Richard’s Personal Blog

Spent a few days up in Murphys at my parents; nice relaxing “weekend” full of games, food, and snowplay. Managed to get online for a few minutes one day because a neighbor had their unsecure wireless access point up; other than that I was offline until I left. Got back to find at least two of my gals killed in massive zombie raids over the holiday. I should have guessed that zombies wouldn’t celebrate religious festivities.

Unusually, I spawned the clean-up-Christmas process once we got back home. One of the cats, Meeko, has been quite sick lately, and I think it’s because she’s been eating the pine needles. Silly cat.

Batches of molasses spice drop cookies, coconut-covered date bars, Greek walnut- and honey-filled cookies, spiced pecans, chocolate macadamia cookies, rum balls, three trays of sugar cookies, almond brickle (the base for English toffee), and four loaves of pumpkin bread managed to manufacture themselves in our kitchen over the weekend.

Unfortunately, contrary to where things seemed to be headed, the family in Southern California has recent withheld their commitment about adopting Anna. Apparently, they have a few internal family issues that are holding them up from proceeding. On the other hand, the adoption center in Ukraine now allows children over 13 years of age to receive preferential consideration and fast-tracking for families who want to adopt them. The family has been given until the end of the year to make a final decision; if they do choose to go ahead and bring Anna into their lives, the whole process should be much easier for them.

Been a little while since I’ve seen a movie with Lucius Malfoy, Draco, and Remus Lupin — but not in a Harry Potter flick. 1996’s Dragonheart starred Dennis Quaid, but co-starred Sean Connery as a dragon named Draco, an evil king played by the future Lupin, and one of his knights by the future Malfoy. What a treat it was to watch Professor Lupin repeatedly slamming Lucius Malfoy’s face into a table!