Greetings from Capeside!

Life is finally starting to feel a bit more normal as we settle back into our usual routine now that B and Tada are home and SS's first birthday visitors returned northwest. This past week was supposed to be filled with blogging and crafting since I got all of my big "chores" (cleaning the house, grocery shopping) done at the end of last week, but instead I used my free time to have a daily Dawson's Creek marathon courtesy of Netflix, and turning my brain off in this way feels amazing. I am not normally someone that "does nothing" very well - I am production-oriented, to-do list driven, totally type A, but after and amidst our most recent life events, Dawson's Creek has been a haven that allows me to mentally check out a little.  

B is home, and has attended the last three days of school for the full day. Since B's second surgery she had to have another small CSF leak patched, developed what the doctors think was meningitis, came home on IV antibiotics, continued to develop fevers, a rash, and have unexplained pain, and then the doctors determined that B has an allergy to her antibiotics. All with a couple more hospital visits and procedures sprinkled in there. So her IV line came out and they stopped her antibiotics, and now she is back in action. Whew. Matt and Serene are still working out the plan for her radiation treatments, which will take place in Boston over 5-8 weeks.

And Tada started kindergarten. The girls came over for a little bit last night, and Tada was bouncing around saying "I'm just so excited for tomorrow! Because of kindergarten." Girl loves kindergarten.

The boys are fabulous.

And in another sphere of life, my manager at work resigned and my contract terms were changed. Which is okay, except that my manager was wonderful and I am totally going to miss her and I hope our unit doesn't go to shambles without her. 

And then there's J's job. Ugh. His team structure was changed so he got a new supervisor. And he finally finally finally just yesterday got approved to teach his class again - the class he starts teaching on Tuesday. Cutting it down to the wire, much? (Not anything J could do, totally because of some political type of issues from the higher-ups). I don't want to say a lot about J's job issues, but let's just say that if we sat down for coffee I'd have plenty to discuss.

Because what else do you need in the midst of family crisis but bilateral job upheaval? 

Hence, Dawson's Creek. 

I have been working out again this week, thank goodness. I go a little crazy when I can't exercise - exercise is how I deal with my anxiety, and the endorphins balance out my melancholy spells. I still play soccer once a week - I am a proud Pouncing Puma. Soccer is my newest-found love in life. And I usually run 2-3 times a week as well. In fact, a couple months ago I did a 50 Mile Challenge, where I didn't eat dessert until I ran a total of 50 miles. Which is totally wing-bat-crazy, because I looooove dessert. That's why I knew it would be the perfect motivator to push me to run farther and more often. I finished in 18 days, and really enjoyed it and am planning another Mile Challenge soon to compensate for the last month+ of stress-eating. But I have shin splints now, and my left knee is being weird, and I have groin muscle issues (soccer is a lil rough on me), so I am giving my legs a rest for the next couple of weeks and attempting to swim laps instead. I just used goggles for the first time yesterday and now I think goggles are the most amazing thing ever created.

It also bears mentioning that I turned 30 earlier this month. THIRTY! I guess I'm a real grown up now. I celebrated with karaoke with friends the weekend before my birthday, and our BFFs C and Dr. A and Little C and Little A came down from Phoenix to join us in celebrating.  Fun was had by all. 

Okay, I'm way overdue on a monthly update on SS, and of course there's SS's FIRST birthday party post pending too. Trying to bust some of this out...even though Dawson and Joey are calling my name.