Back to reality again

[annathepiper]

There is no earthly way I'm going to make it back through two weeks' worth of Friends list. So if any of y'all posted anything I need to see, or which I might have found particularly cool, please drop a comment!

Being back at work today after two weeks' absence was a little weird, but mostly only because I was so sleepy the whole day. Weirder was going to Whole Foods for lunch and dealing with clerks at the registers who spoke English. And the money looked all weird and monochrome and stuff. ;)

Also, the one sad thing about our absence was that our Quaker parrot Zoe passed away while we were gone. Sniff. risu emailed us about it two or three days into the con, and basically, the poor thing just started abruptly gagging and fell off her perch. With kathrynt's help, the birdie was hauled off to a birdie emergency center, but alas, in vain. The house is too quiet without the Squawkmonster. We've already started thinking about getting another birdie, or perhaps a bigger cage for a whole flock of budgies. But we have to get another cat or kittens as well. It's just not been a good year for pets at the Murk.

I realized today that I am five days away from Faerie Blood being in the e-queue at Baen Books for an entire year. It was a relief to get home and not find a rejection letter waiting for me. I was kind of hoping I wouldn't get one during the con. ;) But since Baen's site does say 9-12 months' turnaround time on answers, I expect to see a rejection letter any time now. Something more positive than that would be awesome, but hey, this is me trying to be practical here. Hee.

Last but not least, it's been nice not having to worry about tracking weight or miles walked during the vacation--in fact, I made that part of the point of the vacation! Yet it was satisfying to see that I didn't actually gain any weight while I was gone, despite eating a lot of Japanese snacks as well as various funky flavors of Kit Kat. I attribute this to all the sightseeing and tour walking we did. But now that I'm home again I do need to get caught up on my numbers, so here's the latest report!

Miles since Aug. 13th: 55.2
Miles out of Hobbiton: 2326.2
Miles out of Isengard: 533.2
Miles to Minas Tirith: 252.8

ETA 9:47pm: I am informed that lyricae provided transport support and kathrynt moral support for dealing with Zoe. Many thanks to both of you ladies. We really appreciate that you guys pitched in and helped out with this during our absence.

Comments

[ceallaighgirl.livejournal.com]

Nothing really interesting on mine, except that I have a virgin birth. Triplets. I named them all after you, acutally.

[annathepiper]

Cool! Anna, The, and Piper, I presume?

[ceallaighgirl.livejournal.com]

They're all named Anna.

[annathepiper]

Hee!

[risu.livejournal.com]

N.B. It was actually with Cheryl's help, although Kathryn did phone support and was standing by. (But a little less mobile.)

[annathepiper]

I stand corrected! Thank you. :)

[boxer-ferret.livejournal.com]

Awww.. sorry about the bird.

[annathepiper]

Thanks! Now that we're back and the trip is done and dealt with, and we're getting renewed rent from new student tenants, we'll be able to think about new pets for the Murk. solarbird is thinking about whether she wants a new parrot, or a big cage full of a lot of budgies.

Also, we still need another cat.

[gerimaple.livejournal.com]

*cracks open a fresh bottle of Peach Raspberry Hard Lemonade*

here's to Zoe, the first parrot I ever met!

*HUGS* to you and D, with an empathetic *meow* from EmmaCat

[annathepiper]

Thank you, hon! *snugs* We're talking about what to do about the lack of birdie, whether to get another parrot or whether to get a big ol' cage full of a bunch of birdies. Dara isn't sure what she wants to do yet.

Also, we still need a new cat.

Also, Mike's peach raspberry sounds awfully good!

[gerimaple.livejournal.com]

Also, Mike's peach raspberry sounds awfully good!

Actually, it's not made by Mike's. It's made by a local competitor (Vex), who are all about the interesting flavour combinations. They have a bunch like blue raspberry, orange pineapple, and kiwi mango. most of them are all about the Yum. However, I'd discovered that Mike's in the US is made with "premium Malt beverage"instead of the vodka it's supposed to be, and my body doesn't like it :( So now in the US I buy Wyder's cider, which is made in BC from BC fruit and yet cannot be purchased anywhere in BC.

[annathepiper]

Ahhhh, okay. Wow, those flavor combinations do sound fabulous. I may have to look for those next time we're in Vancouver. :)

Wyder's sounds like it ought to be familiar but I'm not sure if I've ever seen or tried it! I'll have to look for that too.

[wildshadowstar.livejournal.com]

Sorry to hear about Zoe.

Glad to hear that you're back and that you had fun.

[annathepiper]

Thanks hon! Yeah, we're going to miss the little squawky bird. Dinner just isn't the same without her letting out her indignation that we weren't feeding her too. Sniff.

But! Yes, we had oodles of fun while we were gone. And hopefully, now that we're getting more rental income in again with the start of the new school year, we can get another birdie. And another kitty. :)