four things

Last Wednesday night, I don't think I swore once. Really.

Not when, sitting at the kitchen table in an otherwise empty house, I felt warm water dripping down the back of my neck.

Not when I watched the kitchen ceiling collapse beneath the weight of a waterfall that poured and kept on pouring.

Not when the angel-friends who came to help tore down the ceiling and we stared at the underside of a rotted floor with a black mold garnish.

Not when I had to tell my out-of-town in-laws about the difference between the house they left and the house they would come home to.

Not even then. Not one weensy swear word escaped my lips.

See? Miracles happen.

(Moral of the story: Don't worry about that bottle of nail polish you dropped in your in-laws' kitchen because an hour later you'll have a flood, and the way the glittery polish sparkles under all that water will be a high point of the evening.)

* * *

Oh, what to say about thumbs?

They're very important for opening Tootsie Rolls, and picking up things, and typing, and writing, and playing Wii Fit, and Twitter. And sometimes when you are so hyped up on adrenaline that you can't feel anything (see above re: kitchen waterfalls) and you sprain your thumb and lose the ability to do anything much with your right hand, things are very sad indeed.

(number of Tootsie Rolls left uneaten due to thumb: none. Come on, people, have a little faith.)

So things are forcibly slowed down here. I was already behind, and if I owe you an email or a letter or a dissertation proposal or a something, it's coming, slowly. Please chalk up the lack of spaces between words to my artistic temperament, and not to a disobedient space-thumb.

* * *

Speaking of owing people emails, I want to thank you all for your responses to my last post. It's you all who make my blog a happy and safe place to be, at least for me. That's another one of those things I forget that's going on my List: The voices of friends can speak louder than my fear, if I let them. Fear's stupid, anyway. Fear can kick rocks.

You guys, on the other hand, you can do whatever is the opposite of kicking rocks. Hugging rocks, and then finding out they're diamonds and marshmallows? Yeah, that.

I hug rocks all the time. NBD.

* * *

It's a little way off, but I can't stop thinking about making some blog changes. Design, format, platform (gulp). I'm thinking, but would you think about it, too?

What do you like or not like? What do you wish would be different? What do you wish would absolutely stay the same? Been through bloggy changes and have any advice or recommendations about designers, transitions, comment systems? I'd love to hear them.

I'll go first and say I hate not being able to reply to comments easily/clearly. That's my biggest dislike, because I want this to be a place of conversation for all of us. I'm trying to figure out the best way to fix it.

Ok, your turn. Feel free to comment or email.