wax, wicks, weights, and a jar

cut the wax. this is SO HARD. that's why we only have 8 candles. yes, 8, for all this work.

you can stab it and nothing happens! don't say I didn't warn you.

some people have double boilers. i have a measuring cup in a pot of boiling water. it works.

once it melts, you have a clear liquid.

prepare the wick - cut to the appropriate size and attach weight

attach top of wick to something that will hold it up when you pour in the wax... you can trim excess wick later

action shot! pour hot wax into jar.

setups for multiples

pretty candles setting!

my amazing photography celebrates our success (which smells lovely!)

why, where did this beautiful candle come from? someone awesome must have made it.

But also, forget favors.  Here is what is happening ten days before the wedding:

We are freaking out.  We are forgetting to take our regular medications, and we are fighting a lot. Seriously: a lot.  A friend of mine who got married last year said, “Wait till the week before your wedding. The week before our wedding, there was just so much love and support. The week before our wedding was amazing. So much love.”

cute pictures of us interspersed in here to remind me of the important part: how happy we make each other.

Okay: I know there will be love.  There already is love.  I am blown away by the people who have stepped up, by the offers to help with things wedding-related, like various parties and craft projects, and the things sanity-related, like painting our study.  Yes, one of our bridal brigade spent Sunday with us painting our study so that I could have a good place to study Orgo and a nice guest room during our wedding craziness.  Thank you, Laurie!

Well, I don’t know about a week before our wedding; we still have a few days to go.  But I can tell you that ten days before our wedding, we are arguing, a lot.  Stress levels are high.  Will the favors get done? Where will we seat people? Did my suit get lost in the mail (answer: possibly. It’s in Colorado somewhere.)?  How will people get to the wedding? Will the car be fixed by then (answer: probably not. The Awesome continues.)?

More hapy pictures! photo by Ellie Leonardsmith

Okay, I know I’ve said this a million times before, but here’s the thing: there is no one else I would rather be arguing with.  Plus, my therapist says this is normal pre-wedding behavior.  Turtle says that she’s sorry, but she thinks she’s probably testing me to make sure I’ll stick around.  And I’m for sure stressed out about classes and missing them – and hopefully that was resolved by my officially dropping both of them today, though my guilt about putting off vet school for another year adds another level of stress.  Someone, please tell me it is crazy of me to start Organic Chemistry a week and a half before getting married? Yes?

So what is the takeaway here? The takeaway is that getting married is crazy sh*t, you guys.  It is nutty, and it is hard to prepare for this big party that has all of your most important people.  Even if it’s simple, of course it’s crazy, right?

A friend of mine got married recently, and it sounded like her wedding turned into a much bigger event than she originally planned, and a lot of people that she didn’t really, truly want there all said they would be there.  So she and her fiance and their two best friends went to the ocean at midnight and said their vows and they were married there at midnight on the day of their wedding.  I think that is amazing.

silly, because that's how we roll. photo by Ellie Leonardsmith

But, same thing I’ve always said, our people are important to us. The community that has supported us is important to us.  Turtle’s mom is coming this weekend and I am SO relieved by that.

Oh, you guys, I feel like I’m losing it a little.  Seriously, what are your happy ideas/sanity-savers/survival mechanisms?  Some happy, calm thoughts would be helpful. Thank you, fo’ reals. You guys are amazing.

Oh so wrong but oh so right

Oh, hi there!

You might have noticed I disappeared for a few days.  This can be chalked up to the facts that 1. we went away for the weekend (and had a wonderful, wonderful time, thanks to my amazing extended family) and 2. things kind of suck, and rather than writing, I am trying not to lose my sh*t.

Sad, but notable, note: I’m sure this is not the first time I’ve written that.

So, my friends, do not expect a wedding update right now, but rather some classy complaining. Maybe just plain old normal complaining. Here’s what’s been happening:

• Plans we had made around our wedding are, for various reasons we are still trying to parse out, not working out. These are conversations we’re trying to have right now, so I’m not going to say much about them here. Let it suffice to say that last week’s guest post skims the surface.
  

  me: tell me what to do about everything that's happening! turtle: *this picture*

• I posted that post on Friday, got ready for work, ran out the door, and drove about 75 feet down the road when my car smashed into another car.  We live on a nice, quiet street that is intersected by two other nice, quiet streets, and – funny story! – there are no stop signs on any of the corners.  Yes, my friends, that is 8 separate corners that do not have stop signs. Woo hoo.  As soon as I finish writing this, I’m off to get my car looked at by the fancy insurance people.  Let’s just say this was inconvenient.  My awesome dad lent us his car for the weekend so we could go to New York and visit my family…
  

  pieces of my car, police car looking on

• … where my awesome dog bit someone. I’ve written a bit before about Daphne, and how she has some behavior issues that we’ve been working on with her, and how she was never socialized quite right.  Yes, once she bit another dog, and yes, it broke the skin, but it really was provoked. I would have bitten the other dog, too, if I could have gotten away with it.  But this time… well, this time the kid deigned to walk by my dog.  I’m sure it’s all more complicated than that – in fact, I know it is – but that’s what it looked like.  Luckily, she only tore his clothes, did not break the skin, and I apparently handled it well.  So, here’s what you do if your dog bites a kid: yank the dog off the kid, hand her off to someone who can handle her, make sure the kid is ok, go talk to the kid’s mother, and then burst into tears because you thought you were fixing your dog and then she went and f*cked it all up.  Everyone was very forgiving. I might start slipping St. John’s Wort into Daph’s treats… just take the edge off, you know?
  

  this face would never bite anyone! um... right? right!? wrong.

• I went to breakfast with some of the Bees on Monday morning, and talked about all the stupid stuff that’s going on, and they all told me they hoped my week would get better, and I said, “Thanks, but it really can only get better from here!” And then I went out to my car, where I had just gotten a parking ticket. Big sigh. Got in the car, made a U-turn to go back home, and promptly got pulled over.
  

  well, fancy seeing you again!

I am, surprisingly enough, doing pretty well dealing with all this, if I may say so myself.  I haven’t fallen apart into a teary mess more than twice, and that’s pretty good for me.  Our wedding planning is still going on, and I am only more excited to marry the wonderful woman who has been by my side through all this other crap.  A surprising number of people have appeared in my life to tell me how wonderful I am and how well I’m handling things.  So, thanks, World, for reminding me that things are going right, too.

What good things are happening soon for you?  Anyone else with a craptastic series of events?  In the grand scheme of things, these aren’t the worst… and, now that I’ve gotten that out of my system, happy updates coming soon to a Roughit blog near you.