A bit of a catch-up post

OK folks. I've been away for far too long.

Well here I am, finally at my computer, surrounded by broken good intentions.

The holiday parties went up through the middle of January this year. Competition for December weekends has become so fierce that some folks just gave up. That means that December (or the Holiday Season), always a gamut to run, is now a longer gamut. I love my friends, and I'm very lucky to have so many invitations; but man, does it take a toll after a while.

When things finally settled down a bit I decided to take care of something long overdue - I had my 90+year old house re-wired. dana did it for me, and did a fantastic job, but it was a bit more of an ordeal than either of us realized it would be. What we thought would take a couple of days ended up taking three weeks.

Two of those weeks I stayed with Miss Kat and dana - who were wonderfully hospitable. They treated me better than family - they treated me like family with money. The last week I spend at Russ and Billy's house, and they too were wonderfully welcoming and did their best to make me feel at home. I just wasn't. I'm very home and hearth oriented. I'm apparently the guy that breaks first if you go to prison - you know those movies.

Around the end of this, my Granny Brown was put into hospice. My Granny has been much on my mind of late. I was fortunate to be raised around wonderful, formidable women, of whom Granny Brown was one. To watch this strong, out-spoken spitfire with the light leaving her eyes is awful. She's dying by inches. My mother is going up every third week to stay the weekend with her. Sometimes she knows Mama and sometimes she doesn't. I've been up there with her, and it's actually pretty bad. Bad enough that I haven't been back since January. I feel like I'm not giving my mom the support she needs. I'm usually pretty strong about doing what needs to be done, but I have wimped out here.

Additionally, pretty much half the people I know were apparently born during February or early March. I've missed so many birthdays I'm not even sure who all to send cards to at this point.

When I got back into the house I got the flu. I haven't been that sick since I was a little child. Thank God for dana, who went to the grocery store for me. After three weeks away, there just wasn't anything here to eat. She wouldn't let me pay for the food, which I feel bad about since she risked pestilence and all. So I was sick for five days.

So I'm back in the house now, and it is wonderful. I love the fact that people I love have done so much in my house. My dad built the kitchen. Friends and loved ones have painted. Now when I come in in the evening and hit the switch (dana hot-wired some plugs for me) it feels like dana is welcoming me home. That's a good feeling. I'm getting quite sentimental in my old age.

Russ and Billy antd I went to Asheville last Saturday, which was lovely. We got to go to The Chocolate Lounge, where I got another liquid truffle, which is one of my latest reasons to keep on going. They are really, REALLY fabulous. We also had dinner out with the local bear group, which was fun, but potential husbands were not to be found.

Dating is something I look up in the dictionary these days.

So, just when I think life may slow down a bit, it fails to do so. But I guess that's the way it goes. I'm sorry if this sounds like a "poor little steve" post.