It's back

I've had a break from most online activities for a while and it did me good. I've also not been very social. Maybe it goes to show I'm not really an extrovert person at all, regardless of what people around me think... I haven't really been depressed - tired, yes, but that has more to do with a lot of aching and lack of sleep more than anything else.

Things are still busy around me, but not half as busy as it was this summer, thankfully.

• Dad is doing well, he's started with his physical therapy and the prognosis seem to be quite good
• Mom appears to have Parkinson. Scary, but at least she's started taking meds and hopefully that will help
• Daughter is struggling and has had to take stronger meds for depression and anxiety. Sad. It's always tough knowing your kids aren't doing well. Been trying to get her to start up therapy again and hopefully she'll be seeing a new psychologist soon. (She is no longer a student, so she had to quit her sessions this early summer) 
• My sister seems to do quite well, She still has a lot of debt to take care of, but it's not out of control. Huzzah!
• Hubby is ...meh. He's doing the best he can, I think, but he's way too strung out from too much work and it sort of affects his personality and the way he acts and reacts a lot. 
• Hubby's plans on starting up his own business are still going strong. There should be new developments on these by next week, so I'll get back to this then
• The disablement insurance is a lost cause. It's nobody's fault as such, but I lost a lot of money which is always sucky. Turns out that even though I worked full time when I assigned for my insurance, my employer made a deal with the social security office to avoid paying my wages of the period I worked, as it wasn't more than 2.5 months. Bottom line is that in the official health authorities' papers, I am listed as having been on sick leave that entire year....I COULD take it to court, but the cost of that will be too much and the risk too high. 
• My disablement case is still not finished and may not be for another four months
• Dog has been sick. We took her out hiking two days in a row and her arthritis turned her into a cripple for 4 days. She could hardly move at all. It took me half an hour of massaging her hips and legs and working some flexibility into them for her to be able to get up at all. She stopped eating, but I made sure she got enough water to drink. (The only times she was on her legs was when she needed to go outside to do her business). She's moving about again today, but she still won't eat....I'll have to find her some food she can't resist. I know that as soon as she starts eating, her appetite will come back in full. Poor thing. 
• I found a new recipe for a very easy and yummi dessert. I tested it on my sister and Simen the other day and it's decided I'm going to make this dessert for the big birthday dinner tomorrow. It's almost like an apple pie, just that I use pares instead of apples (my mother in law hates apples) you peal and slice the pares, roll them in a cinnamon and sugar mix. Put them in a suitable baking pan - or pie pan. then you mix a dough of equal measures of sugar, butter and all purpose white flour that you sort of sprinkle on top of th pares and bake in the oven.. Result is a pare pie with crunchy topping. Serve with ice cream. 
• The big 60 years birthday party for mother in law is tomorrow. There's been all kinds of drama concerning gifts, entertainment, menu and location for the party. Hopefully the bday 'girl' will be happy with the results. Either way, tomorrow will tell.
• Daughter and her bf is coming home today. Huzzah! I've hardly seen her at all this summer and I miss her so much. 

I've ploughed through a bunch of books while I've been offline. Will be blogging some reviews next week