Happy New Year

I'm always a fan of the phrase, "Start the way you aim to go."  So we're starting this year off with a post.  And I'm going to try to be better about it than I have in the past few months!

Also with that idiom in mind, I'll be spending the day (once I finish this post) writing and cleaning, with maybe some yarning thrown in at the end.  

I got way too drunk way too fast last night.  It was supposed to be all of us doing that, but somehow I was the only one that ended up toasted.  Ah well.  I ended up in bed about 11, and for a little bit it was touch and go as to whether all the junk food I ate was going to play well with all the wine I drank.  Fortunately, it was all good, I fell asleep, and was dead to the world as the clock rolled over into a new year.  I wasn't upset about it.  New year was going to happen whether I was awake to see it or not.  

But I spent the evening with my family, and it was good.  We played some games and ate a lot of food and just generally had a fantastic time.  

So I rang in the new year completely asleep.  But I woke up this morning feeling good and focused and ready to work.  And that, right there, is a good place to be.

Join Me In Wishing Alder a Happy Birthday!!

May your day be filled with awesome, my friend, on this momentus birthday!  Enjoy the heck out of it and have a wonderful day!!

Happy December!

It's December!

I love December!

Even though, for the moment, the snow has melted away, it's crisp and cold and soon it will start falling again.  I have almost all of the decorations up.  The tree is lighted and waiting for ornaments.  And all of that just brings me great cheer.

I have a couple of packages ready to go that I'll be dropping in the mail this week.  Hoping they get to their destinations on time.  Okay, I'm only worried about the one as it has a long way to go and a particular deadline.  But it will arrive in time, as long as I get my bum to the post office.

I've broken out the Christmas movies to watch while I yarn.  I spent the weekend with some animated classics, and I'll be moving into cheesy holiday romances this week.  I'm looking forward to it immensely.  I have a few great stories waiting to be read as well.  

This past Sunday, we had beautiful weather for our drive to Massachusetts to see my nephew and celebrate his fist birthday!  His actual birthday is Friday.  He's such a joy and a love, and though we drove ten hours (there and back) for a three hour party, it was worth it to see him.  And fortunately, it wasn't as bad as some of our other trips have been.  It wasn't great, no, but seeing that baby and getting loves was a very good thing.  We're actually hoping there will be a trip in this direction in the coming weeks so we can show him off to our family here.  Fingers crossed.

Happy December everyone!  Soak in the Christmas cheer!

Take time today to remember all you are thankful for!

Playtime!

The BFF and I are having one of our night tonight.  It's been a bit since we got together--she hasn't even seen my hair yet--and with it being her birthday week, it was the perfect opportunity.  

We're having dinner at our diner, followed by prezzies, wine, and playtime.  We'll get a little bit drunk while we chat, and write, and do our respective things.  I love our playtime.  It's always recharging for me.

She's already decided on waffles for dinner.  Which makes  me grin because it's a fun deviation from the norm.  And she's feeling a little poorly, but I was assured that waffles and wine not only cure sickness but promote creativeness.  It's going to be a good night.

Now, I totally cheated on the BFF's birthday present.  The blanket isn't done, nowhere near, and she knew it all all along.  She knew I was making it, and she knew she wouldn't get it on time.  So she's getting some other things instead.  But it's a cheat, and I feel a bit bad about it.  She's already forgiven me for that, but...I still feel a bit bad.  

At any rate, it's going to be a great start to a great weekend!

Hope y'all have a lovely weekend!!

Happy Birthday!

To the BFF!!

Happy birthday to my girl, my rock, my confidant, my support, my awesome BFF.  

It was my good fortune when I stole you.  I'm keeping you.  May your day be filled with awesome.  I love you 12ever.  

Yay Brubby!

After three grueling years of hard study, after graduating magna cum laude and number 7 in his class, after worrying and fretting and working his butt off three months ago, the results have finally arrived.

Brubby passed the bar exam!  

There's a few more steps before he's officially admitted to the bar, but there's no worries about that.

My brother, the lawyer.  

I'm a proud sister right now. 

The Birthday Post

It's the fabulous Tato's birthday today!  Huzzah!

He's my brother, and I love him a lot.  Out of all my siblings, he and I are the most alike.  Yes, it's true, he annoys the piss out of me sometimes...but he's the younger brother and I'm pretty sure that's in his job description. 

We're getting together late tonight when he gets out of work for cake and prezzies.  And then tomorrow, as he doesn't have to work, we're all going out for dinner at one of his favorite restaurants.  

It's all about Tato day!  Yay!

Happy Birthday, brother mine. 

Book Comfort

Alder and Helena: drop me an email and you get a prezzie!  A $10 gift card to the e-tailer of your choice!  Huzzah!

For the first time ever, I actually have books in my TBR pile.  Normally, you see, I buy the books and then read them right away.  I only buy when I'm looking for something to read, and I make a note if there's a title that I want but don't have a chance to read yet.  Some of that is due to money, I can't go crazy buying ALL THE BOOKS, but mostly it's just personal preference.  When there's a book sitting unread on my Kindle, it's like it's taunting me, and I have a desperate need to read it.

In the last couple of months, that's changed.  

Now that I'm reviewing, I get the books directly from Jay to read.  And she sends them when she gets them from the publisher or author.  And even though there's a part of my brain that's like "Books!  Read!" I do have other things going on in my life, and I have to be responsible and manage my time.  Not to mention there are other books that come out that, though I'm not reviewing them, I want to read.  lol.  So, there are books waiting for me to read them.

And weirdly, that's sort of comforting.  Knowing that I can pick up my kindle and have something new to read whenever I want.  When I need a break from all the "other" going on, I can start reading.  

I am enjoying the hell out of that.  

501

Long about 20 posts ago, when I saw that my 500th post was coming up, I had this idea that I'd do something big.  There were tentative plans.  But as the days passed, and I didn't blog as much, I sort of stopped paying attention.

This is my 501st post.

I totally missed it!  Blargh!  So instead of a big thing, well...how about this: if there are any lurkers out there, comment.  If I get enough comments, I'll pick a random winner to receive a prize.  I promise it'll be something anyone can use.

And hey, if you want to still just lurk, that's cool too.

Thanks for sticking with me this long, y'all.  Maybe we'll have 500 more

4th of July

What are you doing for the fourth?

I think I've heard that question about seventy million times over the past week.  It seems like that's what everyone wants to know.  And when I answer honestly--reading a book and having lunch with the BFF followed by chill time--they stare at me like I'm crazy.

No, I'm not barbecuing.  No, I'm not going to the lake.  No, I have no intention of going to a fireworks display.  

Yes, it's the celebration of the declaration of independence.  Let me be independent and do my own thing.

So in this case, I'm mostly just looking forward to having the day off from work so that I can get some much needed hang time with the awesome BFF.  I don't need any more than that.  I don't have a particular hankering for grilled meat products and the sun and I don't get along at all.  Why would I do something I don't enjoy just because that's what everyone else is doing?  Doesn't make sense to me.  

So that's what I'm doing today.  Lunch out, hanging out, enjoying the relaxing time.

But if you're celebrating, I wish you a lovely holiday.  

Status Report

What I can tell you with absolute fact is that law school graduations are boring as all hell.  Even when there's a great deal of excitement surrounding them, they are still incredibly boring.  But I made it through, and I was extremely glad I was there.  And afterwards we had a lovely dinner out with all the best parts of the family in celebration.  
But I was glad when it was over, and all the excitement had died down.  There was an insane amount of hoopla, and chaos (though it was the good kind) and I was much relieved for it all to be over and I could decompress.  It's hard for me to be always "on" and I don't handle the whole thing very well.  There were moments where I had to "check out" for a bit.  Just get lost in my own head and block out everything that was going on around me.  

That doesn't mean that I wasn't taking notes about all the social interaction and people watching, and mentally plopping people into new stories, of course.  

The weekend felt a lot more hectic than it actually was.  Really, after the craziness of Friday, it was fairly low key.  Got to spend time with my baby brother (half brother, if you want to get technical), who flew in as a surprise for Brub, and who we don't get to see very often because he lives half way across the country.  In fact, it's been about four years since we last laid eyes on him.  But he's a fantastic human being (despite by whom he was raised) and he was a joy to have here.  And despite that he's younger than me by 14 years, he's quite a bit taller and kept a close, protective eye on his big sister.  He's one of the big reasons why I was able to stay sane in all the chaos.  

Now, life can get back to normal again, which will be nice.  And I can get back to the yarn and the words, without this looming over my head.  There is much work to be done.  And I'm looking forward to it.  

Graduation Day!

It's a big deal, to graduate from Law School.

Brub is 7th in his class.  Well done, Brub!  

Of course, there's going to be a lot of sitting around and doing nothing and waiting.  But our cousin gets to put Brub's hood on, during the ceremony, because she's a lawyer too.  She's so freaking excited for him, it's adorable.  

After all the waiting, and the ceremony, that's when the fun can begin.  We're having a wonderful celebratory dinner.  And visiting with the close relatives.  I'm going to do my damnedest to do that, and not dwell on the other, hurtful things.  

Wish me luck!  And send Brub a congrats!

Pomp and Circumstance

I'm not doing so well on the whole putting up posts thing, am I?

I've been very scattered lately.  I'm having trouble focusing on any one thing for any length of time.  

On top of that, there's a big to-do tomorrow: Brub graduates from Law School!  Huzzah!  We're all super proud of him, and very excited for him and his future.  But it's not the ceremony, of course.  After that, there's a party.  As well there should be.

But you know me and crowds...

So I'm not looking forward to all the hoopla of the afterwards.  Big crowds of people, needing to be "on" and socializing...Yeah, I'm shuddering just thinking about it.  I can fake it, but I'm going to be drained--physically and emotionally--by the end of it.

On top of all that, there's more drama...the kind that hurt me several weeks ago.  I'm not going to hash it all out, but I'm certainly having to shore myself up, be brave, and do what is best for me.  I don't want a confrontation, that serves no one, so I'm going to have to employ the "walk away" technique. I've been visualizing it in my head, so I think that if the need should arise, I'll be able to tactfully say that I don't have to take that kind of attitude/abuse, and then walk away.

But at any rate: Graduation!  Yay Brub!  Congrats!

Stuff and Things

I haven't posted in days because I didn't want to wallow in the hurt and the anger, and sadly, that was all I could think about.  I was hurt, and I was angry and upset and a whole gamut of emotions, and I just didn't want to spew that all over here.  But now I'm better, or getting there, and so I can talk about other things.

The weather was aboslutely glorious here yesterday and I drove home with the top down on the convertible and loved every second of it.  It's been rainy and overcast today, but it hasn't dampened my mood overly much.  I think it's actually Spring now, and that makes me happy.  That's not to say that we aren't going to get a few cold days and/or a sprinkling of snow, but still.  It's much better than the bitter cold of the winter.

Brub is going to graduate law school in a couple of weeks.  I'm thrilled for him and so excited.  He's even already got a job lined up.  That's my Brub, so smart!

I haven't yarned in weeks.  Been too focused on other things.  But now that I'm getting some of those settled, I'll be able to get back to that soon.  As usual, I have many a thing in the queue.  Not the least of which is a baby blanket.  I'm going to crochet it, just so I can get it done faster.  I'm still debating on patterns though.

And as this goes up, I'm finishing the first draft on a novella.

That's all the news from my quarter.  Hope you've all been doing well!

Birthday Hangover

Yeah, I had a stellar day yesterday.  I felt special and lucky and cared for all day.  Got some excellent presents.  And teases about presents yet to come.  

It's sort of hard to come down from that kind of high, to be honest.

But, sadly, I'm a grown up.  And my special day is over.  So it's off to work I go to do responsible adult things.  But hope is alive!  Because my birthday is stretched out this year and I'll get more party going on this weekend.  Just getting together with some friends, but that's enough for me.

In case you haven't figured it out by now, I'm not much of a party animal.

In the meantime, I'm working hard on Izzy's shawl and I hope to finally finish it up in the next couple of days.  It was a serious bitch to get all worked out.  Not in the least of the problems was the fact that the pattern was originally in Swedish.  With the help of some English translations, frogging it and starting over five times, and a bit of my very own crochet know-how, I've finally, finally, got everything sorted and know what I'm doing.  Look for picture in the near future!

Happy Birthday!

To me!

I figure I celebrate everyone else's birthdays here, might as well celebrate mine!  lol.

Birthday's in my family are always special.  The birthday person always gets to pick the dinner meal and cake, and then there are presents.  My mother is making me spaghetti tonight, my absolute favorite, and I simply can not wait!  It's going to be absolutely delicious!

I already opened one gift that was so kickass awesome I actually squealed out loud for a second.

But the important part is feeling special, and celebrating with my family and friends.  I am very much looking forward to that part.  It's gonna be a good day.

As a fun side note: My birthday gets stretched out this year.  We're celebrating at work on Friday instead of today because we already had another birthday on Monday so this way, it's spread out a little.  And then on Saturday, I'm getting together with some friends.  Excellent times ahead!

2nd Anniversary!

For The Yarn Of It is two years old today!  Huzzah!!

I sort of can't believe that I've been at this for two whole years!  But it's been a positive and rewarding experience and I figure I'll keep at it.  I've truly enjoyed the interactions here.  And it's been a great place for me to vent my thoughts and frustrations, get some perspective, and share my love of yarn.  

It's been a great two years and, as long as people keep stopping by to read, I'll keep writing.

Thanks for being here everyone.  I can never put into words just how much it means to me!

Happy Birthday Mom!

It's Mom's birthday!

Happy birthday Mommy!

We're all getting together tonight for dinner and cake and prezzies.  I'm excited.  I'm also a wee bit nervous about my gift.  But mostly excited.  Dinner will be late, but it'll still be good.  I love it when all of us are together.  We laugh so hard.

My mom is awesome.  Just a truly awesome human being.  And I could spend a great deal of time extolling her virtues.  But I have dinner to cook and cake to bake, so I won't.  Suffice it to say, she's just stellar.  And I'm very, very lucky to have her.  

She's also proof you can teach an old dog new tricks...and I couldn't be prouder!

Happy Birthday Sis!

Holy crap, my baby is all grown up! :)

When my sister was born, I was convinced my mother brought her home just for me.  

There are only three years between us and we have not always gotten along.  But now that we are adults (well, mostly :D) we get along pretty well.  She's always got my back and I sure as hell have hers.  She's wonderful and annoying and bitchy and sweet and, generally, everything a sister is supposed to be.  And I'm glad she's in my life.

Happy birthday, Sis!  May it be filled with awesome!