This post is going to be all over and around the corner and up the hill and back again. Stick with me.

*puts the post in gear*

I’ve started to add the finishing touches to the layout. The site section is up and running. I’m adding content slowly and as it’s completed. I feel good about how organized and pretty all the site info looks. Well, now that I look…. there should be bullets in front of the “Software” list. Dammit. Ah well, work in progress!!

I also have started the color change (links, title, etc.) Menu looks different. Still working. Might be finished tomorrow (yeah right), or next week, or next month (which also happens to be…. NEXT WEEK. HA!). The good thing is that I’m coming up on the one month mark and I’m still head over heals in love with kiwi. If it could snuggle with me at night to keep me warm Ben might find himself out of a job.

Kidding!!!

*shifts into second*

The New Girl became and American citizen yesterday. I decorated her desk with red, white and blue streamers and starts and balloons. It was cute and she was really surprised. I’m so happy for her. She really is my favorite co-worker. What’s amazing to me is that I can talk to her about current events. All the American born people there are clueless about politics. I’d bet over half of them didn’t even vote in the last presidential election. *shakes head* AND! She makes lumpia. So she wins COOLEST CO-WORKER EVER by default.

*shifts into third*

I’ve lost an additional two pounds. That’s 8 total so far. I feel better and better every day. I think I’m going on a week+ with no ‘Attack of the Killer Stomach’.

People are commenting now. Like, seeing the difference. It might be that since I’ve started shedding the pounds I’ve become somewhat obsessive about skincare again. Working out will really play hell on your complexion! I have some Mary Kay Day and Night solution on the way. That stuff is fucking fantastic.

*slams it into fourth*

Tonight Cassidy made this face and I had to capture it. This is the face she makes instead of saying ‘You adults are out of your minds.’ She’s starting to master the art of saying such things with body language.

I need to start taking more pictures again. I was obsessed for awhile but I kinda got sidetracked. I’m ready to start the obsession again. One part of it, I’m sure, was that I tend to… take pictures of myself (shut up, Ben) and I was just not happy with what I was seeing. I’m feeing better and better about that now.

*finds fifth*

Ben’s recovery is going quite well. He’s getting around sans crutches and the flexibility is getting better and better every day. He has aches and pains here and there but that’s to be expected when you don’t really use your leg at all for a week straight.

He was able to get into the M3 tonight. So for him at least, all is right with the world.

*engages cruise control*

I don’t usually do this because I find “plugging” people and site’s kinda… trendy-ish but what the hell, right? I can jump on the bandwagon for one post.

If you haven’t already, go check out becca. I’ve become a daily stalker of hers. Sooner or later I’m gonna have to start commenting. Well, commenting more. I’ve gone off track…

She makes me literally laugh out loud and it’s refreshing to see another young mother who’s so real, and a geek, and who takes lots of pictures, and plays video games, and is such a fantastic writer, and has a secret shrine set up to worship her skinny jeans. Okay, maybe that last part isn’t true but since we have so many other things in common I figured I’d throw that in there to make myself feel more non-lunatic-ish. Plus, she has some of the cutest little rugrats ever!!

I’m laying on the couch typing this from the laptop that Ben brought home from work to keep him company while he recovered. This is the first time in a week I’ve gotten to lay on the big couch. I don’t quite understand how this is a BAD way to spend three days!!

We had a bit of a scare yesterday. Ben had been complaining about his left leg, the surgery leg, being colder than the other. I figured it was a mix of the Vicodin and laying on the couch for three days making him delirious but I finally decided to see for myself Tuesday night and it really was cooler to the touch than his “good” leg.

Thursday he ended up at the doctor getting an ultrasound to check for blood clots while I stayed home and wore a rut behind the couch I’m loving so much right now.. Blood clots. The thought of it scared me. A lot. He had all the classic symptoms. Cold, pain in the calf, numbness. I was convinced that the next call I’d get would be from his doctor telling me to meet them at the hospital.

In that 30 painful minutes of waiting and pacing and calling him and waiting some more then messaging him then pacing then calling my mom and pacing… I was just overcome with this feeling of dread. What if something happens to Ben? Ben is my rock. He’s my solid, thoughtful, rational, responsible, completely sane rock. And how would I explain it to Cassidy?

Ben and I don’t have the “perfect” relationship. I realize it can come across that way on my blog because when it comes to him I tend to write about the good stuff. The happy stuff. The stuff that is frosted with goodness and coated in sugar. It’s the stuff that I want to look back on in 3, 10, 25 years and remember.

But we do have hard times. And like the really good times are euphoric and warm, the really bad times are low and powerfully painful. We are two very opinionated individuals. And while we have many similarities, we have just as many differences too. He literally is the Yin to my Yang. Or the Yang to my Yin. I’m not exactly sure how that works.

Anyway, he’s fine. At least he seems to be. They didn’t find a clot but they haven’t offered an explanation yet as to why his leg is running cooler and his calf is so sore. Hopefully the doctor will have the answer we are looking for tomorrow.

The reason I wanted to write this out was to remind everybody to find your Yang and hold on to them tight. Because the bad times pass, and the good times are what make life worth living.

The post you are reading now in the gray box is the most recent post which will always live in the grey box. Hopefully in the next day or two I’ll get a time/date stamp up here somewhere.

The picture up there at the top of the post will change when new posts are added. Some might get recycled. I’ll try as much as possible to get new and exciting(!!) stuff up there.

The list of post exerts listed below read from left to right. Start at the top of the left column and read down then go to the right column. Again, in the next few days I’ll get some date/time stamps in there so it will make more sense.

The box in the top right will contain two “featured posts”. One’s that I or you deem funny or insightful enough to spotlight.

The “elsewhere” spot at the bottom I’m toying with. I think that might turn into a place for me to plug random people and cool little interweb thingies I come across. We’ll see.

All the content will get put up as it’s finished. I think I’ve had “coming soon” pages up for almost a year now on certain stuff and it makes me feel like a slacker. I don’t mind slacking at work, but not on my free time and posted for the world to ridicule.

The rest is yours to explore.

Ben and I opened our presents Saturday night. Mostly because I’m impatient and a kid when it comes to opening presents. Because they sit there, under the tree, mocking you every time you walk by. It’s TORTURE!!

I got my sewing machine. I am so stupidly happy about this. I know that most of you out there that know me are like… SEWING MACHINE??!?! But it’s something I’ve wanted to learn for awhile. I always see curtains I like in the store that are the wrong fabric, or a nice fabric in a horrible cut. Now I can make them myself. It’s the same thing with clothes. Some of the cutest things I’ve seen lately are the Do-It-Yourself fashions posted on blogs and craft sites. So I’m sure as I learn I’ll be posting pics. And I’m sure some of the early failures will make for some fantastic blogs.

I also got some gift cards that I’m excited to go out and USE. Fredericks, Pier 1, and Sears! The Sears one Ben got me to start buying painting supplies so I can get rid of the AWFUL pink that haunts our every moment in the kitchen, computer and living room. It’s pink people. PINK! Soon it will be a nice soothing green to match the tile in the kitchen and the yellow on the rest of the walls that I love already.

Yesterday I cooked my turkey. Instead of getting an entire bird I just got a boneless breast roast. Then I made the normal mashed potatoes, gravy, sweet potatoes, stuffing, green bean casserole and biscuits to go with it. It was horribly yummy. And we have lots ‘o leftovers.

The rest of the day we played video games. We were training for the Lazy Olympics. I finally got dressed at 9:00PM so we could go we a 10:00PM DLP showing of Narnia. I actually thought they did a great job. They sucked me in early enough that I didn’t spend the whole movie comparing it to the book and genuinely enjoyed the movie for what it was, a movie based on a favorite childhood book.

Today I desperately need to clean the house and get some laundry done and prepare for Cassidy’s return tonight from her dad’s so she can open her presents and tear up the clean house in a fraction of the time I’ll spend cleaning it today. I can’t wait to have her home.

I had a pretty productive day.

• Completed a project at work two days before deadline.
• Picked up new dining room table for $100!! Then put it together.
• Changed oil. Discovered something is leaking badly. Seems to be the tranny. Cussed a lot.

Off to cuddle with the Benjamin and watch Family Guy. Then sleep. I have a party post finished on the Sidekick. I’ll copy/paste it tomorrow.