As best I can, anyhow, and trying not to bore the pants off anyone in the process.  Still sick but it seems to be waning already (same for DH; back to work for him tomorrow and back to normal for me).

I should mention that the trip I just got back from is not the same trip I posted about leaving on back in July.  I realized that the way the posts are ordered, with me having taken a hiatus in between, it sounded like I've been gone for 6 weeks!

I'd actually been back from that first trip for several weeks, but since Harry Potter 7 came out the weekend of my return, I decided to hide out from any of my usual internet haunts that might be talking about it, like SoulCast.  I've since finished the series (though I don't plan to discuss it here for the benefit of others like me who maybe haven't gotten to it yet).  I'll just say that they are wonderful books, enthralling, human, and, like every work of "genre" fiction I've adored, a universe I can lose myself in, even find myself longing to be a part of.  I have endless appreciation for J.K. Rowling.  It's the end of an era.

Anyway!  This most recent trip was a mini-vacation to Montreal.  This is the first trip away DH and I have been able to take since he started his current job.  The last time we were in Montreal, we only had enough time to hit up the Olympic Park stuff and we spent what seemed like half our time trying to find a place to park our car (or else worrying if we had parked our car in a safe spot) because it turned out the public parking our hotel normally used was closed.

I'm not sure if this trip was better or worse.  I had a great time overall, though I think DH had a bit of a worse time of it than I did - we're both introverts, but there is a fair difference in degree between the two of us (not helped by the fact that I have been doing a lot of self-work these past few years).  Once again I will relegate the details to a later post because it's almost time for bed and I really meant for this to be brief.

I don't suppose you've noticed, but I tend to wax eloquent ;)

Just before we left I got my state and federal background checks in the mail, both on the same day.  I haven't given it much thought lately, but in fact this is very exciting because in fact all that's left is to turn those in and pay my last fees.  I'm already tentatively approved so really it's in the bag at this point; I just have to wait through the processing time - and they've been handling everything about twice as fast as websites, consultants, etc. have been advising me to expect.  Plus they passed a law earlier this year I think it was, cutting the final fees in half.  HUGE yay for that!

Haven't heard anything back from health insurance or work permit people.  Health insurance could take up to 3 months to come through (though it would be nice to have my documents back since they asked for the originals! they're supposed to return those ASAP though so it shouldn't be too long) and the work permit I'm not really expecting for another week or two, up to as late as the end of September.  But I check the mail every day just to see if maybe they fast-tracked me ;)

Oh yeah, and I'm doing SparkPeople again.  Stumbled on it last year looking for a calorie counter, was loving it then, but gave it up when I was laid out with that foot injury.  Decided to pick it back up after my solo bus trip.  It's a great site.  There's a calorie counter and exercise tracker, but also meal plans, recipes, tons of health and wellness/motivation articles, and an active community with blogs and messageboards.  I started out at 2500+ calories just eating normally, and I've bumped it down every week or two. This week I'm trying for my ultimate goal: 1200.  Plus being really religious about my 8 glasses a day and my tracking, and NO GRAZING!  Getting a work permit and having something to do with myself during the day will probably make it easier.

Diabetes control is going as well as it can on limited funds.  Can't really do any more in that arena until I'm insured because everything that's left to change hinges on me getting 4 readings a day (test strips are $1 each out of pocket! so I'll stick with 2 for now, thanks).  Working on keeping good habits and making it work with my life (instead of the other way around, which falls flat every time because I refuse to give up that much control to this thing).

And last, we're hoping to buy a car this year.  Used, of course.  Ideally we'll be able to get our friends' car as they're adopting a child this year and need something bigger.  They know we want it, and they are the sort of people who would do pretty much anything to make it work out for us (but of course they are strapped themselves from adoption fees so they have to get something out of it, that's perfectly reasonable :) ) so it's just a matter of seeing where we can squeeze our current budget and whether we can get a loan.  Another area where my getting a job will help.  I'm a little anxious because I was really hoping to take up a gym membership this winter to stay active when walking outside won't be as easy, and I'm not sure if I'll be able to swing it under the new budget.  But we'll see all that when we get there. :)

And I think that's all!  More...I won't promise "tomorrow," but sometime soon, about our trip - although it's nothing that exciting but writing about things helps me put them in perspective and better assimilate them into my thoughts (part of why I'm writing THIS post), so you're stuck with the travelogue anyway :p