1. I had (minor) surgery not quite two weeks ago. Those who follow me on Twitter are already tired of hearing me kvetch, so let this be the last surgical kvetch of 2010: Ouch. (No, not going into detail. It was related to pregnancy/c-section, and had been dragging on all these months. Glad to soon be done with it and moving on.)

2. Now that I’m starting to feel better post-surgery, a spider bite I woke up with about three weeks ago has gone crazy on me, all swollen and infecty. Cellulitis. Lovely. Went to the doc today. Antibiotics.

3. Benny, the cat whom we love dearly but whom I never remember to photograph for the blog, didn’t come home last night. When we adopted him, we tried to convince him that he was an indoor-only cat, but he wasn’t having it. Daily escape attempts. Miserable crying and screaming at doors and windows. He’s an indoor-outdoor boy all the way. It’s who he is, and we had to embrace it. Better a happy life than a long one, right? Easily said until he went missing. Good thoughts for my furry guy, please. He’d better turn up soon. He hasn’t been gone long, but he’s never stayed out all night before, and I really expected him to turn up this morning.

(Yes, this is the same Cari who had previously cursed her neighbors for letting their cats go outside, where they would then shit in my garden. Well, now the only cat who shits in my garden is my own. What can I say. I’m a complex creature. I have many strengths. Consistency? Not one of them.)

4. The baby will be nine months old on 12/31. Old enough, and secure enough, that I feel comfortable leaving her with Billy for a couple hours at a time to get some writing time in. As it is now, I can only write after she is soundly asleep. She goes down around 8pm, but then wakes up every 20-30 minutes until usually around 10:30. I have no idea why she’s doing this now, when as a newborn she’d sleep six hours straight every night. But there it is. I work from 10:30pm to 12:30 or so, then get up in the morning with the kids, etc. And that’s only writing time when I don’t have a freelance job to work on. So, now…older baby. Billy’s going to start to take both kids for a couple of hours on Sunday so I can get just a bit more writing time squeezed in. I’m ridiculously excited about this. It’s easiest to deal with both kids at home, so I’ll be vacating the home office and reclaiming my table at my favorite cafe. After nine months, two hours on my own on a Sunday feels absolutely decadent.

5. We’re taking this step because the revisions on Adverse Possession are going well. Once I figured out what needed doing, it all started to flow. Gotta get it down while I can.

6. I’m currently obsessed with raw kale and red cabbage salads.

7. That fucking cat had better come home soon. I miss his furry face, and I’m starting to worry.