Seriously Settled

Let's see, I'm pretty exhausted right now but still feeling the need to keep this thing at least sort of up-to-date so I think i'll give the expanded bulleted update and let it go at that.

1) in the new house FINALLY. The actual Movers helping experience was delightful. They were fast, reasonable and very, very nice. Also super nice was/were the ladies who cleaned the bathroom/kitchen/molding,  the guy who cleaned the carpets and the guy who took away the huge pile of trash by the side of the house. seriously, could not have asked for a better set of professional folks. That being said, there was also close to three weeks of post-move moving/re-painting/cleaning/storing in the new basement of stuff that still needed to happen and which resulted in at least one major blow-up at the Spark who when asked to simply accompany me/us on the LAST trip to get stuff  didn't feel like it/got all attitudey and in me throwing my back out [not the *same* incident but still]. {sigh} Still though, finally in and loving the new house. It's just so nicely laid out and has lots of space and the yard is really very peaceful and nice.

2) Spark and Da Wife and Da Wife's Big Sis and Spark's Cousin(s) and G-Ma are getting to see each other a bit more which is lovely. I know it's something that means a *lot* to both Spark and the Wife so, glad to see it's happening..

3) Got to go to the PNDC Summer Deepening in Sonoma where I hobnobbed with Canadians, got to surface some of my "stuff" and potentially made some really nice new friends. Also got connected to the folks who are setting up and trying to move forward with the PNDC institute which is where i'd love to end up working so getting in on the ground floor now is a great thing!

4) Am happy about the supreme court ruling vis a vis gay marriage and the DOMA act and folks being allowed to get (and stay) hitched, in this awesome state of ours!

5) Super thankful to have friends like A-Tail who hook a Chick's Boo up with some fancy paid internships at swankity-swank Quaker schools so she can have something to list on her college apps as well as making enough cash to support her fabulous 15 y.o. life!

6) Helped my Adopted Sister get herself moved the hell out of the place she was living with her (now ex) GF who as treating her like some kind of 50's housewife. I get that "s" has been super difficult what with moving in together right away and blending families and adding in a 14 month old to the mix *but* i also think that this lady has some issues that are hers alone and that it's not an entirely bad thing for ASis to see this as an opportunity to get herself completely out. She may be sad, homeless, broke and supporting two kids BUT she's also resilient and smart and sweet and i feel like she's going to be sooooo much better off once she finally gets to the other side of all this crazy.

7) Almost died from dehydration. Not really, but sure as heck didn't feel so great for a couple of days before getting yelled at by the advice nurse/my doc who are clearly sick of me and my lack of fluid intake: "your chart says you've experienced this before???!" [all raised eyebrows and whatnot] and getting myself a little more liquidated up. Nice, ultimately to stop feeling dizzy/headachey all the time!

8) Got the brakes fixed on the truck and (finally) the oil changed - Whoot Whoot!

9) "Insurance-gate" 2013 with the CP. nuff said.

10) Trying a bunch of different things with regard to the Spark since she continues to be both extraordinarily delightful and as frustrating/irritating as a human being can be; pretty much interchangeably. I'm really working on not letting her provoke me into crazy, intense screaming matches but dammit it's hard. The girl really knows which buttons to kick! Somethings that seem to be working are quigong as a transitioning/wind-down method and singing her her own sleep song (both of which i learned at Deepening!) not that i'm not still getting mad but at least they give me something to try instead of just sitting around being frustrated. And she does seem to respond to them a little bit so... that's nice.

11) and, oh yeah, I'm teaching the Boo how to drive(!!)!

so, that's where we are.

In general things are fab. still tired; still feel like it's all a little too much, but still pretty happy/contented/set so I'm gonna give the life "four thumbs up, Bob!"