Almost time for vacation

Well, only one more day til my official vacation starts, and I am SO excited!  Time off from work, just to be with family, and I couldn’t be happier that this is coming.

I have been knitting a lot lately.  I had a pattern in mind, a particular type of yarn I wanted to use, and I decided to make a baby blanket for a coworker who just had her first grandchild–a baby girl.  The pattern and yarn were perfect, as it was simple and I knew it would turn out beautiful.  It did, and I am so proud.  I showed it to my neighbor, and she wants one for her new baby boy, Isaiah.  I had originally wanted to do it for him, but I only had a limited amount of yarn for his, so I wanted to make sure that I had enough by test knitting the other blanket (which I had plenty of yarn for) before I took on the other project.  Here’s how it turned out:

Perfect!  And now I am almost halfway done with Baby Isaiah’s blanket, which I have decided to call “Lavender’s Blue.”  Can’t wait to get it done and posted, too.

My oldest son is in camp right now, and he is loving it so much.  They are getting to go bowling, to the movies (of course, the ones that I want to see), and swimming.  I have managed to save up some time this week, so tomorrow when they go to the movies I will go with them and then the two of us go home.  Then I found out this morning that he will be staying until August 1, and that was a great surprise as well.   I just wish we could afford the daycare for my youngest, but we won’t be able to.

Ok, and now for my big announcement.  After many different discussions, hubby and I have decided that we are going to try to have a baby again.  So next Tuesday, we are going to go back to the OB and I am going back on fertility meds.  I am very excited, he is excited, but the down side is that they cause hot flashes–with it being 105 or above right now, it is going to make things a little warm for me until we are able to conceive.  I am hoping quickly…30 is fast approaching (beginning of August), and I really don’t want to wait anymore.  I am where I want to be for work, happy and stable in my home, have a house and two great cars…so now would be a good time for us to start. 

Vacation, here I come…!!

Family daze

Once again, I am going to go off of looming for a bit.  My babies are home for 5 weeks, and I am SO happy, but not too happy with their regular home life.  Just letting everyone know, they are my stepsons, although I treat as my own, and they have been through so much my heart aches for them.

I worry for my oldest son, since the divorce was so hard on him.  Every hurtful comment from the mom’s boyfriend (of two years or so) really gets to him.  Now he is scared that if he misbehaves I will leave him, since that was what he was told.  I was LIVID.  NO ONE speaks for me.  Period.  And I unleashed a torrent to her and to her sister about what the boyfriend had said.  I wasn’t about to stand for anyone telling him I might leave, and I never will leave him, no matter what happens between my husband and I.  So they have been warned–if I hear anything whatsoever that might even be a whisper of detrimental speaking on their behalf–talking about me, my husband, or them–I will be all over them like white on rice.  The problem was fixed, he is reassured, and I have two happy little boys right now.  I think that the boyfriend get frustrated because my oldest has a mild form of tourrets syndrome, and so handling him is a bit different than you would a normal child.  Structure is important, and so is counseling.  Since it is mild, we don’t need drugs, at least yet, for what he has.  It is fine as long as no one says anything hurtful for the most part or triggers anxiety or nervousness.  But if it gets to be any worse at that house, I am not going to stand by. 

I know I sound like one of those women who hates the ex and anything that has to do with her.  That’s not true.  We actually do get along to a degree, and I am pretty close with her family (as in I stay at their house, talk on the phone, email, hang out, etc).  I consider them family, they consider me family, and most of the time the conversations end with a “love you.”  We pretty much see eye to eye on how much we dislike the boyfriend, too, so it’s nice to have that support as well.

Ok, on to the good stuff.  We have had a blast so far…been able to go to the pool, hang out and watch movies, play some video and card games.  It’s been really nice having them here, although hectic at times.  And in the spare time, I have been able to get some knitting done.  I am ALMOST finished with the hooded scarf that I am knitting for my mom’s birthday.  I want to get started on several other projects I have running around in my head.  I want to make another hooded scarf, inspired to make some socks, and make a few more brimless hats for my mom.  I want to try to make the pinwheel blanket that I have been itching to make for a few years, especially for the baby my friend just had.  Just seems perfect.  However I can’t figure out the cast on and how to start it…

Anyway, the boys should be home in a minute from the latest swimming expedition.  I need to start getting dinner ready, and maybe get my scarf finished.  Lots to think about, lots to do!!!  Happy daze everyone!!

The projects

Ok, I promised the pictures of my latest finished projects.  So here they are:

And I also finished a fleece blanket:

So those are the finished ones at this point.  I am working on my mom’s hooded scarf, and yesterday I finished my mom’s hat that she will be wearing to Colorado.  I didn’t get a picture of it, but the same type of yarn was used like in the second picture above, and it was brimless.  She wanted to sleep in it, and the brim to her was too tight for sleeping.  I actually finished that one while I was at the dentist’s office for the third time in five days.

You see, I have always had dental problems, and rarely had the insurance or money to get fixed what I need to get fixed, and when I can go it is usually for emergencies only and getting the least amount done as possible.  This time, I broke two teeth when grinding them at night, and I couldn’t ignore it since there was a LOT of pain.  The pain meds I have for arthritis did help some, but as most people know, you can’t ignore tooth pain for long.  Can’t eat right!!  I do have insurance now, quite good insurance since I work for the state, and I had some money from selling my car.  After calling eight dentists explaining I had an emergency and all telling me they couldn’t see me until late June or early July, I finally found one that could take me on a recommendation of a coworker.  The first day I went in they took two hours–they did xrays, probed, and discussed all the issues that I was aware of and quite embarassed and ashamed about (although most was not my fault due to a childhood illness that caused my enamel to go away).  The second day, I spend 3.5 hours getting a quarter of my mouth worked on.  One day off, and I got the other half of my mouth worked on for another 3.5 hours.  I now have a beautiful smile that I am not ashamed of showing, but I have had to change my speech pattern–which is well worth it.  I have an amazing dentist and an amazing dental assistant that I am forever in debt to.  So if you are in the Austin area and looking for a great dentist, let me know and I will be happy to refer you to him.  *BIG smile*

Now my kiddos are home, and here for five weeks.  I am SO happy they are here.  I miss them so much.  We have so many plans for while they are here, and I know that the time is going to go fast.  My oldest son wants to knit a little, so I am looking forward to having that time together.  My youngest is going to be in daycare, one that I trust (which is rare), while my oldest is attending daycamp next to my office.  Days he isn’t at the daycamp will be split between the daycare and staying at my office.  That alone was  a tough sell since I work in a PD and kids don’t generally go there unless in trouble.  But I am happy he is going to be with me.  I hate that I don’t get to see them often, and it breaks my heart to see them leave every time they go.  I feel  like a part of me is being ripped away.  I know that the mothers out there understand how I feel.

For now, I am going to enjoy my time with them.  Do my best to make sure that they are happy and well cared for, as well as make sure that they have a great summer while they are here with me.

Happy summer everyone!!  I hope it is as good as you want it to be!!

Simple projects

I haven’t knitted in awhile, as I said before.  But knowing I was going to be down for a few days, I went and dug up a few UFOs (unfinished objects) to work on and hopefully complete after much procrastination.  I had promised Dwayne to finish his project some time ago, and yesterday afternoon I finally did.  I also finished another baby hat to add to my pile for donation, so I felt pretty good about that.  While putting the hat in the bag in the closet, I came across a few bags full of yarn, and remembered that I was supposed to knit a hooded scarf for my mom for Christmas.  So…now was the time to go ahead and start.

See, I cracked a tooth last week, and after many phone calls and much frustration, I finally found a dentist that could get me in.  He got me in and scheduled me for the beginning of a lot of dental work I had been putting off.  WONDERFUL man, and an even more wonderful assistant named Wendy.  She helped me through all of this, and I couldn’t be more grateful.  The pain has been really terrible, and without her, I don’t think I could have made it–I know that the pain is completely worth having it all fixed, but I know that you have to have someone there to hold your hand, and I am not above asking.

Anyway, I am about one skien into the scarf.  Looks like it will be needing about 5 or 6 to get through it since it is wide and thick.  It is also very soft, and I think I am going to use the same type of yarn for another project I have in mind.  Thinking about these scarfs and how I keep getting frustrated with doing the same thing over and over, I have come up with a few new ideas for patterns, and I really hope they pan out.  It will be awesome, and maybe I can learn how to put them up for sale on my blog.  **SIDE NOTE:  If anyone out there knows how to put things up for sale on a blog, PLEASE let me know!!  Thanks in advance!!**

I’ll put up the pictures of my finished project later.  I need to download them from the camera, and right now, being drugged to the eye-teeth, I don’t feel like doing much more than lie here on the couch.  Happy Monday everyone!!

Life…saving

Spring Break has come and gone, and with that my first away-from-home conference.  A week back to work, and then I was off to my second conference–the National Hurricane Conference.  This was nothing like my first one.

First of all, I was on crutches.  On the last day of the Homeland Security Conference, I twisted my knee.  Although that injury in itself hurt, it was minor.  However, it managed to inflame my arthritis, making the joint almost unusable.  So I spent the week back to my office between conferences going back to the doctor several times with several med adjustments along the way.  Finally got the meds right, and was on my way to feeling more human again.

The conference was information overload on hurricanes.  Wow.  Know way more than I ever wanted to know about them and how the information is processed, when to do evacuations, and all that is with that.  Very informative, very interesting, but a lot.  I really enjoyed the vendors again, and several of them were ones I had met at the DHS conference.  Some really great people.  And then I met one in particular that I was not only interested in, but also found that there might be a chance for a great partnership that will do wonders for my school’s Deaf students.  I am hoping that we will be able to work together.  The company can be found at www.DeafLink.com and it is an amazing company.

During that week, one morning we had to make a stop at the office because Robert said he had to pick something up.  Turns out, it was a letter for me.  I decided to share this with everyone, since this is going to be a big deal to me.  I didn’t feel the need for this at all, and was content with the simple thank you I had gotten before.  But this is what I got:

Ms. Jennifer C,

     On behalf of xxxx, Chief of Police, it is my great pleasure that I inform you that you have been nominated and selected to receive the xxxx University Police Department Life Saving Award.  This distinguished award is reserved for those xxxx University employees who participated in the saving of a human life if you had not intervened.
     You should be very proud and honored to received the xxxx University Police Department Life Saving Award.  The determination, fast thinking and commitment you displayed towards the saving of Sgt. Robert xxxx’s life is commendable.  You will be honored at an awards veremony to be held at the xxxx on May xx, 2009 at 10am.  Please have your family and friends join us in honoring your accomplishments.  We look forward to seeing you there.
     On behalf of Chief xxxx, myself, and the entire Executive Board, I congratulate you on the exceptional accomplishments you have achieved and encourage you to continue to strive for excellence in your career at xxxx University.

Sincerely,
xxxx
Chairman

 

Now, this letter was not expected, and honestly, I had done what I did because it was not only the right thing to do, but it was my best friend’s life at stake.  I don’t know what I would do without him, and can’t imagine a life without him being there for me (and vice versa).

I wasn’t able to dwell on this for long, since as soon as I got back from that  conference everything began to snowball.  I had tons of work to catch up on (to be expected…I was several weeks behind), and as soon as I thought I had finally caught up, the H1N1 virus reared it’s ugly head. 

For those of you who read my blog, you know that as soon as an emergency affects my university or looks like it will, my life comes to a screeching halt, I pack my bags, and move in with Robert and his family to help mitigate the situation.  That’s exactly what happened.  The last week in April I packed up, moved down there, and for two weeks watched the situation unfold.  I still am, but we are a bit more relaxed since the CDC has somewhat relaxed.  However, those two weeks were extremely stressful.  Simply put, an emergency such as a pandemic can hit our university at any time, but the one dreaded time that it can hit is in the final weeks of a semester when the finals and graduations are about to happen.  It is the worst possible time, and the one we (and many other universities) are least prepared for.  It is easy for us to tell sick students to go home (not to the dorms, as they all have connected air vents, community bathrooms, and common areas), and easy for us to go from self-serve dining to cafeteria style.  Easy to ramp up custodial and send home sick staff.  But what isn’t easy is trying to cancel or reschedule finals, figure out if we have to assign grades, having to deal with appeals and angry parents, and putting off graduations when parents and other family members have bought plane tickets and have hotel reservations.  Well, it seems like it would be easy, but the academic world is one that is extremely complicated.  Mind you, I am only three classes short of graduation, and I understand the frustrations that the students and parents have.  But I also have a different perspective.

This fall, I am taking two of the three classes I need.  I am planning to graduate next spring after my internship.  I don’t know, however, if that is going to happen.  Reason being is that I understand this pandemic.  If it follows the same path that the pandemic of 1918 follows, then we are in for a world of trouble.  As it is only summer school right now, we just got two more positive rapid flu tests from students (99% chance that it is the H1N1 virus).  Not good news.  But as the students travel and families travel across the globe during this summer, going to areas that are having their flu seasons just begin (and the virus a chance to mutate), they come back bringing this new and improved virus.  We don’t have a vaccine.  The death toll is rising, and my state has an extremely high number of cases, not to mention we border the country this virus originated in.  The second wave of a virus, this one due this fall, is always deadlier than the first.  The first is mild, a build up of sorts, followed by an extremely deadly version of the original virus.  Thus, I don’t know what to expect from this fall–I only know that I am going to be busy, and back to being a major clean freak.

For now, though, I am waiting, and seeing what this pans out to be.

The Awards Ceremony was held last week.  I was quite happy that Robert was there to present my award, especially since the day before I had had to call EMS again because we thought he was having another heart attack.  For the first time in 11 years, he was able to meet my parents, and they all got along like old friends.  I received a standing ovation, and was extremely embarassed.  When Chief handed me my medal and certificate, I was so nervous I knocked it out of his hand.  I gave up trying to shake his hand and just hugged everyone on stage.  Sadly, my husband missed it.  We both regret him not being there, since we all know that this was a once-in-a-lifetime award.  Still, I had my parents there and a close detective friend, too (who later wrote a letter commending the department for recognizing excellence within our ranks).  It was a nice ceremony, and I am proud to have been a part of it.

After Robert gave his speech, couldn't help but hug him...it was that or cry.

The day after the awards ceremony, a miricle happened…my best friend (female) had her baby!!  I was so happy for her, and he is absolutely BEAUTIFUL.  I adore him, and the second I saw him he won my heart.  I want to spend as much time with him as possible, and love that he loves me too.  His older siblings are also my heart’s joy (and by no means replace my own, they are just so close to my heart), and I think that this wonderful new addition rounds out their lovely family just perfectly.

Me and the beautiful boy

So, as you can see, it has been such an emotional rollercoaster.  Many highs, many lows, and everything inbetween.

I have decided that I am probably going to create a new page that focuses more on what I do for my work, and that way I can seperate my work from my looming.  Much easier that way, and will help for those who really don’t care too much about emergency management.

Speaking of knitting, I have been working occassionally on my projects.  I have one that I am doing for my dear friend Dwayne, who wanted a cover for his tube for his night time breathing thing (can’t remember then name…ahh!!)  Still, it is well under way, and I am liking it so far.  I have also been working on tons of blankets and pillows, and have finished most of those.  My Christmas list is almost done, a first for me.  And that helps stress levels!!!

For now, I will go, but hopefully will be able to post a bit more often.  Just need to make the time…this is always a great outlet!!!  *hugs* to all!!

Don’t Drink and Drive Spring Break Staging

So…life has been and will continue to be busy for the remainder of this semester.  I have found that work and school are going to take a vast majority of my awake time, whether I am at work/school or at home.  This upcoming week is Spring Break, and yes I have it off–doesn’t mean I actually going to get off.  I have a feeling that I am going to still be busy. 

This last Tuesday was the day that the PD gets together with the other departments in the city (PD, Fire, EMS) to stage a DWI accident on our campus in the middle of the morning inbetween classes.  This year, I got to be the DB (dead body) in the accident.  I was so excited about the whole thing–and it was a blast to do.  The general premise was that I was calling for a safe ride to a dining hall, and the “drunk driver” went the wrong way and plowed into the car I was riding in, essentially killing me and hurting the driver.  While they performed the sobriety tests on the drunk driver, my driver was put in a neck brace and taken away in an ambulance.  After that, they covered my body (except they didn’t do that too well) and busted out all the glass in my car, then used the jaws of life to remove the roof and eventually get me out of the car and drive me off in a hearse.  Pretty morbid, but it made the point.  Lots of students saw it, the newspaper was there, and all in all, I found it to be very successful.  I only got minor cuts from the glass, which apparantly was to be expected.  Here are some pictures…and yes, they are a bit on the icky side, so consider yourself warned.

I do apologize–they are not in order.  There are also almost 400 of them, so I was just picking and choosing which ones I wanted up.  Either way, they are still powerful images.  And thank you to Robert for taking the pictures–I know that it was hard for him to watch his best friend being “dead” and cut out of a vehicle.

Can’t wait til next year…I want to do it again!  So…to all of you who are either Spring Breakers or anyone who goes to a bar/friend’s house/home or wherever and decides to drive home after drinking, please think agian.  Get a ride.  You might make it home this time, but the next you might end up like above.  Or worse, killing someone.

Trying to keep my head above water

Wow.  It’s been a long time.

Simply put, it’s been a rough month.  I started the training for my new position at the end of January, just after starting my new semester.  They also changed my hours, and although it is putting me in the heart of traffic, I was slightly happy that I would be sleeping a bit later.  Not so true; it only gives me an extra 30 minutes of sleep, even tho I am going in an hour to two hours later.  As for the new position, I had no idea what I would be stepping off into.  I have now had four weeks of trying to understand all of this, but this is a bigger department than I have ever worked for.  Lots of budgeting, lots of money, and many people depending on me.  Then there is the purchasing parts, and a computer system that absolutely must be the devil’s spawn.   *sigh*  I am really hoping to get this all figured out, and soon.  I hate that I have to keep calling for help…

On top of my new position, there has been so many other things going on (I am really regretting not writing sooner at this point…)!  School is turning out to be a LOT of work, and I really can’t believe that I am actually surprised about that.  My psych class has a LOT of biology in it, and I am just horrible in anything that has to do with biology.  We took a test two weeks ago, and I knew even tho I was the first one done, I didn’t do well.  I emailed my professor, and found out that I got the fifth highest score, even though it was still low.  Then I thought about it…there are only 12 people in my class, so yeah…not as good as I thought.  Almost a C. 

Then there is my sociology class.  Have you ever know one of those people who talks just to hear their own voice?  There is one guy in my class who will NOT shut up.  My class is three hours long, one night a week.  Our professor has told us that we will either get a break in the middle of class, or we will be dismissed early.  We always choose to be let out early.  Since it is in SM and I don’t want to drive an hour and 15 minutes home on those nights at 9:30p (call me silly, but I like to sleep and don’t think that driving while exhausted is a particularly good idea), I am always in favor of getting out early.  But this idiot in the back row can’t keep his trap shut, can’t stick with a veiw point, and is now becoming aware of the class having intents on physical harm.  As class progresses, people are more verbal about throwing their desks or other objects to get him to just be quiet and let the professor talk.  Ug.  I am way behind on my reading for that class, but now that I have picked up the book, I am finding it very interesting. Now I need to get my paper done for that class, too…

So in summary…classes are hectic as usual.  Keeps me quite busy in the evenings and on the weekends.  No spare time…which sucks, because I have a lot of knitting projects I want to do.  Not that it would do any good anyway–it’s been 90 deg. here for the last week.  Well, until yesterday and it dropped 35 deg or so.  Just keep hoping things will slow down, but I am pretty sure that it will be this way until December when I *hopefully* graduate.

Then there is the “weird” part of my life.  I was invited to a party by hubby’s ex-inlaws.  It was for his ex mother in law’s birthday.  I will admit, I was sure that no good was going to come from this, even tho we had had them at our house the day after Christmas to visit the boys.  I still had weird feeling about going there.  It turned out that everything went great, that they have “adpoted” me and we are all friends now.  I am actually quite happy that it turned out like this.  “Her” (the ex) sister and I have become good friends and I really enjoy spending time with her.  The sister’s birthday was yesterday, and I was hoping to see her this weekend, but she’s busy.  Maybe this week.    But, as usual, it will be a super busy week too.

Just for a peek at this week…Monday I have work and school, Tuesday I have work and a presentation at a dorm, Wednesday I have work and school and a paper due, Thursday is just work (for now) and Friday I am going to work and leaving  early–hubby and I are leaving Friday for a weekend since it will be our three year anniversary.

Anyway, hoping I can be better about writing…I need to slow down!!!

And hey to my favortie Paotie.  Miss chatting, and sorry for not writing!!  But thank you for thinking about me and being worried…maybe now you can see why!!  LOL

Take care to all…

Week one…done

Well, I think I am going to start with the “Friday Fill-in” first…

1. Oh, I am so _tired_ !

2. _Pain_ changes, big and little.

3. During _work today_, I _am hoping that I hear the final word on my job at lunch with Chief…_.

4. _”Stepmoms aren’t real parents”_; are you kidding me??? (I have been hearing that A LOT lately)

5. Right now I’d like to be _in bed, happily asleep_.

6. _My Blackberry (I know, I know)_ is my favorite gadget.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to _relaxing on the couch and catching up on my shows_, tomorrow my plans include _having company for dinner_ and Sunday, I want to _study so I am ready for classes next week_!

It’s been a busy week.  It was the first week of classes, we had the new president sworn into office, Trooper got fixed, and I started the first of my two classes that I am taking this semester.  Only four (pretty sure of that) more until I graduate after these two!  I decided to retake a psychology course called Sensation and Perception that I failed (to ever show up for) many years ago, and a sociology course in Criminology.  Since classes started on Tuesday, I only attended one class–Criminology–this week, as my other class is on Monday nights.  I will say that the class is very interesting.  The professor started the class with going around the room to make introductions–we all had to state our name, where we were from, what our race is, and a crime that we have committed.  Considering what I do, I wasn’t too happy with the last part of the introduction speech.  I did choose to keep my profession quiet, and only admitted to a “crime” that I know is on record–when I ran over someone (and no, didn’t kill him; I just bumped him and he scratched his leg.  They said they wouldn’t sue, declined medical assistance, but then decided to sue three weeks later from Mexico claiming a lot of BS…needless to say, I was pissed…but that’s another story).  All in all, I think I am going to enjoy the class, but hope that he at least gives us a break in the middle (it is a 3 hour night course); he didn’t this last time, and by the time we got out of class I was in an immense amout of pain and decided to recover the next day instead of going to work.  Afterall, for now I am still a student worker. 

Trooper got fixed on Tuesday.  I was so sure that that was the best plan since he has been marking things in the house, is quite aggressive, and keeps tearing up things (usually things that are mine).  When he brought him home I felt terrible…Trooper was doped up and looked so sad.  His ears were down and tail was down, whimpering, and I held him the entire evening, giving him his pain meds at 8pm.  The next day he was still unhappy and hurting, and I knew that I wouldn’t be getting home until late and felt bad about leaving him.  Turns out he was much better but knew that I would baby him if he acted hurt.  He’s absolutely fine now, bouncing around, playing, and back to normal.  Just really hoping that he will calm down on the “marking territory” and chewing up my things!

I made the decision to knit at least 50 hats for donation to an area hospital for NICU.  Tonigjht I will finish at least 5, maybe six.  There was a great sale at Michaels on the softest yarn, and I had to get some.  Turned out just perfect for these little hats!!  I have been itching to knit more, and have some wonderful yarns I want to play with.  I am looking to knit a shawl later, maybe some yoga leggings (even tho I don’t do yoga)…just something different.  You can only knit so many scarves and hats, you know?    But still, I want to do something more complicated, so this fits in that category.

Tomorrow we are having friends over for BBQ.  I am looking quite forward to it, especially since we haven’t seen these friends since September or October.  It is going to be a great menu with great people.  I need this relaxing…next week is going to be nuts!!  I’m going to try to alleviate some of the stress by making a schedule…lists always seem to help…. 

Anyway, hope that everyone has a wonderful weekend.  To my dear friend, hang in there.  It will get easier.  I’ll always be here for you!!  Just remember, you are stronger than you think you are.  Nothing will be dealt to you that you can’t handle, even if you need some help along the way.

*hugs*

Three months of waiting

FINALLY.  Today I found out.  It’s only been since October that I have been trying to get a permanent position at the PD.  After much waiting (three long months), I got the word today…I GOT THE JOB!!  Of course, it won’t be in effect until Feb. 1st, but that’s ok.  I am just so relieved to finally have an answer, and a good one at that!!  So now I am over parking and emergency management, was added to three committees, and became a member of TACUPA.  Very exciting!!!

Wow…it’s been a long time since I wrote on here.  It was a resolution to write more often, but it seems that every time I sat down to start writing something came up that required my immediate attention.  The boys were here for Christmas, and that went wonderfully.  My oldest requested to make a gingerbread house, and hubby and I agreed that it would be a great idea.  Things have been rough for them lately, so we wanted to do all that we could to make this a Christmas they really enjoyed.  Making the gingerbread house was loads of fun–however, the instructions said that the icing only needed 15 minutes to set up, and that was WAY off.  We had to support the roof with tupperware overnight to make sure it stayed together.  Here’s what it looked like:

My oldest told me that Santa would for sure eat the chimney, and sure enough, he did!  That made both kiddos so happy!

After the boys went back home, I had another week of vacation.  I was SO thrilled at having peace and quiet and time to just relax.  Monday I had planned to start the day with a hot bath and a book, using one of the new bath bombs that I had ordered.  I drew the bath, found a good book to read, turned off the cell phone, slid into the tub…and after a minute figured out that I was allergic to the bath bomb.  Promptly broke out in hives!!!  Two showers and half of a bottle of liquid Benadryl later, I was not as relaxed as I had planned to be.  I spent the remainder of the day on the couch trying not to itch and recover, knitting with the dogs curled up beside me.  Surely the rest of my vacation would go well, right??  Wrong!!  I came down with a cold the next morning and was bed ridden until Saturday.  Missed New Years (fell asleep at 9pm), didn’t go anywhere or see anyone.  Then when I felt better, I did something that I have needed to do for years….I went through my closet!  I donated five trashbags full of clothing and one of shoes to Goodwill, then threw out five more bags of trash.  I was quite proud. 

I was thrilled to get back to work, believe it or not.  I missed being at my office, doing what I love doing, and seeing the people that I work with.  I know I am strange…not too many people can say they WANT to be at work.  I had presents to deliver, one of them being for Robert.  I made him a fleece blanket like I did for the boys (which they absolutely loved, much to my happiness!!), and I was very happy with the way it turned out.

I also completed my commissioned baby set for another co-worker:

I did decide that this year I am going to make resolutions.  I did make them late since I was so, so sick on New Years, but I am pretty intent on actually sticking to these this year.  So here’s the list, although partial; I am planning on adding more as I see fit.

Jeni’s Resolutions for 2009

1.  Graduate from college (projected to happen in December if I stick to the current plan)
2.  Obtain a full-time position at the UPD (DONE!!)
3.  Keep up with my blog, and post more often
4.  Take on more complicated patterns
5.  Finish writing my patterns so that they can be sold
6.  Knit more for my chairity, Hope Pregnancy Center
7.  Learn to shoot
8.  Finish at least 5 more FEMA courses or courses related to Emergency Management
9.  Improve upon my CafeMom group to make it more active and fun
10.  Become a member of professional Emergency Management organizations, such as IAEM

Those are the first 10.  I know that I will think of more, and add them as the year progresses.  I will also keep it updated when I complete a goal I have set for myself.

Well, I believe I have rambled enough for now.  For those of you loom knitters who are looking for something fun and interesting to do, also with a chance of winning some awesome patterns, head over to Karen’s blog where she is celebrating her blog’s two year anniversary with an awesome party!!  Have fun, and good luck!!  Maybe I will do something like that for my two year mark…it’s a wonderful idea!!

Oh happy day!

Today is a very happy day….it’s going to be a great week.   

Yesterday, Robert returned to work after 32 days of being gone!  He looks wonderful, and I am so glad that he is back.  Everyone said their congratulations, thrilled that he is back, and it all has seemed to go back to normal.  I know that I am happier than anyone else.  I even bounced–bounced!!–out of bed.  I can’t remember waking up that happy in a long, long time.  The day went fast, and I feel like a huge weight has been lifted from my shoulders.  The only thing left to conquer is my final…

Oh yeah!!  Last Thursday I finally finished the portfolio.  It caused many tears, so much frustration, and lots of digging into things I would have rather left buried.  There was plenty I left out…some that I just forgot to add since the introduction was already 38 pages, and things that I didn’t realize I forgot until after I turned in.  One such thing that I forgot was someone who was important to me, and just so happened to run into him shortly after I dropped my paper off.

As I walked across the main area of campus, I saw a man with a seeing eye dog.  I have seen him before, and I have recognized him each time.   Each time, I never called out.  I didn’t know if he would be happy to talk to me or not, so I never took the chance.  I remembered that he had been angry with me before, but this time…well, I was worn out and already feeling beat up by my paper, so I decided that this would be the time to take that chance.  I called out, and sure enough…it was him.  And he wasn’t angry.  Added to my already happy relief of finishing my class portfolio, and now I am getting the chance to be friends again. 

Today, I was able to catch up with another old friend I hadn’t seen in 11 years.  He came to see the house, then to lunch, and then to my parent’s house.  It was wonderful to get to see him, too, and can’t wait to get to see him again.  We kept our tradition of taking pictures in front of the Christmas tree, and he’s still 15″ taller than I am.    See?

He hasn’t changed a bit…

There has been some bad news, though.  My father-in-law had a heart attack last Friday, but thankfully was already in the hospital.  He hasn’t been doing well since then; they have had to shock his heart twice to get it to a normal pace, and now are talking about putting in a pacemaker.  On top of that, his kidneys are failing.  I feel bad for my husband since it is his father.  But his father is a very mean man.  He is verbally abusive, and has done nothing but cause problems and heartache for this family.  I hate that my husband is going through this, but I can’t bring myself to go and see him in the hospital.  I know it will all be ok, everything will work out, even if he does end up going to a nursing home with his mother.  Then they will be together, and his mom will be happy.  Her Alzheimers keeps her from remembering how mean he is; I guess that is a blessing.

Other than that, still busy making Christmas presents.  I have made several blankets and numerous other things, just trying to get it done before Christmas comes.  I am still hoping I can.  There’s just lots to do, and not much time left!!!  Here are a few of the things I have finished.

A cold front just blew in, and the fire is going.  I am going to curl up and watch a movie with my hot cocoa….and knit.    Always knit.

*hugs* Paotie…will be working on your pattern soon!!!