Just when I was back to posting so regularly again...

It's been difficult to post lately, my friends. Lots of stuff has been going on here lately, and most of it has not been good. The Hublein, the binger and I are all fine (thank goodness!) so that's the most important thing to focus on right now, I suppose, but it's difficult when you're surrounded by hardship and pain.
Heading into my birthday weekend back in November, the Hublein was sick. So I was on baby duty by myself day and night for a week. And I cooked my b-day dinner. And I baked my own birthday cake only to have it wrecked by a helpful husband, who, instead of running a knife around the edge of the cake when it was sticking in the pan, decided it would be better to try to MUSCLE it out of the pan. Given that he's beefcake and such, this might have worked, were it not for the cake's decision to release some of its innards in a bunch of pieces, leaving a large crater in the middle that could not be fixed with icing, gentle readers. It's funny now, but not so much at the time. Coming off of the exhaustion of 24/7 baby duty and the disappointment of a shitty birthday, we were hit with a series of real problems. My cousin's son was driving home from his birthday dinner with his 17-year-old girlfriend and hit black ice. The car spun, flipped a number of times, and hit a boulder before stopping. Thankfully, my cousin's son was only minorly injured. Unfortunately, his girlfriend was not so lucky - she died at the scene, which was only 2 houses down from his own. She had just bought her prom dress because she was graduating at the end of the year. She was buried in it. When I was about the same age as my cousin's son, my first love drowned in Lake Erie. I felt like I was in a black hole for months, there was just no feeling. It was really scary, looking back on it - not only was I not happy, I wasn't sad, nor angry...it was just...nothing. So this was not only difficult because of the absolute and utter tragedy of it, it was difficult because it brought EVERYTHING back from 14 years ago. And now you know what my last post was about. The day after the funeral, we went up to see my farmor (the lovely lady with Alzheimer's who was featured here) because she was turning 85. It was great to see her because I haven't seen her in a while. The visit was a little bittersweet because she didn't remember who any of us were, and she barely spoke a word the entire time, but it was great to see her with my son - it was the only time she smiled all day, and I think she even talked to him a bit too:







While all of the above was happening, we got a call that my 15-year-old cousin was in the hospital. She is struggling with anorexia, and apparently she was talking suicidally to a friend of hers. So her friend (who has been through the same thing) called someone who had been inflential in helping her, and they got my cousin to the hospital where she was under guard for a few days. Unfortunately her heart has been compromised, among other things, and she will be in the hospital for Christmas. I have no idea how to help there, but I really want to...does anyone have any suggestions?
Speaking of hospitals, I also got a call from a friend of mine around this time. He was in the hospital for pneumonia, hoping to be out in a few days' time. He ended up having Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome, had 3 Pulmonary Embolisms in his lungs, was put into a medically induced coma for 9 days, and just now it looks like he is finally doing better. He's still on a respirator, but may be able to come off soon. So that was bad news that is turning into good news, thank goodness.
Then another friend went through a major crisis and stayed here for a night, and then seemed to be doing better for a bit, only to call this week thinking of suicide. I was desperate to help, but not sure how, so we talked for a while, and after struggling over whether or not to tell anyone, I finally mentioned to a couple of other friends who are close as well that there was "something going on" and that it was a really difficult time. So that has extended the net of support for "friend A", also a good thing, and hopefully another happy ending. Thing is, if I had said nothing to anyone and my friend had died, the others would have felt horrible always for not having had the chance to help, and I would have felt forever guilty for not having said anything.
Last, but not least, is our dear car. The heap was taken in this morning under suspicion of its craptacularness descending to another level, and turns out there was a shitload wrong with it. Thank goodness nothing's happened while I was driving it. In the interest of being concise, here's a point-form list, starting with the most minor things and working down the shit chain to the worst:

• brake light bulb: replaced
• oil change
• stabilizer link kit shot: replaced
• fan belt: out of alignment, replaced
• serpentine belt: replaced, "tensioners" possibly going to be replaced as well
• exhaust flex pipe: replaced
• back struts shot: replaced
• front tie rod ends: replaced (for "car peeps" there was 2 inches of play in the front struts...you could move the tire with your hand, it was so bad). This also necessitated...
• steering shaft: repaired, and
• wheel alignment

Can I just say that we had NO idea that there was THIS much wrong with the car?! So yeah. That's about $1600 worth of work. $1600 that we don't really have lying around at the moment.
My mother went to the funeral of her cousin's wife yesterday, and the wife of my inlaws' doctor-of-35-years also passed, so they are at her funeral today.
Oh, dump, dump, dump. Needless to say, I'm really hoping Christmas is a good one. Is anyone else finding that there's a veritable shitstorm surrounding you and your loved ones right now? What the hell is going on?! All I can say is THANK GOODNESS for the baby. He has literally been a ray of sunshine on the dark days, and has kept my mind focused on what is good and important in my life right now. I can't believe how much he is growing, and how quickly he is learning and developing both mentally and physically. Not to mention the little Pengin has an amazing personality developing. It's AWESOME. He's so funny...one of his favourite new things to do is blow raspberries. Hm. Wonder where he got THAT from. ;)

And now, because I always believe it's important to save the best for last, and because the days ARE increasingly merry and bright, the Hublein, Pengin and I do most sincerely and cordially wish you all the best of the season. May it be full of fun, may your bellies be full of great holiday food, and may you only receive wonderful news. :)