When it rains, it pours

I've been a bit absent from the interwebs due to some crazy things going on in my life lately, namely that my hubby will be going away for two months starting this coming Sunday, someone in my family who is very dear to me is currently suffering from alcoholism, and my in-laws are in town. Stress much? Nah. The last few days have been spent trying to tie up all loose ends and get the household (a.k.a. me) situated so that I can take care of things during the hubby's absence, like getting updated home-owner's insurance, new car insurance, health care, military id cards, etc. While in the midst of all of this, I got a frantic phone call from my mom last Friday telling me that the situation is not getting any better with the family member and that they're going to have to have another intervention (this would be number three so far). The hubby and I decided that we need to go to western PA to take part in this and left late Saturday afternoon, arriving at my parents' new place around midnight. Sunday was the day of the intervention, which while emotionally-trying, probably won't chalk up to being considered successful, sadly. On Monday, we visited with my grandmother, another situation that is deteriorating rapidly and had me choked up for most of the trip back to Virginia; we arrived home safe and sound, but tired from the 5 1/2 hour drive and emotionally raw (well, at least in my case). Then the in-laws arrived on Tuesday and will be here through tomorrow; I think their respective trains leave at noon. While I definitely like my in-laws and appreciate their company, a part of me is jealous and bitter because I wanted to spend the last few days that I had with my husband all by our lonesome. Plus the hubby is a bit on edge from being at home with his parents for the last couple of days. Le sigh.

But all is not for naught! The hubby has taught himself how to make pizza from scratch and while killing some time antiquing in Pennsylvania on Sunday we came across a pair of circa 1900 oak side chairs that were strikingly similar to the ones that descended with the family dining table. The best part? They were $11 a piece. Seriously. Some restor-a-finish and a coat of feed-and-wax, and they were as good as new. Structurally they're awesome and just need to be upholstered. Now I can have a dinner party of at least 6 people without worrying about running out of chairs! Nothing like taking a little bit of pleasure in the small things, right?