Already?!

It's already been over a month since we left LA for the holidays? Seriously? I can't believe it.

The drive up to Redmond was epic. At 5 AM, after I had worked a full shift at work, Dan, David, the kitties, and I piled into the Mini Cooper with the declaration, "Okay, nobody fucking move for the next 20 hours."

Sometimes I have a hard time believe that different parts of this country are actually connected, since I usually get on an airplane and stuff happens for a lot of hours and suddenly I'm somewhere completely different. Anything could be happening for all I know. We could be flying through space towards the planet Jayeffkay and I wouldn't know the difference. All I know is when I get off the plane, I'm not nearly surprised enough to find myself thousands of miles away from where I just was.

The one huge relief about the drive home -- and the drive back -- was the lack of snow as we were driving through the mountains. The last thing we needed was to get stuck or have to take the coast (adding many, many extra hours) when there were three of us and two cats in the car. For their part, Bumble and Tove were little stoned angels all the way to Redmond. Seriously, they did not do a single thing except put their little arms around each other and look cute for the entire drive.

The two weeks we spent at my parents' house were exactly what I needed. Each passing day leading up to the holiday break drove me closer and closer to the edge. The night shift was making me crazy. I knew that this new schedule would prevent Dan and I from seeing each other as much, but I wasn't prepared for how depressing it is to live with the one you love and yet never, ever see them. Yuck.

So the holidays were a wonderful chance to relax, spend time with my family, and laugh at the cats as they figured out how to use stairs. They had NEVER encountered stairs before in their little lives. It was so cute to see them find new favorite spots and enjoy all the extra room to run around, or in Bumble's case run away from us anytime he saw humans approaching.

We literally didn't do anything but hang out with my parents in the kitchen and watch DVDs all night. And occasionally we would venture out of the house to see Avatar. We had a dance party in the basement, because that's what you do when you walk into the Rogge house -- you have a dance party in the basement. (And by the way, it's 2010 so it's officially okay to start planning for the next Club Fergie.)

When it was finally time to drive home, we loaded up the car and sadly noted all the extra room we had -- because David wasn't coming back with us. His ride back up to Redmond was him officially moving out of LA -- and preparing for his move to New Zealand scheduled for the end of this month. Yes, my brother is moving to New Zealand. Why? Because he fucking wants to. What better reason is there when you're unattached in your early 20s?

So Dan and I once again powered through and drove all the way back to LA in one trip. The cats were not as well-behaved this time, but thankfully not in any way that involved poop or pee or barf. Just lots of meowing and crawling all over Dan's body, which, let's face it, is an activity enjoyed by everyone living under our roof. What? At least we're not into Twilight.

Anyway, the month of January has barely existed to me. It's back to work, back to the night shift, back to being in debt after not getting paid for two weeks. BUT, in the good news column, Bumble's cone is off. For the moment, he's actually not scratching his flesh off and suffering from epic acne breakouts -- aside from a few bald patches that he pulled out of himself for no apparent reason, he's kinda sorta normal, almost.

2010 is going to be a great year. You'll see!