Good news!

Mom is better! She's swallowing, and not leaking, to their knowledge, and is expected to come home from the hospital tomorrow (Sunday).

Whew! I am SO incredibly believed. This looked a little bad, friends. I'm so glad I went up there. I am SO glad. Not that I did anything really besides sit there, and ask lots of polite (and only occasionally slightly pointed) questions...but I'm really glad that my sister didn't have to bear the burden of it all.

And, my brother even came in from Boston. I think it may have been - a year and a half? Close to two? - since I saw him. He didn't bring my three nephews, of course, circumstances as it were, but it was still excellent to talk to him for a while.

I can't believe she sounds as good as she does, I swear, given the way she sounded before the surgery and immediately thereafter. She sounded SO incredibly weak beforehand, and her coloring was just wiped out. I swear, I thought for a second that this had all (finally) turned her hair gray.

But today, talking to her on the phone, you can just tell she's feeling so much stronger. She's eating mushy food, pestering me to watch the MU basketball game, and complaining about Obama, so presumably everything is improving apace. (Mom's way to the left of Obama. She HATES him, too. I think she hates him more than the Republicans...no, I'm SURE she hates him more than Republicans. Well, she really thinks he IS a Republican, and that's why she hates him. She equates him with Joe Lieberman.)

I got back to Austin Wednesday night, just in time to watch the Longhorns debacle (poor Frosh Gilbert! As they said in Clerks, "I'm not even supposed to BE here!") and to get here for Austin Cold 2010. Again, Austin Cold is NOT Kansas City Cold, but I'll allow that 14 degrees is pretty massive for around here. I mocked The Man for dripping all the faucets last night - what the HELL, we never did that up north? - but he was vindicated by the sheer number of people I know whose pipes froze last night. Due props, The Man.

I also got back in time for this, the first day of Eat Healthy God Fucking Damnit 2010. I think I'll try the Volumetrics approach this time, because I read somewhere that it was the most successful weight loss approach. I think I like it because it's totally old school - drink a lot of water, and eat a lot of soups and water-containing vegetables, to fool yourself into thinking you're full. It's dieting circa 1972, when my mom and grandmother used to eat canned tomatoes and V8 juice and like Clamato or some such shit. You know, though, I can hang with that. I just bought me all the ingredients for that awesome classic Weight Watchers Cabbage Soup, which I can totally eat all the time, for some reason. And, I've got Roasted Veggie and Ancho/White Bean Chili on the stove simmering on the stove for this eve, so I'm totally not feeling deprived. I will refrain from a hearty sprinkling of cheddar cheese on top and big chunk of crusty sourdough bread as a scooper, is all.

Sighs contentedly. And did I mention The Man took The Children out for a couple of hours? And I'm ALLLLLLL by myself in the house?

It IS a good day.