Are you in the house alone?

And the house is so CLEAN! As a family, we completely rearranged it. It's almost new.

Despite that, Adam and I do need to get our own place soon. His parents say that they love having us and we can stay for another couple of years if we want, but ... the stress is getting to us. Living with family is one thing. Living with yelling and screaming and threatening overbearing family, no matter how much they leave you alone, is another.

I was just eternally relieved to get out Saturday night and spend time on the couches at Billy and Charlotte's. They're like a second family -- Charlotte joked that we should have keys to their house. I stayed over and slept in the spare bedroom many times during Adam's out-of-state business trips. I'd rather be around friends than home alone, even with the near in-laws. (Quote of the week goes to Adam's mother: "So, are you going to have a wedding before you get a house?")

Shadow is definitely pregnant. Charlotte said that Billy's dad was over the other day and looked at the cat's nipples, which are now not only all visible, but hard and lactating. Looks like Buddy did his job just in time. Buddy was a male that a friend brought over, since Charlotte has wanted kittens for a while. Buddy had been badly abused by other cats in his household, and was so timid and skittish that Shadow, a very domineering black queen (literally; I think she had a past life in Egypt, and she is certainly Charlotte's familiar), started beating on him and antagonizing him, especially when she was in heat. But apparently, right before Billy took him to the local shelter, he must have caught up with her, because she's ready to drop any day now. Charlotte says Adam and I can "reserve" a kitten and take it when we get our own place, since no new pets are allowed in his parents' house. Charlotte is hoping one kitten comes out with red. Sandy, their beloved mutt (border collie terrier beagle) died recently. Her spirit still hangs around. We're hoping in inhabits one of the kittens. My mother is working on a portrait of Sandy, as requested by Charlotte and Billy. I hope Sandy's spirit likes it.

Note to self...ask Charlotte for more emotional cleansing stones and spells.

Are you in the house alone?

And the house is so CLEAN! As a family, we completely rearranged it. It's almost new.

Despite that, Adam and I do need to get our own place soon. His parents say that they love having us and we can stay for another couple of years if we want, but ... the stress is getting to us. Living with family is one thing. Living with yelling and screaming and threatening overbearing family, no matter how much they leave you alone, is another.

I was just eternally relieved to get out Saturday night and spend time on the couches at Billy and Charlotte's. They're like a second family -- Charlotte joked that we should have keys to their house. I stayed over and slept in the spare bedroom many times during Adam's out-of-state business trips. I'd rather be around friends than home alone, even with the near in-laws. (Quote of the week goes to Adam's mother: "So, are you going to have a wedding before you get a house?")

Shadow is definitely pregnant. Charlotte said that Billy's dad was over the other day and looked at the cat's nipples, which are now not only all visible, but hard and lactating. Looks like Buddy did his job just in time. Buddy was a male that a friend brought over, since Charlotte has wanted kittens for a while. Buddy had been badly abused by other cats in his household, and was so timid and skittish that Shadow, a very domineering black queen (literally; I think she had a past life in Egypt, and she is certainly Charlotte's familiar), started beating on him and antagonizing him, especially when she was in heat. But apparently, right before Billy took him to the local shelter, he must have caught up with her, because she's ready to drop any day now. Charlotte says Adam and I can "reserve" a kitten and take it when we get our own place, since no new pets are allowed in his parents' house. Charlotte is hoping one kitten comes out with red. Sandy, their beloved mutt (border collie terrier beagle) died recently. Her spirit still hangs around. We're hoping in inhabits one of the kittens. My mother is working on a portrait of Sandy, as requested by Charlotte and Billy. I hope Sandy's spirit likes it.

Note to self...ask Charlotte for more emotional cleansing stones and spells.

"Dear Diary..."

*looks at scale* 96.

Does this mean I need to go shopping for bigger size jeans?

I guess I'm one of those women on whom weight just ... sneaks up.

Oh, don't look at me like that. I really have gotten way too used to being a zero, so going up to a one or a two is actually a little startling. Am I happy that my hips are wider? I don't know. Do I need therapy because I sound like I'm slipping back into the anorexia mindset? Possibly. Am I insane because over eighty percent of American women are significantly overweight and I should be thrilled to be smaller than a size six? Probably. Do you need to read about that...? Tough, I'm writing it anyway. This is what a journal is for.

Can't get the images from the digital camera to the computer. Kind of frustrating. It'll wait till Adam comes back from fishing.

Gonna go write a few new scenes in the book.

"Dear Diary..."

*looks at scale* 96.

Does this mean I need to go shopping for bigger size jeans?

I guess I'm one of those women on whom weight just ... sneaks up.

Oh, don't look at me like that. I really have gotten way too used to being a zero, so going up to a one or a two is actually a little startling. Am I happy that my hips are wider? I don't know. Do I need therapy because I sound like I'm slipping back into the anorexia mindset? Possibly. Am I insane because over eighty percent of American women are significantly overweight and I should be thrilled to be smaller than a size six? Probably. Do you need to read about that...? Tough, I'm writing it anyway. This is what a journal is for.

Can't get the images from the digital camera to the computer. Kind of frustrating. It'll wait till Adam comes back from fishing.

Gonna go write a few new scenes in the book.

I love him, always.

Because he's out fishing, having fun, relaxing, it's giving me time to sit back and do some thinking. I just saw this online advice column where someone asked about a relationship that started online, so I thought about it. We didn't truly meet online, since Tish already had met and befriended us both, and therefore set us up, and the only way to do that was through email and AIM, and then the phone. The advice column talked about knowing someone before you meet them -- really knowing them. And I thought about it. We spent two years apart, sporadically visiting every month or so, but we never got much of a chance to truly know each other outside phone calls and weekend visits. Once I moved from NY to MD to live with him, we really got to know each other. All the good and the bad, the flaws, the habits, the neuroses, the quirks. And I think the conclusion is that we can keep living with each other and loving each other. We sort of flung ourselves into the "in love" part without a first kiss. Granted, we had met as friends six months before that first kiss, but that meeting had been a little screwed up, because he was then dating my friend and not me, since my friend was the clone of his ex-fiancee. He had meant to come to see me instead, and fell for her. So that didn't work. But a month later, she broke it off and he was so distraught, I felt that he should be left alone. Until I decided to send him an email one day asking how it was -- and it just snowballed. We did fall in love after talking on the phone every day for months. And now we fall in love every day. I think it's very important that, even when you do fall in love online, you need to make sure that once you meet you're sure you can deal with it in person for a long time.

I'm glad we made it this far. I hope we keep going.

I love him, always.

Because he's out fishing, having fun, relaxing, it's giving me time to sit back and do some thinking. I just saw this online advice column where someone asked about a relationship that started online, so I thought about it. We didn't truly meet online, since Tish already had met and befriended us both, and therefore set us up, and the only way to do that was through email and AIM, and then the phone. The advice column talked about knowing someone before you meet them -- really knowing them. And I thought about it. We spent two years apart, sporadically visiting every month or so, but we never got much of a chance to truly know each other outside phone calls and weekend visits. Once I moved from NY to MD to live with him, we really got to know each other. All the good and the bad, the flaws, the habits, the neuroses, the quirks. And I think the conclusion is that we can keep living with each other and loving each other. We sort of flung ourselves into the "in love" part without a first kiss. Granted, we had met as friends six months before that first kiss, but that meeting had been a little screwed up, because he was then dating my friend and not me, since my friend was the clone of his ex-fiancee. He had meant to come to see me instead, and fell for her. So that didn't work. But a month later, she broke it off and he was so distraught, I felt that he should be left alone. Until I decided to send him an email one day asking how it was -- and it just snowballed. We did fall in love after talking on the phone every day for months. And now we fall in love every day. I think it's very important that, even when you do fall in love online, you need to make sure that once you meet you're sure you can deal with it in person for a long time.

I'm glad we made it this far. I hope we keep going.

Yay!

Someone just compared my writing to Anne Bishop.

Gods, that is so freaking flattering. Anne Bishop's Black Jewels Trilogy is one of my top favorite works of fiction of all time. My heart still jumps in my throat when I read the third book. I wish I could write with such emotion and passion. I guess I can. People like my book, after all, what I have of it. Heh.

Yay!

Someone just compared my writing to Anne Bishop.

Gods, that is so freaking flattering. Anne Bishop's Black Jewels Trilogy is one of my top favorite works of fiction of all time. My heart still jumps in my throat when I read the third book. I wish I could write with such emotion and passion. I guess I can. People like my book, after all, what I have of it. Heh.