Sunday, August 12, 2007

Marvelous Day!

I woke up this morning at 7, stared blearily at the clock and rolled over and went back to sleep until 8:30 when the cats demanded breakfast. It was a blissfully cool 59 degrees. I staggered out of bed and fed the cats, then jumped into the shower to wash my hair and shave my legs. I sat in my chair and stared at the History channel while I shovelled in Raisin Bran. As I sat there I thought "Do I really need to go to church?" I would have to cut out early anyway to get to my mom's by 11:30. My two brothers who live in town were going over there too for lunch. I felt slightly guilty, but I decided to skip church. So I sat happily in my chair and knitted until it was time to go to my Mom's.

Hamburgers were great. And my oldest brother has a peach tree that had a bumper crop this year, so we ate those for dessert. I doubt that peach trees are all that common in North Dakota, but I could be wrong. These peaches were quite small but very juicy and soft, and so sweet they didn't need sugar. Yum. Then all four of us (me, my mom -who could care less about baseball- my older brother Steve and my youngest brother Robb) headed out for the RedHawks baseball game. It was a good game. The opposing pitcher took a no-hitter into the 9th inning. Our pitcher did a decent job, but gave up 6 hits that translated into 4 runs. Then we had a very exciting rally in the bottom of the Ninth, with some close plays. We got 2 runs, which was exciting, and lost by 2 runs which was disappointing. Still, a very good game. The weather continued to be cool, probably in the mid 70s, with a light breeze and overcast skies, so that was nice too.

As soon as the game was over I drove immediately to Island Park to hear the Jazz In The Park Concert. I got there about 15 minutes after it started and had a bit of trouble lugging my chair, blanket, purse, knitting bag and two bottles of water from the parking lot, through the park to where my friends had set up their chairs. Boy, I could tell right away that they weren't my SCA friends, because not a one of them offered to help me get my stuff settled. I had called from the parking lot to ask where they were set up, and one came out to lead me in, and never even offered to carry any of my stuff. Hm. Like I said, I could tell right away that this was not an SCA event... But it was a really nice concert. I liked all the music, especially the first band (I missed half their set, pooh). The park was beautiful

And now I'm home, kinda tired but still so happy that I had such a good day. I'm really bad about getting out to see friends and doing things with them. This is something that my counselor tells me I need to find a "happy balance" of. Some time for me, and some time for friends and things outside me. I tend to be a home body and once I get home from work I'm too tired to want to go out. I am one of those people that enjoys my own company and I can happily spend days at home reading or writing or knitting. But when my friends do things without me I tend to feel left out and pout. Which makes no sense, really, since when my friends call me up and invite me over I often say thanks but I'm too tired.

But this weekend I've been a good girl. Yesterday I spent several hours devouring Stephenie Meyer's latest book Eclipse, (that counts for "me" time) then had a church friend and her daughter come over in the evening to work on a knitting problem, and then out all day today. See? Balance.

I'm bushed!

Saturday, August 11, 2007

It's Too Hot To Wear Wool Socks






I finished Typhaine's Stars & Moons socks last month, but I haven't sent them to her because it's just too darn hot to be wearing them. I think they turned out nicely.


I'll start Mai's socks in a few weeks, after I've finished a cute little cotton sweater for Landra. I've got the niftiest wool and cashmere blend for socks for Mai and Lusche. They'll be twins!

I'd managed cut down down on my UFOs (unfinished objects). See the knitted belted red and black bag?


But that was until I got bit by the sweater bug. Now I'm working on a top down raglan sleeve sweater for my mom, and a baby sweater for little Landra, and I've got a nice royal blue tank top planned for me. I received the sport weight Shine cotton yarn I ordered from KnitPicks for that. But I better put that off and start on Christmas and 12th Night gifts. Here's the back of Landra's sweater. I love the feel of this yarn. It's so soft I want a sweater made out of it!
Tomorrow I'm going first to the Red hawks baseball game with my brothers. Then I'm going directly to the Jazz in the Park Concert. I just need to decide which knitting project to take with me...


Wednesday, August 08, 2007

My New Job

So... I started my new job as Process Analyst within the same team at Medicare DME on Monday. It's been... interesting.

First of all, my access to the computer systems was changed so I could access more systems. Unfortunately, a goof was made, and I had no access to adjust claims at all. It took them two days to fix that. Since the other regular corr girl is on vacation this week I have to learn my new job and continue to do my old job. Of course, that's pretty tricky if you can't use the computer. On Tuesday morning I was hustled into a company wide meeting for writing documentation. It will be a year long project, and the group had begun their training last week. I had been told that I would be working with that. But since I had missed the previous training meeting I was totally lost. Way to make a good impression, huh? I'd like to blame my team leader for not sending me to the training even tho I wasn't officially in my position yet, but I suppose she has to follow the rules. Got access for the computer back today. Gee, I'm only about a week's worth of work behind, plus I have my new job to learn... Tomorrow I get to go to another meeting that is run by someone who really doesn't like me. I bet I'll have a lot of fun there.

I'm figuring that I'll end up really enjoying this new job. Once things get settled down I'll catch up on what I'm supposed to be doing. Meanwhile, I really need to knit. And maybe spin a bit too. I want to make a baby sweater out of this really nice alpaca top that I have half spun up. A baby girl can wear brown can't she? You betcha.