Lord, Grant Me the Serenity.......

OK, so I'm still trying to get my head a little more organized. After finding so many fun things that I could make on Sunday while surfing, I need to get my head back in the game. I think this picture to the right has a LOT of different options that could play out. In the past 2 days I have started and ripped 4 different designs/yarns/ideas that just didn't feel right. Could I be getting picky in my old-ish age? :) Probably. Anyhow, this neck wrap with button closure is just plain intriguing.

On the home front, Bill's eyes have been getting worse again and with his regular eye guy retired now, he's been put back to the original doctor. Now tell me why this happens tho..... when he called to get an appointment, the original gal was nasty to him saying he'd not kept an appt last May and why does he think he should be able to GET an appt in the next week? He told her he knows his eyes and knows when he needs and doesn't need an appt. She huffed and connected him to the triage nurse who said basically the same thing, but in a nice voice and ended up laughing with him KNOWING he knows his eyes and when he needs in. He was SO frustrated and I'd certainly love to give the first gal a nice piece of my mind. The worse his eyes get, of course the worse his attitude. This is a bad time of year for him at work, too, so he decided next year he'd use this week as vacation time. But then he asks, "What the hell would I do for a week at home?" Then he smiles and says he'll just go fishing in Florida with my brother-in-law. Maybe someday that could happen again for him and/or us. Anyway, good news is he can get his eyes taken care of on Monday.

Need a haircut - starting to look like my dog. :D

Something dreamy....

I wish this was my design - I absolutely ADORE this one. Located it on Ravelry this afternoon since I'm finally enjoying decent computer 'work-age' and much better wi-fi. I've been surfing patterns for an hour now, but only after ironing for almost 2 hours and my knee took a beating.

I absolutely HAVE to try this one - may use someone at work as a guinea pig again. Now where does one find those cool stick pins like in the picture? Antique stores? The Oriental Market? Just putting it out there. :)

Do you know how LONG it's been since I've actually SURFED the web? It has to be longer than year, maybe more. So fun finding such pretty things out there that I can do, too.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.......

Quality Time.... and stuff

After all the snow we have received, it's going to take a few muscles to get everyone's car on the road to work tomorrow. I won't have problems, but that's because our Ford has 4-wheel drive. Just feeling for everyone else who doesn't. Careful everyone.

Was sitting here thinking about how calm the morning was yesterday before the grandkids left to go to their dad's. They had both gotten Nintendo DS' for Christmas from their mom. So they played with those for quite a while. But after a bit, they reverted back to simpler things - shocking huh? All of the sudden Dylan comes upstairs with paper and his drawing pencil, sat himself at the kitchen table and contentedly drew pictures. Raegan put her DS down and decided to snuggle up to see what I was doing (yes, I was slacking) and we decided to work two word-search puzzles together out of a PEOPLE puzzle book I'd gotten as a gift at work. Of course we had to work the 'Troy' (High School Musical) one first. But sitting there and seeing what was happening, these two kids DO know how to be busy AND quiet. Such a long shot from when they come home from visiting their dad's house. .....and then they had to leave.

I have been a little more successful in setting up the wi-fi in the house. I just plain started over. Haven't been real happen how IE works on the old computer, so am trying Mozilla and have accomplished more on the web in the past day than I can even believe!

Shawna's significant other surprised us with a gift Christmas. Out of the blue. He wasn't supposed to do this, that's why we have the mystery bag exchange every year (and yes, he's involved in that, too). He comes bringing up to us a Blu-Ray DVD player with an internet connection so we can watch Netflix on our TV! We haven't had a DVD player forever!!! Ours had broken ages ago and we just didn't afford to replace it. Now how special is THAT? I have found the wireless adapter at SamsungParts.com and hopefully soon we'll be up and flying. We watched our first movie last night on it: "Burn After Reading". Strange movie, but one I knew Bill would want to see.

I smell the coffee, and the day can now officially get underway.

Christmas 2009

Merry Christmas! I haven't forgotten about blogging, just wasn't as important as some other things happening in life.

After thinking about maybe listing all the bad and good in '09 I figured that really was just still too negative. We are where we are at today because of it all - good AND bad.

After losing our house in February, we were able to move into a duplex - all of us. This included our daughter and her two children. They are still blessing us by living here and helping with expenses now that her divorce is final. Money has never been tighter.

Bill and I both found excellent jobs a little over a year ago after having to shut down our business. The pay puts a roof over our heads and food on the table, but that's about it. But there are many other rewards over and above just making ends meet - barely. Bill has excelled in his field and is in love with his job and his clients. I, too, love my job along with the people and patients I come into contact with every day. Everyone has a story - and we love to hear them.

I had my knee scoped in December and made a very rapid recovery. Bill's eyes are still giving him problems about every 6 months - it's time again to go see the specialist. It does make playing poker with him a bit challenging! But he still handles it with a great attitude, but it obviously does wear him down. But I think it would take a lot more than that to keep his attitude negative. The flu hit only one of us so far this year - me. After going nearly 13 months of perfect attendance at work, I have missed over a week now with the surgery and flu. Anyway, whatever it was - it's gone. Thank goodness!

At the company annual Holiday Party, I was surprised by an award out of nowhere. With over 100 employees, they hold vote every December in 3 employee categories - all of which are voted on by the employees anonymously. They bestowed the honor of "Most Positive Employee 2009" award clock with inscription in front of the entire crew. What a feeling THAT was. :) I can now say I have a 'major award' and it's even better than a leg lamp. Ha Ha!

Here it is Christmas day, quiet in the house because of the major blizzard we are having, working on a computer that decided is didn't want to work anymore and had to go back to the factory settings with a system recovery. :( After NOT finding any of my photos, pdf files or other needed information yesterday, I proceeded to sit for an hour and have a martini and shed some tears. Thankfully, Shawna called her boyfriend (who was still working) to tell him what happened. If it weren't for him being patient and knowing how much all the work I'd done on here meant (and photos) he would not have been able to come upstairs mid-evening last night and say "Merry Christmas" Karen, I found all your pictures - they weren't gone. BEST Christmas present ever. Does that mean I can return his gift now? LOL Oh, yeah, that's right - we weren't able to get him one anyway. He and Shawna are the best at understanding how tight things are for us all.

I have made and sold over 15 newboy hats for kids and adults in the past 3 weeks and that has helped a lot in affording some holiday extras. I have more orders to complete after the holidays - pretty cool. I can't wait to pick up my 'fun' knitting though. There are babies coming next year for 5 co-workers, so there will be things to do to keep plenty busy. But then again, am I ever bored? :D

I've rambled - but now you know we are still here. Trying our best. Working hard. Trying to do the right things.

May you all have a blessed Christmas and the fullest of New Years!

Getting Back in My Groove

Here are two items I've finished and ready to gift out. It's been so long since I've been able to actually show something. Thanks for looking. :)

A cushy boucle' cream colored baby blanket.......

.....and the 'Giving Tree' baby blanket I'm in love with.

.....and life goes on

With all the celebrities that have now gone, and some too early, it HAS to make one stop..... and think, reflect, and institute some personal changes to how you live your life.

Haven't written on my blog for months and it may now be time to come back.

Even though life has thrown curves, stop signs and pile-ups at us, we are still here to tell the story. We haven't totally recovered from everything and it may be years before we do (if ever) but we have had to impliment the story "The Little Engine That Could". God hasn't called us home yet, so every day, hill and valley, challenges of all sorts are getting looked at so much differently. I totally believe that Bill and I have been through a sort of hell on earth, but life isn't over yet. So what are we going to do with all the pain of the past?

That's right! We HAVE made it through and need to rejoice that we don't have to live at the Mission, that we have two beautiful daughters and healthy grandchildren. We are employed, where some are not. We have new and different challenges, but now each one will be handled with a new attitude.

GRATITUDE

Moving Time

After 9 months on the market and many many MANY price reductions, the house has finally sold. Not for what we wanted nor needed, but it's an elephant off our back. The closing is already on the 20th of February and with the hours Bill and I work, this will be an interesting one to pull off.

We have a beautiful duplex to move to, further away from work for all of us, but it's something that just cannot be passed up. A friend and local builder has kept this open for us and is in move in condition. Only three years old and will also be perfect for just the two of us when Shawna and her kids get back on their feet and move out on their own again.

Any volunteers to help move? Yeah, that's what I thought. giggle

Thank you for all your prayers these last months....... they haven't gone unanswered.

LCS Cheerleading Camp '09

A moment in time I missed out on in person (due to working - again), but thankfully Shawna was able to catch some of the camp and get a photo of Abby and Raegan at the annual LCS Cheerleading Camp! I guess they had a SUPER time and Abby even won an award in her age group! Hope to see more pictures from Abby's mom (hint hint).

Abby, who is 8 now, is on the left with the shorter dark hair. Raegan, 6 yrs old, is on the right with the blonde pony.