Happy Wet, Dark November!

I'm not trying to stop blogging, I promise. It's just been a dark month so far. Time Change always throws me for a loop although I'm so glad I'm not trying to drive home in the dark from work like Time Change and life used to make me do. Getting over the first stage of my dental transformation was rough... much more than I expected. It really knocked me out of whack. Like, honestly, I got my first monthly check from Social Security in the mail (because apparently it takes them like six months or something to get automatic bank deposit set up)... I got that check on October 28th and I STILL have not made it to the bank to deposit it! The bank is a ten minute drive away! That's it!

It feels like I should start a new paragraph even though the subject isn't changing much. It has been raining constantly here it seems. The rain + dark has pushed my Luigi time up to around 5pm because I don't like to go out to the shed after dark. There is too much National Geographic stuff that happens around here... snakes... bears... there was a possum on my porch last week eating the food I put out for the stray cats. I did make it to the grocery store to buy more Luigi's last week and the cashier told me she needed to stage an intervention! Small town and all... plus my kid works there so most people know I'm Austin's mom. When we go to the Starbucks we can ask for Austin's drink and they know what to make. He's famous in Ingles!

I'm famous at the pharmacy. I dropped off prescriptions from the dentist two weeks ago and when I handed them to the girl I said, "will you check to make sure you use my new drug coverage" and she replied with the name of the drug plan company. Yep, that's me. Last week when I did finally drag myself out to run errands I ran into Rite Aid and left Tasha and Cosette in the car. When I came back out the battery had died. The car was completely turned off so it wasn't OUR fault, just the luck of the draw. I had a trunk full of frozen food, i.e. Luigis for me and ice cream bars for my mom but honestly, that was the only inconvenience. It wasn't the kind of crisis it would have been in my Single Mom days. My parents came to town so that me and Tasha and the baby could get home with the groceries and Tasha's dad came to jump the car off and follow my dad to go buy a new battery. I wasn't feeling great when I headed out that morning and I felt worse after all that and I'm still pretty much trying to get back to normal-ish.

Grandma's 92nd birthday was Friday. I had hoped to go down with Pop as they (her kids) were taking her out to tea for her birthday but I was nowhere near up to it. I sent flowers, really lovely flowers.

In the past week I've ordered Christmas outfits for the babies and a few things that Ollie needed. He's got a big trip to California coming up - going to meet the California branch of Marquee's family. I bought a huge collection of bows for Cosette because she's likely to be bald until she's three - I was. I've done a good bit of Christmas shopping online and need to get busy wrapping because it will probably take me the next month to get it done. Moving at a slower pace.

I go back to the dentist tomorrow and find out what the next torture will be. I go to the pain doctor on Thursday. I'm trying to carve out time to love on Ollie before Thanksgiving but between me and my parents we're booked up with doctor appointments almost every day.

Cosette has had her first oatmeal - she loved it, her first sippy cup of water - also a fan, and appears to have a canine tooth breaking through - her first tooth. She weighed just a bit over 14 pounds at the doctor last week. Ollie is quickly catching up.

Anyways... that's about it for now. Just wanted to let you know I'm still here. Love and hugs and all that!