Aaargh!

No, I'm not dead.

Although I am having the sort of days that would make it a relief.

Some highlights from the past few weeks:

• Conflicting work schedules, which leave The Boy without a "hand off" window.
• Dead truck (The Husband's), leaving only one vehicle (mine), which really needs to go into the shop for a broken motor mount, but can't, because then we would be completely without wheels, a no-no when you live out in the middle of nowhere.
• Neighbors on both sides moved away, one abandoning a dog who took it very hard. I finally had to take her to the animal shelter, because she had either mange or flea dermatitis, and I couldn't take the risk to my animals and kid. The shelter will release her to a no-kill shelter if I can find one that will take her, which may be hard because this is a bad time of year for neglected and abused animals.
• Hamsters bite, unless you have a large enough hand that it does not feel insecure or worry that you will drop it. We have spent enough on Band-Aids learning this that we should own a controlling stock in the company that makes them by now.
• The Boy went fishing for two weeks, which was supposed to be one week, but he convinced us, after we drove 400 miles to pick him up, that he really needed to stay an extra week.
• My employer is going green, which sounds wonderful on paper, but is a great deal of extra work, mostly in the form of training and devouring the souls of offenders. The most difficult part of dealing with hazardous waste is making the average person understand that even shampoos and laundry detergents are hazardous materials unless diluted to certain ratios, and they can no longer dump them in a sink, regardless of what they may do at home. We won't talk about batteries . . . remember, I am still trying to get them to seperate their cardboard and plastics from the regular trash.
• Inventory is in less than three weeks. I am busy.
• We almost had to buy our house or move. It was scary. We learned that even with family, things may not be as they appear and the worth of a good lawyer cannot be underestimated.
• The Boy has taken up Bionicle modding, and it is a very good thing that I kept all the original manuals.
• School starts on the 24th. This is a good thing, regardless of the opinions of seven-year-olds.

There's more, but that covers the basics.

Hopefully I will have some time on my hands soon, and can get back on track.