So, the Big Rewrite is finished, and what that means is...Sigh. No more excuses to avoid all the stressy admin issues that I've been ignoring for the past month! Today has not been fun. I have looked carefully at multiple bank accounts and credit card statements, I have downloaded and filled out applications and insurance forms, I have felt my brain come dangerously close to exploding from sheer Bureaucratic Overload. Even poor Maya had to do her bit: we took her in to the vets today for her yearly kennel cough vaccination, worming pills & flea treatments, and a referral to an orthopaedic specialist for her permanently dislocated shoulder. (She was completely unenthusiastic about all four points of business!)

However, at least we've made some interesting discoveries. About 1-1/2 years ago, when there was work done on our house, the builders let fall some horrifyingly intriguing comments about the lead pipes that carry our water up to our kitchen sink. Being us, it took us until last night to do something about it. But last night we finally bought an expensive water filter that claims to get rid of all dangerous metals like lead (but adds silver to the water instead...why???????). We've now been drinking specially filtered, safe new water for about 24 hours, and I can firmly and safely say: it tastes really weird. Maya thinks so too. She's been eyeing her water bowl with great distrust ever since we filled it with the new filtered water. As usual, the unhealthy things taste better...

And I finally got around to joining our local freecycle group, for all the large, bulky objects in our house that we can't give to charity shops but can't bear to wastefully throw away. Of course, what's happened so far is that I've been horribly tempted by at least one item in every single freecycle digest I've gotten. "Ooh, we could do with one of those...!" No. No, no, no! This is not supposed to lead to us getting More Stuff. Even though it is all totally free...

It's dangerous for me to spend too much time thinking with all my strength about practical stuff. At any moment I'm going to crack and schedule a hugely expensive next-morning flight to Vienna or Stockholm just to escape...