Treats

First of all, I woke up kind of giddy because it was an hour earlier than the clock read, and that was a treat. But it took me an hour and twelve minutes to figure out that we don't Fall Back until tomorrow, and so that was a trick.

Today is Halloween and that should be a treat, because we love carving pumpkins and roasting seeds and dressing up and we even have an actual invitation to a party. The trick is that we are sick, some of us are very sick. Geoff finally admitted that "groaning (a lot) helps," so I mentally down-graded his condition from critical to pitiful. He still has my sympathy. William and Maria are just improving, but then Alex and Max succumbed. We deserve a break, but it's not coming yet...

All during this time that I neglected Chickenblog I was thinking of really wonderful, insightful and hilarious things to post about. Sometimes, while shoving junk gently wrapping precious treasures in to boxes I would compose beautiful narratives to share, things I would want to reflect upon and recall joyfully in the future... what a treat my deep thoughts and Atumnal musings were. But the trick is I cannot remember any of it.

And now my deepest thoughts go something like this:

I wish the cats could talk, then they could tell me how awesome this place is. I hope they think it is awesome. I think it is awesome. It totally is. Awesome. Maybe I will see it in their eyes, a sign that they love it so much here that they will never run away or scratch the walls or barf on the stairs. That would be awesome.

Is chocolate good for the flu? Is this the flu? Someone is going to admonish me for thinking of chocolate and sugar when I am sick. But if this is the flu, don't I want to to go out happy?

We seriously do have a lot of stuff. I don't want to think about it, but I keep stubbing my brain on the subject every time I look around.

Maria is going to be Dorothy for Halloween. She was Dorothy when she was one and we had just moved from the TreeHouse to Garage Mahal. It fits, because she is adorable and because to look around here you would think we arrived by tornado. Still, there's no place like home.

Happy Halloween. Enjoy life's treats!

Hey.

If there is anyone out there still wondering... we made it. Barely. And there has been some collateral damage. A hole in a wall. A lost mind (mine.) My gift to the world is that I am going to skip the details. Instead I will make this post a quick catch-up, so that if I ever want to recall what happened to the months of September and October in 2009, I can refer to this page and then shudder, and then praise God, again, that we came out as well as we did. Mostly I will grin and sigh and feel incredible, because I think the future is bright, and it's beginning right now.

1. We moved in to a beautiful home.
2. We have too much stuff. (There. I said it. I wrote it. I have to live with it. No one needs to mention it to me ever again. The end.)
3. Even the cats are here. I wonder what they will shred first...
4. Colds, flu and malaise has been our constant companion throughout the pack-move.
5. My father is a handy man. (And what I am rather poorly expressing here is the happy comfort of having the help and the extra sweet skills of someone capable and loving. He is making our lives easier, and what nicer thing can there be than that?)
6. I cannot remember the last time I picked up my camera, which is a shocking admission. Shocking.
7. I have been sewing, which is both shocking and stunning.
8. Yesterday, after loading the Odyssey to the roof and even on the roof, four times, I came home to finish two Halloween costumes.
9. The two children whose costumes were finished wound up staying home from their school parties, due to illness.
10. My mommy has been out of town, and I have been out of touch, and I cannot wait to hear from her.
11. Actually, I cannot wait for all things normal... I look forward to being rid of boxes and packing tape. I look forward to not driving between two houses, and trying to make both of them clean and safe.
12. "Normal" and "routine" are probably still a long way off, but however long it takes us to settle in, I am happy to be here.
13. Is there a happier word than "happy?"
14. I am happier than happy.