It feels weird to be posting an update (of any kind)...the last time I wrote something in an online journal, I had not gone to India or Nepal or Bhutan. My brother-in-law was alive, as were my kitties Ohno and Jiji. The last time I posted was two jobs ago. We were still reeling from my father's death. JP was relatively well and mobile. I only had 1 nephew. We had a president I was not ashamed of. Truly, a closed chapter now.

The world turns and I'm just hanging on for dear life. But I thought I would try broadcasting again. Into the ether and whatever handful of folks still remain out there. :) I miss live journal and the days when it was okay for us to have opinions that were not drawn along political party lines. As liberal as I have always been, I have been accused of not being liberal enough. The irony stings and frightens me at the same time. 

I'm older, but not wiser. I drink more. I am sadder than I used to be. None of this feels scary, though. It just feels like a natural progression. I feel angry sometimes and it almost makes me happy to know that the fire hasn't been put out yet. 

JP and I still laugh and poke fun at things...it gets us through the day. I worry that when he goes he will take my ability to laugh at the absurdity of life. Without that, I don't know what I will do.

I still have my family. The Kid and his wife now have four kids, all as dear to me as if they were my own. They are funny little things, each one so distinct and unique, I look forward to knowing them now and finding out who they will become. I am acutely aware, as I was with the Kid, that I cannot make this life easier for them and hope that their heartbreaks will be few and far between.

Work is work and I am lucky to have a steady job. My mom, Davy Boy, and JP could be better, but I have them now and am determined to enjoy being with them as long as possible. The last of the original four kitties, Kyo, has seen better days but as long as he eats and plays fetch, I know he is okay. 

Wow, this is way more depressing than I had planned. But it feels good to get it out. If I am not a total lazy ass, I will download some pics of my three months in India and travels to Bhutan and Nepal...

Big, big HUGS and thanks to everyone who reached out to me about my dad. I have bemoaned the death of LJ, but it's deeply comforting to know some of you are still out there. It's a really nice feeling.

I wish I had good news, but I don't. It seems every time we go to the doctor, the news gets worse and worse. But all in all, my dad is in decent spirits right now and that is all I can ask. They haven't made any firm decisions about treatment yet - every appointment feels like it lasts a year and I want to shake someone and tell them to speak in plain English.

But, as I mentioned to someone earlier, this ain't our first rodeo and from previous, similar situations with both my dad and brother, I can say that nothing yet has been unfamiliar - the waiting, the worry, the back and forth to the hospital, the joking, the frustration, and the knowledge that somehow I have become a caretaker. Thank goodness my sister and, to some extent, my brother are sharing this load because I don't know what I would do otherwise.

Just got back from our Winter Wonderland trip to Alaska. We went in search of the aurora, snow, and absolutely no work! We stayed at the Aurora Borealis Lodge, apartment-like rooms with huge windows, located on a mountain side 20 miles northeast of Fairbanks. Everything was perfect! We had four nights with aurora (one night was mind-blowing) and two days of snow. We went sightseeing, played in the snow with the lodge owner's lab (a delightfully smart dog named Sitka), and enjoyed the outdoor hot springs in Chena. And at night, we stayed up looking at the night sky, marveling at the northern lights and the millions of stars.

Here are like ten out of 1300 photos...enjoy and admire my restraint!

Well, it's been all go-go-go! around here lately, with no signs of stopping. Despite having one of the worst work weeks in recent memory, I feel upbeat and ready to tackle the world again. The denial is strong in this one.

Also, have been doing small, fun things this weekend, like going to the Halloween store and trying on pieces of costumes (the Brunhilde helmet with horns and braids attached was my fave). We have been invited to a Halloween party next weekend, so we have to decide what to dress up as already. JP struck on the idea of us going as Tea Party Republicans and I have to admit some of his ideas are pretty damn funny. I have some hippie clothes - maybe I will go as his counterpoint.

Today, we took some friends to Guenther House for breakfast and afterwards we came home and played a couple of board games. This is the second time we have done this and it's been a lot of fun. I am not really a board games kind of gal - in my secret heart of hearts, I am fiercely competitive and a sore loser. It's hard to break free of that, even though everyone else at the table just wants to have fun. It's a stupid hang up of mine and I need to get over it already.

ANYWAY, long story short (too late!) - my weekend basically told me, "Buck up, little camper!" And I did.

And now, I bring you: 30 Days of Blogging meme

2. 20 Facts About You

( Cut, just cause... )

That was harder than I thought!

I have no words for what is going on (or not going on, rather) in Congress right now. I will just say that I am not surprised that dumb fuck Cruz is from Texas. I am shocked and saddened by how many people I know and love are spittle-yelling, virulent Tea Party supporters. I feel like telling them that he who shouts loudest is not the winner, but what's the point? It seriously turns my stomach. I feel like once my parents and older brother are gone from this world, I cannot leave Texas fast enough.

I've never affiliated myself with any political party because I am always willing to listen to both sides; however, the divide has gotten so ridiculously huge and the messages so negative, I feel like there is no point in even trying to see things from both sides. Everyone else is digging in, so I will too. As a minority woman hanging on to the middle class by her fingertips, I cannot in good conscience support the Republican Party. As a human being, I cannot abide the Tea Party Republicans. There are plenty of things about the Demos I don't like, but guess what? At least their lies sound believable.

See what I did there? Said I wasn't gonna talk about it...and yet I did.

So, on to other news. I am beat! This Thursday, the San Antonio Aids Foundation is having a charity event and my sister and I have offered to provide some bake sale items (she has gotten mad-talented at cake decorating and I am still obsessed with baking, because I am on forever! diet, LOL). I am making a rainbow cake (hee!), a chocolate cake with raspberry filling and ombre icing, and a dozen pies-in-a-jar (apple and raspberry). To prevent myself from staying up until 3AM on Thursday morning and cursing the day I ever offered to do anything for anyone, I am trying to prep stuff this weekend. So I assembled all the pies and put them in the freezer tonight. Easy but time-consuming! On Wednesday night, I will bake the cakes and on Thursday, I will pop the pies in the oven and put frosting on anything in the kitchen not moving.

I need to lie down...

I have seen that 30 Days of Blogging meme going around and I was going to start it today, but I think I will postpone. I still have dishes to do and for some reason at 8PM tonight, I decided to wash all the sheets, bedspreads, and comforters. Whyyyyyy?????

So, next time: meme!

Now, enjoy some pie in a jar (OF COURSE I had to taste test!)

Lately all I have wanted to do is bake cakes. It started with making Nay-nay's rainbow birthday cake and for the past month, I will use any excuse to whip up something: homemade ding dongs for my brother because he was disappointed that they have not reappeared on grocery store shelves; experimenting with making tiny single and double servings of cake (you know, for the DIET); and now: my brother and sister's birthday cake:



You do NOT want to know how I made that icing. I know frosting is just butter and sugar but I don't want to actually see it! LOL...
This particular specimen is vanilla cake layered with nutella, marshmallow icing, and macerated strawberries. I'm sure we will all take a bite and go into diabetic comas. But what a way to go!

I imported my LJ (finally) and am testing the cross-posting, too. I am bummed with LJ but am not ready to cut ties. So, yeah.

For posterity, the Kid and I being our stupid selves:

( On the topic of visiting the Kid in Yuma )

Yeah, we're dumb.

Guess what I'm typing on?? I like bb keyboard and it works as well as any wireless keyboard I've had. Only thing I don't like is the iPad case doesn't stay up very well. Can't win them all...

Today I took off work because JP got tickets to see a taping of America's Got Talent downwtown. He actually went yesterday and today, so he stands a decent chance of being on TV, I think. The acts we saw were mostly good, including a kiddie rock band, a middle-age Larry the Cable Guy fella who sang like Garth Brooks (loved him), and a young mariachi band that played modern music and danced. We had a good time, even though we were stuck in our seats for almost 4 hours. And, of course, like a goober, I forgot my phone so no photographic evidence. Womp, womp.

Okay, have broken keyboard in. Later, taters.

It's time for what is becoming a bimonthly check in. Very bad, but what can I say? When did I get so busy? Seriously. I don't have kids or a demanding family or a wide circle of friends. And yet, somehow...my days are filled. Not with important or exciting things. Just...things.

I hope everyone had a good holiday. I was off this past week, so mine rocked. Tomorrow I return to work. Blargh. At least it should be a fairly quiet week (I hope). I don't think I mentioned it, but my boss got a really big promotion and now has only VPs reporting to her. She was nice to me, though, and placed me in a Technology/Project Support team run by her bestie, so I feel pretty safe for the time being. I am still working on that horrible project, but I think they will probably yank me off of it (or so my boss promised, but we'll see).

I am 40 now. It feels weird to say it. No big shindig or trip or even a weekend at Nay-nays, which is my normal way to celebrate. We had to postpone because we were both too busy. And I wanted to take a "dream" trip for this birthday, but since my brother just had his baby and tickets to Alaska were hovering around the two thousand dollar mark (for me and JP), I decided to postpone that as well. Instead, we went to Yuma to see my brother, his wife, and the baby (cutest thing ever, but I'm not a gusher so I will leave it at that). I am actually okay with being older. I think I freaked out a couple of years ago, so I am mostly over it.

We had a nice, quiet Christmas with no drama or problems. I have enjoyed this week off so much that I really want to look into retiring early. I guess I can't avoid a financial planner any longer, although I've been doing my best to not think about annuities and life insurance and IRAs. Yuck.

In concert news, I don't think I mentioned that JP and I went to see The Civil Wars, who were totally awesome and cute and wonderful. They performed in Austin, at Stubb's Barbeque, so I spent a lot of time looking around for people older than us, LOL. And apparently, I am hip as shit because every teenager I know (all three of them), were supremely jealous when I told them about the concert. If you get a chance, check out their music. They rock.

We also went to see Louis CK, also in Austin. He was flipping hilarious! Nice, long set. He got this annoying shithead thrown out of the venue, which was awesome. We almost didn't make the show because I took us to the wrong concert hall. What can I say? Sometimes I am sleepwalking through this life.

In movies, we saw The Hobbit (excellent and wonderful and Richard Armitage is my boyfriend...I saw him first!), Hotel Transylvania (a little late to that party but it was really good - Genndy Tartakovsky is my hero), Pitch Perfect (cute, but overrated IMO), and This is 40 (so fitting). My only beef with that movie is my frustration with the "bankruptcy" plotline - they run small businesses, drive a BMW and a Lexus, live in a big beautiful house and have parties catered...and they have money problems?! You don't say! I wanted to scream at them, "Sell your fucking shit!" Sorry - I have a beef with people living beyond their means and acting like it's so unfair that they get into financial predicaments. I have been driving the same Jeep wrangler for 12 years - suck it up, motherfuckers!

Ahem, anyway. I guess that is enough for now. Have a safe and happy New Year!

Mitt Romney wishes his father was a Latino so it could help his chances in the election? Of all the arrogant, entitled crap I have heard this man say, that's got to be the funniest! Oh, Mittens...what a difficult life you must lead.

What an ass hat.

I feel like I have updates, but I am just too tired to post them. Life is good, though. So there is that. S'up, my two remaining friends on LJ?!

Just kidding...I know there's like five of y'all still out there! LOL...