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Tuesday, Jul 14, 2015              
hello again  

yea, wow, been awhile. honestly, not a deliberate absence...or at least, less deliberate than usual.

not long after that last post in (lord almighty) march—really, right about the time i was going to update here again—my laptop nose-dived. as in, it would load, but the screen was black. however, i could see the logo loading before the desktop screen, just not the desktop screens at all. thanks to dropbox, my writing and the database for our recipe book is safe; the hard drive on the old laptop was fine even if i couldn't access it at the time (i grabbed stuff off it when i finally received the new laptop), and of course, the websites were pretty much updated and safe with their hosts. so while i was off-line (and going more than a bit crazy), i hadn't lost much, if anything. i tried to write using my phone...yea, that didn't work out so well. i could access the files via the dropbox app, but typing on my phone? HA! and editing via my phone? absolutely impossible.

the suck of it all was that i didn't know if/when a new laptop would be possible. we still had sick cats, bills, and a list of things the tax return needed to be used for...and still no tax return.

however, i have a wonderful husband who knows how important my writing is to me (even if it's a financial wash at the moment), and he made it clear that we had to make a laptop for me a priority. so when we got the final confirmation that the tax return was indeed on the way, i started looking around for something a bit more affordable than my first choice (you know, closer to $800 then $2000). i am now the proud owner of a lenovo thinkpad with a 3 year warranty for yes, which went over my original $800, but i've got what i want, the software i want, and meltdowns in the next 3 years are covered.

i've actually been back online since the end of april. that's also when i realized i didn't have everything i needed to actually be able to update my sites. and my email program is now having issues with sending through said sites (i have to log into the cp to send mail; i receive email just fine). so there were some initial bumps i thought would be easily fixed.

except my host for two of the sites was in the midst of a major medical crises and not available to help me sort things out. and her assistant wasn't responding to emails. so i ended up having to wait for her to return from where she was getting treatment before i could get things sorted out. and i've been trying not to pressure too much so she could focus on her treatment and getting better. we finally worked through the issues and i downloaded the sites last night. and now i have to update stuff. which is fine, if a bit...oh, wait, what? lol

4 months is a lot of updating to do...well, for some people, anyway. me? my life tends to remain pretty boring, most of the time. i spent the time waiting for the tax return working on some major clean up i needed to do (going through boxes, reboxing where i could, reorganizing). did a lot of walking, changed my focus from losing to muscle gain and tone, and went from walking to lifting when it got too hot. not losing, but there are body shape changes going on that rock. my canadian friend sent me a box and all but one pair of pants fit and everything is cute. then i got a gift from the father-in-law and picked up a few more things and finally dumped almost all the old too big things. it's weird to have a wardrobe that actually fits. it's weirder to have things that are more form fitting that i will allow myself to be seen in public in. and since the box arrived, the body shape has changed enough for the ones that didn't fit to now fit (but, really, hip huggers are even weirder to wear, lol).

when the money came in, i ordered the laptop and we took gambit and shadowcat, new strays we've managed to collect, in for rabies shots and well checks. both came up fine within the limits of what we could afford for them (we really needed some other tests, but not enough money for that). we also had to put aside getting ororo and rogue back in for checkups and dental work, but all the cats who had been sick up to that point (other than logan) were doing tons better. we still need to get ororo in for dental work—she's showing signs of having difficulty with hard food again.

but here's our new boys....



gambit


shadowcat


cuties! gambit has this nearly perfectly symmetrical striping. meanwhile, shadowcat pryde (named as such when we thought he was a she) is an unusual black tabby (not gray, black). they also both desperately need to be fixed and are peeing everywhere. and both want to be outside at the oddest times, including during storms. they also generally get along well, which i find surprising with two not fixed males with an unfixed female in the house. at any rate, all the cats generally get along except for old ororo, which makes sense. shadowcat is the most aggressive of them all now. very persistent when it comes to what he wants, which can be really annoying. but at the same time, it's pretty amazing considering we didn't think he'd survive when we found him: something had bitten him or something, the cuts were infected, and he was peeing blood. after our experiences with vagner, yea, didn't expect him to make it. he's not only made it, he's thriving and become quite attached to us.

hubs has an opportunity for advancement at the cafe job, but things need to be sorted out at el taco before he has the right time and hours open for it. the cafe people are a bit impatient, and hubs is a bit irritated with the back and forth going on with his exec chef, but hopefully it'll sort out after dragon con. the good news is that the cafe people have agreed to hub's pay requirement.

we weren't going to be able to afford con this year, then hub's dad stepped up and paid for tickets. it might end up being a little tight for any extras, but hub's is waiting on con to get his vacation pay for those days (the cafe doesn't give paid vacation) so he can't transfer to the higher paying hours now. this year, we're also taking taz for one day to see how he does. if he does well and has no meltdowns on the days after, he may be joining us regularly in the future.

finally, at least for now, youngest is living with us again. there's some things going on that she actually doesn't want to be too public about at this point (though with some of her friends and one of her sisters, keeping things under wraps a bit longer may not be possible). we're working through it, but it's tough for her at the moment, and she has a few decisions to make. she is working again and has goals/plans for her future, so we'll just have to hope things sort out for her.

other than all that, life is pretty much the same. we got through waiting for our return and managed to muddle through all the issues surrounding that wait. and we've got some things to look forward to. the stress levels are down again, though we're worried a bit about ororo. we're muddling through the rest of our finances. not doing fantastically, but we're managing to keep up, if barely.

and for that, i'm beyond grateful.

it's very good to be back.
~*~

word of the moment: suppurate :: cause to ripen and discharge pus

currently reading: the iron king

~*~

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