Oh, Hello

Well, it’s certainly been awhile. But not without a good reason! For the (probably zero) people who read this blog and don’t know me in real life, at the end of July our traveling circus left Dushanbe for the extremely exotic Maryland.

A lot has happened between then and now, but in order to keep things simple, here’s a condensed version of the events of the past month and a half:

• The trip home was crazy but not terrible. We had excellent service from Somon Air in Dushanbe with our animals. We were lucky in that our flight didn’t stop to refuel in Ashgabat (like most flights had been), and I’d like attribute that to the over 7,000 TJS we paid in cash (in mostly 50’s…sorry) to get the animals on the plane. You’re welcome everybody else.
• Transiting Frankfurt wasn’t nearly as bad as the first time. We’re pros now. Or at least not novices. Only snag was when the random baggage handler almost refused to let Ren on the plane. YES I KNOW HIS CRATE IS SLIGHTLY TOO SMALL AND I DON’T LIKE IT EITHER BUT IT’S ALL WE COULD GET IN TAJIKISTAN AND HE JUST FLEW SEVEN HOURS AND IS FINE ALSO HE’S MOVING TO AMERICA AND WILL HAVE SUCH A GOOD LIFE IN A HOUSE WITH A YARD ALL TO HIMSELF JUST PUT MY BABY PUPPY ON THE PLANE!!!
• They let him on. He’s currently sleeping on the couch with his sisters. Spoiled things.
• When we landed in Dulles it was thunderstorming and the dogs were the last thing off the plane. Ren was hysterically barking as we entered the country. Hello from the insane diplomats! Here’s our puppy we would like to import! Is that cool?
• Apparently it was. Nobody checked our customs form.
• Soya did not like traveling. She freaked out most of the way and got so stressed out she had an upset tummy for the first week home.
• Izzie was a champion. Dottie and Nona also did well, unlike Nona’s previous showing.
• We moved into our house! It’s small but perfectly-sized for us right now. It needs a lot of love but the addition of our storage furniture has made it feel a lot more like home.
• We’re still waiting on our stuff traveling on the slow boat (literally) from Tajikistan. It actually should have arrived yesterday so hopefully we’ll be settled by the end of the month.
• I’ve gotten approximately five million mosquito bites since being home. Point: Tajikistan.
• Sean decided the first home improvement project he wanted to do was landscape the front yard. I was allowed to operate a rototiller and hack apart the large stump we found with a sledgehammer and hatchet.
• My new job is with my old employer and it’s awesome. I get to telework three days a week and my new desk arrived yesterday. It’s a writing desk and all I can think of is “why is a raven like a writing desk?” and that makes me happy.
• Fall stuff was already in stores when we got back. I was annoyed since it’s still summer, dammit,  but then also bought 25 autumn themed candles. So, balance?
• I forgot I didn’t need to worry about shipping while buying those candles. If you take the item with you at the point of sale there’s no shipping. Just in case you didn’t know.
• I’ve eaten more seafood in the past month than the past two years. Also, an avocado a day. And salad. Glorious, glorious salad.

Yep. I think that’s everything.