The Update

Time for that update I said I'd get around to writing. Still catching up on posts and comments in different places. If you are waiting to hear back from me on something time sensitive, best contact method is my email.

The holiday was quiet. We had originally planned to try and make the trip to NJ to see Mike's family, but unfortunately that didn't work out. Instead we stayed home. Mike had time off from work since he's a contractor, which was a welcome relief for him because he hadn't had a real vacation so to speak since we started that job. Unfortunately it wasn't paid time off under his current contract, but they make contractors take the time anyway because no one would be in the office to work anyway.

Thanks to the IRS finally straightening out the problem Mike has had with tax returns, he got a small portion unexpectedly, and that along with holiday gifts from his mother and grandmother helped us *finally* replace our bed, because we desperately needed it. We have a REAL bed again!  After going for 2 years ( because of the nightmare issue with those nasty neighbors we had at our previous unit and the resulting bug issues and our old bed getting broken during treatment processes ) sleeping on failing air mattresses, bean bags, and the floor, it was such a welcome relief. The day the bed was delivered and assembled, we were actually looking forward to going to bed that night. It's been such a welcome relief for my angry body, to be able to sprawl on a piece of furniture besides the couch again.

Ember is all better. Thankfully it turned out to be a sprain. Staying home and not doing much of anything for a week gave it time to heal. She's back to her old self again.

Still waiting to hear back from Mayo about my referral for the oral surgery. I sent a small fortune worth of copies of paperwork they requested to review my account. I am hoping they will reduce the outstanding balance some so I don't have so much to try and pay off before they'll see me for the surgery. The round of antibiotics I had helped tremendously to clear up the infection for the time being, which helped reduce some of the pain I was experiencing. It still hurts, and I can only still chew on one side of my mouth and have to be very careful with what I eat. Thankfully Aleve is working again for the pain, so I was able to stop taking the Vicoprofen.  I'm worried about taking too much of the stuff, as long as they have drawn this out. But at this point I don't have much choice. I normally have to take some form of pain killer daily anyway because of my Fibro/Dys, but not nearly as much as I have had to take with the tooth problems.

Christmas cards and such were sent out. We had delays here because of winter weather conditions effecting travel and such, but hopefully everything has gotten where it needs to be by now. Pardo, thank you for the card and enclosed gift. It was a nice surprise and greatly appreciated. I got lots of other cards, thanks to everyone. It's always so much nicer to get real mail from someone you know, and not bills and spammy junk fliers. I still have a few cards and stamps left over, if anyone missed out on the address exchange and would like one, doesn't matter that it is after the holiday. It's the thought that counts, right?  I had many people I wanted to send cards to, but they never got back to me with addresses. For shame!

In related news, I received a little package recently, and I am afraid I have no clue who it is from. Sometimes I am horrible with recognizing real life names and connecting them with people's online names. The package didn't include any card or other identifying info besides the return shipping, so it got me thinking that maybe it was something someone purchased and had mailed to me from the seller?

It showed up at the door, delivered by a guy driving around in a Uhaul rental van of all things. Which made us a little hesitant to open it. Mike was like "Were you expecting a package?" to which I replied "No, I have no idea what it is."

Upon opening it, I discovered a little tooth-less skull smiling up at me. I love collecting such things ( I lost my original collection in Katrina ). I appreciate and respect the animals in spiritual sense and not liking to see such things go to waste, I love taxidermy and natural history things, and such items also make excellent art and anatomy references. I love dead things!

Mike eyed it incredulously when I showed it to him. After a moment he grinned and asked "So is that a gift or a threat?"  I laughed, thankful he is not phased in any way by my strange love of natural objects, including skulls and bones. Woe be it to him when we have a place of our own and are not renting anymore, and I can go back to scavenging finds like I used to when I lived in Louisiana, and have a safe place to let them naturally clean themselves.

I must be one of the luckiest bone collectors around. Having a significant other who thinks it is neat and isn't bothered by it ( or much else really ), a mother who is willing to break for roadkill on the side of the highway ( and has in the past! Love you mom! ), and friends who are equally as willing to scrape something off the side of the road ( Derrick and the coyote ), if nothing else than to try and be respectful of the departed and put it safe off to the side of the road so it doesn't experience further trauma, and so no other animals trying to scavenge become unfortunate victims themselves.

So anyway, thank you mysterious gift giver!  Now step forward so I can thank you properly.

That's about it otherwise. Getting back to art stuff with some pet pendants and other commission requests. Have some pottery at the studio I need to glaze, and some other items I need to create that have been floating around in my head.

Hope everyone else had a wonderful holiday, and that the new year is treating you well so far.