And now, making a triumphal return,

it's me! Yay! *makes fake crowd noises*

Sorry, sometimes you just need to feel the love via fanfare. Well, after a week--give or take a few days--I am finally mostly better. This is not to say I've been computer-less-bound all this time. I just haven't been creating at all. Although Monday I made 21, you heard me, 21 Monsters. I believe that is a new personal best for me in one day.

But before I get into Monsters, I want to spend sometime on what I've been doing in my unusually long absence. First, and I think everyone knows, I was out of town for the holiday getting good and sick. I spent all of last week being thoroughly miserable while hopped up on medicines and vitamins. It wasn't a complete waste, however. I did get a lot done in my Animal Crossing town, and Krigshjalte, my blood elf Paladin, made it t0 63 and finished two more zones on "earth." For those of you now scratching your heads and saying, ".... the hell?" I play a lot of video game when I allow myself to. WoW--World of Warcraft--chief among them.

Then this weekend, when I was finally feeling a bit better. Vytas and I drove about an hour and a half down the Jersey shore to do one of my favorite activities ever. Fly kites! On the beach!

While in Chicago, my sister gave us that awesome Tie-fighter kite, and my mom gave us that adorable mini travel grill.

Then on Sunday, rather than clean or make Monsters or any such thing, we finished cleaning the piles of debris out of the back yard and put the rest of the plants/seeds in the ground. Here is a mini-panarama that Vytas threw together quickly. Late Monday, we found out that Vytas's dad and stepmom were still planning on coming out for the opera this Thursday, so we've been cleaning like mad since, and still, rather than sitting here writing this and feeling guilty about not doing my morning pages for the Artist's Way (which started Sundy, by the way), I should be cleaning. Whenever we come back from being away things go to hell. We usually needed to have done grocery shopping when we come back, and we usually don't. So all our meals are slightly past slapdash and no one wants to do dishes. Forget about unpacking or doing laundry. And then with me having been sick all last week and doing nothing productive... well, let's just say I think we will having fewer fights about who does more around the apartment, seeing as how Vytas commented how awful it was and I said, well yeah, I've been sick and not doing anything, what's your excuse?

So anyway, this means it is a disaster and the cleaning we've done thus far has been like moving the plant table outside, exposing the mess of boxes hiding beneath it in the living room, several loads of dishes, and laundry. We still haven't even unpacked. And they are arriving today. Yikes.