Cats and Stacks

Life is full of endings and beginnings.  Some have very definite starts and stops, while others just flow through life without much notice of when they make their entrances and exits.  Occasionally they stack up on you.  Sometimes you finish something, and you just sit back and reflect.  

Some things have ended recently, some are in an active phase of ending, and others are wobbling a bit with the uncertainty of whether they will continue with changes or perhaps finish completely.  I'm taking some moments to sit with it all and just be.     

It's a Nana-mal Crossing Birthday

So, as I wrote about before, we've played more than a little bit of Animal Crossing.  I encouraged my mom to get a Switch and the game, but she held off for one reason or another.  When she finally started playing, she took to it the way we all thought she would.  By that, I mean she played a bit obsessively (no judgment, but it's a pretty accurate description).  It was a good way to help her fill some hours and made for good conversation when much of our lives were rather limited.  Anyway, the degree to which she enjoyed it gave me an idea.  

My mom had not really had a big birthday party of her own ever.  She went from parents who did not do such things to marriage and motherhood where her birthday was rolled into the day we decorated the Christmas tree to having her birthday celebrated with a granddaughter's.  Sure, there were cakes and meals and small celebrations, but not a full big party with decorations.  I noticed, and a few years back I asked her whether she would like one.  She said we'd have a big party for her 70th.  However, for her, that meant she would take everyone out to a restaurant that had a separate room we could reserve, she would buy our meal for us, and none of us would have to do any work.  Yeah, that wasn't going to happen, and not just because I don't think we can ever eat in a restaurant ever again.  

Anyway, the vaccines finally came along for everyone in the family, people were still masking, the Omicronian invasion hadn't yet happened, and a big 70th birthday party seemed possible.  Mom is Nana to the grandchildren, she loves Animal Crossing, and thus, a Nana-mal Crossing Birthday just felt right.  So, I began shopping and crafting.  At some points, I had ideas of doing far more than what I was able to accomplish, but I think I did pretty well.

The family came together and we made a party to celebrate her that she enjoyed so much.  We were so lucky to have that brief moment when we could all gather, and the memories are all the more precious now that we can't all be together.   

Nearly a Nickel Creek Title*

My Kindle Fire has been unwell for a while, and I've been sad about it.  Not only have I enjoyed the device over the years, how I got it is special to me.  As it has been getting progressively sadder, I have tried all of the wishful thinking and lucky rituals trying to get it well.  I gotta say, the one where you hold down the power button for twenty-eight seconds in the light of the full moon, surrounded by a circle of power formed by all your best charging cables seemed the most promising, but alas, it was not.  Finally, I managed to do a factory reset, and now I'm back up and running again.  Woo-hoo!  

So, yeah, what with the end of the Mochimochi Photo + Video Contest 2022 (no, I was not a winner, nor did I expect to be) and a bunch of other stuff, I've not done quite as much knitting.  I mean, I was cranking out the tiny creations all summer, so the slowdown is not unexpected.  I don't think I've shown all of the little creations.  Anyway, I do have ideas that would get my needles going.  I would say I'm excited to show you, but much of what I have is not exciting at all.  Of course, now you're excited and feel confident that it will actually be interesting.  In thanks for your good and positive thoughts, I present you with a little bit of my knitting with my revived Kindle Fire.  It's just a couple of Fumin' Wombs from the 20th Anniversary Knitty.    

*Why Should the Fire Die? 

Big Changes

We knew this day was coming, but we hoped we would have at least one more year before it happened.  Still, no matter when, we would still want more time.  My brother, sister-in-law, and two nieces moved away today.  It's all happened so quickly.  We were so grateful that they worked to find a way to isolate and test so we could have a little in-person time with them before they left.  That they were willing to do so meant so much, and that they worked out the details to make it happen.  We're sad for them to go, but happy for them to have new adventures and opportunities.  We hope their new home exceeds every amazing expectation they have.  Our loss is The Centennial State's gain.         

Not Enough Orange Yarn

Sometimes I turn to yarn and needles while I process thoughts and feelings.  Tiny heart after tiny heart.  So much loss.  So much grief.  Hate.  Fear.  Terror.   

If You Haven't...{again?}...Have You Even Quarantined?

Truly, I'm just as surprised as you to find myself returning to a recurring blog topic, but here we are.  We'll head straight to the question, "If you haven't played a ton of Animal Crossing, have you even Quarantined?"  I answer with a resounding, "Yes!"  I have played so much Animal Crossing.  

I even tried to come up to lyrics to the K.K. Slider hit, "Steep Hill," but worry not, I had no success.  It is my favorite song of his.  What?  Like I'm the only one to attempt to pen lyrics to a song by a video game cartoon dog?  Next you're going to find something wrong with me for admitting to having teared up a bit on a Saturday night as he sang it.     

Animal Crossing New Horizons is a great game for Quarantimes.  It is gentle, it follows along with the hours of the day and seasons of the year.  It is not a game of winning or losing.  You can play for hours on end, fishing, swimming netting bugs, designing, decorating, building, shopping, and interacting with a range of animal characters.  Your island is a wonderful home you can transform in countless ways.  

You can connect with others near and far.  Many people in the family played, some of us much more than others (ahem, me, Mom).  We occasionally traveled to each others' islands.  We sent in-game gifts and notes.  It gave us something to talk about when nothing else was happening.  

Besides playing with family, I played with strangers (and one time talked on the phone with a niece and brought her along on a memorable journey to randos' islands).  I traveled via Dodocode to see the amazing way people designed, to experience the seasons on the opposite hemisphere, and to buy and sell turnips.  

While I'm playing far less than I used to, I don't know that I'll ever stop, and it will probably forever hold a special place in my heart and memories.  

How about you?  Have you played Animal Crossing for fun and for coping with a global pandemic?  What's your favorite K.K. Slider song?        

 

 

It's Groundhog Day!

C'mon.  Admit it.  As you read that, you heard the movie, right?  No?  Just me then, eh?  Oh, well.  Anyway, Happy Groundhog Day!  I hope it is living up to all you hoped it would be.  Small disappointment here in that none of the channels I receive is airing a back-to-back-to-back marathon of the movie.  Other than that, many things make today rather Groundhog-Day-esque.  Bruce is feeling a bit unwell and is sleeping while Law and Order plays.  I'm doing laundry.  I did a Duolingo lesson.  I'm back to that after a friend sent me an invite, and I took that nudge to get me back to it.  Though, I have to wonder if that, ahem, persistent owl put her up to it.  I played Animal Crossing.  I scrolled twitter.  I refilled the bird feeders.  We've switched medical appointments back to virtual rather than in-person.  I did the Wordle for today.  I added some groceries to the online cart for our next delivery.  I medically harassed Bruce (medical harassment is our term of endearment for the multiple intrusions in his day of various medical things like meds and vitals).  The Good People of Genoa City were not particularly entertaining.  I drank coffee.  I did a sign language lesson.  At some point today I'll probably talk on the phone with my mom.  I moved a knitting bag closer to me in anticipation of working on the Hue Shift Afghan.  Yeah, I re-started that after a friend wrote me about it.  Still, it has been more avoidance than knitting.  There are mourning doves and brown-headed cowbirds fussing at the feeders.  I don't know what we're having for supper and don't particularly feel like thinking about it.  While I don't do every one of these things every day, this is a relatively accurate snapshot into our lives.  All-in-all, not too shabby, eh?   

What about you?  What's your endless loop, or is each day a fresh new adventure?  Here's a picture of the inside of that knitting bag with the in-progress blanket and the Groundhog I knit some years back.   

p.s. Happy Twos-day! 2-2-22
    

Back to School

Fine, so the kiddos here have been back in school for over a month, but August was a bit much, so here we are.  The whole return to school is still more than a bit much, but I'm managing my anxiety about it a bit better than I was six weeks ago.  I still hold that the nieces and nephew could all come over to my house to learn arts and crafts, cook, play Big Brain Academy*, Wii Sports, Wii Fit Plus, and Wii Sports Resort and they would come through just fine.  Add in some Duolingo for the oldest niece to keep up with her foreign languages and we're soaring above the trees.  If we're feeling especially ambitious, we can add in the less glamorous home ec stuff and do a bit of cleaning and laundry, and there will always be yard work that needs doing.  

Ah, but that is not how we are doing things, and I understand why it is not.  My inability to take care of them all five days a week not being the least of it.  I'm mostly joking about keeping them all out of school, but with the way the world is going, I'm kind of not joking at all.  Anyway, I do what I can, and I can make masks.  I sewed a bunch and then sewed a bunch more for my older brother's friend's kid.

 

In the meantime, it's medical stuffs running amok, a bit.  We were in the hospital last month (non-COVID) and it was wild and they wanted us out of there as soon as possible.  I mean, he was admitted due to dehydration, and when they first got ready to discharge him he had unexpected vomiting, and if we could have found a way to get him to the car they would have had him go home, even though he couldn't even hold down a sip of water.  Did I mention that we were one room away from one of the plastic-ed-off COVID units?  The icing on the cake is that the unimportant (temporary--it was done and gone a day later) vomiting is now what some of the healthcare providers have seized upon as very important and they've changed up medicines and we have not had good results.  It's all a bit tiring, and healthcare folks are tired, too.  We're all just doing our best.  

Anyway, in spite of it all, I think were doing decently okily-dokily.  I'll be back soon, and I even have knitting.  I'm just as shocked as you are.  

*Did you see that their will be a Switch version of Big Brain Academy coming out in December?  I can't wait!           

Parting Shot

As has become something of a tradition, I knit something small with a magnet inside and left it somewhere on the son's refrigerator just before we parted.  The pattern choice was easy, as we couldn't have been together without the vaccine.  

It was quite an adventure, and maybe I'll bring some of the stories and pictures here to the blog.  Then again, I might just move on with whatever happens next, or more likely, wander away and neglect this place.  You know, same ol', same ol', eh?   

We Were Just Lucky

That's really all there is to it.  I don't much think about luck, as I don't find it particularly helpful.  However, it's about the best explanation I can think of for why we made it through just fine.  The idea that we have some special worthiness or mission to fulfill just seems vile to me, as if others are lacking.  Maybe you just call that survivor's guilt.  I don't know.  I've just found myself thinking about this randomly over the past year.

We took a trip to Texas in February last year to see the daughter and son-in-law.  It was our Christmas present from them.  It is something else to receive a gift from your kids you could not purchase for yourself or for them, but that's not for today.  I remember the concerns I had as we got ready to go.  I was packing a bit differently.  As usual, I had concerns about Bruce's health, but now with the added unknown swirling about.  I wondered whether the trip would be canceled.  I wondered whether we should cancel it.  I wondered whether we would be able to come home.  Some cruise ship passengers had been brought to an Air Force base near them for quarantine.  I was glad that the daughter's job had changed and she was no longer working on that base. 

It's become a bit of a traveling tradition to pick up a few reusable shopping bags local to the area we are visiting

We had a good visit, and parting was sad.  We wondered when we would see one another again, but we couldn't bring ourselves to say those words, whether we were hugging one another for the last time.  We crossed our fingers and tried not to worry as we made our way back home.  You could see it with other passengers, too, with every cough and sniffle ratcheting up the tension.  

Once home, we increased our efforts to prepare and took further precautions.  Bruce was staying home from most errands.  Soon, even my younger brother (who generally puts forth the view that most people's worrying is worthless and that they are overreacting) was checking to see if we were going to stay home all the time.  We had two last nerve-wracking errands to tend to after that call before we did so.          

The more I learned, the more that was revealed, I see how lucky we have been.  Well, if luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity, we're doing our best to stay prepared, and, well, this is a heck of an opportunity, eh?  

Now, here we are a year out, and it all just hits over and over again for us.  We've had some extra-for-our-area winter weather, but we avoided much worse.  My heart goes out to everyone in Texas.  Here we are, just watching horrible suffering and no way to stop it.  All I can do is add my few dollars to those of others and keep thinking warm thoughts and praying.   
        

May the Bluebird of Crappiness Fly Up Your Nose

Sometimes, I'm just so angry.*  Angry at those who could have prevented so much death and loss and suffering.  Angry at those who could have enabled people to make safer choices by providing for us.  Angry at their lies.  Angry at the way they endanger others with their words and their actions.  Angry at the hate.  Angry at the breathtaking greed.   

Like many other people, early in life, I received some harmful messages about anger, and, well, there has been a lot of reinforcement of those messages over the years. So, yeah, it is still sometimes a difficult emotion for me.  It used to be much worse, I mean, it nearly killed me, but I have learned to do better with it, to allow myself to feel it, and to not stay stuck there when I do.  Sometimes I sit with it for a bit before I shift towards an action to help, or sometimes I need a little bit of silliness to shake it off, and that, combined with a little bit of stabbing, is something I've been doing lately.  

I'm knitting Bluebirds of Crappiness.  Buy this pattern, and the proceeds go to Chicago-area foodbanks.  So, yeah, there's a little bit of helping others, and that is always good.  Also, if you're missing knitting with others, knit along with Anna in a YouTube video she made.   

When I was a kid, sometimes my grandpa would sing "May the Bird of Paradise Fly Up Your Nose" at random times.  Actually, he just sang that one line, and then whistled on in a way that explains the (lack of) musical genius that spreads through so much of the family tree.  Anyway, these are not Birds of Paradise, but Bluebirds of Crappiness, and the idea of them flying up some particular noses both connects with my anger while also helping me release it.  As a bonus, when I embellish them with needle-felting I get to stab over and over and over again, without harming others.

*So, yeah, I wrote this post a few months ago (I think?  Time is all messed up).  At that time, it was mostly about the coronavirus pandemic.  It's so much more now.            

Time to Line Up Some Ducks

So, I'm not doing too well with one of my New Year's Resolutions.  Specifically, the one in which I resolved to do better with keeping in touch.  In fact, I received multiple messages from folks who hadn't heard from me, doing a bit of a check-in to see how we're doing over here.  As it turns out, my thinking about you all often and talking to you in my head doesn't translate into anything other than me living too much in my head.  Yeah, that's not a recipe for what we need.  Oh, and bee-tee-dubs, I didn't really think you could pick up on what's in my head, I just got stuck in the thinking, and didn't move on to the doing.  It's a blessing to have people reaching out and checking in on one another, and I am grateful for it.  Well, it's time for me to get some of my ducks in a row, so here we go with much more of an update than anyone is probably seeking.    

We're, still here, still home, and still well.  Well, as well as what goes for well around here, but you know what I mean.  We look to be home for a long time--like a year or more kind of a long time.  We're trying to balance being realistic and prepared without dwelling on it.  Sometimes it feels less-than-awesome to think about it.  On the other hand, we are incredibly grateful that we can stay home except for going out for curbside pickup of groceries and supplies.  We know that not everyone gets to choose that.  

Now, we spent a lot of time at home before this, and in a lot of ways, our life has not changed too much.  Then again, it has changed a lot.  We miss being with friends and family in person.  We miss the convenience of restaurants.  We miss going inside the grocery, picking out our own produce, seeing new things, and making our own substitutions on the fly.  We miss just popping over there to grab two or three things we need or just want, instead of waiting for the two-week re-supply, making a $35 (or whatever the threshold is) minimum order, and scheduling a pick-up time.  We miss fast food.  We miss drive-thrus.  We miss having more frequent fresh produce.  We miss going inside any store.  We miss going somewhere in the car and not calculating if the adventure will be short enough not to require a restroom.       

We're getting tired of some things, too.  We're tired of the planning and thinking and preparing for possible/probable/likely shortages.  We're tired of what feels like the constant cooking-eating-washing dishes cycle.  We're tired of news that is is not new.  We're tired of planning meals.  We're tired of the smell of disinfectant.  We're tired of mystery shopping, pressing that "order" button, and still not being quite sure of what we will get.  We're tired of so many plastic bags.  We're tired of thinking about this, of planning for it.  We're tired of worrying.     

We've been sad and angry, too, about things big and small.  There has been so much loss, and there is so much more to come.  Who all have we seen and hugged for the last time?  What other lasts have passed?  We can't celebrate birthdays, holidays, achievements, or milestones together.  We cannot comfort and support in person, people going through trying times.  If it cannot be delivered or picked up curbside, we cannot get it.  We have a transnational crime syndicate masquerading as a government (I highly recommend this podcast).  We're missing out on seeing the young ones growing and changing, and the older among us are aging much more rapidly.  We're all getting a lot weirder, and it might be permanent.  People are dying.  People are losing so much.  The most vulnerable and marginalized are suffering much more, the structural inequalities show even more, it is easier for those in power to continue them, and harder for those who fight against them to do so.             

We are enjoying things, too, some old, some new.  We enjoy each other.  If I have to stay home for the foreseeable future, spending that time with my husband, who is my best friend, is pretty much the best.  We still put out food for the birds and squirrels and continue to enjoy watching them.  We're trying some new recipes, making little changes, and adding them to our repertoire.  While we didn't choose particularly well for "these extraordinary times" when we (not knowing all this was coming) bought a few packets of seeds this winter, some of what we planted has survived so far, and the time to do something with those seedlings has arrived, so that's some more new on the way.  Baking more is always good.  We're having desserts we normally only have on special occasions, and peach cobbler is still good, even with canned peaches.  We have so many television/movie choices to stream, and we have watched so much.  An evening of playing cards is a nice way to pass time, too.  We're helping others in whatever ways we can.  And, hey, guess what?  I even knit a bit, too, and that's pretty good. 

So, yeah, that's how we're doing.  We're doing better than some, not as well as others, but that's life, innit?  I know some of our choices differ from those of others, and there are many reasons for that.  We're doing our best to take care of ourselves and be considerate of others.  We hope you are finding that best balance for you and yours, too.                                  

Just A Little Horse

Hilarious, aren't I?  I'm sure staying at home for a couple of weeks will only improve my wit and wisdom.  Yeah, we're doing what seems like the best choice for us.  It also seems like that is the right thing for us to do for others, and it's always nice when those things are in agreement.  Still, there is so much we do not know and things are still changing, and, yeah, I don't have answers to that.  

I am finding it helpful to reach back into past experiences and use what I learned then.  For most of last year, we had a hospital bag packed and ready to go at a moment's notice, and then we spent the summer going in and out of the hospital.  I remember how I felt during those first several months--waiting for something to happen, worrying that something would happen, not fully sleeping so I could spring into action whenever whatever was going to happen would eventually happen.  The hospitalization phase was a bit different, though poor sleep (hospital sleep is not quality sleep) remained.  Find a problem, fix a problem, find more problems to be managed.  They're all very urgent and will kill, you learn.  Also, everything's a balancing act, and we'll have to wait and see.  More tests, more juggling of medicines, more realization that there is a lot of unknown we're dealing with.  It was similar to the CHF diagnosis time.  Anyway, we go back to the basics and do what we can with our abilities and resources.  We remember the lessons we learned then and apply that knowledge today.  

That's what we're doing here.  We're as prepared as we can be.  We try not to focus on what we cannot do or control.  We're texting, calling, and emailing each other.  We wave at the neighbors.  We watch a lot of television.  We're thinking about you all. I knit some (if the little horse isn't your favorite, maybe you'll like something else better).  I'm thinking about the new Animal Crossing game.  We play cards.  We pray.  Some things don't change much.   

And Another Year Opens

Happy New Year!  It's so nice to see people looking forward with hope, promise, and optimism.  I don't know what all 2020 holds for me, but I know some of what I plan to do. 

• I'm going to work for what's important to me and to build up others.
• Some of this will be a continuation of things I've been doing.  Some of it will be new to me.  I'm continuing to learn, so I suppose some of these will be things that I don't have any real ideas about right now.  It's going to be an adventure.
• Sometimes working for what's important means fighting for what's important.  The quote, "Get in trouble:  good trouble, necessary trouble," from Rep. John Lewis comes to mind.
• We're going to visit Texas.  
• There's a bit to unpack on this one, and still some things to process.  That being said, it's an exciting adventure. 
• I'm going to take better care of myself.
• I didn't make that as much of a priority last year, and it showed.  
• I'm going to reach out more.
• I don't know just what this looks like, but it is important.  I may try some different things and see what is a good fit for me and my relationships.  I accept that I could be awkward with it, some of it might work and some might not, and that I can only choose for me, not for others.          

What are your plans?  Is there anything visible on the horizon for you that you find exciting?  

One last little thought on my mind.

Every day I Promise 

I Will Change Tomorrow 

New Year's Came 

And Everybody Took the Same Vow 

We'll Get it Better Starting Now

The Next Day, Glen Phillips 

One Year Closes

Well, we made it through another year.  How are you doing?  I feel a little worse for the wear.  It was another long, bumpy one (yeah, I know TWSS).  

There were some difficulties.

• There's the state of our country and our world.  I don't have much more to say right now other than that we're still here to fight the good fight and that's what we're going to do.  
• We fell.  My mom at our house on the Ides of March, breaking her arm up by her shoulder in the same spot as she did fifty years earlier.  That aged her.  I fell in the yard on Labor Day and got my ankle/foot but good.   It still isn't quite right. 
• Bruce's health was not its best for most of the year.  Chest pain, testing, medication changes, hospitalizations, stents, rhythm irregularities, and kidney vs heart complications.  I think things might be stabilized, but I also know that I don't know much.  
• We had our weather/insurance/contractor/home repair debacle.  We still have more repairs to do on our own, and the financial fallout from this one will be with us for the foreseeable future.  

There were good things, too.  

• I learned to make a pretty good batch of Hot and Sour Soup.
• I use a modified version of this recipe. 
• I saw friends I haven't seen in a long time.  I hadn't seen one of my friends for ten years.  I think we both intend to do better keeping in touch.
• I've added some fun with an older, hand-me-down Cricut Expression.  Yep, that's how I'm making all the vinyl car stickers, campaign yard signs, badges, shirts, aprons, and protest signs.   
• We have a new roof.  Although much of what happened around the getting of the roof was not super-great, it is wonderful to have a new roof.  Also, I'm pretty sure getting a new roof scored enough XP to get me to the next level of adulting.  
• We're getting involved.  It is not on-brand for us, but it is important, so we're doing it.  
• We've spent a lot of good time with family this year.  That is very on-brand for us, and we're grateful to have had the opportunity to do so much of it. 
• We've even found ways to improve some relationships and navigated our way through some that needed some newness.  

While that's not all that happened, I think it gives a pretty good picture overall.  So, let's say buh-bye to 2019.  Thank you for being a part of my life and for allowing me to be a part of yours.   
  

Merry Christmas

From all of us here to all of you wherever you are, Merry Christmas!  (volume up, if you would like a little music, too) 

Knitting Through It

Sometimes the challenges of life feel overwhelming.  There are different ways to address those feelings.  In some instances, I just choose one task and start chipping away at it.  Other times, I look for the smallest, simplest tasks not yet done and start completing them, crossing them off the list as I go.  Making progress and accomplishing things helps. 

Then there are the times where the overwhelming feelings come from things outside of my control.  At those times, I check again and see if there is something I can do to address the situation, and if there is, I do it.  After that, whether I'm still feeling overwhelmed or not, it could be time to step back from the situation and stop spinning my wheels, to stop adding energy to those feelings.  Sometimes watching television or movies helps me focus on something else.  Other times, I pick up the needles and put my attention there.  That's what I decided to do today.  We'll see where it takes me.     

November Goals

I made a goal list for the month over on Team CrankyPants.  I confess that I included stuff I had already completed, but they were still part of my plans for the month.  I even kept something on the list that I knew wasn't going to happen, but making it through the deciding on the matter counts for me.  I also missed putting some things on the list over there that I will put here.  I hope this helps me get stuff done.  Oh, and because I try to have a picture in every post, that's me after the Veteran's Day parade in the shirt and badge I made and the beads I received. 

• Baby Shower--as you know, this one is done and dusted
• Veteran's Day--we went to the parade, it was something else--Facebook and a strip club were in the parade, and yes, I got beads
• Wedding--we decided not to go, and I think that was the right choice
• Mittens--I have a feeling I will never be done with mittens--ah, the loveliness of mitt-vember! 
• Pick up stitches on my sweater--it can be for a sleeve or the front, but I want to resume progress on this
• Knit tiny things--because I want to, because I have a list, and just because 
• Baby Visit--this might be tough to make happen, and if we can't I need to mail the gift
• Doctors' Appointments--We have questions and hope the docs have answers and/or a plan
• Thanksgiving--We have an invite for out-of-town that we would love to take but don't see a realistic path for it, but Thanksgiving will happen, and we'll need to prepare wherever we're celebrating   

Oh, Baby

Today was the baby shower.  It was...a lot.  I think we had very nice results for our efforts.  Others with more precise expectations could tell about what was missing or did not go as planned, but if you didn't know beforehand, you couldn't tell anything was amiss.  The hostess certainly has the mostest, and I'm glad she was pleased with my help with things.  I'm sore everywhere and I think I smell like a mall pet store, so I'm going to hit the shower and get off my feet.

Odds and Ends for the Week

This pile of ends has been forming for more than a week, and some of the ends have been waiting to join it for much longer than that.  But that's not the point, now is it?  We've made it through another week, and acknowledging that we're still here is a good thing.  Survival is not always easy.  

This week has been pretty full.  We've had all the stores, birthdays, a Veteran's Day program, and the return to standard time.  The weather has been up and down, and it is about to dip down even further.  Maybe I'll even wear my new mittens.  

Next week is going to be full, too.  We've got a baby shower, a wedding, and a trip to The Magic City.  Did I mention it is going to get cold?  I think I might return to knitting a shawl I started long ago.  Last month I figured out where I was on the pattern.  It is pretty big now, and snuggling beneath it while I work on it seems like a pretty solid plan.  

So, how was your week?  What does the week ahead look like for you?