Long Day working

With a little fun thrown in. My DF Jean says I'm working so I can buy an iPad when I get to Atlanta next week. The real reason is because I had a little audit project that HAD to get done and people were late getting information to myself and my co-worker working on it with me. But we managed to get through it and I think we found everything. Tomorrow we'll discuss with the people who need to do some clean-up. 

I did take a couple of hours and meet friends for dinner tonight. All people I work with or have worked with at ING. We had a nice dinner and got to catch up on what's been going on in everyone's life. Short, but a good visit.

I went diving into my stitching bags. I managed to take some pictures of my WIPs but not all. When I get them all done I'll post something with a link so you can go see a portion of the madness. As crazy as it sounds I really want to have more seasonal small items, maybe even some that are a little larger. I'm thinking some additional starts may be in order. Bwahahahah!

With that I'm going to go get all ready for bed and find a place to stitch and relax so I can get sleepy, which I'm not right now. Tomorrow is Friday!

Where does time go?

I know, there really isn't an answer to that question but I really am not sure where the time has gone between my last blog posts and today. It's been over a month. I'm pretty sure I'm just slack, but it could also be a bit to do with life. So to catch you up I give you the following.

1. I met my DF's Heather, Michael, Jill & Andy in Orlando for a long weekend of fun to celebrate Michael's birthday a bit early.

Andy, Jill, Me, Heather & Michael (Isn't he the brave one?)

He wanted to go to Universal Studios, especially the new Harry Potter portion. Much fun was had by all.

Hogwarts!

There was Butterbeer

And I got to meet the Hogwart's Express conductor!











And there was food.......and drink that was quite lovely everywhere we went.









Of course there was the wonderful pleasure of the company of my friends who all live in the Atlanta area. It was Andy's first visit to Florida. I hope we managed to show her a great time so she'll come back some time.

2. I have been supplementing my stash lately. Not a good sign. I don't have pictures of everything but I did do some damage when I went to Atlanta in July for my birthday.

Top row: ShibuiKnits Silk Cloud to be held with Noro Kureyon Sock for a scarf
Row 2: Rowan Lima for sweater, 2 colors of Cascade Yarns Ultra Pima in a garnet and a gold for a tank top, Ella Rae Bamboo Silk for a little jacket.
Row 3: SWTC Xie in two different colors (a shawl or 2 in the making), The Alpaca Yarn Co. Paca-Peds sock yarn, Noro Sekku 
Bottom: Wollmeise Lace-Garn.

3. Went to Savannah after church just this last weekend to see the fall incarnation of the Gospel Show at The Savannah Theatre. I'm sure I've mentioned this before, but if you are going to be visiting Savannah you need to make reservations to see whatever show it going on at this theater, and I don't just say that because I've known the Musical Director/Drummer and his family for years and have become friends with one of the other cast members. It really is a good time. We went in the Spring when they did this show and my parents wanted to go again this fall. There were a few changes, some of the cast was different for a variety of reasons. 

Since it was on a Sunday afternoon we left right after the 9:45 service at church and drove up. Now, we left pretty close to 11AM but because of traffic and the fact I travel with a couple of older, distinguished folk, we made it to the theater about 20 minutes before the show started at 3PM. Seriously, for normal people it's about a 2.5 hour drive. Of course we stopped and had a light lunch and the obligatory bathroom breaks along the way. But I didn't feel bad since Chris pulled into the parking lot and parked as I was parking our vehicle and getting out. Figured they couldn't really start without him so I'm going to put it down to having impeccable timing. 

Sunday evening mom, dad, Chris and I went out to eat. We were staying right at City Market, so we  thought we'd go to Vinny Van Go-Gos for pizza but the wait was at least an hour and mom was hungry. Then we thought we'd walk over to Jazz'd, but along the way we passed a few nice places and a band so in the end we ate at Cafe at City Market.  Food was good and the weather was perfect. There was even a fairly decent band playing at that end of the market outside. Daddy tried to pick up a new girlfriend, but decided to stick with mom at least until next year when their 50 year contract has to be renewed.


Monday was reserved for lunch at Mrs. Wilkes Dining Room.  We'd never been, but we had pros to help us navigate the awesomeness that is lunch at this institution. Chris and fellow cast member Sheldon met us there along with two friends of Chris', Angie & Kassandra. Kassandra has just returned from a year long tour of duty in Iraq (you can just barely see her sitting next to Sheldon in the picture below), so we were especially honored to share a lovely meal with her. They are both lovely young women and are both engaged to young men who are serving in the military. We had a fantastic time chatting before we went in to eat and during our meal. Well worth the wait (yes, Sheldon, even if we weren't supposed to wait).  That's just half the table, you should have seen the other half where daddy was "protecting" the fried chicken.

In case you can't tell: friend chicken, mac-n-cheese, biscuit, rutabagas, creamed corn, fried cabbage, cole slaw, cucumbers in vinegar with some pepper and in the middle some candied yams.

Yep, that's bowls of greens, peas, green beans, lima beans, beef stew, and who knows what else.

After lunch we bid a fond farewell to Sheldon and then Chris, but only after he helped me find the lovely needlepoint store The French Knot I'd heard about that is just around the corner from Mrs. Wilkes. A bit hidden, since it's down an alley, but just beautiful inside. Met the owner, Audrey who is both talented and lovely. Of course I found a little something to purchase and will be heading back there when I travel up that way again. If I lived in the area I'd have their stitch-in nights on my calendar. 


Isn't this just the cutest little ornament. Audrey had it, and the other two in the set, finished a couple of different ways. I'm thinking I'll have to call and order the other two canvases before it's all over. And her fiber wall was a thing of beauty. I should have taken a picture but I'd left my camera at home.

After that I headed to Wild Fibre for a little yarn stash enhancement. Found some beautiful Alchemy yarns for a new scarf and just HAD to purchase a couple of sock yarns. I also ordered a book that they will send me when it arrives.  

4. I do have a long overdue picture of a finished knitted project. The picture isn't that great, because I made it at night at a friends home with my iPhone and not in daylight with my camera. However the model is outstanding and a really good sport. She's my friend Janet and the mobius scarf she's wearing isn't even for her! It's for our friend Joyce who was busy doing something else. Janet loved this so who knows, she might receive one in the future.
 

I'm sure I've missed some things, but I'm going to hope I can do better at blogging and have something else to share another day.

Really....I'm alive

I know there must have been some discussion, but I'm here to put that to rest...I'm alive, and I escaped the kidnappers so don't send that ransom you were asked for. Seriously, I've been a very bad blogger and haven't kept you all up to date on what's happening in my life. So, I'm going to try and quickly bring you up to date and then try very hard to blog more then once every 6 months.

First, I got a contract job and that seems to have taken up more of my time then I'd like. Maybe time isn't the right word, maybe energy is. I'm coming to realize that the RA doesn't always allow me the same energy level that I think I have. So some things fall by the wayside. However, I've loved working at this job and was excited when my contract was extended to the end of March. Of course that means I now have to start looking for the next job, but that's ok too.

Since my last post I've seen
With my friend Kathe. We had a blast! What a great show.

I've managed to finish a few knitting projects, including a cute beret that I wore to work yesterday but that I don't have pictures of it yet. I also finished a stole/scarf and no there aren't any pictures of that. I've been working on a "super secret project" for about 2 weeks now. It's coming along, but slower then I had hoped it would.

As usual I went to hang out with my friends at a stitching retreat in October. We were back in Hilton Head again and had a great time together. One of the classes we were supposed to learn how to make scrimshaw. I learned that I'm not going to be making much of it myself and that I now appreciate the cost much more. While there my DF Heather helped me do the finishing for Halloween Fairy. Isn't she pretty?

Christmas was our usual decorating craziness with our open house on Christmas Eve thrown in. Then Christmas Day we went down to the church to have dinner with at the community dinner and hang out with everyone down there.

New Year's Day found me down at the Gator Bowl to say farewell to my beloved Coach Bowden. We had a great time and I admit I got teary eyed several times. The city did a fantastic job of sending him off in style. AND the team pulled together and got a win over WVU.Did I mention it was cold and rainy that day? It was, but we bundled up and had fun. I even managed to wear a new hat I'd knitted that week AND my HP/FSU scarf. (Jill & I above at the game.)

In January I took a trip up to Atlanta to spend time with my friend Jean (a.k.a. Doxietrek) for her birthday. It snowed, and more importantly the roads iced up so we spent a couple of days just hanging at her house. Our friend Ann had come in from TN so we stitched, knit and played some Wii games. Apparently it was news to Jean that I'm a tad bit competitive. But it did let me figure out that I like the Wii, so when I got home I ordered one as a late Christmas present. Having fun with it.

That's about covers the high points. I'll leave you with a gratuitous picture of my fireplace this Christmas. Had to put new lights on the garland and went with LEDs. Love the way they look, especially with the flowers I used.

Where does time go?

Seriously, where does it go? I know they say it goes faster when you get older, but it's getting a bit ridiculous lately. That means I probably have plenty to talk about on the blog and I promise to get to everything over the next few days to a week. But here are the highlights.

Planted some things, like tomatoes and flowers and such.There's been some knitting

and a cruise
Oh and some goodies received in the mail that apparently I only took a picture of this package from DF Jean:
There were 2 packages with yarn goodness from a raffle that I need to get a picture of for a future post.

So, all in all, busy time. Oh, and I'm again looking for a job, but I've had some calls, so that's good news. Hopefully the right job with come along.

But now I have to get ready to go to a "going home celebration", or as some people call it, a funeral. Ms Joy was a wonderful woman of God who it was my great pleasure to know. She and her husband, Paul, have been a great part of our church for several years now during the winters and for the last few years full time. She taught me a lot about how to live and how to survive in the middle of times of trial. I will miss her smile and laugh and her great stories that taught me more then anything. The last few years she's been very sick with her heart and other things. I can't wait to celebrate her life today with her family and friends. Sure there will be tears, but mostly because she won't be around to give us her wisdom and smile each week.

Until tomorrow...

Finally

Today finally came. The day I went to see the rheumatologist for the first time. Had to be there at 8:30 AM and it took a good hour to drive over to that part of town. Not that I had to cross the river or anything, just traffic. I was smart enough to bypass NAS JAX, since at that time of the morning it can be a little busy around there.

First off, I like Dr. B so far. She was friendly and nice without being cloying or too perky. She also took her time with me and asked a lot of questions and told me why she was asking them. She also examined me, which mostly comprised of her pressing on joint areas and down my spine. Some were more uncomfortable then others. Not much to report though. She confirmed that my tests do indicate RA and not Lupus. That the inflammation levels weren't too high, so that may be a good sign. However, she wants to do one more set of blood tests to make sure there is no sign of Sjogrens and that my liver is functioning properly. I also have to go for some X-rays so she can see if there is any damaget o the joints. I go back March 19th when we'll discuss what type of treatment she wants to put me on. Until then I'm to cut in half the dosage of Mobic I'm taking. (It helps to treat the swelling and stiffness from arthitis.)

That's all. I also dropped off "Little Green Acorns" at the frame shop. It will be ready in a couple of weeks. Of course I haven't put the other one I picked up on the wall yet, so I should probably get that done some time soon.

Thanks everyone for the good, positive thoughts and prayers that have been sent my way. I do appreciate them and am blessed to have such great people around me. I am truely blessed.

Thursday? Really?

Thursday's are so odd sometimes. I mean, it's not the middle of the week and it's not Friday, although it's almost Friday, which is good. And this week, I only worked 4 days, so today seemed like it should be Wednesday, but it's not.

I have decided I want my office to be MY office. The family business has been closed over a year and there is still more stuff from that in here then my stuff. That is all slowly changing. Each night I'm trying to take stuff and get rid of it. Some has to be shredded, some can just be thrown away. I've bought a few more things to put on the walls. I have filing cabinet drawers to clear out and bookshelves to clear out and replace all that stuff with my stuff. My knitting books and my crafting books and well, just my books. And in those filing cabinets? Hopefully the tall 4 drawer one will be completely emptied and I can get a matching bookshelf for where it is now and have even more space for my books and magazines and the like. Some of this stuff I have no idea what I'm going to do with. But I'm sure I'll figure something out. Some of it might end up on eBay. It's not a quick project, because most nights I only have 30 minutes or so. In fact tonight I'm working on clearing some stuff while running jobs for work. Nothing like multi-tasking.

Then, when it's done, maybe I can relax more and enjoy being in here and designing or making cards or whatever. Maybe I'll even finish my scrapbooks from the trip to Israel & Egypt! But let's not get too crazy. First, let's just see if I can bring order to this chaos, total order.

In "2009 For Me" news:

I finished a couple of books lately, 4 total this year so far. Enjoyed A Flaw in the Blood by Stephanie Barron. It was an interesting concept and I thought it was well written. Even though I knew the idea behind the book, I enjoyed reading how this author treated Queen Victoria and her children.

Stitching you got yesterday.

Knitting I'm behind in. The 2009 season of knitting for Victory Junction Gang Camp has started and I haven't picked up my needles for it yet. This Sunday I'm sure I will work on something for it though. Right now I'm frantically trying to work on the two classes I'm teaching this Sat.

Have to run to my meeting, so everyone have a great Friday!

Quick Catch-up

Nothing to show, although I have actually accomplished a bit lately. Today was a tough day at work. The company where I've been working as a contractor started laying off people in N. & S. America. That includes where I happen to work. Needless to say it wasn't a very fun day. It is nice that the company has arranged for a placement service to work with those who are being let go, including resume services. In the area I work in most, if not all, are technical people, so hopefully they won't go long without finding a job. I hope so.

But back to more enjoyable things, like knitting and stitching and all those fun things.

I've been working on Little Green Acorns and have almost finished what looks like the last large row. It's all blackwork and very prettily done in 3 different colors. I thought I would work on it today, but then realized I really do need to work on the square of Great American Aran Afghan that I'm teaching Saturday. So, I started that tonight. I didn't feel like doing too much this evening. Just sitting and knitting was about all I could manage. Other then that, I've also been working on my dad's sock. The goal is to finish it by the end of the month. Sounds and feels do-able.

Reading wise I've kind of fallen off. Been trying to get a chapter a day, but haven't quite made it. Still there is forward progress.

That about covers it. Hope everyone has a great Wednesday!

I'm sorry

Really, I've meant to post. I meant to post back on the 10th when I got a call for a job interview. Then I meant to post on the 12th after I had the interview. I really meant to post on the 13th when I got a call offering me a contracting position after the interview. Finally I was going to post on the 18th on my first day of work. But, alas, none of those things happened. I did manage to send out some emails to let people know what was going on, but no post here. So, I'm sorry.

The short version is...I have a job as a contractor. I'm working at as a QA Analyst. (Yes, I know their colors are blue and orange. Thankfully, I haven't been given any shirts that I must wear in those colors. I'm not sure how I'll handle that.) I haven't worked in corporate America or IT in 7 years. Funny, not much has changed. I was impressed that on Thursday when I got there they actually had a computer and a phone all ready and working, well sort of working. The phone worked if you had it on speaker phone. If you picked up the handset to talk, I could hear the other person, but they couldn't hear me. That issue was resolved fairly easily. The computer worked, and I even had a LAN ID, but not all the permissions for programs and drives that I need. Still don't have all the drives I need. Not sure what the hold up is with that. Oh well, it hasn't stopped me from being productive. The people are nice and the job is, well a job. It's a lot of tedious, very detailed testing right now. But that's ok. It's busy, so the day goes quickly. The added bonus is there are some people there that I know from when I worked at AT&T, oh so many years ago. It's nice to get to see them, although we're all busy, so not much catching up has happened.

The scary part is I'm getting up really, REALLY early so I can beat the traffic. It's about 28 miles one way to the office. That takes anywhere from 45 minutes to over an hour, depending on what time you leave. So, since they don't seem to mind, I've been leaving here around 6:15 AM so I can get there around 7. That means I get off from work fairly early, unless I stick around to work some overtime. So far they haven't decided if they want to pay for me to work overtime. (Did I mention I love being a contractor and being paid by the hour??!!!??) My poor body hasn't adjusted to the change in sleeping habits. I came home today exhausted.

In other great news....The Yarn Harlot is coming to Jacksonville!!!! Yes, my favorite LYS is hosting the Yarn Harlot herself next month on Oct. 16th! I can't wait. I know it's going to be a load of fun. Then the next Thursday I'll leave work and drive to Hilton Head, SC to join my friends at ASG. What a great 2 weeks that will be.

No pictures, but I'll give you some updates on stitching and knitting activities.

Stitching: I've been working on the ornaments that I should have finished in July. Finally got all my supplies for the last of 3 ornaments I need to stitch. I'll have it done and kitted by ASG. The others will be done and given to Jill in exchange for the kits I'm getting from others in the group.

Knitting: I'm currently working on a tea cozy design for a class I'll be teaching soon. I like how it's turning out so far. Hopefully it will look great when it's finished. I've also worked on some socks, finishing one of daddy's socks for his Christmas gift. Need to cast on for the other. I've got some other knitting to do for upcoming classes and some crochet to work on for classes. I need to work on some more Christmas gifts, but haven't had time.

I think that's all the updating I can do tonight. I need to check my email and do a few other things before I give up and go to bed. Bear with me as I attempt to figure out how to do the fun stuff and work too!

So, in some ways there's been a lot happening around here, and in others not much. Here's a quick rundown

1. At some point during TS Fay, or maybe just after I'm not exactly sure, our big screen TV decided to quit. Just quit. It turned itself off and wouldn't turn back on. Kind of rude if you ask me, but then again it is just a TV. That meant moving my small 20-something inch TV from my room to our Great room/Family room. The other TV was 50", let's just say it was not fun trying to watch TV on that small TV in that BIG room. Finally Thursday I found out that there was no getting it fixed for less then $400 and to be honest, that just wasn't a good investment. So I started researching and finally decided we should purchase this. (We paid considerably less then what they show as the MSRP, I can shop if nothing else.) This meant we also are going to make some changes to our cable and our phone. We've never had digital cable, just didn't convert, so now we'll get that with HD and all that comes with it, plus switch phones as well. We'll end up saying about $40 a month, which I just can't imagine, but that's what I've discovered.

2. I've been stitching. Working on my Halloween Fairy. She looks so pretty. There is an outside chance that I'll actually finish her before Halloween this year. Stay tuned and keep your fingers crossed.

3. Had a lovely, and very lively, dinner at my friends Don & Lynn's house last night. It was a reunion of sort of our group that used to do a Bible study together. We're missing one couple who currently live in TX, but we ended up calling them at some point during the night. We always have a great time together and this was no exception. There was great food (salad w/all the fixings, pork roast, fried chicken, cheesy hashbrown bake and desert) and good drink. Joyce always brings good wine and this dinner was no exception, plus Bill & Jen brought a bottle, but I didn't have any of that. We don't get together as much as we used to, but when we do...well, it's just fun.

4. Still looking for a job. Have to call a recruiter back Monday. Hopefully she'll have something good to tell me.

5. I missed Virtual Birthday. The weather was way too bad for me to attempt to go across the river to join in the fun. I've got to find a time to get with everyone. Won't be next week, but I think the week after will work.

6. Football (American style) seaons has finally started again. Spent as much of today as I could watching games. Have one on now and am listening while I type. Next Saturday begins FSU's season. I'm cautiously optomistic. I think we'll be better this year, but I don't think we're back to being a power-house by any stretch of the imagination. Planning on going to at least a few games this year. More, if I get a job and have some actual funds flowing. Still, it's fun to go to the games and hang out with my fellow 'Noles.

7. Speaking of the Seminoles, this is the clock I received from Mr. J.C.
I really need more bookshelves in my office to be able to show this off to perfection. When I'm his age, he's in his 80's, I want to be as active as he and his lovely bride Mrs. Margaret are.

I think that's the majority of my news. I'm sure there's other things I need to talk about, but that will have to wait until another day. If you live in the U.S. I hope you have a lovely Labor Day.

I'm Back

...but no time to post about the big party. I promise I'll do so at the first available opportunity. Plus I have to share what else I did while I was at my aunt's. (Here's a hint, I was doing it at home too.) Oh, and I have a picture of me and the big guy, Santa somewhere on my camera. Stay tuned.