Where to Begin?

Ari says:
Hello all! Yes, I am still alive and well. I know you're probably all wishing me ill will and all that, and I'm sure I deserve every bit of it. To be honest, so much has happened in the past couple weeks, that I don't really know where to start (hence the title). I guess I'll just dive right in. Bart and I are doing really well. When last I blogged, I told you we were heading to his parent's house in PA. We had a great trip up and a really nice visit with them. They are such wonderful people. We also enjoyed watching Penn State romp on Wisconsin. That was just good stuff. And, OMG, the colors of the trees up there were absolutely amazing. I thought several times of trying to catch the views with the camera on my phone, but knew that there was no way that justice could be done. I have to admit, that I haven't seen an autumnal change like that in a very long time, and it was a magnificent site to behold. Ok, enough sap. Anyway, we got home Sunday night and discovered a visitor in our midst. A stray, calico kitten was hanging around our apartment and decided that our porch was the place to be. She was way too skinny, covered in fleas, had a horrible cough and drainage from her eyes. In essence, she was totally pathetic, but entirely too cute to pass by. She purred her way into our hearts and the next day found us taking her to the vet to get checked out. During the week we talked a lot, fed and kept up with her, and finally decided to make her our own. We set ourselves up to take her back to the vet for the necessary procedures following our trip to Ft. Worth, and then to bring her home as the newest addition to our family. Thursday rolled around way too quickly and we were "on the road again" to Texas. Bart's great friend, Kristian (K-Dub), got married on Saturday, so we headed down early so as not to miss any of the festivities. We had a great surprise and were able to meet up with Mom and Bill in downtown Ft. Worth for a late dinner Thursday night. They were both in Dallas for business (separate trips, oddly enough) and so we took the opportunity to sneak in a visit. The rest of our time in TX was spent doing all the wedding stuff, but really spending some wonderful time with Dave (Contract) and his fantastic girlfriend Leigh Ann. They were marvelous hosts and we all had a great time together. The wedding was Saturday, and everything was just beautiful. Well done and a huge congratulations to Kristian and Kristine (I think they planned the name thing, don't you?)! The reception was a blast and I was lucky enough to meet some of Bart's buddies from way back, and put some faces with names. What a great group of friends my husband has! All too soon, though, we were back in the car and on our way home. Our thoughts quickly turned to our "Little Girl" as I had dubbed her (or "Princess" as Bart called her), and we set to picking out a name for her. We came up with a few ideas and were really excited to get home and bring her into our familial fold. Sadly, though, we have not seen hide nor hair of her since we've returned. I've kept food out in the hopes that she might wander back, but my real hope is that a good family is taking care of her and that she gets the love she needs. Our focus is fully on the move at this point. We spent yesterday getting rid of clutter, junk, and things we just needed to say goodbye to, and loaded it all in the truck, bound for Goodwill. We've got some more packing in our future and a lot of lugging things around, but I have a feeling we'll get it all taken care of. So, make sure to think of us and pity us a little bit as you work off your Halloween Hangover. We'll be shoving things into a truck. And last but certainly not least, to end this epistle on a really amazing note, a huge congratulations and welcome to the new babies in the world!! Tom and Sallie Namey are now the proud parents of their second child, Tommy. Mike (Porkchop) and Myra Davenport have welcomed their first child, little Miss Ireland. And my dear friends Mark and Jennie Ross now have their beautiful Katie Joy. Congratulations to everyone!!