So...

... a lot's happened since we last met.

Not only have I been to Washington DC and back, spoken to Senators and Congressmen about the need for Lupus funding, eaten lunch on Capitol Hill, but I returned to learn that amidst a crumbling school budget I will still get to keep my job for another year.

I also had my daughter tested and retested for the most baffling illness ever and had the pleasure of finally seeing a diagnosis.

And... I painted a wall. All by myself. Yes, I did. I painted a whole wall. Okay, not a whole wall... but a portion of a wall. A strip of a wall if you will. Either way, I painted. With a paint brush. I am very talented. Anyone need any painting done? I've found my new niche.

I baked a cake in there, too. Well, not in the wall. But in my time off.

Oh and I redecorated two rooms in my house. I'm in love with these rooms now and want to live in them forever. In both of them. At the same time. Can you do that?

And yes, a book was born. It is in the final stages of being readied to send to the editor... and I am a very nervous person. I have bounced between funny and scary to funny to scary and back again. I so wanted the book to be funny. But Lupus just isn't funny. So funny has to wait. Scary has taken over. Scary won.

Also while I was away ('away' being just a relative term... I almost never really left my house) I worked at a garage sale for a dear friend whose husband is suffering from Stage IV cancer. I'm proud to say that the team I worked with raised over $1000 at this simple little garage sale!

And I finally switched out the old, ugly appliances in my kitchen to new, sleek ones. Well, almost all of them got switched out. We still have a white wall oven that seems to glow in the dark against all the new black stuff.

Life has been good. Pages have gotten written and rooms rearranged. Most importantly, we are finally beginning to see my daughter heal. You may or may not remember this incident... where Elizabeth was rushed to the hospital with tremendous stomach cramps. The cramping still exists but is finally beginning to subside. Last Thursday she was diagnosed with Celiac Sprue aka Celiac Disease and we were oh, so ready for a reason to be found for all of her ill days and nights. I'll touch more on her illness later but suffice it to say that if we had to pick something for her to be cursed with, this would be it.

And now, ladies and gentlemen... if there ever were any gentlemen... I'm back. In full form. Okay in half form. But I'm getting there. Maybe I'm formless. I know I'm agenda-less. I like being agenda-less. It's very freeing.

Maybe you're already agenda-less. If you are, you're way ahead of me. Or not. Because I wouldn't know... having no agenda and all.
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