In which Liam's shoulder continues to pain him, and feline love blossoms in my closet.

What a month! We've had our first snow fall in these past few days, and it reminds us how pretty (and how cold) our lovely state can get. It also reminds us of all the heavy snow that we will have to be shoveling in the months to come. Fortunately, our driveway is not large. Unfortunately, Liam's shoulder is not improving, despite physical therapy. He has an MRI scheduled, and we will finally learn what is causing him such constant pain. I, particularly, am eager for his shoulder to be fixed, as currently all of the lifting and yardwork falls to me (this will include snow shoveling!). Liam tried to mow the lawn once this fall, and spent three days in agony after his shoulder made it clear what a terrible idea that was. He manages not to display it to everyone, but most days he is in constant pain. Even lifting a roast pan into the oven is too much.

We do have some good news: we paid off one of Liam's school loans early! He had been overpaying by 20%, intentionally, since the beginning, and we cut off years from the repayment schedule. There are still plenty of school loans between the two of us, but it's nice to be able to turn the suddenly free money in our monthly budget to another one of our loans. Which one shall we put it towards? We have no credit card debt, but we each have school loans, there are two cars, and a mortgage. Hmmm.... possibilities, possibilities!

We've also finally got a storm door installed on our back door! Ever since we moved into our darling little house I have dreamed of having a screen door put in so that I can open the heavy interior door in the summer and get some light and air into our kitchen. In the winter, it adds an air buffer to keep drafts out from around our door. My father bought us the door for my birthday (note on how to tell you are getting older: you suddenly care if things match, and you desire housewares and hardware on your giftlist), and Liam's father helped install the door (since Liam's bum shoulder forbade any actual movement). Like all things about our old old house, the door had to be custom sized in order to fit the frame properly. Fortunately, modern storm door kits allow for a few inches of adjustment.
The cats don't know what to make of the new storm door. We don't have the interior door open often (it is winter), but they stare at the "open" space with big eyes. Why is the door open? The outside is showing! What if it comes in to get them?! Tomoe runs in terror, Sirius sits very very still, across the room, with his eyes fully dilated. If you touch his back when he is looking, he jumps. Butterscotch is nowhere to be found anytime the door is open, preferring to stay in her safe world of Under the Armchair where nothing can reach her.

"You cannot separate us. We are in love."

Speaking of the cats, I have a humorous story. Some of you may know that Sirius has a fixation on wool, and has gone to great lengths to steal several skeins of wool-blend yarn out of my knitting stash. Often I will follow a yarn trail around the house, only to find him with his entire body wrapped possessively around the skein. He is very sullen when I take the yarn back from him. He has ripped through plastic bags to get his beloved yarn back. It is only wool yarn that fascinates him (this is not uncommon among kitties, although many also like to lick the fiber, which he has shown no interest in).
This past week I purchased a lovely cardigan, adding a soft neutral color to my collection of professional sweaters. Every morning I have found it in a different spot in the house. Every morning, curious, I pick it up and bring it back to our bedroom. Then I thought to check the label: merino wool. Sirius has been stealing the sweater and bringing it on a romantic rendezvous to knead and snuggle! Now I bring the sweater back each morning and tuck it in a shopping bag to see how he will choose to steal it and where he will bring it. Oh kitty.

It has also come to my attention that many of you, despite me diligently typing your email addresses into the "share" feature each time I publish a post, are not receiving notices that a new post has appeared. My apologies. I tried!