Hello out there! OMG, what a month, my dears. I know I haven't posted all that much this December (and shhhh, many of my late-November posts were pre-written as well). The reason? Get ready for a laundry list.

In November, I accepted a new job (with the same company, definitely a YAY! moment). Then the Men's Grooming Spy bought a house (another YAY! moment). Transitions! Furniture shopping! Meetings! Paint! Busy-ness all around, plu Christmas shopping, of course.

And then my dad was diagnosed with cancer.

I found out while we were at a tile store, admiring some lovely natural stone for the bathroom.

So we spent most of November and December making appointments, doing research, gathering information, reading biopsy reports, and moping. 'Twas an awful ride, friends.

But the bottom line is that it's all going to be ok. After MRIs, a biopsy, and an appointment with probably the best specialist in the country, we're finally in a good place. His cancer turned out to be of the "well-behaved" variety (and in this particular case, well-behaved is rare, so we're beyond relieved). Joe Kelly, he of the amazing luck despite awful circumstances, is escaping both chemo and radiation, and will only have surgery. That'll happen January 5, and hopefully this will all be behind us.

(And in case any of you are medical geeks who want to look it all up, what he has is a low-grade well-differentiated liposarcoma. Yeah, I'd never heard of it before, either.)

So there -- along with an incredibly virulent stomach flu that ruined my holiday break and from which I'm still recovering -- is the reason for the quiet December around here.

It's totally a Counting Crows song. You know, "the smell of hospitals in winter, and the feeling that it's all a lot of oysters, but no pearls."

BUT! Things are looking up. Cheer up, emo kid! I'm looking forward to a new year, a new job, and of course, a successful outcome for my dad. And new posts! I promise.

XO
Kristen