Judy made it home!

Despite all our fears that she wouldn't, my sister survived a week plus in Israel, and by the looks of her, got tons of sun. She came home looking like a lobster! Wow... She was actually cold here today, and it was in the 90's. I guess that desert living is harsh.

She brought me back a nice spa set from the Dead Sea. We had a small brunch for her and enjoyed ourselves. She even let me cut her hair some--she was tired of the old cut, the old color, and the perm. I shortened it by about 4 inches, and it looks pretty great. Joe got brave and let me cut his hair a bit too, but only by an inch. Still, he said he loved it and would only be having me cut his hair from now on...

Now that Judy's back, I guess I can go back to concentrating on getting my own stuff together. Tomorrow for work we are having a big birthday party, so I spent this evening baking a cake and debating the meaning of my life with my husband--what I wanted, where I wanted to go, what I want to do. No answers, none at all, but I got a lot off my chest, definitely.

Also this weekend was Maritza's wedding. It was a lovely affair, although sadly the General got the stomach flu and nearly barfed on the table at the reception, so we had to go home. I was bitterly disappointed, and almost pissed off--though the logical part of my brain did tell me that it's not his fault he got sick.

Hope to spend this week getting the house in order. We're taking the bunnies to be sexed next weekend so we have a better idea of what we're dealing with. And my mom is bringing up a bunch of her old furniture up here now that she's found a fully furnished house to buy. I guess I'm kind of conflicted--for a while after they died, I had a lot of my grandparents' things around me, but I found it so depressing that I got rid of it all. I'm glad to have some furniture--Lord knows we haven't got much in our living room--I just hope it doesn't make me sad to have their stuff so close. I truly miss them so much many days, and have thought of them a lot lately. I wish I had them around to share things with and talk about things with. Towards the end of her life, my grandmother and I started to have that kind of relationship, and I feel so cheated that as an adult I don't have her to turn to.

I'm looking forward to getting up to my dad's for the 4th. I think I'll be able to reconnect with some folks up there, which will be great, particularly considering I haven't been home in a year and a half. It seems like all these important things are becoming the choices I wish I didn't have to make. Only so much vacation time per year means that I can only do so much and see so many people. This year we're going to try splitting a week between my dad and Michael's parents and then spending Thanksgiving apart. Christmas remains a mystery. I wish I knew how to solve that one. We thought we had a schedule worked out, but it's so expensive to travel at the holidays... It would be nice if the kings of American Industry would just say, "It is a profitable time, but let's make it easy for people to be with their loved ones."

Utopian dreaming in Fredericksburg...