Hi! Did You Miss Me?

Has it really been three months? Good grief! Bad blogger (hangs head with shame)...

1. Happy New Year 2007! Did you get excited by that?? No? Me neither.
2. My knitting needles have forgiven me for abandoning them for so long. There has been knitting done (and small projects completed). Show and tell to follow.
3. After I gave notice at the sewing thing, it still took over a month and a half to find a replacement, but I was positively gleeful when that miracle occurred!
4. I quit being a diamond pusher a week before Christmas. I don't tolerate unprofessionalism from anyone, especially from co-workers that should know better, and double that in front of customers.
5. More additions to the farm: a Holstein moo named Moonlight and her offspring which I named Fudge. Happy, happy. Milk, anyone?
6. From the original ten, I'm now down to six chicks and I suspect that two are roosters.
7. New flooring on main floor of the homestead at long last. I am thrilled.
8. My daughter missed her cat so much and lamented her lack of a pet, that I allowed her to pick one from my hay dealer. That's Sugar, cuddled up to Fang (SPCA cat that still needs a home).

That time of the year again

Guess who won the season opener last night???

Here's a hint: it wasn't Toronto! LMOL

Senators RULE!!

A killer week is over. I gave my notice at the sewing place. I am hoping I'll be able to recognize my kids now that I'll actually be spending some time with them everyday. It really sucks not seeing your kids except for when they're sleeping. During the summer it wasn't so bad because they stayed up later and we'd spend a bit of quality time together after I would get home from work.

Now go see David. Better than chocolate cheesecake!

And if you've ever wanted to know what goes on down in Antarctica, Jules has a seriously cool (pardon the pun!) blog, complete with penguins. Go see for yourself.

No knitting took place all week. How is that for dreadful??

...and in other news...

Bar-b-qued duck, anyone? A glass (or three) of home made wine was entirely responsible for the terrified duck. Honest.

Briggs & Little blanket. Wool. Crocheted. Coming along nicely, but still only about half-way done. Sigh.

And most recently, ten additions to the farm! Aren't they adorable? The mama hen pecked me yesterday when I tried to feed her! B*tch!

Other than that, I've been knitting on the Lopi sweater. I'm almost to the top of both fronts. I might actually finish it before the really cold weather hits. The white aran? It hates me. Yes it does. I have to rip back the sleeves (AGAIN!) and chart the damned things before I try again. The pattern for the sleeves bites the big universal one. Like it was written by someone who just didn't want to put any effort into it.

Good thing tomorrow is another day. Cheers.

Another work week Done

Yes. Amazing I survived. I worked well over 40 hours. I have been contemplating the sanity of working two such very different jobs. Don't get me wrong. This madness does have good points. For example, getting out of the house when the kids are being loud and obnoxious and keep terrorizing each other (and making me wish I worked even more hours!). One job pays a pretty decent wage and I get to sit down and I can wear reeeeally casual clothes, and I even like to sew and I get to gloat when I get three or four pairs of jeans hemmed in about half an hour and the customer is totally astounded and says things like: " I didn't think you were serious! You got them ALL done already??" and I say, "yes, of course, they're been waiting for you for while" (big, BIG gloating grin!!) Talk about your run-on sentences! hee hee

One the other hand, the diamond pusher job has great things going for it as well. Granted, the pay could be better, and same can be said for the commission, but you never work alone, there is a bathroom on the premises (you will never know how important that can be until you work five or six hours without a bathroom break!), you get to play with some really beautiful jewelry, the boss has a decent sense of humour, and the co-workers are a riot! Did I mention the beautiful jewelry? The unfortunate part (all in how you look at it, I suppose) of being well acquainted with the merchandise: one day (no, it wasn't a wet and stormy night!), a gentleman walked in the store and asked to see the most beautiful and best priced item in the store. Well. Me and my big mouth didn't take long to tell him, and at the same time part me from the one thing (not quite!) in the store I wanted for myself in a really big way. It was a very, VERY beautiful .50ct diamond solitaire discounted by 50%! Everything about it was beautiful: cut, colour and clarity, not to mention price. You know you're getting an incredible deal with the original price being equal to the full carat diamonds in the store, but being able to purchase it at half off. But that's how it goes. Inside, I was weeping, while I knew that once I told hubby, be would be absolutely overwhelmed with glee. There are things I must admit to enjoying. Such as the employee discount, the fact that I get to wear really nice clothes to work, I have an excuse to spend money on nice shoes (where before the kids were always priority one), and I get more bathroom time now because makeup is almost mandatory. I have to have good hair, which can be time consuming, but at least I get to spend time on my appearance. Before, it was always so easy to say, "hey the sheep and rabbits and chickens don't care if I wear pj's to the barn or if my hair isn't even brushed...".

A few last words since blogger won't allow me to upload pictures. If you haven't yet, you really should visit this very talented individual. Not only is he talented, but wears a kilt! Now, what could be better than that??

Places I've been

create your own visited countries map
or vertaling Duits Nederlands

This map is tres cool. It reminds me that I have traveled to some really amazing places, but this map also tells me that equals out to only about 11% of the world. Now, that's not even totally accurate since the map highlights the whole country visited, not the city or area, and if that were the case my percentage would go down to about .001. Canada is huge. So are the United States and I've only been to one small part of Greenland. Maybe once the kids move out I'll become a world traveler again. Highly unlikely in this times of terror (bah humbug). I like to be able to brush my teeth with my own brand of toothpaste in a foreign place and not have it be suspected of an explosive! Good grief!!

A Day Off

It's Sunday, but the sun is hiding. Go figure, on my only day off. I just hope it doesn't rain. I have piles of laundry to catch up on, and I much prefer hanging it out on the line than using the drier, or making the house look like a chinese laundry. I do have lines strung in the bathroom a couple inches from the ceiling and I make use of them on a regular basis, especially once the weather gets cool enough that the wood furnace is going.

Hubby is gone salmon fishing on the Miramichi in New Brunswick, compliments of the kids and I. Out-of-province fishing lisences are expensive but that's what we gifted him for his 40th birthday. Not to mention the logistics of rearranging mine and the teenager's work schedules to accomodate his absence. I'll be glad to see him Tueday evening. When he's away, I find myself craving adult conversation. And all of a sudden I can understand Laurie's brand of lonely. I think, I can. I mean, the kids are here, and they're constantly in and out of my room wanting something or other, but I want the adult back. My long distance carrier is no doubt thrilled since I've been making calls to friends I usually keep in touch with through email. Ah, the cost of adult conversation. Why is the companionship of a mate so often taken for granted?

Empty

Empty. My house is empty. If you don't count the cats and the dog and the goldfish. I am the only human in it. For at least another few hours. Maybe I won't bring the rest of the residents back. Nah. That just wouldn't do. I sure can enjoy this silent empty house while it lasts though. Talk about a vacation! hee hee hee

Hubby is at his aunt's summer cottage in Charleston with the kids, the two little ones, building a deck onto the back. I am home with the teenager (who works during the day, leaving by
6:30 am). I would have stayed at the cottage too, but I had to work on a wedding dress to deliver today, and I have to work at the jewelry store, but not until this evening. Plus the animals wouldn't have liked me for abandoning them without food or water. I am starting to think that teenagers may not be so bad. When he got home yesterday afternoon, he said hi and then went about his business. And later when he saw me sewing on a gazillion beads on the wedding dress, he had sense enough to stay away and let me work in peace. Good boy. We ate leftovers from hubby's birthday party for supper so food prep was totally painless. I am sure enjoying this quiet. And I'm pretty sure that the dog isn't going to rat me out for letting her sleep on the couch. I'm thinkin' I might have to send them away more often...

Too Much of a Good Thing

Definitely. Too much of a good thing... is simply too much. And Too boring. This a sock for Colin, from the same batch of yarn as hubby's socks. Good grief, these are going slow. As much as I like the colours, I am bored out of my mind. I've been receiving packages all week of stuff I acquired on-line, and let me tell you, the pull is strong. Today I'll pick up another package from the post office, and get the privilege of paying duty on it. What is that free-trade crap about anyway??? Anyway. I don't want to turn this little post into a bitch session.

Hey... I started another job. Still doing tailoring 3 days a week, but now I am employed as a diamond pusher. That's not quite right. I am working in a jewelry store, helping people part with their hard earned money on shiny, pretty trinkets. I like it. The other ladies are great, and if it's a slow day, at least there's someone to talk to. And of course there's all that time I get to spend picking and choosing items to separate me from my money. I tell ya, the pull is strong. Didn't I already say that once?? I am so easily influenced. Gee.

This weekend is hubby's 40th birthday. I was planning a big surprise birthday party. Only to find out yesterday that he was talking to friends and inadvertently uninviting them. So I got mad and kind of spilled the beans. So now he knows and is trying not to interfere. Except for saying he won't there for it. Because he doesn't want a party. Liar. He'll love it.

Did anyone else notice that the days are getting shorter?? Damn. Once again I'm driving home from work in the dark. Double Damn.

Thank you

Thanks to everyone who sent kind thoughts about the bunnies.

Life goes on. Although I love raising animals and working this farm, although I might shed the occasional tear, I try not get emotionally attached to my livestock, be it bunnies, chickens, sheep, cow... Animals die. Period. Some of natural causes, some at my hand because their final destination is my dinner plate. I am a farmer. I learned a long while back to take the good with the bad. I don't cry when a fox or coyote thieves and kills my chickens or ducks (I am down to one duck and she's lonely; her mate got snatched in the spring.). I did cry when my milk cow died a year and a half ago. She was wonderful and very productive animal, and her offspring fed my whole family for better part of nine months. Now I not only have to spend money to buy milk and butter and cream, but also meat. I don't know if those animals that produce for the supermarkets are treated humanely. I would venture to say not nearly as humanely or as well as they would be if they lived on my farm.

Does anyone actually think about where their food comes from anymore? Or just complain about the rising costs? Why is it so expensive to eat healthy?