Life Goes On

I really meant to post again before now, if for no other reason than to move down that depressing post.

So what have we been up to? Well, we moved into my mom's house at least for now. I'm afraid it will always be "my mom's house" and never "our house." But it is a house none-the-less and beats the stuff out of paying rent for an apartment we can't stand and barely fit into. Junior has a yard that he loves, Jaime has a grill that he loves. I have room for my yarn and new spinning wheel (post on that to come...soonish).

And for our inaugural event, Junior's birthday.



It was a pretty small party; Jaime's parents, my dad, Junior's babysitter and her two kids. Just the right size. The kids had fun playing with all of Junior's toys and we all enjoyed the food from the grill. We're already planning a few more cookouts with friends.



I can't believe my boy is two. He is getting so big, talking more and more everyday. He must know over 30 words by now (and of course Spongebob or "pa-bob" is one of them). He loves playing with his cars, running down the hill in the backyard and watching a cartoon whenever we can get him to sit still long enough. He is so full of energy and life it is sometimes exhausting to watch, but sometimes it can rub off on the rest of us. He's still such a joy.

New Year, Same Old Me

(4/143)
Happy New Years everyone!! I hope you have all enjoyed looking back at the past year and looking ahead to the next.

When I think about 2008 all I can see is how damn lucky I am. I have never been happier in my entire life. The depression has lifted. (Don't get me wrong, I get down sometimes just like everyone else, but I can move through it and past it now.) I have the most amazing family. I have a job that I love and that is pretty darn secure (knock on wood). While all around me, all around the world, there are people losing their jobs and their homes here we are having one of our most stable and prosperous years ever. (NOT that we're rich, just that for once the money I bring in is pretty close to covering the bills. It hasn't been like that since....ever.) Enough reflecting. Point is, '08 wasn't bad.

The wonderful thing about starting the 101 in 1001 in December is that I don't have to make any New Year's resolutions. I feel like I pretty much covered all the changes I want to make and the goals that I have already. I just need to act (my downfall).

Here are some belated Christmas pictures. Meant to get a post up, but I suck. Christmas was pretty fab. Jaime even enjoyed it and he is a Scrooge. Junior really helps put some magic back into the holidays.






me, Junior, and my mom or "Granny Jenny"

Ravelympics Drop-out

I finished a sock. No, really A sock. I'm making good progress on the other half of the pair...

See, Junior decided to put his birthday right in the middle of the Olympics. So inconvenient.


8/16/08

We had company in town (in our apartment, on our couch to be precise) for a week. I took two days off from work, and we kept so busy I was almost glad to get back to work. The party was small, just my parents, my mother-in-law, and us. We had considered inviting all my extended family and some friends, but I'm sooo glad we didn't. I had estimated we would make it to my mom's at around 2. We didn't get there till 4. The day was stressful, but we managed to have a great time watching Junior open some gifts and eat some cake.


8/16/08

Happy Birthday Bubby!

Time Flies

Patient
Originally uploaded by allsmile

I can't believe my baby is getting so big! Just yesterday he decided he'd like to walk. I was sorta weepy all day, thinking of what a big boy he is and how quickly this year has gone.

Junior really is such a joy. I know I say that pretty much every time i talk about him, but it's true! He loves to play and laugh. I don't know how I'd make it through some days without knowing I get to go home and play with him.

Ok, so he can be a booger. he is REALLY curious and gets into everything. And now his favorite thing is to put EVERYTHING into his mouth. Every little piece of fluff on the floor, every crumb, everything. We are still having some trouble getting him to eat table foods without gagging, but junk off the floor he doesn't have any problem with.

Junior will be turning one year old on August 15th. We have a very small party planned, just my parents, Jaime's mom who is flying in from CT and us. We really wanted it to be a nice no-stress party for the people who love Junior most in the whole world.

My baby isn't a baby anymore!

Suburban Farmgirl?

What can I say? I'm a total Violet (of Lime & Violet fame) follower. First she got me addicted to Plurk. And then, the Plurkette Hencircle. I tried to hold out, but they she mentioned a project. I LOOOVE projects. So this is project #1, my introduction.

I'm Vicki, hi. I have a wonderful husband, Jaime. We've been married for almost a year, but we've lived together for 6-ish years and been together for over 7. We have a sweet boy, Junior, who is almost 11 months old (can't believe that). His middle name is trouble, and he has the sweet smile and beautiful blue eyes to get away with most of it. Jaime and I are working to re-claim our relationship after adjusting to the baby.

I work for the US Geological Survey as a budget analyst. It isn't what I had always pictured myself doing, but I have a thing for numbers. I LOVE my job. I work with some wonderful people and, while I don't always understand what the scientists are doing, I know it's important work. I'm so lucky I can leave my baby with someone I totally trust, Jaime.

I used to have lots of hobbies, in the pre-Junior days. I'm also still adjusting to having a baby (and a job). I have just recently realized that I need to take care of myself. Even if it's just 20 minutes for an exercise video and an hour for knitting before bed, I need that me time. Eventually I will get back to reading (I miss you reading!) and scrapbooking (god knows I have the pictures now). I would love to really throw myself into quilting and spinning. And I've always been down for some random craftiness.

The only other big aspect of my life if my mom. She was diagnosed with breast cancer my freshman year of college (she put off telling me so I would be able to concentrate for finals). She opted for a double mastectomy, so fortunately that cancer hasn't been a problem since. Less than a year later, however, she was diagnosed with leiomyosarcoma in her uterus. This isn't a cancer that surgery can make go away, it just hides for a while. There is no recovery. Since then she has been through multiple rounds of chemo and radiation. She has had surgeries to remover tumors in her ureters and her lungs.

Sooo, why the desire to nourish my inner farmgirl? I need simplicity. I love the whole idea of creating. I also love the idea of the sisterhood, the connection. I have been thinking a lot about connecting lately, especially as it relates to my blog. I was thisclose to retiring the old blog. But I just couldn't do it. I love being able to share myself with this community.

For anyone visiting my blog for the first time, I hope I've given a pretty good picture of who I am. And if anyone else is still reading, hopefully I've shared something new. I can't wait to see what adventures and projects are coming up.

We Made It

I hope everyone enjoyed the holidays. Junior's first Christmas went pretty well. He got some fun toys that he can almost play with as well as the biggie, his jumper.


taken 12/25/07

He seems to like it, except when he becomes fixated with getting the frog into his mouth and he can't quite get it. Then he gets pissy.

I got some nice gifts too. Jaime got me a beautiful Knitter's Satchel from Jordana Paige, some super cute, sock-showing-off clogs and a couple other little things.

Changes

This new life of mine is just filled with changes. I've always been big on continuity, stability. Change scares me. I get really anxious when I have to go to a new place or try something new, even when I know it will be good. But lately, I've come to embrace the changes that are taking place. Looking back at all the changes I've been through, I realize that everything that has happened to me has happened for a reason, to get me to this amazing place where I am now. For once in my life, I wouldn't trade places with anyone.

So, it's been a month since I've posted and so much has happened I hardly know where to begin.
I'm now back at work and that has gone so much better than I thought. I really enjoy what I do. I love the people that I work with. Being back at work makes me feel human again. I have a reason to get dressed in the morning, I am more than a pair of breasts. And Jaime is just AMAZING as a stay-at-home dad. Of course, he's almost too amazing. Ever since Junior got home, I've felt that Jaime was just a bit more in tune with the him. That has become even more apparent now. Jaime always knows what Junior needs, can always make him laugh or "talk." It's hard not to feel like my being gone everyday means missing out on the bonding. I've gone from the one Junior needed every 2 hours to feeling like they don't need me at all. I'm trying to frame the situation, and remember that it is good that Junior is home with someone who loves him and who is so good with him.



My mom is back to doing chemo. Can't remember what the last update I gave on her was, but they found a tumor in each lung that were recurrences of her leiomyosarcoma. They were able to remove both and now she's doing one week a month of chemo in the hospital. She has had a few issues with this round, but overall she's still doing really well. Of course, she is just completely in love with Junior. I try to make sure that they get plenty of time together, even though she isn't able to babysit anymore.



Life means change, especially with a sweet boy growing so much everyday. Guess I better get used to it.

In Which A Bad Weekend Makes For Good Crafting

It's all over. That's a plus. So Jaime's car tags expired at the end of July. But being broke now, and with the promise of money coming out our ears by mid-month, we really had no choice but to wait for the money to get him new tags. But I'm not doing a darn thing, so he had been taking my car to work. No biggie. Not ideal maybe, but nothing terrible.

Until Friday (only the 4th), when we both woke up from an afternoon nap (hey, just cause I don't do anything doesn't mean I can't get tired...) to find that his car was gone. We assumed that someone in the apartment office had it towed. Yeah, great! Jaime flipped out and after I finally calmed him down we spent the rest of the night trying to remember what "normal" was supposed to feel like. He talked to someone in the office Saturday, but she only works on Saturdays and had no idea what was going on. She seemed to deny that they had anything to do with it, suggested we try the police, and gave the name of the tow company they use. Hmmm, first hint that things weren't adding up.

So we searched for the phone number for this tow company, but they had no listing in the phone book or online. Must not get much business that way huh? Called the police station and they said that they can't tow a car from private property. Haha. Another dead end.

Meanwhile my wonderful Mommy, whom I may never speak ill of again, assured me that by Monday she would be able to get us the money we'd need to get the car back. Sure, she'd already given me $60 so we could pay our rent, but she's just that good. I got a lot of knitting done that weekend. Not much sleep, but my nervous fingers were flying! Here's some proof.

In honor of UFO August I've gone back to working on my Clapotis. It is so slow! And, I'm going to need another skein to make it as long as I want it. But I made progress none the less. You can click here for a close-up.

Sunday I went with my dad to Topeka (1.5-ish hours away) to see my Aunt Cathy in the hospital. She has been there for over a week now with some bad bladder infection turn kidney infection. I assume she isn't home yet, as I told my dad to keep my updated, but she was doing a bit better when I saw her. (Her kidney function was up to 25% and she had pretty much stopped hallucinating) On the trip, I got some work done on my socks. Gotta love passenger knitting.

Monday we called the office to get the number of the tow company. She apologized up and down, claiming that the tow company makes a sweep every so often and she didn't know whose car it was and she's soo so so so sorry. Hmmm. And gave us a cell phone number for the tow company. We called, they had the car. WOOOHOO! Yes it sucks, but it's better than it being stolen. Oh, and they'll even tow it back. No need to go to them. Again, I find this whole thing VERY ODD. But we want the darn car back, so ok.

We got the money they told us we needed, plus a little towards the car tags which we had to go get that day too. They called and said they were on their way, and to watch for them at around 11:45. Jaime, not wanting to miss them, goes outside at 11:30. At 12:30 they call and say they're running late (really??) and are probably 15 minutes away. At 1:00 they finally show. I watch from a window, and notice that they are having to jump start the car to get it parked. Hmmm, is that normal? I don't know much about cars, obviously.

Jaime comes back upstairs, not so happy. Turns out that the battery is beyond dead. The power locks wouldn't even work. The tow guys claim that the dome light was on when they picked it up. I don't believe it for a second myself. Oh, and they tried to charge us an additional $50 for towing the car back here. Which they didn't mention when totaling the charges over the phone and giving us no choice in the matter. Jaime said he only had $25 extra and they decided that was ok. People can be so kind.

So the car was back in the lot. And after an hour sitting on the floor at the DMV, we even had it's new tags on it. Sure, it won't move, but at least we know where it is. Jaime decided that he could change the battery, now we just needed the money to buy a new one. He was going to ask his boss for a loan, but he was away for a few days and it was making Jaime crazy not to have his car, and this whole ordeal, fixed and done. So I asked my mom for a wee bit more money. I will not complain the next time she asks me to vacuum the ceiling for her. At least not out loud.

Yesterday, Jaime got the battery and switched them out. I was terrified that after all this, something else would go wrong, but it seemed to do the trick. AHHHHHHHHHH!

I've also gone back to spinning again. I've been doing one length every day, and I can see such an improvement over the last skein I spun up. It isn't completely even, but much much more so. And I'm getting pretty good at adding in a new length of roving and even at reattaching the roving when there's a break. Those two things have been giving me the most problems so it's nice to be figuring them out. Of course, I still spin the spindle, park it and then draft, but it works for me so I'm not stressing it.


WW Update
I lost another good amount this past week, 4.2 pounds. I've so far lost 22.4 pounds and I'm so happy. I'm just a little over 10 pounds away from making my big 10% mark and I'm hoping to have it gone before my birthday in September. Wish me luck!

Have a great week everyone. I sure am going to try to :)

New Look

I saw the link for this lovely site from Heather B. and decided it was time for a change. I've wanted a new look for a while, but I knew it would take a time investment. And frankly, I don't see my own blog that much so it wasn't urgent.

So last night I spent a couple hours tinkering with the blog trying to get it the way I wanted it. You like?

Life has been crazy for the past week as my Aunt Vicki has been in town. She, like the rest of my mom's side of the family, has the unique ability to be completely fun and lovable one moment, and testy and demeaning the next. I used to take it personally that she still treats me like a child. I figured it was because I really have seen her since I was 12 so she didn't have time to adjust. But I realized this past week that she treats EVERYONE like a child. Completely annoying, but at least it isn't just me. So her, my mom, and I have been playing Upwords, doing puzzles, and cooking up a storm. I've been spending more time with them than at home the past week.

Of course this didn't leave much time for craftiness. I'm still working on the sock, but it isn't much longer. Hopefully I can knit away on it today and get a picture for you soon.

WW Update
I was so nervous for weigh-in this week, again. Of course I really had no reason to worry. I've been sticking to my plan and i have been exercising religiously. And it worked! Down another 2.6 pounds for a total of 11.8 so far. The exercise is still a challenge for me though. I have been enjoying the warm days by exercising in the pool, but my new sunburn means I'm going to have to go back to the treadmill. It's so hard to walk past the nice cool pool into the warm exercise room to walk. Ugh! But it's worth it. I just have to keep reminding myself of that.

Polski Day!

Finally ImageShack decided to work with me and I got a slideshow up of all my Polski Day photos. I had a great time this year, this being my first "of legal age" Polski Day. Why yes, my dad did get me tipsy. The whole parade is made up of floats from various bars down this stretch of road. Although there are firepersons and policepersons in the parade also, no one seems to mind that everyone on the floats is participating in some public drunkenness. That's Kansas City, KS for you. I got plenty of beads (no, I didn't do anything in particular for them) and some candy and just had a great time. It really is the perfect fun little parade, no big crowds here.

Click HERE for the slideshow.

In other news, I have a big day planned. I'm finally getting back to the pool as soon as I'm done here. Then tonight I'm driving out to my aunt's house for some BBQ fun. They're cooking up some ribs and other assorted grill goodies and I'll get some family time in too. Hope everyone's enjoying their weekend :)

Busy Busy Busy

School has been keeping me super busy lately. Only a few weeks left, but so much more left to do. I talked to a counselor about the masters program, which of course means I need to make more decisions. I'm just so tired of thinking about what classes I should take and when I should graduate and whether I should get a few grad credits or just finish and if I can even afford a masters at all and and and... Pffff!

Aunt Vicki was in town for a few days and of course that meant lots of random fun. I think Jaime's feeling a bit ignored as I haven't been home for like three days except to sleep. He actually said he missed talking to me, so I know I've been away for a while. I haven't even been keeping up with my blogs. I'm so excited to have this weekend to do a bunch of nothing. We might even make it out for a date night, it's been way too long.

We found out Thursday that my mom is going to have another surgery, probably on May 5th. And after that the doctor wants her to do chemotherapy. It's a little scary, but I think I'm really just more worried that she won't agree to it. She's worried about how all the side effects will make her feel, which I can totally understand, but if it'll help her keep this cancer away for a little longer I think it's worth it. Hopefully with all the support from her sisters and me she'll feel strong enough to handle it.

So, knitting. Well, since I had to get Aunt Vicki's birthday socks done in time for her birthday and all, that's about all I'd been knitting. I finally got a picture of them before they were gifted away.



As far as I can tell she loved them. I know she kept mentioning that she would have to get a new pair of clogs to show them off. Nothing like a well received gift. Now that that's over with I'm back to the ruffle scarf, after tinking a bit so that I could remember the pattern which I didn't bother to write down since it was so easy. Should have known better.

Getting Back Into The Swing Of Things

Has it really been that long since I've posted? It hardly seems like it. I've been busy like crazy getting ready for school and such. And my Aunt Joan's mother-in-law passed away suddenly last week so I had relatives to try and fit in to this crazy week too. It was great to see everyone, but we all had a lot of things to do besides sit and visit. I've been having issues with my schedule this year, which I guess I'm due as usually I get everything set months ago and don't have to worry about it. One of the classes I signed up for just isn't for me, so I've been scrambling to find ANY class that sounds remotely interesting. I would just drop the other one, but according to my scholarship, my car insurance, and my health insurance I MUST keep at least 12 hours. I've finally found a spot in a really interesting class, Religion and Moral Decisions. It has nothing to do with accounting, but it's definitely something I'd like to take for "fun." And now I'm having trouble actually getting enrolled in it. UGH!

There hasn't been much knitting going on lately either. Probably why I'm getting so stressed out, I need my calming knitty time! I got stalled on my latest project because I was a bit afraid it wouldn't fit. So this morning I forced myself to pull it off the needles and try it on. So far so good. Yaay! So hopefully I'll be out of this rut soon. I'll have pictures soon.

Have a great weekend!

Where Have I Been?

I know, I just completely deserted you all. I had these big plans to post all these pictures of me starting my second sock so I could try to show the one circ thing. I had topics planned and stuff. Well, it all started with a call from Jaime's Grandma. Now just so you completely understand, Jaime's Grandma is the one. The one I have trouble not competing with. She's by far the most important person in his life (myself excluded). It took me a while to stop being jealous of their bond, especially as I have never had that close a relationship with my Grandma. So, Sunday she calls and says she's shipped two packages that'll be here Tuesday or Wednesday. Jaime's going nuts trying to figure out what they could be. She just sent like 10 pounds of his favorite hot dogs (apparently Kansas doesn't have gourmet Hummel Bros. hot dogs like CT does), and he thinks maybe she went ahead and sent some of his fave hot dog buns too (ditto with hot dog buns I guess). Tuesday nothing arrives so we figure it'll be Wed. Wednesday morning Jaime gets up and I hear him checking a message on the phone. Oh, by the way, his grandparents drove the 24 hours straight from CT to visit us!! It was so great to see them as we haven't in over 2 years now. Since I gave up feeling jealous of his grandparents, I've fallen in love with them. They completely consider me a grandkid just like Jaime and it's so nice. We spent all last week with them. We went out for some great food and gave a few tours of town (when it wasn't nasty and rainy). And there went my plans. They're now safely back home in CT, and we miss them already.

Oh, and I just found out this morning that we got the apartment that we were looking at, our first choice. You wouldn't know much about it, since we saw it for the first time last week, but it's great! It's like literally 3 blocks from Jaime's work and right by a highway into Lawrence for my commutes to school. It has two bedrooms and a full sized stove/oven (hey, that's a luxury for us now). We gained over 200 square feet for just $45 (or 35 if you consider the rent increase they tried to pull here). And, a sparkly pool. For some reason pools have looked particularly tempting this year. Maybe because I haven't even owned a swimsuit in two summers. Oh yes, I will swim this summer. And it's even better after last years apartment fiasco. We applied to two places here in Lawrence and both said that because of our credit we could have the apt. but would have to pay a ridiculous deposit and extra for rent each month. Not so much!

I haven't gotten a terrible amount of knitting done. My second sock is still on the cuff, clap is maybe three rows farther than it was last week. I dragged out my squiggle scarf, but it hasn't seen much action either. Now that things are back to "normal", there will be more knitting though, never fear.

I'll try to get the one circ demo ready soon. Until then, I'll leave you with the gift my AKSP sent me last week. I can't decide what to do with this cool yarn, any ideas?

I'm So Scared

I found out last night that my mom has breast cancer. Just typing that is so hard for me. They found a "red flag" a few years ago that she might get it eventually, but that really doesn't make it any easier. She's getting a double mastectomy next Wednesday and I'm so terrified. She's so important to me. Luckily I don't have anything to do so I'll be there for her when she's in the hospital and when she gets out. And I have plenty of knitting and reading to do while I'm waiting. It's really sweet, everyone seems to be really worried about me. One of my aunts wanted to fly here from Florida but she has taken care of so many people so my mom said she didn't need to. My dad's going to visit me in the hospital and my Grandma (on my dad's side) might stay with me some of the time cause she's in town. I guess it's nice to know that so many people care about her and about me.

I haven't cried this much in a very long time.

While The Cat's Away

Aparently while the bf's gone I can get some major knitting done. He's playing video games with his friend, so I'm here alone blaring my music and knitting away. There's nothing like some good tunes and some good knitting! I finished the fingers and stuff of my mitten, got all the stupid ends tied in (that's the hardest part for me, how sad is that?), and have started the fold over mitten part (three times lol). It's going pretty good, YAAY! My other projects are being ignored in my excitement to have mittens sometime before spring.

In my non knitting life (yes, I do have one of those), today me and my two favorite men, Jaime and my daddy, went to the KU football game. Poor Jayhawks. The first two minutes were so promising; it was all downhill from there. But I had a great time and now have a lovely sunburn to show for it. Everyone says I look great in red, but I don't think that's what they meant.