Back . . . mostly.

Hello?  Hello?

I haven't been here in a while, but I'm hoping that the new year isn't too old for me to get caught up.  I have been thinking about this space, but the pace of recent weeks has overwhelmed me.

So. 

What first?

Well, there was philosophy.  Lots of it.  In a very short time.  I'm marginally qualified (at best) to teach the discipline, so it was an intense brush-up for me, with a lot of good questions from students and more doughnuts than were probably necessary.

And then there was the ice storm, with the neighbor who saved our car from sliding down the hill (really.  I promise.  Jo thought it was some kind of a carnival ride in the backseat.  Mom and Dad were more or less terrified in the front).  Once we made it back into the garage (with the helpful bucket of sand from the aforementioned neighbor), I decided to bake molasses ginger cookies to thank him.  After they cooled, I thought I would walk them across the street, took one step of the stoop, and landed on my backside.  I went back into the house with the cookies and my bruised pride and had Jonathan take them over later when things had warmed up a bit. 

And then there was the flu.  Get your flu shots, people; you don't want what we've had.

But what we did manage to do was eat . . . sort of.

Jonathan got hit first, so I had the foresight to cook some extra chicken to have on hand for Chicken-Mock-Chicken Soup and to make some other planned leftovers (chicken-spinach cupcake lasagnas, among others).  We also had an angel drop by one evening in the form of a colleague who left homemade chicken and dumplings, Moroccan-spiced vegetables, fruit, and ice cream.  It was a few days before we could all manage to eat together, but it was worth it alone to know that we were cared for on such a cold and miserable night.

And now we're back into our more-or-less ordinary routine--at least in the land of the living once again--dinner out this past Friday, roast chicken on Saturday, and pot roast on Sunday.  Leftovers for lunches in between.

I knew I was feeling better for sure when I decided to make oatmeal raisin cookies last week.

It's good to be back.