Today marks one year.

I had a lot I was going to post about this, but in the end, that's all I have to say. Thanks for sticking around.

This week was one of my assigned weeks for birthday cookies, so we made one of my younger sister's favorite cookies for our school's clinic aide. (Our PTA's teacher appreciation committee lines up volunteers to make homemade cookies for every teacher and staff member during their birthday week, or near the end of the school year for summer birthdays.) We usually make a double batch of these since they get eaten quickly.

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Nutmeg Sugar Crisps

1 c. butter, softened
3/4 c. sugar
1/2 c. confectioner's sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
1/4 to 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/8 tsp salt

Cream butter and sugars. Beat in egg and vanilla; mix well. Combine the flour, baking soda, cream of tartar, nutmeg and salt; add to the creamed mixture and mix well. Refrigerate for 1 hour.

Shape into 3/4-inch balls; place 2 inches apart on greased baking sheets. Flatten with a glass dipper in sugar. Bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes of until lightly browned. Remove to wire racks to cool.

Yield: about 6 dozen

Source: Taste of Home Best-Loved Cookies & Bars, Fall 2007

I'm not sure how much a pedant should cost, but I could buy one that looks one-of-a-kind.

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School is back in swing here. Laurel started fifth grade at our neighborhood elementary school on Monday and has made a few friends already. Preschool started for my nephew today too, and it was quite nice to be able to walk in nice weather, see Laurel across the bus loop to the main building and hang out on the preschool playground with my niece while my nephew got signed in for the day.

We also got back to ensuring that cars are actually going to stop at the crosswalk when the light is red before stepping into the crosswalk. This morning we watched a middle-aged woman in an SUV drive through the red light well above the posted speed limit while we were waiting to cross and head into our neighborhood. (I don't know where she was going in such a hurry, but I hope she made it there safely.) Later that morning, drivers stopped at the crosswalk in both directions without us pushing the signal button. We appreciated that.

Laurel might be doing Girl Scouts this year as a Juliette; I'll be jumping back into Cub Scouting with Join Scouting night next week helping with rocketry and whatever make-and-take I come up with between now and then. She brought home the first-year band and orchestra information today and wants to play violin, so we'll see what we can swing there -- based on a neck-to-mid-palm measure, we're looking at a 1/2 or 3/4 size violin, which we may be able to borrow from local friends instead of coming up with $100 for school year rental.

Today marks a month since I left my home of six years in Dallas.

The upshot is that Laurel and I are safely back in Colorado and we have food, shelter and sufficient clothing. We left the majority of our household baggage in Texas, but it's really just stuff.

I'm about to head to Phoenix for a week of getting my kitty fix and some quiet downtime with an old friend, during which I hope to do a lot of the writing I want to catch you up and document my thoughts. Laurel will start fifth grade in just over a month at the same school my younger brother and sister attended and I will share the action plan I've put together with the help of friends and family to work on getting my legs beneath me and improve Laurel's and my lives for the better. (Er, that doesn't look right. Feel free to take a red pen to it.)

I love all of you and am thankful that you've hung in there with me through this difficult year.

Many things both big and little have happened since my last post, but anything I write up I'll get to later.

The big news is that I'm leaving Dallas this upcoming Monday. Things here haven't gone well for a long time yet I've stubbornly hung in there, figuring things would get better. He has said he felt the same way, but we never sat down and had a reasonable conversation about it. There is always blame, but no one is at fault in the end. It just didn't work.

Thanks for hanging in there with me through the turbulence. I appreciate every one of you.

Many of you already know that Kevin fell rollerblading yesterday with a brief loss of consciousness.[1] He refused transport, by ambulance or neighbors, and has a memory lapse of about 3.5 hours. He agreed to see our family practitioner this morning. She took one look at his unwrapped wrist (I splinted it last night) and said it's dislocated, probably fractured, and he could either wait several hours to get in to an orthopedist or go directly to the ER for x-rays. Since old paratroopers never die,[2] he decided to do neither of those things. Instead he got a much-needed haircut, picked up a proper wrist splint, and prepared for an interview scheduled for 1 PM.

I saw him off with plenty of time, printed paperwork in a folder and his netbook charged and packed with its cooling pad. At the last minute I handed him my phone. I'm glad I did, because 20 minutes later he called to say the Mustang's engine cut out while he was on the way to the interview. He planned to cross a nearby overpass to a gas station and get the car towed. In the meanwhile, he talked to the recruiter (he did not have a phone number for the client) and will reschedule. I hope the client makes an offer; the previous screens and interview went well and we got the impression the client thinks he's a good fit.

When it rains, it pours. Also, always wear appropriate safety gear for sports.



1. Most surreal moment: a neighbor kid asked "Is he dead?". I replied, "No, people can't be dead and breathing."

2. Old paratroopers never die, they just go to hell and regroup.

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ETA: The Mustang turned out to have a broken coil wire, a fairly simple and inexpensive fix. We'll pick her up from the shop tomorrow since our bank decided to go back on the "we will release part of your latest deposit Tuesday and the remainder Wednesday" after we verified that policy with a supervisor, purchased a cashier's check in our local branch to pay rent, and checked the balance before he left. (Will straighten that out in the morning.) Kevin didn't want me to ask any of "my" friends for a ride, so he started walking. Two and a half miles in, a stranger stopped and offered him a ride the rest of the way home.

Good things since my last post:
- Holy crap, you guys are so nice! I teared up several times.
- We got the electric bill squared away.
- One of this week's phone screens has progressed to a phone interview on Monday. I am hoping it goes well. If it works out I think it will be nice for him to get away from the niche of medical software.
- Someone asked what jobs he's held. In approximate chronological order since graduating from high school, he's been an airborne paratrooper, a carpenter for a custom window company, a medical courier, and held various software developer positions in telecommunications, defense, mobile computing, medical practice and revenue cycle management, and financial software for ATMs. Most of the past 20 years have been in software.
- I learned these ginger doughnuts are delicious: http://www.gourmet.com/recipes/2000s/2004/12/ginger-doughnuts
- I moved some of the wintered-indoor plants outside and transplanted some seedlings. The hanging baskets now have plants in them, the ivy that started taking over the windowsill is trellised in a gallon pot, and I put a couple of seasonal-clearance rainbow pinwheels I had stored away in the other gallon pots. It's silly but they make me happy.

Keeping busy keeps me focused on the things that are good.