high-20s, slushy as h&ll, back from a run (2 miles!). Yay, me. Brings me to 13 miles since Jan. 6. So far, on track for my 30 miles in 30 days challenge.

2.4 miles today, running where it wasn't icy. That brings me to nearly 11 miles in 5 days — pretty good, considering my goal is 30 miles in 30 days!

Here's to

you, Fringes, for

keeping your

firstborn

daughter

not just

alive, but

sassy and

thriving for

sixteen

years

(omg).

Here's to

that time you

told the doctor

to make the cuts

in her leg

during sugery, which

cemented you as

the wisest

mother I

know.

Here's to

the sweetest

sixteen ever

for J, the

daughter of

my model

of tenacity

and heart,

my bff,

Fringes.

Love,

MM

I ran more than 2.5 miles today — a good mix of sprints and roads. I developed a new route I call my “1×3”; you run once around the Halloween loop and then three sprints down the lollipop stick of the loop. I did two of those, and then ran back up to the almost-end of my street and back.

For those of you, OK, me, keeping track, that's 8.5 miles since January 6th. Well on my way to 30 miles in 30 days.

All that, AND the bread-and-butter note for our neighbors is in their mailbox. And I picked up a quick project today, and asked someone else to bring me on part-time, and kept a few other irons in the fire hot, too. Happy Monday!

People don't usually knock on our door so I was surprised when I heard MFM open it on Saturday night. There stood P, the stepdad of one of Lex's friends from kiddie basketball. P invited us to come to their home on Sunday for a fancy dinner — the Christmas dinner they'd planned earlier but ultimately postponed.

Heck yeah, we said yes. MFM decided not to go so it was me, Monstro, and the boys. Everyone had a wonderful time and I had not one, not two, but three different French wines (P owns a package store (liquor shop)). Our cocktail hour was more like four hours: just the way I like it. It was tremendous, the appetizers were spectacular (five cheeses! smoked fishes! baguette!) and the prime rib, served with a five-hours-in-the-making sauce, was out-of-this-world. Best of all, though, our host and hostess were charming and well-travelled and fascinating. We all had a blast.

When I got home that night I drank three pints of water. Seems to have worked — I'm tired this morning, but without a wine headache. I'm going to go run a couple of miles later this morning and that should shake loose the cobwebs.

Happy Monday, all!

You are a bully, you are boring, and you are the world's biggest hypocrite. Please return to the moose blind from which you came. Sincerely yours, MM

Two days ago I started a “30 miles in 30 days” running challenge. I ran two miles and my legs felt like wet wood.

Today, 1/8, I ran four miles (!) and though it was slow-going due to last night's snowstorm and today's icy asphalt, my legs felt better than they did two days ago.

And hey, I've run six miles in three days!

True this has nothing to do with radio but “bloggio silence” is a stupid headline so we'll start there. It's been a confounding gobsmack of a week; MFM's DBS is holding steady and we're all starting to adjust to that. I hadn't actually let myself believe that all this cutting into her head would end up being worth it (don't tell her I said it) but it has and that's… really something.

[Aside to Katie: from your picture comment, all I can say is I'm indeed the World's Greatest Actress. Nice, huh?]

Anyway, I've been hittin' the HTML hard this week and will have something to share with you soonish and post-holes. Ha ha.

One month ago, I was at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, in advance of my mother's Deep Brain Stimulation surgery, and wondering 1) how many trips I would be making to New Hampshire over the next month and 2) whether it would work.

The answer to 1) is five. The answer to 2) is YES. The tremors have stopped. It's a miracle. Thank you DHMC!

Both boys are back to school today. The deafening quiet does not mask the fact that Monstro's chair squeaks like a famished mouse.