1. I’ve been working really hard on revisions for KU2.
2. Which have been hampered sadly, by Pantalaimon’s timely/untimely (depending on which Apple Genius you ask) death.
3. I have been doing some home repairs chez Diana
4. Which include a massive tree removal operation which rendered my office about 12 times more sunny, which I’m sure I’ll appreciate in the coming winter months but which makes me think I should have gone for an anti-glare screen in my new computer. Also, I’ll probably want to plant something new so I have some shade next summer.

But, don’t worry. I’ll be back soon. Like when Fed Ex decides to get off its butt and deliver my new computer. Stupid Columbus Day.

In other news, check out this great new review of Rampant from In Between the Pages:

I loved Astrid. She kicks butt in so many ways. Plus, she’s a science nerd like me. Chem major all the way! The characters were all very layered and unexpected, with none of them conforming to stereotypes. The jock was extremely nice and grounded, while the girls who appeared to be nasty ended up having hearts. Then there were the boys. Who doesn’t love a guy that enjoys art and speaks Italian? (melt)

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Wow, guys. Pray you don’t get this thing, whatever it is. It’s VIOLENT. I’ve been sick for a whole month now, and every time I think it’s letting up, I relapse.

As such, I’ve not been much with the getting work done, though I’ve read a few books:

• The Hunger Games
• The Princess Diaries
• Vampire Academy
• Seaborn
• Saving Zoe
• The Amulet of Samarkand
• Two Parties, One Tux, and a Very Short Film about The Grapes of Wrath (which is awesome and I haven’t heard ANYTHING about it, ever, which is a damn shame, because it’s funny and boy-focused and not enough YA is and go get it right right now!)

and watched a heap of movies:

• Raising Victor Vargas
• Field of Dreams (again)
• Six episodes of the first season of Mad Men
• Hancock
• Kung Fu Panda
• The entire John Adams miniseries with Paul Giamatti and Laura Linney
• Fifty First Dates
• The first five minutes of Walk the Line (then I was quite sure they were about to kill both the dog and the brother and turned it off)

We also gave Rio a bath. She’s almost forgiven us, but that’s probably only because I’ve been sneaking her leftover turkey.  She’s so fluffy now. Fluffy and HUGE. Thirty pounds, we’re sure. And five months old. And more beautiful than ever. It’s ridiculous how gorgeous she is. Most dogs go through an awkward adolescent phase. She’s has not. Every time we take her out, people stop us on the street to tell us what a pretty dog she is.

Now, if only she would learn “stay,” she’d be perfect.

Yesterday, Sailor Boy and I raked the yard. Ah, the glories of home-ownership! Now, I’m from Florida, and this is the first year I’ve had a yard and have also lived in a place where the leaves fall. In Florida, if a palm frond falls, we just drag it out to the curb. But we had a ridiculous blanket of leaves in our heavily-treed new backyard. This is what it looked like:

And after we raked it all up, the pile was the size of Nikita, our car. Here’s Rio and me in front of the pile:

Things I learned: How To Use a Tarp to Drag Leaves To Your Curb. No, seriously, is this how northerners spend all their autumns? John Adams totally did not do this, did he?

You like my blue fuzzy fleece? I think it makes me look kind of like Grover, but it’s windproof, so I adore it beyond all rationality. Because you see, the other glory of home ownership is paying for your own utilities. I have become a lover of all things fleece.

Ugh, four more months of cold weather. Can I just hibernate now?

Though, despite the winter weather, I am happy. Thanksgiving was a whirlwind, what with all of the traveling across state lines to visit family and meet brand new infant nephews and all. I had my own private moment of thankfulness this morning, as I lay in bed (wearing fleece, though not my Grover jacket)  and listened to the rain patter on the windows of my house — my own home! — with my wonderful husband asleep beside me, and my adorable puppy (who can finally be trusted in bed with us!)  asleep on my legs. I am a lucky, lucky woman.

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I have internet again! O, happy day, too roo, too lay!

I cannot tell you how annoying it has been these past few weeks to be living without you, my sweet pablum, my exquisite opiate of the masses. How do I live without you? As I was standing on my neighbor’s porch, watching the second cable guy in ten hours balanced precariously on top of a ladder, trying desperately to get our cable working, and explaining to the nice new neighbors that no, we weren’t actually getting TV cable, just cable internet, and watching their eyes go all wide… I realized that my internet addiction is not, perhaps, fully understood by the masses. (However, she did realize that, sans internet, I was spending a lot of time in the Panera Bread — free wifi — down the street.

Seriously, though, I’ve had a list of things to look up once this darn cable was hooked up. Things like:

• Who sings the theme song on this last season of The Wire? (Steve Earle, who plays Bubbles’ NA sponsor)
• What do they call those little entryway pieces of furniture that are like a combination mail/key/and leash holder, coat rack, and mirror? (Hall trees, apparently)
• More eggplant recipes (anyone?)
• Lots of secret stuff for T&G that I obviously cannot discuss here.

So anyway, I have the internet, and SB is celebrating by playing WOW, and Rio is celebrating by napping on the air vents, as per usual:

It was 90 degrees out today. No one gets to say my dog ain’t smart. She’s also a little worn out puppy, as she just came back from her first vet visit, where she was vaccinated (not that she noticed, so intent was my pup on a fingerful of cheese whiz). The vet says, “I can’t promise you anything, but sometimes these shots wear puppies out.” I tried not to get my hopes up. But worn out she is, the little dear. I’m expecting she’ll be right back to Rambunctious Rio by tomorrow.

We’re still settling into the new house. Unpacking a little more every day, starting to think seriously about what furniture we’d like to put where. SB did a lot of work in our office today, and it looks great, though I do want to paint in there eventually, so it may not stay that way. However, things I already love about the house:

• Our new refrigerator has an icemaker. This thrills me to no end. In the apartment, ice was a big deal. We had to remember to refill the little plastic containers, we had to wait for them to freeze, we coudln’t wait too long or they’d either sublimate or get funky freezer-smell. So basically, to put ice in something, you had to think two hours in advance that you wanted ice in something in two hours. We didn’t use ice unless it was strictly necessary for the consumable in question. Like pina coladas. But now I have ice at the press of a button! And so does Rio. Yay for us both!
• The exposed brick wall in my new office. Every time I go in there I am pleased anew. So pretty, and it fulfills all my secret longings of living in an urban loft somewhere. (Or some massively cool reclaimed corner store like the home my cousins-in-law own in Baltimore.)
• The hardwood floors. Come to find out from my neighbor that a former owner of the house was a hardwood floor dealer, which explains the fab floors in my house. I really hope I don’t wreck ‘em.
• The sprayer on my new sink. It’s not a divided sink, but it sprays. Great for dish *and* dog-washing.
• And, don’t tell SB, but much as I’ve been bitching and moaning about giving up my gas range, I am really liking the electric *oven* in my new kitchen. I made baked potatoes the other evening, and they took 65 minutes. In our old gas apartment oven, they would have taken approximately four and a half days.

Ah, house. I own a house. And a dog. And you people are bearing the brunt of hearing about both. A college friend who heard about my recent acquisitions was all, “when did everyone I know turn into grown-ups?” which made me laugh because it’s a running theme in T&G, too. Maybe Amy and I have more in common than I thought. We’re both going through a sea change stage of life.

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