Big Changes

Well, belated Merry Christmas everyone. Despite being snowed in for 3+ days, or maybe because of it, we had a pretty great Christmas around here. We were all pretty spoiled this year, Junior got a mountain of toys, Jaime got a sweet set of computer speakers and an Oreck. Yeah, I bought him a vacuum for Christmas, and he loved it, here's the proof:



And I got an iMac!! I'm so completely in love. It is taking a little getting used to, but I'll get there. Yaay!

So besides the new computer, there are a few other new things in our lives. Starting Monday I officially have a new job. In the past three years I have worked my way up from a part-time student to the head of my section. I have been acting in this position for a couple months so it isn't a huge change, but now it is real. I am in charge, eek!

There's even something new in the bathroom these days. (OK, that could go so many bad directions) Junior has his own potty now! We finally decided to try this potty training thing. I'm a little scared and we have no idea what we're doing, but Junior has gone potty before bed the last two nights, so I guess we're on the right path.

As they say, the more things change the more they stay the same. With all the new going on life is still pretty boring aorund here which is just how we like it. There's been some knitting, some spinning, a bit of reading, and lots of just hanging out with my two boys and enjoying life.

I know I probably say it every time, but now that I have a computer to myself and it is in a convenient place I'm really planning on updating more often. Here's a random bit of cuteness to get you through till the next time :)

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.

All But Given Up

I had basically given up on ye olde blog. Life was crazy (baby, work, holidays, baby, more baby). I didn't feel like I had anything to offer, maybe I still don't but whatever. Honestly, I was still adjusting and it is just now that I am finally feeling able to take some bits of time for myself. I know making time for myself is important, it is just something that I wasn't used to having to work on. I'll admit it, my life has been pretty easy and "me time" hasn't been hard to come by until just recently.

So in a nod to making myself a priority (not top priority mind you, but on the list at least), I've decided to come back to the blogging world. I missed you!


taken 3/6/08

Updates soon!!

More

So, I'm due August 13th. Less than 130 days away, not that I'm counting.

And the knitting has definitely begun. I started with Trellis in a nice neutral before I found out the sex. I've also nearly finished a cute pair of booties in a soft yellow. I would have gotten more knitting done if not for my obscene tiredness until recently and the whole summer baby thing. I just can't imagine using TOO many knits for a couple months. Although I'm sure there will be some cute fallish items in the future. Jaime is a bit put off by my obsession with hoodies with little ears. Pictures to come.

And that obscene tiredness is the biggest reason for my long absence. I was so tired that I'd get home at 6 and just sleep. I didn't have the energy for knitting, which is pretty sad. I kept rationalizing in my head, "I'm probably just still adjusting to work and school, a month later" Makes a lot more sense now.

Coming Soon

That's right. I've missed you guys so much I just can't stay away much longer! Things are still a little nuts, but I'm getting into the groove of being in school again and the time budget has some room. Actually, I've secretly been reading a few blogs for a few days now.

I want to get the sidebar updated before I jump in, it always seems to get behind so I figure it'll be easier if I start out caught up. But after that I'll have plenty of news to share. And even some finished projects perhaps...

Still Around

Just haven't felt the blogging thing lately. Well, at least writing. I'm sure you all've noticed that I can't help but keep up with everyone else. School's been crazy as usual, but mostly just cause of my procrastinating. One huge test tomorrow and then spring break though, so it's ok. I'm so looking forward to a whole week of sleeping late, knitting all day, and most importantly no homework. Woohoo!!

Oh yeah, and my mom decided her car didn't work and that she would wait two weeks to get into a specific mechanic (I realize it's hard to find one who's good and trustworthy, but sakes!) so I had to drive her around for a while. Wouldn't have bothered me much, except I knew there was nothing wrong. Her car died in the driveway, but she restarted it to get it all the way into the garage and it was fine. So playing chauffeur has cut into my laziness too. Plus it reminded me why I moved out and why I see her once a week. I can't take more than that. I love my mom but we just don't get along if we have to be together more than a couple hours a week.

As far as knitting goes, I haven't been doing a lot. I have been working on my shrug/capelet and it's finally finished (blocking right now actually). My first sweater! Ok, so it's a short, cropped sweater, but it counts. I'm pretty proud as I had to upsize it from a size small to a size *cough cough* and it actually fits. I'll make Jaime take some pictures once it's dry.

Since finishing that I've been trying to work on other things I've had on the needles for way too long, but I'm just not feeling some of them. Now that the weather is getting better I'm not much in the mood to knit my stripey scarf, although actually they say it'll be cold next week so maybe then... And my bright fun socks are making me crazy. I'm just trying to finish them so they'll be over with. I love the colors, but the yarn is making me crazy. It's that fun stretchy Fixation which I love in theory, but at the sides where I switch needles there's a ladder no matter what I do. I've tried knitting a bit tighter, super tight, looser then usual, and just normally and nothing is helping. Ahhh! Oh, and this is my second pair of Addi's that have had the coating totally rub off. It only happens to my sock knitting pair though... All in all it's just a mess. And I love my clapotis, but it goes so slowly it seems almost pointless to knit on it. I wouldn't consider myself a "product knitter" but I at least like to see some sort of progress.

OK, enough whining! I should go study now anyway. I'll be back with a fun (read: with pictures) post soon. Have a great day!

***ETA*** Nearly forgot. For those of you wondering, no, the tornados (or microburst as those fancy weather people like to call it) didn't get me. In Lawrence, 40 or so minutes away, there was quite a bit of damage, enough to cancel classes on Monday. But here we got teeny hail for maybe 5 seconds and that's about it. Being a girl who's lived in KS her whole life and quite a fan of storms, I'm rather disappointed that I STILL haven't ever seen a tornado. So yeah, I'm fine :)

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?