Well, I got the embroidery mailed off and then got the USPS telling me that they refunded my money and then I wasn't sure if they were going to cOD it or return to sender? It made it without issue so yay. But ugh. That was stress I did not need. But its okay.

Work had a lot of bad news but one highlight we had a major test that went really well late on Thursday night that I was there to witness. Super proud of the team. They are all very young but worked really well together and it showed. I left work exhausted but pleased for that one but all the other ish is weighing on my brain. Friday was a workday but I had scheduled some self care for Friday afternoon. Got myself a full leg wax and brazillion and while I was nervous the tech was wonderful, the place was cozy and it wasn't near as painful as I expected. I didn't have any bad reaction to any of it and my skin is smooth. I made another appt for in 4 weeks and will do maintenance. I'm hooked. I got home and just sat and played star dew. Mel got Benton and then headed to kung fu. He made stir fry for dinner which was tasty.

I was so tired but finished Golden Enclaves which was amazing. I woke up at the crack of dawn on Saturday and just go up. I got laundry going, coffee on, a ritual shower and played stardew before my blood donation. After the vampires got me I headed to the Bra Spa and got a new every day bra and one for my dress for the wedding. I realized that I just need to take the straps up half an inch and also take in the sides a bit to help the fit as well. Then I hit grandmas to buy Mel a ball of pretty yarn and then to quilt basket to buy some patterns for bags I want to make. All of these places are in the same shopping center so I missed Ari getting a bra by like 2 mins. Got home and laid down for a bit before doing my laundry put away and cleaning up the studio. I did not get to the war bedding laundry and well that is my bad. I ignored it. Then I headed to Kon Tiki to meet with the girls where we had a lovely work bitch session and food and drinks. I felt very mellow after that. I went to bed earlyish.

Sunday I slept in a bit and Mel brought me coffee and I managed to get up and have breakfast and play stardew before heading off to my appt for my hair, I was 5 mins late cause I thought it was at noon not 11am. oops. But got my hair and eyebrows done, box lunch for a few things, hit the liquor store, then the girls estate sale where I found a necklace for Cassandra and saw a few things mel might like. Then I hit home to drop off booze and purchases before Costco. While I was there Mel and went and got an antique yarn reel that was cheap. I got home and Jessie was there and I made sushi bake for dinner. He had taken Benton to play commander at Andrew and Mary's house. We had such a nice time chatting and Jessie left about 10pm. Got to bed late and then was woken up by the wind slamming the windchimes all over the house between 3am and 5am. Ugh.

Tonight I will take in my dress and maybe fix mel's coat and bed early. Cause so tired from the weekend etc.

So work was super busy with meetings after meetings after meetings but I left and headed to home to get my to-do list going. I got laundry on, got dinner made and after I picked up Benton I went through the detritus boxes and got them down to 3 boxes versus 4 and one of the boxes was largesse and I can probably combine that with box of largesse I already have. I did find some fun things like my work badges from Lucas and Cat. So many site tokens and tchotchkes. A lot of dead string and leather ties for tokens etc. I did find some jewelry/accessories that had gone missing so that was good. But some of this goes back into the bedroom into my wardrobe and that needs a going over as well. Sighs. I do think I still have a tin somewhere of other probably in the studio closet of doom. Its nuts in there...And that will get cleaned out eventually.

I started tapering off my brain meds in december and I'm about to get to the last of the tapering and well...I'm happier and more productive and more me? Mel said yes, I'm more me again and he did not like what the meds did to me and yeah. I can gauge my anxiety more and not just ignore its happening? I also hope me adding in a magnesium drink in the evenings (started Jan 1) will help regulate a few more things more naturally. I've also curtailed my drinking which I think was being exacerbated by the meds and making my will power low. My tattooist stated it made her a klepto. I'm also hoping my libido kicks back in but I think getting my ass back to consistent gym time will also help cause yeah. Small steps but the brain is much happier and I've been able to get things handled like I want them and that is a good thing too.

 Last weekend I managed to do nothing...this past weekend I did all of the things.  I felt guilty for not cleaning my studio and last Monday I went to Strength club and then home for dinner and Arts night.  I cleaned during the arts night and got everything done including  hanging the new mirror.  How cool is that!  Its easier to do a task with friends on the line.

Tuesday I got some news that gave me some inspiration for a project and now I'm working on a project.  Got to mind meld with some of my favorite people and we have a plan.  I hope the weather cools down so i can work on another project that needs to just been finished.  Its been too long in work.

So last week was pants...just crazy amounts of weird at work, I almost got sent to DC for meetings and I have cats/kid to watch for Ari during that week so I will support remotely. I made it to the gym 3 times and ate well.  Benton started school and that is going okay.  Mel and I worked out that I won't be doing the drop off on Thursdays so I can host the zoom call.

So the next while will be working on projects, hitting the gym and keeping track of my macros. I've been really trying to meet them.  Feeling good though and thats been a while.

Last Monday really was the pinnacle of suck and the week just kept hitting.  I was so off balanced and just not with it for most of the week.  Work was draining and by Thursday night I was so done.  So many stoopid things.  Ugh.  Friday was my day off and I worked the POD from 9-2 and it was the busiest I had ever seen it.  It was crazy.  We had 6 lanes of cars open at observation and had to keep it at 6 lanes since the vaccinators were working so fast we couldn't clear lanes in time from their 15 min observation.  Checked out and ran into Sean from the gym which was nice. he was working Observation 50 feet from me while I was doing traffic.  We didn't know.  Then headed to Costco and well...I don't like the layout of the Southside Costco and the fact it stocks very different stock than my usual one...ugh.  So weird.  But I checked out and ran into Pancho from the gym who works there.  He was feeling it from our new workout which is a lot of bouncy, full body craziness.  Seriously, Keith has us doing up/down planks with a jack...like really?  I can only do it it I really don't think about it.  ugh.  Then I got home and was woozy. The food they serve at the pod I can't eat and only one snack had no dairy (honey roasted peanuts).  The Costco had a huge line to get food and I just went home hungry and had to pee something fierce.  I should have gone at Costco but again, I hate the layout of that store.

So I managed to feed myself and get things settled and then I laid down.  It was okay. I was tired.  I had 16k steps which a lot of that was my waving flags counting steps but it was a lot.  My everything hurt. Lol. Gym and POD work taking its toll.  Saturday I got out of bed and went to the gym even though I really didn't want to. I did and then got burritos and when Mel went to work the POD Benton and I worked on de-effing the house.  We got the living room and the front room floors cleaned up and organized.  I wanted to wash floors but ran out of steam.  I grilled burgers and sweet potatoes for dinner and Mel was happy to have hot dinner.  We relaxed for the evening. Boyo was super clingy that dad was now home.  Sunday I got to sleep in a bit but I had work to do for the DBF competition.  I had 2.5 of them to finish and I should have been done a week ago but they were due this Monday.  I got through 2 without much issue and then the last one was a doozy. I had to stop and just walk away it was so bad.  I gave them a lot of zeros and they didn't follow the rubric at all.  They get the rubric...its not like they don't know what they are getting graded on...OMG.  I felt bad but their 27.5 points out of 100 is telling.

We had Jackie over to learn how to process fiber and it was nice to sit outside for a while and enjoy the weather.  I grilled sausages and made pasta for them and it was a good dinner.  I was tired from the brain drain of the papers and  just the weekend in general.  I snuggled up on the couch while we finished watching the last episode of Forged in Fire: Beat the Judges and then a couple of episodes of Iron Chef America.  I got back to knitting which I haven't done any since the 16th when I finished a cowl.  The yarn is so thin on this shawl and my hands were not happy with it but I took frequent breaks and then got about an inch done.  I had hoped to finish this by my birthday and wear it but I don't know if that is possible. I need to get back to working on the outdoor scroll and I hope to get that in work tonight and then sit and work on it for the text.  

I get my second shot on Wednesday and then mel gets his on the 10th...by the end of April I may be able to see Ari and the kids for dinner and that will be awesome. I miss them so much.

Its chilly in the old Pueblo this AM with a 32F but feels like 27F out there. I stayed in bed for a bit, Mel stayed in bed for a bit. The boy was unhappy with getting up and I have no idea why they didn't just have class today versus their normal Wednesday homework day versus having the kids have a full day tomorrow. *headdesk* Then its holiday break for them.

I managed to get to the gym after 3 weeks off and I felt really good about it. I need to remember during vacation to get out for walks to keep moving and keep the pounds off. I'm a little fluffy right now but have been trying to be better about eating and keeping up with my water. Getting back to the gym will help with a lot of things in my head too. I thought I was gone for a month but 3 weeks is close I guess. But it was good to do.

Started on my Dumpster Fire 2020, see the pattern listing here DumpsterFire by Kino Knits
Its fun and I think the kit I got will make probably 3 of them.

Got an email from work that my Service Anniversary Package is inbound. Yeah, 20 years in January...wth? Where did the time go? 20 years...holy crap. Guess that grey hair means something. But today is the last day of my 2020 work year. So good to finally be here. Ugh. I can't wait to sleep in tomorrow and have time to veg and work on knitting and sewing and maybe some other things. Like making fruit cake.

Well, my voice is better but I'm not sure if that is due to all of the gin I had last night or not talking much today since I had two very short meetings and then the rest of the day to data dive for a presentation Monday.

One thing though is that I'm sick of having to tell people who are my counterparts how to do their damn jobs. Seriously, follow instructions and use the brain! Ugh!

There has been a lot of that this week.

I'm going to be happy to have a weekend off and then only 2 days of mayhem before a very long weekend.

***cough****cough****blows the dust off this thing....


Well, to say things have been quiet would be lying. My world has been work and the gym when I haven't been working or traveling. October we took almost a week off and went to Chicago to see all of the sites. Navy Pier, Children's Museum, Chicago Field Museum, River Architecture tour, Shedd Aquarium, Museum of Science and Industry. So much and we didn't even see all of the Field or The Museum of Science. We took transit the entire time mostly buses but the El as well. It was very nice. It was chilly and then downright cold the last day but all good. We even managed to hit a really nice yarnstore!

We will be coming back to see everything some more. Sue the T-rex was impressive and the exhibit was excellent. The U-571 German sub we took during the war that netted us an Enigma Machine was exceptionally cool. We will definitely get tickets to go inside it next time.




See the pic above to click thru and see all of the photos. I took a lot.

The rest of October was work, work and more work. I gave a 7 hour presentation on Nov 7th which was exhausting and a good milestone for the program. We will need to to it again for one piece of hardware but it shouldn't take 7 hours. YAY! Also during the first weekend of Nov when I went to Coronation with Benton and Ari, Mel went to a juanshu sword tournament and won the 'old guy' division.

Just after my presentation I was able to surprise Mel with a belated anniversary trip (16 years) to Bisbee. Ari was kind enough to give us 36 hours kid free and we took it and had the "Romantic Package" at the historic Copper Queen Hotel. We had a good time even with the SidePony Music Festival. We got to listen to some really good music and hang out at the hotel and the Old Bisbee Brewery. Very nice time and we got to antique and dink around. Mel was recovering from a cold so we left a bit early on Saturday but that let us catch lunch in Sonoita at the Copper Brothel Brewery. Good food and excellent beer before we headed home.

So that brings us to this week and I have very few working days left for the year due to me not taking PTO when I needed to.....so yeah, theres that.

Well, last Friday I was supposed to have surgery and they cancelled while we were on our way there. There was an emergency with the Doc and I'm now rescheduled to the 19th.

So my weekend got rearranged and we got to see Thor Ragnorok which was awesome and lord was it funny to cover up the "holy shit this is really really dark!"

Then Saturday morning I fell ill with nasty headcold/flu that basically left me sleeping for days on end. REcovered mostly and now am on my last day of work for the year and lots to do and not a lot of gumption. I'm tired and still kinda run down but a few weeks off will be good. Just have to clean house and get shopping finalized before Tuesday's surgery.

I am a few days behind on the shawl for the Craftvent Calendar but its turning out nice.

I posted to twitter about my busy day and most of it was work, housework, being mom, cooking and in general not trying to leave my house a disaster when I get home from work. I learned this when I was nursing that if I didn't start the bottle cleaning when I got home it was never done and I tried to do that last night by getting dishes started while I made dinner and helped Ben with homework, picked up my stuff from the front room (as I could), moved mel's stuff to his side of the bed and got laundry going as well as washing things I just made for the ladies born last month.

I then sat down and dinked around on my phone for probably 45mins versus knitting while watching tv and then finally did knit and watch the mid-season premier of AOS. Wow, that was a good episode. I really wish we could get Tony Stark to have a talk with Coulson on what sentience is and how you determine it even if it was created by a creepy as magical book. But enough of that...I'm just enjoying AOS and that is good.

So I adulted but I did get some knitting in. Hopefully I'll be motivated to finish the cleaning of the studio on Thursday so I can be sewing on the weekend or at least mending and then cutting out crown clothes.

Well, the weekend was really fun. Benton got introduced to the rest of hrafnheim at our household meeting. It went really well and we got to help the Easter Laurel with her eggs. We discussed upcoming projects and the like and had a good time. Storvarr was down for the meeting and he and mel played borderlands before he headed back to Eds. Sunday was Gawd Awful Grail and we got there on time for court. Benton did pretty good all day but I think he had too much time out in the wind and was cranky by the time closing court happened. We headed home and storvarr joined us for dinner after we all got cleaned up. It was almost a month since we had been there last and the last one was after the baronial guard tourney and the night before Benton was born.

Had a nice dinner and then home to relax. We had managed to get Benton on a schedule for going to bed by 1030pm and it was working well until Monday night. Got up early on monday and got going to the fair grounds to pick up my entry and then it was home to feed the boy, get him a bath and pick up my mom from the airport. She had had a rough day. Sunday night they had called and her 750am flight was cancelled to DFW due to weather. So they put her on a 605am flight. She got to the airport and there was mechanical issues and got put on a different airline and a 750a flight to chicago. She got in about the same time as she would have before but it was a long day for her. We had lunch at mimi's and it was good minus the fact that the booth we were in was so narrow I couldn't get Benton to be comfy to feed cause of course when my food arrived he woke up and was hungry. Basically I had to have him under the table and crunch down to get him to feed. Not the best. Looks like tables from now on I think. Got home and got mom settled and the boy played for a while. Then we put him down for a nap and I think it was too long. Not sure but he was fussy and wide awake at 10pm. Thought I had him down at 11pm but nope..had to walk around with him and finally feed again to get him to snug down for the night. He woke me up at 530a and then was down again until about 845 but he wasn't hungry. We hung out and then finally got him fed and watched tv.

Since about noon my mom has been cleaning our bathroom. I feel bad but she wants to help out..it needs it and she's OCD about getting things spotless. Little boy was very awake throughout the early afternoon and he is finally down for his nap. Hoping we can get back on schedule tonight so I can get out and see some daycares. I hope to hit about 3 tomorrow if it works out. A few I called today didn't have openings or didn't take infants.

Mel is currently at the dentist. He broke a tooth (one that has been needing a crown to fix an old decaying filling) on Saturday. It didn't hurt so I'm betting he's going to need a root canal. I guess we will find out. I'm also betting he won't be heading to fight depending on what they do today. I was happy they got him in the day he called. We have an awesome dentist.

Called my kidney doc and have to get my labs done this week...including a 24 hour panel. Sighs. I hate those...a lot. Luckily this time I'm not pregnant so it shouldn't be as hard as it was last time. Course I hope it shows that Benton sucked out all of the extra calcium in my system so we are done with going to see a specialist but we shall see. Not that I've ever had any symptoms but never having kidney stones is a good plan.

Well, time to pull out the knitting since mom is still cleaning and boy is sleeping.