Breaking the Silence

It's been a while, hasn't it?

I actually got my computer back a week or two ago, but life since then has kept me from blogging.  That, and the massive backlog I had going after a month without regular internet access.

First up was the planning and orchestration of two surprises for my mom's 50th birthday.  A flamingo "flocking" - wherein my brother and I snuck to her house (2 hours away) in the middle of the night and covered her lawn with pink plastic flamingos.  It's a long story why I chose to do that, but suffice it to say we have a long-running joke.  I didn't even manage to locate enough flamingos for the flocking until about 3 hours before we left.  But she loved it.

Then I threw her (with my dad and brothers' help) a surprise birthday party.  It was a luau, complete with leis, hula music, and - you guessed it - flamingos!  It, too, was a great success.

Unfortunately, just days after the party, my Grandma (Mom's mom) passed away.  She has had problems with her heart for years now, and had been in the hospital for several weeks.  The good news is that she passed peacefully in her sleep.  And we are Christians, as was she, so that was comfort for us as well.

I've been out of town until today for the funeral.  The weather was beautiful for February.  I and Little Boy stayed an extra day at my mom's house to spend more time with her (DH had to come back for class).  But now that I'm back, I hope to get back into the online swing and slowly finish catching up.

Tomorrow I meet with some of my local crit partners, which should get me motivated again.  I'm thinking about changing the ending (last 4 chapters or so). 

And we're supposed to take LB to see a space shuttle launch this month, but NASA keeps pushing it back.  *sigh*

Long term plans: board exams in May, and a review course for same in late March.  I really need to have queries out before then, so I can get down to studying when the time comes.

Moving on, moving up...