Reunions, Facebook, kittens, and other matters

Hi.

It's been a while.

I don't have much to say that's coherent, but I thought it was about time for an update.

My husband is home. And it is good. We spent Memorial Day weekend in TN, and now life is about to get very busy for the both of us. Justin is leaving me again just for a few days this week and then he's going to start the somewhat long and involved process of becoming a "lead" (that's my made up term, not the official term) pilot (as opposed to just a co-pilot). He's also working on his final master's class! Yeah, I know. My husband's awesome.

I have 200 hours worth of work to do (hopefully) in the next 5 weeks. That's a lot. If I work at the pace I worked this week, I'll never make it. This was the final straw that meant...

I deactivated my Facebook account. It's remarkable really how few emails I get when I don't have Facebook to send me updates. I have to admit, this makes me a little sad. But, I shall pick myself up and learn not to find a sense of validation in who is emailing/Facebook-ing me... I hope.

Actually, deactivating a Facebook account is fairly laughable. All I have to do is sign back in and, without so much as a confirmation email, everything is right back where I left it...history, friends, wall posts, and all. I guess there's a more complicated process I could go through to actually delete my account, but I haven't decided for sure if I'm coming back. I'm too dependent on it, the privacy concerns worry me, and this month I just don't have the time to keep up with it. And if I don't remove my connection to it altogether, I will continue to check it every day--multiple times a day. That's just inevitable when I work on a computer all day and am looking for distractions. On the other hand, if you are reading this, I will miss FB for keeping up with you.

Another kitten adopted us. Just before Justin came home. And Justin said we could keep her. :) After paying the bill for getting her spayed and vaccinated, though, Justin is beginning to have second thoughts. Meet Tiger Lily. Lily for short. (We considered naming her cricket because she "sings" all the time with this little trill that makes her sound kind of like a cricket.) Right now she is missing half of the hair on her belly, but this is her the night she showed up on our porch.

Who could resist that beautiful calico face? Not the Cooks, that's for sure. Once she recovers from her surgery, I'm not sure how much she'll stay outside and how much she'll be in. She's learning to get along with our other pets and has already scratched Eddie on his eyeball once. Good thing it wasn't too deep. Still. Poor guy.

Well, I think that about sums up life for us right now. I might disappear into a work-induced fog for the next month or so, but if I don't post for a month, well, what else is new, right?

Feel free to send me a note every now and then to ease my FB withdrawls. :-)