Greetings! I’ve been off for a while as I snuck home to Boston to help my mom out for a bit.  Got to see family, friends and Danielle, my hair stylist – so all was good in the world.  It was especially good to sit down and have a completely normal conversation with my buddy Kev who was scaring us all in a coma this time last month.  To be hanging on his couch talking to him and Karen about their kitchen renovation plans was just the best thing I could have hoped for.  Now I pray that the rest of you who are fighting some big fights have just as miraculous bounce-backs.

Speaking of miraculous returns, I got a call in Boston from the girls.  “Mommy, guess what we found? The turtle!” I didn’t know whether to say Ugh or Hooray, the thought of them finding the turtle carcass was both gross and a relief because at least it was found.  But NO! It wasn’t a carcass! It was a perfectly intact, happy, healthy turtle.  Where, you may ask, did she spent her 6 day hiatus?  Our amazing cleaning lady Maria was cleaning out the fridge (yes – you heard me right – she even cleans out the fridge – how jealous are you now???). Lo and behold – when she opened the veggie drawer, there was a turtle in the spinach! We have no idea how it got there - the only thing I can think is maybe the spinach was placed on the counter near the turtles, and she made a leap for the promised land undetected.

So now we have three turtles.  As you may recall, J had named the first turtle Serafina, then named her replacement Serafina.  Now that the original Serafina is back, Hubby and I have suggested a name change for her – she is now Espinaca (Spinach).

Note: I would like to take this opportunity to formally apologize in writing to our cat Gully for publicly insinuating that he is a ruthless tortuga killer. I hope that he can find it in his fluffy orange heart to forgive me.