Hurtling through life!

What an amazing week it's been. In the space of seven days, life for so many people has been doing bone-jarring 90 degree turns without warning. I'm doing better though. There's not -quite- as much crying, and the pain is moving more towards bittersweet in realizing that there is indeed a time for everything, and that even out of a painful happening joy can come. Dad would have wanted good things to be happening now, and for us to at least take the bad with humor. I'm trying, Dad, and it's getting better all the time.

Within 24 hours of the news, Dean and I had decided I'm moving down to Austin in a month to live with my mother. I'll work on getting a job with benefits, substitute teaching in the meantime. When I've got benefits, he'll follow me down there and get a job as well. Eventually, the people I love will be in Austin, and we can really work on planning real, progressive lives that don't resemble holding patterns. Anyway, I'm moving down with Mom in the meantime. That's going to happen over the week of Labor Day. I've already told my boss at work, and got a very diplomatic, sensitive, and sympathetic version of 'don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out'. *snort* The English department, on the other hand, was really sad to see me go, and assured me if I ever wanted to come back, let them know and they'd get me as many classes as they could, and that made me feel good. I may ask some of them for references, which would be nice. The day job I'm tempted to just erase from my resume. ;) I won't, but I'm not using anyone from there as a reference, either.

I'm still trying to get over this flu, which poor Dean has also caught. He's been sleeping most of the day, and I feel awful for giving this to him. Poor baby! We have a ton of packing to do, but it's just going to have to wait a bit until we're both physically able to do more without falling asleep or coughing up a lung. Right now I'm spending a lot of time playing Sims. Dis grau is frebeshih! Okay, how come when I try to spell in Sim-speak, it looks like German? ;) Still there's been good news on the health front. We just got official word today that the moles Dean had removed are completely benign. The nurse who did my echocardiogram on Wednesday told me that while I've got several small murmurs, there's nothing to worry about. The official report was ready today, and I know my doctor's office would have called if there was anything else there. They're good people all around.

Otherwise, life is pretty quiet. I'm took today and Monday off as bereavement leave. I tried going back to work yesterday, and while it was good to be busy, it was really difficult staying chipper and professional around people I just don't like for the most part. The plan is for lots of quiet and resting, although tajnyj was a doll and went out to lunch and some mild, slow shopping with me today. She also got me a tie-dyed rainbow bunny named Hippie on Wednesday, and he's been my constant companion, very soft and squishy and huggable.

Ironically, I really think this is an oddly good turning point in life. I feel like things are going to start gradually getting better, or maybe I'm just going to be able to stand up to more. Thank you all for the love and support through this. I appreciate it, and my family appreciates it. Life is going forwards as it always does, and we're all in it together. Let's be good to each other. :)

Ahem. Ew.

I have discovered that peanut butter can indeed go bad.

This is entirely possible in a house where one person is allergic to peanuts, and hence said peanut butter languishes on the shelf, unused and unloved.

Until someone wants to make a sandwich. And opens the jar. And sniffs. And frowns. And tries a very small taste. And makes loud, unhappy noises before tossing the jar in the trash, then running to the bathroom to brush her teeth.

Bad peanut butter, for the record, turns into glue.

Ew.

Thankfully, we have perfectly good almond butter, which I can eat!