61 days...

Who knew that I would take a 61 day break from my funny little blog that has few followers???? I guess I knew my life was becoming more complicated, but in fact, I had no idea just how much free time I had that is, well, no longer free.

In case you hadn't gleaned it from my most recent entries... (Hell, I barely remember writing the last couple, it was so long ago!)... my life has changed dramatically over the last, ummmmm..... 6 months - all of it trending in the positive, well, it will eventually - it's just a long arc.

In case anyone is still looking for updates on this blog, and given the even smaller chance that anyone actually, errrr, is interested in what the hell happened to me to make me stop writing... here are the highlights!

1) My Mother in Law, Lila moved from her family home to a Senior apartment last fall. We thought this would be a good move for her, safer, better nutrition, etc. And it undoubtedly has been. What we didn't see is an even greater dependence on us for things like groceries, laundry, paying bills, running errands, fixing up the house... well, you know.

2) Work - so much has happened at the company that I work for, and so little. Bottom line is I am still employed. My former team of 4 is down to a team of me. My wonderful boss-lady left the company on her own free will (I'm sticking around for an inevitable severance package... god, I wish they'd hurry!), and now I do all of the work that the 4 people used to. And I sit by myself day after day. Good thing I have all that work to do; it would be very dangerous for me to manage myself! No one wants to make a decision, or if they do, it makes only "politic sense", and you all (if you all are out there still) know how I hate BS! So, work is busy, but not fulfilling, and well, kinda of an infinite loopy experience!

3) Family: First - My husband and I are better than ever. We enjoy each other's company, it should really be illegal to be this much in love! He's still employed, so we are a rare couple in the financial services world to be both employed! Second - The teen wonder twin boys are doing amazingly well right now. School is challenging them to a degree never before seen. The acronym "AP" (for advance placement) means something new to all of us. Actual studying. M&M are ahem, naturally bright, and usually put little effort into getting good grades (Well, that's not completely true - they just don't complain about their homework, instead, they just get it done quickly... no fuss no muss.) So now they are taking a college level Biology class and it is kicking their asses! YAY! I love seeing them flourish like that! Last but not least, and she really does get her own bullet point: Daughter 2. Some of you may know about My husband's daughter who lives in Chicago - we'll call her Daughter 1. She's in grad school, getting her masters in education, and is living the life of any given 24 year old young woman who loves Steam Punk and bashing bad writers and literature!

4) Daughter 2 (D2) is my husband's 18 year old daughter from a short relationship with a woman many years his junior back in the early 1990's (you can do the math). D2 came into our lives about 2 years ago, as an agreement had been made that since my husband and the mother did not have a lasting relationship, that D2 would not be part of my husband's life until such time as it made sense (I know, that's a weird way of putting it, but to protect the lives of the innocent, and well, I wasn't around, so I don't really know how it went), the bottom line is Husband did not actually meet D2 until August of 2008. Since then, D2 has moved from her parent's home, "lodged" with a young man she was engaged to, then "lodged" with a young man at his parents home, all out in what some might call "the boonies" or "the sticks". After realizing that life as an independent 18 year old was not as, um, easy, as she thought, she asked to "lodge" with us. I'm not sure why I'm using "lodging", it just makes sense... So, with an agreement that we would put in place the rules required for success for a high school senior (ok, she calls it house arrest), she took up lodging at our home on March 2nd.

Needless to say, that's where I've been spending my energies and time. I have learned so much about parenting in the short time she's been with us. I've mastered, downright gotten a PhD in the art of saying "NO". Screw the art, there's no art. She calls it being perma grounded, we call it keeping her on a short leash, we all are working for the greater good and getting D2 graduated from High school. We are cramming a lifetime of "FIRSTS" into a short period of time (First popsicle, first circus, first High School prom (sort of), first trip to the zoo)... and having her in our lives has changed the entire dynamics of the household... completely, Again, all for the good, even when we are saying no quite emphatically.

So, I will be back blogging here more frequently as we are counting down something like 13 school days for graduation. And we will be celebrating in a way most can't conceive of, when she crosses that stage. While I've only known D2 a few short months (I only met her last November)... I am better off for knowing her and having her in my life. I'm not one to care about Gray hairs, but I'd bet my barber (no, not my stylist), would say I have gotten more than usual since my last trip to see him... no worries, though, they are all worth it!