Cast of Characters

Me – nowhere near mature, don’t know what I want to be when I grow up 45-year old. Currently working in IT security, but dreaming of crafting for a living. Not sure how, but let me sew, stamp and sell it and I’m in!

B – sometimes also referred to as hubby. Man I’ve been married to for 19 years, living with for 26. Met him at a Metallica concert, moved in together a month or so later. Many of my co-workers call him Triple H, although I really don’t see it. He does not possess (to the best of my knowledge) either those itty-bitty wrestling shorts (mmm spandex), or that big honking WWE championship belt (what did you think I was going to say – nose?). And believe me I’ve asked.

V – our daughter, our miracle. After 10 years of trying, which included 3 surgeries, 1 bout of OHSS (and a 3-day hospital stay TYVM), 2 FETs and 5 IVF cycles, we brought our baby home. She currently goes by names such as ‘princess petunia picklebottom’, ‘smidgen’, ‘boo’, and ‘stinkerbutt’. She informed me yesterday she wants to be a Spiderman racecar driver princess construction worker. Rock on sister.

Stella – my sister.  I was going to say younger sister, but she’s my only sister and I often tell people she’s the eldest. She loves me for that.

Willy – my sister’s long suffering husband. Suspected of being made of plastic, always in need of repair. Geek turned jock just a little too late I suspect *g*

L – Stella and Willy’s firstborn, their son. He was born 5 days before our embryo transfer.

A – Stella and Willy’s second born, their daughter. Poor child has a tomboy for a mother and receives hand-me-downs from her brother. I do my best to bring the frilly to her life. Born 11.5 months after V

Bub – my brother, the middle child. Yes, that explains everything.

‘cole – his lovely wife. They met when they were fifteen, got married at 37. Took them a while to make sure it was going to work out.

Pets:

Leitte – our red-eared slider (turtle). Hubby and I picked her up the first year we were together. On a whim. No one told us we’d have to provide a guardian for her in our wills. Was originally Leo, but a trip to the vet resulted in a name change.

For the first time in almost 22 years we now have a home without little furry creatures running underfoot. This is new, and I’m not sure it’ll last.

Chet (RIP) – short for Chetverka, is a Husky we rescued from the side of the road near our cottage on Thanksgiving weekend (October up here!) 2003. Our best guess was that he was 1.5 at the time, making him 11 now. Don’t get me started on people that think it’s okay to keep a pet for a while, then drive them ‘out to the country’. He was a beautiful old pup who passed away from an undiagnosed neurological condition.

Ceebee (RIP) – Ceebee (Chatterbox or crybaby). Was our princess. She came home with my (then) boyfriend on his motorcycle and promptly captured his heart. She was 6lbs at her biggest, but ruled the roost around here. She was in kidney failure for the last few years, but we were still shocked at her rapid decline this spring (2010). My daughter has lost her primary snuggler

Sasha (RIP) – our little Sasha-bear was a Mal/Husky cross. We started to foster her the weekend before we got the positive beta with V. She came to us through the Alaskan Malamute Help League. We believe she was between 8 and 9 when she came to us, so she was around 11 or 12. She had degenerative myelopathy and we are did what we could to make her senior years the best they could possibly be. Her condition degenerated to the point that she could no longer support herself and she passed away the weekend before Halloween 2010.