The Doings Report

Oh, where to start?

As mentioned previously, MJ is now a licensed driver. She is very excited, and we are already reaping the benefits: she gassed up the car and made a run to the library one day, and today she took herself off to the beach for a last-minute gathering there that Frank and I c/wouldn't muster the gumption to attend.

Papa Tom received a cancer diagnosis that was initially pretty scary, but the news since then has all been good. It hasn't spread to his organs and it is a slow mover, which means he can live with it for years and years. He'll have one round of radiation next week to kill a tumor on or near his spine that is causing him pain. Other than that, his treatment will be drug-based, noninvasive and pretty easy. We are all so relieved!

The girls and I spent Halloween in Oregon while Frank held down the fort here. Halloween night, the girls were trick-or-treating with friends at "The Winch," a house in Portland occupied by once and future NBTSC'ers. Aside from MJ the Very Sexy Cop, they were all characters from their friend Zephyr's recent and much-loved novel, The Tomato Soup Chronicles. Chloe was Dr. Vincent and Lani and Qacei were Toxic Teen Lesbian Zombie Vampire Chainsaw Bitches. Yes, really.



I spent Halloween night at the Wahoo Winkler Bed and Breakfast and got to go trick-or-treating with two of my favorite girls, Vivian and Sabine. It was lovely! This is how conversations at doorsteps went:

Neighbor: "Oh, a zebra and a fairy!"
Vivian (firmly): "I'm a pixie." Then candy would exchange hands and the girls would run down the walk to greet us.
Sabine: "This is SO fun!"

Sunday, MJ, Chloe, Qacei, and I continued down to Corvallis for a visit with the Golds. Mary cooked (!), Karma the dog entertained, and some of us got a decent start on our NaNoWriMo attempts.

Monday, we attended a party at Diana's to celebrate Holly's 18th birthday. Scotty and his friend Jack played some music, I ran around with Jack's son, Miles (~4), and we all ate goodies and wished Holly a fond farewell. She is moving on to England for her next adventure.

I had a date with niece Ella Tuesday night, a belated celebration of her sixth birthday. We went shopping at Toys'R'Us and then came back here for some mac'n'cheese. It was so fun, I've decided to make Birthday Date Night a tradition with those nieces and daughters who are interested.

Chloe came down with the flu. It must have been the swine flu since, according to CDC stats, that's just about the only flu out there right now. She had fever for one day and head and body aches for three. That was it. So far, the rest of us are fine.

We have been in self-imposed quarantine the rest of this week, though. It's been pretty nice!