I am back among the connected. It was a painful month but I survived. You may have heard my lamentations reverberating in your neighborhood as I gnashed my teeth and cried in pain but no longer. We're all DSLed up again and not a moment too soon, I must say.

There was some excitement whilst I was away. Joey broke her arm a few weeks ago. It was a torsion fracture at the top of the humerous on the left side about an inch below the growth plate. It didn't require casting or immobilization, though. She wore a sling for a couple of weeks and the orthopedist said that she could use it as much as she wanted, letting pain be her guide. It seems almost back to normal now. The doc said that within 3 weeks she'd have full range of motion (she pretty much does now at 2.5 weeks) and by 4 weeks she'd be good as new and be able to do anything she could before the break. Yay.

The annual Girl T0wn retreat is next week. We're going Monday and I'll be there until Saturday. I'm so looking forward to this. All our summer vacationing is happening within one 5-week period, starting with Girl T0wn.

Marcus and Stacey's house sold in about 3 or 4 days and for $5K more than the asking price. That may be standard where you live but here in Oregon, that *never* happens. People always offer less than the asking price. So now they're in Bend looking for a house to move into and according to Bayley (who is staying with us while the hunt is on), they were going to make an offer on a house today that is right next to the elementary school that Bayley would be attending. They move fast, those two.

Ed and I decided to put a wood floor in our family room and hall so today we went to the wood place and bought it. We're installing carb0nized vertical bamb0o flooring. And by we, I mean Ed and Russell. I'll be playing in Girl T0wn. It's going to look fabulous! I can hardly wait. We've decided that if we're going to put in the new floor and relandscape (patio-ize) the entire back yard, we're going to have to stay in this house another 5 years to enjoy it. I'm OK with that. I like this house a lot. And since we're a small family, we fit in it quite well.

The highlight of the day, though, was seeing my boyfriend 0rlando Bl00m today in Pir@tes of the Caribbe@n. Good Lord but he's a beautiful man. I was positively swooning when they did closeups of him. I thought he was incredibly hot as Legol@s with his never empty quiver but even the hot elf doesn't hold a candle to Will the Blacksmith. I'm going to have some erotic 0rlando dreams tonight, Baby. *growl*

I'm just so deleriously happy to be connected again, though. It was so very painful to be turned off. I was sorely tempted to break into my neighbor's house while she was at work and dial up. I'd walk by the office and gaze longingly at our poor, disconnected PC and feel tears well up in my eyes. In the middle of a discussion, I'd feel the need to look something up and there would be no way to do that and I'd be stuck not knowing the answer to my important query. It was awful.

But all is well, again, in Lobotomy Land. There is peace in the kingdom and I no longer feel like throttling my husband who insisted that now was the time to switch ISPs.

Later,

--L