Another Excuse To Use Asteriks

Who doesn't love the humble asterisk? It's like this mini star that is so handy to highlight a point when you don't want or have a whole paragraph to say about something. Even though I usually can write a whole paragraph (and blog post) about a minor thing, sometimes I like to just throw out a bunch of nothings that have been piling up. But isn't life just a bunch of nothings? Mine is, but I can't speak for anyone else, except those in my house. And their lives are a bunch of nothings that they make into THE BIGGEST ISSUE THEY HAVE EVER HAD TO DEAL WITH! Sugarbowl is such a nihilist it drives me crazy. Everything is the end of the world. She can take the smallest thing and convince herself that it is a matter of life or death, which I have little patience for. The other day she came home from work convinced that because Princess and I did not meet up with her, it was now game over. I told her I was going to squirt her with the hose (P. and I were fighting over the hose again) if she didn't knock her crap off. She told me that if I squirted her she would pound my boobs into my back and my arse into the front. I pondered that look and decided it could work for me. She got hosed off and I have been sleeping with one eye open since. But onto my asterisk-worthy important nuggets that don't need a whole paragraph:

*I am quitting smoking. That's right, I am a quitter. I have been smoking one cigarette less a day. It is a nice slow let down that doesn't make me feel deprived. I am down to half of what I used to smoke and am not coughing up things that should be buried in the back yard. Nice change of pace!

*Sugarbowl and Princess are going to Michigan to see our relatives and I am staying home to take care of the pets. How will I live without going to MI and being bored stiff? Not having to visit with people that don't give a sh*t about us one way or the other but pretend otherwise? Staying in that small town with only a McDonald's and a gas station -- not exactly hot times. Staying in my grandmother's house, who controls the temperature by turning the air conditioner off and on depending on how comfortable she is? Sharing a bed in a hot back bedroom with Princess and trying not to melt into one person? Will my year be complete without having experienced all that fun? I think I will live, but it may be hard.

*My ex has an idea for a vacation of my own. He wants me to fly to Denver (Ms. D.R.'s neck of the woods) and he and I will spend some time in the mountains sight seeing, and raft down the Colorado River. To clarify this whole thing, we enjoy each others' company, especially now that we don't live together. I still love him, but am not ready to run back to him, and am not sure if I ever will be. He and I have had long discussions about our relationship and what each of us did wrong (takes two, as we all know). He has learned some hard lessons, and I am starting to come out of my I-have-MS-haze. I appreciate the concern about getting back together with him, but my biggest question is, when do we forgive and move forward? I have forgiven him, but not forgotten, and I have made that VERY clear. He knows one more misstep and it is over, the gloves come off and I will take him down. How did I get to be such a kind person? I'm like a saint or something.

*On the subject of my vacation, Sugarbowl doesn't think a person with MS should raft. I told her that we would do the easy rafting, but she still is against it. What do you MSing peeps think? Should an MSer raft?

*Pilate's again today. It is hard and really sucks, but I am determined to stick with it. I want to work my muscles in both ways: lifting weights to strengthen them, and do all that stretching and body resistance to lengthen them. I don't want to get all bulky and bodybuilder-y. Not that I am in much danger of that, but it is best to be careful.

There you go. There is my asterisk updates. I look forward to needing to use them again.
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