"I like that. It makes me sound like a blanket."

First things first: Mom is home from the hospital as of Sunday afternoon, and is recuperating well (I think--I left for Portland Monday afternoon). She'll be off work until April, and is apparently honing her MarioKart Wii skills in the meantime.

While she was in the hospital, I stayed at my parents' house with my dad and sister. I don't know that I was ever much functional help, but I did hang around and allow myself to be repeatedly defeated in Wii Tennis matches. I also subjected my dad to American Idol and all the horrors therein, but he made me watch spooky movies.

In the interest of being fair, we watched Zombieland, Orphan and The Mist, and only one of those was actually spooky, since Zombieland was a comedy, and Orphan is completely, deliciously ridiculous. This is a spoiler, but I have to tell you, the twist to Orphan was too crazy not to share. The Bulgarian little girl that Peter Saaaaaaaaaaaarsgard and Vera Farmagia (her name always makes me think of cheese) have adopted is not a child at all, but rather a psychopathic 33-year old woman with a pituitary-gland disorder.

That, my friends, is a twist.

Portland is sunny and gorgeous today, and I don't know how to handle it. It's lovely, indeed, but it's also March, and I'm not quite ready to give up my sweater-wearing and rain-dodging yet.

I'm trying to fall back into my normal routine, whatever it may be, and even though I don't entirely know what I'm doing, it's nice to feel like life is moving again. At this point, I'm still not sure if the movement is forward or just circular, as it has felt for the last few months. January and February seemed to be spent on pause, waiting for things to normalize again. So, the play button has been pressed, and I am trying to spark myself to better things.

Watch this space for updates.