It's Alive!!!

Yes, dear friends of the blogging community, I AM still alive, although rumors of my continuing health catastrophes have not been that greatly exaggerated.  To make an excruciatingly long story short, the doctors suspect either Crohn's disease or irritable bowel syndrome at this point (sorry to anyone who's eating while you read this), I've been in the hospital TWICE more since I last wrote, and have finally decided that since I'm obviously going to live through whichever I have, I'm going to start living my life again.  That's more complicated sometimes--for example, I've given myself permission to just read what I want (or not!) for now, and if I magically finish all the reading challenges I took on at the end of last year, that's just icing on the cake--but I'm going to live, all the same.  I've also continued surviving a sort of mini-nervous breakdown over all the deaths in my family in the past few years and the "joys" of PTSD, but I have good friends, dear family, a good medical team, and helpful drugs.  Let the blogging recommence!

May I just say here and now, throughout the last few months of not blogging, I've only lost two followers, and that says a lot for you guys, I think.  You're loyal friends, good and true, (at least, those of you who actually check your subscriptions regularly, =D ) and I'm grateful.

Okay, a few quick announcements:

Queen Rocks!  FREDDIE MERCURY FOREVER!
*ahem* Moving on...

Photo by Rev Stan

The Olympics!  Did you watch?  The world's greatest atheletes and some great painkillers got me through my latest hospital stay with my sanity intact.  London, you did yourselves proud, and your most wayward offspring (namely, us bloody defectors here in "the Colonies") still love you all.

Fellow Geeks (and those who love us despite our Geekiness), behold some of my three-year-old SuperToddler's current favorite toys--

She chose them herself, and would not let them out of her hands for hours after they were bought!  Her Geeky training is coming along beautifully, and my motherly Geek cup of joy runneth over!  (If you're thinking that C3PO looks slightly terrifying, I agree with you--he's oddly made, but she loves him, anyway.)  If you're thinking that the picture is blurry, you are also correct.  I'm still learning to take pictures with *drumrollllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll*

THE WONDERFUL NEW iPOD THAT MY EVEN MORE WONDERFUL HUSBAND BOUGHT ME as an (early) 35th birthday present!  I have named her Casilda (I'll give you a moment to Google that name of one of my favorite Roman Catholic saints...*Jeopardy theme plays in background*...), and she is one of the highlights of each day, as I discover all the things of which she is capable.  I use a PC laptop, I love my iPod--I know, I'm "bi" where my computing is concerned. =0)  My Mac-loving husband cannot understand why I cling to my PC, but he puts up with it, bless him.

And finally, for all my fellow book bloggers--

throughout my recent trials, I have continued to read, and am excited to announce that I have acquired and am getting ready to read my first Georgette Heyer novel!  It was a two-fer, actually, a beautiful, hardback double edition that I found in the Bargain Books at Barnes & Noble.  I LOVE shopping their Bargain Books; finding a book like this one for $9.95 makes me feel like I just discovered the Rosetta Stone or won the Nobel Prize or something much cooler than what I actually did, which is give Barnes & Noble $10 of my money.  It's the little things that make life worthwhile, you know?  After all my troubles, however, I'm giving myself a free pass on any review backlog, and am just going to enjoy reading and blogging as time permits for a while.  Thank you all for your patient faithfulness, and I hope you swarm me with comments--I've missed you all.

Oooooo! Very important P.S.

MOCK THE WEEK!  If you haven't yet discovered this rib-crackingly hilarious BBC show, search for it on YouTube--you won't be sorry!