Krista thinks I’m selling children – maybe this one got away?

For those of you just joining us, we’re playing a game (for imaginary prizes) of trying (really hard, for serious) to guess the great big fat change that’s happening in my life (not altogether of my choosing). There have been a wide variety of guesses, ranging from child trafficking to Norway. And someone already became the Queen of France, but the entire state of Texas is still up for grabs, so don’t be shy. Step up and make a guess! Or just sit back and watch for clues. Maybe owls or zombies will turn up again, you never know.

Or is it something else? Here’s your next clue:

I’m having a really difficult time being cheerful today (brave face, brave face) but I do have your next clue. So sit down in your thinking chair with this one:

The third commenter wins the Eiffel Tower. If you tell me a bad joke, I’ll throw in the rest of Paris. (What the heck.)

Presently, we’re playing a game (with imaginary prizes!) to reveal the big change that is occurring in my life. On the last clue we had two guesses. The first, “not moving to Washington” (roughly) was absolutely true, but not the whole truth. I am also not moving to Utah or Missouri. The second guess was “you are moving to a Photoshopped apartment hidden somewhere in Oregon bear hunting land?” which was very, very close in the sense that I have used Photoshop at times.

And just for participating in this totally serious contest, our contestants won the Taj Mahal and the Tower of Pisa! But don’t worry, folks, there’s plenty more imaginary loot where that came from, so don’t be shy. Step up and guess something silly!

So here’s the second clue. And okay, this is a clue only in the loosest sense. Mostly I just wanted an excuse to reprint this, found via haha.nu, because it makes me laugh and laugh. (But we’re counting it as a clue, too.)

Because, you know, with two major deaths in my life in less than a year, life was beginning to feel sort of stagnant around here. Okay, snark out of the way. Things are happening. Fast, even. And not entirely by choice, either, which is always one of those things I’ve found most irritating about life – it’s resistance to my control or, sometimes, consent. But the point is that something is brewing, maybe not something that seems like a big change to a lot of people (look at me getting all defensive already, what is that about?), but is still sudden enough to feel pretty freaking huge to us. Blind-sided, we were.

If you’re sick of me talking so cryptically, though, and want me to get to the point, I hope that isn’t your breath that you’re holding. I don’t feel like I can come right out with it yet. So I’ve decided, in the interest of always looking on the bright side of life, (because that, my friends, is so very me) that I will try to make it fun by posting clues.

So here is today’s: