Kidz at Work

I thought it would be fun to share this link to the Older Boy and the Girl's AP World History project. It's a Flash animation, with the Flash part courtesy of Beccano. While it has a few "issues" (the voices don't synch quite right, and some of the images don't display long enough), it's still pretty good. The Older Boy is the voice of the US fellow, and may also be the USSR guy--hard to tell, since the voices are distorted. The Girl is the narrator. Note that it is on endless loop, so get out when it restarts! I will tell Beccano how to make his next one end, not loop.

I was very impressed at how hard the worked on the project. It took them days and days, and lots of cooperative action among the team. It was enjoyable to see the high schoolers relying on the younger teen's expertise. And I think they were the only ones doing a Flash presentation for their project!

Of course, there was a down side. As I was trying to get to sleep with the help of Tylenol PM (boring story of incredible itching issues from sun and mosquitoes), Older Boy came in looking for help in making the presentation viewable by his teacher. Apparently no computer at the school has FlashPlayer. I tried to let Lee and him figure it out, but ended up being needed to upload the file to the Web. But, the fact that I uploaded it is why I can share!

Fairy Suna

Fairy Suna
Originally uploaded by sunasak.

I was uploading pictures to Flickr, because I paid money and now have more ability to share stuff. I found this sad little image from October 2001. The ex took it. I am wwaring a lovely old prom dress--the only prom or other fancy dress I ever wore in my life, since Corey didn't believe in the prom, and my weddings were both suit-wearing events.

In this picture, he had just told me he didn't want to be married any more, but would hang around a while until I was feeling better. It was at a neighborhood Halloween event. Sigh. He chatted and was happy and friendly with everyone--I hardly recognized him. No wonder the neighbors really haven't talked much to me. (Interestingly, Jeff also chats away to the neighbors, most of whom turn away when they see me!)

So here I am, looking like a fairy princess, in the sunset. It was the sunset of my dream of a "normal" family, which had all been some sort of fictional dream anyway. But, here, I know it.

In happier news, it has been a fine weekend. We had friends over last night and ate food and enjoyed the back yard. It was an interesting combination of people (Lee's tarot-ish friends, plus Work Boy and spouse) but it all worked out fine! I made the best ricotta cheese bread ever,* too--this time it was tall enough--I added more yeast. It is nice to be able to be social, and I know Lee is really enjoying the opportunity. He really couldn't before--no one apparently ever visited him before we were together.

In other happy news, my knitting store friend Cheri is in town, and I hope to see her while she is here. It is so interesting--we haven't talked since she moved away, but because we read each other's blogs, we only need to catch up on little details on each other's lives, not big stuff.

I had great fun with Beccano this weekend, too, just sitting and talking a lot all weekend. He helped me a lot, and baked a cake for the party, which had its misadventures (misread how much water to put in) but it came out fine!

Today we survived the poetry service at Ye Olde Spiritual Community (actually grudgingly enjoyed a couple of poems), enjoyed my friends there, and had fun at a Maypole ceremony on the labyrinth, with Older Boy grudgingly participated in (he's been acting "teenish"). The rest of the day we did various chores, painting, sanding and trying to finish my loud and garish sweater. It was a very, very nice day.

I have come so far since the day in this photo. I may not be tan and fit like I was here, but I am so much happier, and finally in a relationship with someone suitable to me who loves me as much as I love him. I have a future, not a fairy tale past. And I have Lee and the boys to share that wonderful future with. My wish came true!

---

* Des asked for the bread recipe, and I want to link to the book it came from, The Bread Mahine Cookbook, by Donna Rathmell German. This book is just wonderful, and she has 4 others, too, from Nitty Gritty Press, those small cookbooks. There are so many interesting recipes in this one that I'd say get the book, not just the recipe! Lots of interesting whole grain breads. Also, the book was revised in 2005, I found out, so I will get a new copy now--apparently some recipes were improved (I did have one or two not work for me).

Festive Patio Progress

Festive Patio Progress
Originally uploaded by sunasak.

Sam had asked to see the painted furniture, so here is a picture of some of the metal furniture (not pictured, burgundy glider and red chair), plus evidence that Lee is hard at work sanding the wooden furniture so it can get painted. He also put primer on one.

I put a lot more pictures on my Flickr page, if you would like to see more garden and other pictures. I'll be adding a lot when I have "spare" time. Don't know how much that will be this weekend--guests and stuff are popping up.

Stop and Smell the Honeysuckle

So, this is not a picture of honeysuckle, but it's been so long since I posted anything I knitted that I just had to put this in. Click on it to see what a pretty pattern this is, and it IS floral--so it counts. The scarf is in Noro Aurora, which has interesting colors and some lurex, but not too much. It's a Eugen Beugler pattern, with a lovely scalloped edge with twisted garter stitch. It was a real pleasure to knit--just took me a while to block it--had to find a dog-free space (Jeff's room since he is gone house sitting).

As for honeysuckle, I finally found the door OUT of the building at work, and lo and behold, not only is there a jogging path but also a hiking trail out there! It was so beautiful and quiet and shady. Suddenly I thought it smelled like bath gel, and I realized the wild honeysuckle was blooming. Oh, so wonderful to smell real honeysuckle, not the Bath and Bodyworks kind! I found a map that pointed to an overlook, which led me to a wooden bench beside one of those local limestone cliffs where water was gurgling away. There were many kinds of butterflies on the wildflowers, including some beautiful blue ones. I sat and knitted a row and basked--if it weren't for the construction sounds off of 2222 (a road), you'd never have known you were near a city or a large workplace. So, now I have a place to go escape. I LIKE it at work now!!!


May 6: In response to Kris's thoughtful comment, I want to point out that I agree with her on vines. In fact, on March 28 I wrote a post labeled "Pollen" in which I go into great detail about the thrill I have when I murderize a vine in my yard. (Don't get me started about how the grapevine is coming back with a vengeance, either.) And honeysuckle is a VINE, and thus not my favorite garden friend. Wild honeysuckle smells wonderful, but I am very glad it has not appeared in my yard. I have plenty of irritating coral honeysuckle, thanks, which has died where I want it to be, but in its death throes sent out many seedlings. Each corner of my house now has one trying to strangulate something (a crape myrtle or a Texas sage). And there is one in the back corner that is "allowed" to stay because I had tried to plant a "good" vine there earlier but it is too shady for words.

Safe Journey, Sis

Here's a photo of my sister, Canova (formerly known as Candi) probably from the 80s. I know I have other pix, but this was the only one I could find on the Internet (a poor scan from our fascinating family tree website done by my cousin Frank, the Palm Pilot genius).

She's pictured because I had a final dinner with her in Austin last night. She got tired of it here and is moving back to our home town of Gainesville, Florida (about which I have previously waxed ecstatic here on November 25). She's had a hard time finding a niche, and has followed me to Illinois and now to here, but never got the kind of job security she needed, nor found a reasonable partner. She made some good friends here, but we hardly got to see her, and well, I think she will just be happier back with her childhood friends who still love her so, and a high school friend she is now dating. I am happy for her, because I really want to see her happy again.

She has been losing weight again and looks good and seems to feel good (she's 13 years older than me), so as long as she survives the drive with the "interesting" cats, she should be OK. She has a little house to live in a "gated community" for people over some age, where her best childhood friend lives, and I know she'll enjoy having more space than her tiny one-bedroom in the fancy far-southwest Austin neighborhood had.

I will miss her, especially since I did not see her much in the last 4 years (she and Jeff were like oil and water, making for some tense holidays). I'll hate not having her help for holiday meals and such, but I have Lee and Beccano as helpers now!

An aside, my sister was from my mom's first marriage to a fellow who was a pretty bad alcoholic. They divorced when she was very young and moved in with my grandparents. So, my poor sister was raised by two very unstable Canova women (you are lucky to have avoided a lot of posts about my completely crazed grandmother and overly medicated mother)--it's a wonder she came out able to cope with anything at all. When my mother married my dad, C was 13, and when she tried to go to Sarasota where they were living, my grandmother had a "fit" so she had to go back to "take care of her." So, we never ended up living together when I was young. We'd see her on holidays when she'd sweep in wearing glamorous airline stewardess outfits which really awed my brother (he worshipped her). Later, once we were here in Austin, she did stay with us for over a month a couple of times, and that's the only times we lived together!

Our personalities aren't similar, nor are our interests, but we have similar political views and a shared background that helps us get along OK now that we are adults. And I am glad she still has my dad in her life, since she has no biological family to visit or care for.

I wish her well and hope to drag Lee down to Gainesville to see her if I ever get some time off!

Horoscope funny

Today's horoscope in Google was so true I just had to share:

"Sometimes your fantasies are actually better than when you finally get your dreams fulfilled. Today, however, reality is as good as you wish. The biggest annoyance is the mountain of details that you must attend to before you can let go and play with your friends. Don't get discouraged; just keep working steadily until you get through your chores. Your pleasure will wait."

That's the advice I need to stop me from being overwhelmed by all the "to do" things I have at home, when really and truly I am as happy and fulfilled as good ole Buddy looks like he is in the picture! Isn't he a pretty Big Dog?

And I have a lot of pleasure, honest. Even the icky stuff's sort of amusing, like Beccano getting in trouble for not standing up fast enough during the Pledge of Allegiance. We are all secretly proud, but Older Boy said, well, you can stand as a show of respect for the beliefs of others. That made sense.

I am also enjoying Older Boy and The Girl. They are a lot of fun. I have enjoyed listening to all three of them working on an AP World History project. It's Older Boy and The Girl's project, but Beccano is making a Flash animation of their Cold War report for them. They are chatting away in Russian and working fairly well together.

In good news, Beccano won't need braces until he is at least 16--his jaw is growing so fast that the dentist didn't want to work on his teeth yet. Whew, spared an expense for a while, at least. That helps my anxiety levels, too, as does the fact that Lee made us all a nice dinner and the men moved the old fridge OUT of the kitchen.

Life is good. And tomorrow I have STUFF to do at work, so it will go more quickly. Yay employment.

Lawn Furniture Fun

So, what are we doing this weekend other than refrigerating? I may have mentioned last week that Lee got some older wooden lawn furniture at an estate sale last week (we found out that the sale was of things belonging to a family who all died in a plane crash--how sad--I hope we can do them an honor by fixing it up and giving it new life).

So, here's a picture of what the patio looked like yesterday, with grumpy morning Lee and a tangle of dogs in it. There's wooden furniture and black wrought-iron furniture we've had since the house in Illinois. Lee got the idea of repainting the wooden stuff AND the wrought-iron stuff and making a festive patio. We got paint in many happy bright colors, and are going to have all sorts of different colorations going. We're also going to paint the wall hangings that are metal, and perhaps some of the plant pots (what the heck).

Yesterday I painted four of the metal items. Three chairs and a small table. Green, red and yellow. Well, doing it in the garage was a pain. Paint everywhere. And no way to keep colors off each other. Plus, the cute little trigger thing we got stopped working, so I ended up having my finger all numbed from pressing the nozzle. Argh. And I still have a blue chair and an orange table and glider to paint! Worse, today is just supposed to be partly cloudy, but it is drizzling!

The wooden chairs and loungers need to be sanded, primed, then painted, so they will take longer. I got us a sander, and one chair is done. Looks good. We also have to repair the chairs a bit--tightening their bolts and such--they are old. They will be pink, purple, yellow, blue and something else. Red...the idea is we will have two of every color once we are done.

I must say that, though it was a lot of work and mess, the ones I painted yesterday look spectacular and the patio already looks more cheery. I think it will be a fun look. Why be boring in the back yard, right?

Cold and Colder in the Kitchen

It's an exciting day at our house. The item pictured at left will show up later today, sadly, without all the food in it. We got a floor model with a little broken piece and a tiny scratch, so it was even less than advertised--total $400 off. Woo. Lee is a great bargain hunter and fridge provider.

Why am I so ecstatic over this? Well, the one we have we bought used (and WAS an improvement over the too-small previous used one). Its door never shut properly, leading to it often being slightly ajar. All the bins in the door began falling off randomly, so we could store nothing in there other than little light items. And the kicker was that in the past year or so it started freezing up periodically, so that the internal temp would fall and stuff would get messed up. Now, when a refrigerator stops refrigerating, it's time for a new one, I say! It's not doing its job!

This one has an external temperature reading, so I will KNOW if it is messed up (not something I was dying for, but hey, I got it at the price of one without that feature). It also has a taller water and ice dispenser so our tall glasses will fit. And THREE bins that store 3-liter sodas. Plus built-in can storage. And the ice maker has an interesting set up with an angle, which lets you have an extra freezer shelf, but easily tilts down to get ice. Really, someone was thinking when they designed this one.

You will note it is stainless steel. I did not jump on the bandwagon--they didn't have a black one on sale. And the black ice maker will blend it with our other appliances (which are GE profile, from the builder). Aside: we also found a dishwasher we liked a lot. We hate the dishwasher almost as much as we hated the old fridge.

So, Lee and the boys will install this new marvel and I will be in heaven. Not only do I now have the fanciest front-loading washer and dryer EVER thanks to Lee (my old ones now live in his old house) but he also got me this lovely fridge. Quite the 5-month anniversary gift, huh??

Here I Am!

Did you miss me? This is the last day of my first week at the Delicious Employer (mmm). I've been so worn out at the end of the day that I haven't been able to blog about what it's like here so far, but now I have a better set-up, so I can.

Things are fine at home, except I just learned that the ex won't be able to help Older Boy go to the camp he wants to attend this summer. I don't really think *I* can do it either, but I guess I will have to try, somehow. Ex suggested I sell the lacrosse equipment. I'll have to see if the son wants to do that or not. I guess I can sell my lovely bicycle (sniff) and all my cool cycling shirts. That should get me something. And give me closet space. Other ideas appreciated. No, I will not sell my yarn stash, LOL.

The new job is OK. As usual, a bit slow to start. I didn't get a computer until yesterday, and it's a little HP portable. I also got a phone yesterday so now I am all set. I spent a lot of the week reading Training for Dummies, which actually turned out to be a pretty good book. The stuff I will be teaching at first is a bit of a snooze, but it won't kill me. And hopefully I will get to learn a lot of new software for developing computer-based training. They seem to have killed off the in-person based training here.

Coworkers are nowhere nearly as sparkling and fascinating as the old ones, but then I don't know them very well yet, so they may be hiding their sparkles. So far just a LOT of talking about golf, which has me concerned! Besides, my old coworkers were just so wonderful that they can't be replaced. So I have their photos on my desk. But it's OK. The new boss is a very calm person, a woman of few words. But she has been helpful and nice and not obtrusive. Not bad.

That would be my very large u-shaped desk. Right next to my genuine walls (two!). Cubes are as big as manager ones where we were before, as big as Lee's, and with big wide aisles. That's because there is NO ONE in this place. Reminds me of the Dysfunctional Nonprofit Organization's old offices when I worked there. Many large rooms full of unused stuff.

The best thing is knitting at lunch on the patio, though it's very breezy. You can smell these trees that are blooming in light purple (I wish I remembered what they were) and hear lots of birds. This whole place is surrounded by wildflowers and trees--very pretty and great for butterflies and views. And it was obviously very nice looking when fully staffed and occupied. I hope someone will tell me soon how to exit so I can walk the trails!

I will catch up on my words for others and summarize them over the weekend. I hope to also write about issues related to what's in the news these days.

Words for Others

I promised to come up with words for the blog readers who contribute to my "one word" research. Thank you so much for making the effort to come up with a word, if you did. I find it quite challenging!

To ensure that people coming to the experiment for the first time don't see a list of words I came up with for others, I will post them as comments. Try not to read them until you come up with your word for me. It may take me a while to come up with your word, so, if you contribute and don't have a word yet, that means I am still thinking.

So far we have these kind contributors (and how I know them):

• Beccano (son)
• Belinda (DNO friend)
• Connor (DNO friend)
• "He Who Never Comments" (church friend)
• Katy S (DNO friend)
• Kris (DNO friend)
• Lee (partner)
• Marianne (DNO friend)
• Patty (DNO friend)
• Robin (DNO friend)
• Sam (DNO friend)
• Sandy (DNO friend)
• Shelley (DNO friend)
• Stephanie (DNO friend)
• Teresa (DNO friend)
• Tina (tarot/knitting friend)
• Vicki (email list and DNO friend)

What's nice is that these are some of the folks who know me best in the whole world, so they have a lot to base their words on. Thank you all!

PS: DNO = Dysfunctional Nonprofit Organization

PPS: I did not write explanations for why I picked your words, so if you'd like one, just email me. I plan to write up the explanations later, when I am analyzing.

What Is in a Word, ONE Word?

Background

A lady I know from the knitting store sent out this mass email (of course I did not respond and send it on to all my friends, knowing that I am SO not a mass emailer):

Describe me in one word.... just one single word.

Send it to me and to me only.

Then send this message to all your friends and see how many strange & interesting things they say about you.

The email sat there and I stewed about it. Nearly a month later, I sent her this:

[start email]

Believe it or not, I have been thinking about this a lot--it has to do with a book I am thinking of writing.

OK, so your word is:

OPEN

Here is how I apply it to you (I realize this is not part of the deal, but it is the idea of categorizing a person by one word and how it would affect your ideas about that person that intrigues me):

• You are open in how you view the world


• You are open to new experiences


• You are open to others who may differ from you


• You are open to the voice in your heart


• You interact with other people in an open, honest fashion
  
• You are open in how you share your feelings with others

I wonder how I would view you if I had picked another word? I am going to post on my blog an invitation for people to post a word about me, and then I will give them a word if I can think of one. It should be interesting.

[end email]

So, I have been thinking about how applying a label shapes how you think about another person. I think it would be interesting to note how the labels others would give to me would affect my own perceptions of myself. And can I give one-word characterizations like that to others? I am not sure!

---

The One Word Challenge

So, blog readers, are you up to the challenge? Can you describe me in one word? If you can, please post it in the comments but think of your word BEFORE looking at the others (I'd like to see if any repeat). In return, I will try to think of a word for everyone who contributes. I'll make it a blog entry and you can book mark it and come back, once it's up (I will link to it here).

I think we can learn a lot by considering how our perception of someone else
is shaped by how we categorize them in general, and whether thinking of a one-word
label for someone affects your view of them.

Then, think about how reading all the labels that I hope to find applied to
me affect your perception of me. I know it is weird to subject myself to such
scrutiny, but I didn't want to do it to anyone else, so I win.

Thanks in advance for participating!

Two Blogs Are One--and Comments

Just a note to say that all the posts from my first blog are now listed on this one. The only odd thing is that I didn't take the time to figure out how to re-post comments, so they are in the text of each post. I left in the amusing translations I wrote for Lee's STBX (very S).

Speaking of comments. I miss them. I like hearing from my friends and "fans." So, say hi sometime, or I'll end up feeling like I am writing just for me. Hmm, actually I sort of AM writing just for me. I'd keep this up as a journal even if no one else read, but I still enjoy the feedback.

Now I can go delete the old blog! Yay. I accomplished at least one of my "things to do while unemployed" goals.

Rose Becomes a Woman, What's Up

I haven't posted much this week, mainly because it hasn't been a ravingly exciting week. I have been pampering myself, taking it easy, and knitting a lot.

It was a more exciting week for Rose the Puppy, however. She's 6 months old now and had to suffer two indignities in one week. First, she had to go to Taylor to her old vet to get the rest of her puppy shots (they got delayed when Lee was having "issues"), which caused her to barf all over Lee's car. Second, she had to have all her "lady parts" removed yesterday (sure don't want any MORE puppies around here). She is doing pretty well and not running around and messing up her innards.

My friend Janet's daughter had asked us to babysit her two yorkies over the weekend (6 dogs, whee), but it would have been way too exciting for Rose's surgical scars. Good thing she ended up not needing us after all (I know the dogs would love the teeny dogs, long as Buddy didn't eat one or anything, LOL).

Anyway, think recovery thoughts for Rose, pictured here last week guarding her doggie door.

In other news, I did get some nice clothing for the new job, including red patent leather shoes (cha cha cha!), and I painted my nails very red in celebration. Best nail polish job I have done in ages--only one tiny chip and it's been four days! And most important, YES I got my hair done, so the disgusting inch of roots that was glaring at me every day is history, and I am a sparkling strawberry blonde with light highlights. I just got the bangs cut, so it's still long and pretty much the same as the previous lovely cut.

The weather was beautiful for a couple of days, so I spent a bit of time outside enjoying my yard in the daylight (not much of that starting soon!). It's getting rainy AGAIN so I am glad I had fun when I could. I hope it won't be too bad tomorrow so we can work on projects. The rain will be good for the new grass, though. I think it is gonna stick!!!

Now that my stress has lessened, Lee's has picked up, so I have tried to support him as much as I can. They keep delaying announcements about what is going on in our former department, so everyone feels up in the air. It has to be hard to concentrate on projects, not knowing if you get to do them or not. Even under stress, it is wonderful to be with Lee and to enjoy our relationship. It's simply the best one I have ever had. We both feel so lucky.

Aside: I have to say I sure am consistent. One of the jobs I was up for didn't come through. Oh, the dude said I was the best candidate (it was the one making wikis), but they had to use a particular agency, so the folks pitching me couldn't get me in. Since I was recently reading through the old blog, it's been so apparent that I come in second a LOT! Funny.

And happy Friday the 13th!! Busy weekend coming up, so I should have stuff to report.

Greenhouse Effect

Ooh, it was a cold weekend. We had sleet much of the day Saturday, and there was white stuff on the roofs of the houses when we woke up. Either snow or sleet accumulation.

We brought in most of the delicate plants and covered the ones we could not bring in. Most (I think all) survived, though yesterday the peppers looked puny. Today they are perky again. Perky Peppers!

In honor of the cold snap, here's a photo I took that I call "Greenhouse Effect." (It's photoshopped, so that's why it looks stylized.) These plants made it through the cold snap just fine...the frame is the old door that we took off when we installed the new one with doggie door ("we" being Lee). He just leaned the old door against the house under the kitchen window until we figured out what to do with it. Well, the bad ole weed plants that keep coming up between the house and the patio of course emerged behind the door. They ended up growing rather prettily and look like plants in a lovely greenhouse, not weeds and a discarded door. (In there is Virginia Creeper, Wandering Jew and a lantana seedling from the plants in the front of the house thanks I guess to the wonders of bird poop).

Obviously all this door and weedage has to go, but I am glad we got some photos of it before it went!

Other than coldness, it was an OK weekend. The Flower Communion at Ye Olde Spiritual Community went fine, and I got a flower that perfectly matched my purplish shrug. There was a children's choir and they did GREAT (especially compared to previous attempts at getting kids to sing at this church). We were all late, but managed to sing our song OK. It was the one with weird UU lyrics and including the word "architrave" of some such unfamiliar word.

At home, Lee, Beccano and I cooked a lot. The boy and I made pear cobbler from scratch (and it was delicious, with three types of pear). I made deviled eggs with tartar sauce because the mayo we bought has disappeared. It was interesting, but people ate it. I baked bread with ricotta cheese in it, and that was way yummy and moist (we had extra because we got a large container of it for the lasagna). And Lee and I made lasagna. He did it, mostly and it was GREAT. MMMM. We have great leftovers right now, including split pea soup I made on Saturday.

My sister showed up for her final holiday meal before moving, and we ended up also having the Girl with us at dinner, since her family was late picking her up after visiting Older Boy much of the day. Poor Older Boy has lots of ups and downs now that the Girl is in the picture. But he is mostly happy, and she's quite nice. It was good to have here there. We had a pretty fun meal and used the big table in the dining room, which I had decorated in yellow and purple and green with fertility symbols all over it (glass eggs, birds, and butterfly paperweights).

My only unsuccessful event of the weekend was a knitting mess up. I bought some GORGEOUS yarn, GGH Mystik in color 94, a VERY green and shiny color that looks like an emerald. I decided to make a lacey round yoked top in the new Rebecca pattern collection out of it, because it will really show yarn overs well. So, I spend all Saturday night cursing and swearing as I tried to cable cast on with size 1 metal needles and this slippery yarn. Then began tedious twisted ribbing. Then said, hmm, this appears rather wide. I looked at the instructions. Where I mentally heard 140 stitches, the actual number was 114. You can see how my auditory/kinesthetic learning style did NOT help in that case! So, I have to cast on again. I didn't knit on that yesterday. I kept plugging away on my lovely bamboo shawl. Still have to finish the top-down sweater from the class, too. I know what I am doing with it, now. A horizontal leaf border, then feather and fan to the end. It will be "different."

Weather, Schmeather

OK, we are in Austin, TX and it is well into April. Then WHY is it SLEETING? And why does the weather thing say it is 30 degrees out? Brr. We had to go grocery shopping amidst all these little ice cubes falling from the sky. Then Lee and Beccano had to bring in all my lovely hanging and potted plants and cover up the other plants. This made Lee into his Fuzzy Headed Boyfriend mode. But, at least we will not lose all the plants we've been working so hard on!

Since it is all rainy and icky, I am making pea soup and homemade bread. We will also have a salad at dinner. Beccano made giant cookies (which had a hard time actually cooking). We got stuff to make lasagna for tomorrow, and a fruit cobbler for the baker boy to make. Good rainy day stuff, since it should be icky again tomorrow, and my sister is coming for one of her final visits before moving to Gainesville.

Everybody's going away. Soon it will just be me, Lee and the boys on holidays.

Another Crisis Bites the Dust

MMM

That's what Greg would say. The recruiter called this morning to offer me the position at a company whose name reminds one of those letters. It will be a challenge to do this, but I enjoy learning and especially enjoy not going into debt and being unemployed. This is a year contract, so my new goal is to find something permanent before it is up. Still have that ALE dream.

I am very relieved. And grateful for all the vibes, candles and such. It seems to have worked.

Next up: hair cut and coloring appointment! I can spend money again! Let's go buy a refrigerator! Then a week of relaxing, resting, and enjoying life rather than worrying.

Must find the next thing to worry about...JUST KIDDING

Happenin's and Transitions

The past couple of days have been a whirlwind of telephone calls, job interviews, and applying for jobs. I am not exaggerating when I say it is as much work to look for work as it is to work. Maybe more. I have a lot of interesting possibilities, and one that may very well work out soon--not the best one. However, this one is offering me more money than they originally said (good!). So, we'll see. Here are the possibilities:

1. Nonprofit organization software: the place I interviewed for 5 hours at on Monday. That is a REAL job, not too far away, and with nice folks. It has a little travel. You get to help people figure out their web needs and then let other people meet those. That is so good. I have no idea what it pays because I forgot to ask. Duh.



2. Short contract doing Wikis at a place only 5 minutes from the house. I like this one because it would last long enough for me to be eligible to go back to ALE and hang out with my beloved Lee again, if I desired. Or get a REAL job there. And this one does not sound too hard. I know my wikis. This just popped up yesterday.



3. The one that's a long-term contract doing training stuff is third. It looks like the hardest job, and the one I have the least confidence in. But I like the contracting agency staff.



4. There is another one that came up this week and I have interviewed for. It is located SO FAR from here that it is not funny. But it is working with interesting people and is a high-level web strategy position.

Lots to think about. I have interviewed at least once with everything but the wiki place. That should be soon, I think.

Transition

In other news, my baby is growing up. Younger Son is now Beccano in this blog, because he has his own blog now (only for people he KNOWS) and has joined Lee and me on our tarot blog. He draws cards many days, and wanted to record them. So now we all get to blog together. He is definitely mature enough to read the tarot blog--Lee and I don't go into anything he can't know about there, other than some mushiness. And Beccano knows we are mushy. I am proud of him. Today we are enjoying a day together because he had a fever last night. We all got some "gastrointestinal distress" yesterday.

Beccano is his Wookie name on Star Wars Galaxies. And part of his AIM screen name. I guess it is for him like Suna is for me--another part of himself.

We think the pollen is passing. I have never seen so much oak debris in my life. I keep sweeping up huge piles. And the grass is 3-4 inches tall in spots! Lee brought home a cool turtle planter he had at his old house, and we are going to put nice flowers in it shortly, in the front of the house. Really looking nice around here.

Becoming Modern

Look, it's Lee in a suit. It's a way smaller one than he has had in the past, so that is great. And it has a silk jacket, mmm, and a new tie, oooh. So I made him stand there so I could take a picture of him, looking like he wished he were elsewhere. Well, he was going to a funeral, and not a real fun one, so I can't blame him for looking a bit pained.

Poor Lee (poorly); I have been dragging him into the modern world these days. The kids are helping. Kynan insisted he get on AIM last night, so we could all type to each other while in the same room. Kynan has turned into Mr. IM lately--I can't believe how fast both the boys type. I hope I can get a job with IM allowed so I can say hi to the kids. Of course, no saying hi at Lee's employer.

And today I am encouraging him to get on yahoo so he can read church email lists. He sure hates doing that stuff. I hate having to encourage him do it. He doesn't like having to jump through hoops. I usually don't mind--do it once, and then you get years of email lists, I figure. But then, I also don't have someone out there snooping for my email address, interfering with my privacy and stuff.

Anyway, he looks cute in his suit.

Green, Green Grass

Look, look look. See, see see. See grass grow.

Grow grass, grow!

This is not a very exciting photo unless you are familiar with the vast expanse of bare dirt that is my back yard. Then, you are thrilled to see those li'l blades of grass shimmering in the sun! And that photo was taken on Sunday. Today you can REALLY see the grass, and Lee has filled in some gaps with more seed. It is conceivable that, soon, a person would consider us to have a "lawn."

Whoa.

I didn't spend all weekend watching grass grow. I taught a lot of knitting, went to church and learned interesting things about societies in an exercise we all did as a family. We were all members of different "cities" named after types of ice cream, and the "mayor" and "sherrif" wandered around doling out favors or not. And there was someone acting as permit person who showed favoritism too. It was supposed to be a microcosm of society and show how you start to act like how you are treated. It was pretty fun! We made our city a commune off the grid, but still could not avoid influences of others.

So, what else...last night was the annual birthday bash of my friend Austin. Not as many people as usual, but still a lot of music. I got to introduce Lee to a lot of my music friends, and was relieved to find out that some of the ones I really care about ARE my friends, and not just people who were nice to me because I was with Jeff. A couple of people made a big point of saying that they would like to see me more and do stuff with me and Lee. And more than one told me how wonderful I am for being so kind to Jeff. I told one woman that Jeff had been hard to live with and she said, "Oh, I KNOW, you are an ANGEL to have been to good to him for so long." So, that was nice.

Lee spent a lot of time out on the labyrinth. He sure loves it, and it had a big pool of moonlight right in the center. Beautiful.

Unfortunately, I ended up having two too many margaritas from the marvelous frozen margarita machine. Lee kept refilling. Then he made another one when we got home. It ended up being QUITE the fun evening, but this morning my head sure hurt, and I had job interview stuff to do!

And Job Interview Marathon went well. 4 hours of talking, but it ended up really, really good. I loved the place and the people seemed very nice as well. Tomorrow I have two--someone called in this morning having looked at my resume from last year and gave me a call--wow, someone actually DID call when something fitting my skills came up!