All you can do with corn.
Back-to-back weekends of fun with NERO leading into DragonCon really did a number on Ian and me. We declared it No Obligation Weekend to relax. Ian had the Con Crud, and hasn't been feeling well. I was staggering under the burden of a 31-item To Do List composed immediately on our return. A week or so of taking it easy, getting caught up on laundry, bill paying, household chores, and of course sleep, rest, and relaxation seems to have done us both wonders. Yay!
Ian did the most awesome set of things of Sunday afternoon. After the various errands of the early morning, I was tired and shagged out from a prolonged squawk and decided to lay down for a nap. While I was sleeping, Ian baked blueberry muffins. Then, on a whim, he set up these plastic shelves we bought a month ago in our office closet, and got the closet better organized so we can actually step in there now and - my goodness! - find things! Can you imagine? Then he brought me a hot blueberry muffin to wave under my nose to wake me up. In case I hadn't reminded you lately, Ian is awesome! (I certainly try to remind him of that often.)
Yesterday afternoon, I had a little project review at work. Not a Trace Review, just a project review to see how things are going. The General Counsel seemed very pleased with my progress, and kept saying nice things. My immediate supervisor is in general less generous with praise as a habit, but when asked, he said he's very pleased and likes where things are going. It's now been one month since I started work here. Still no mention of permanency, but then again, I didn't expect any mention of that for at least another month. Then we'll see who's willing to talk turkey. The job is still fun, and I'm going like wildfire on this project, working diligently to make quality progress quickly.
Meanwhile, it's just such a fantastic relief to be a two-income household again! Frugality was a refreshing change, and then it was a fun experiment, and then a worthy challenge. After awhile, the feeling of lack and financial powerlessness just really got wearisome. Thankfully, we never reached the point where we fell behind bills, or really had to feel a significant bite -- but the timing of adding a second salary was definitely right. It's nice to feel like we have some leeway to buy something not totally necessary, not planned in advance, to actually consider some larger purchases. Frankly, sometimes the most fun thing about having money in the bank is not spending it! It's a delight when you consider an expensive purchase, and decide not to do it because you don't want to rather than because you cannot. (Witness the coffee table and end tables that caught our eyes at Crate and Barrel recently. $327 for a single end table? Eh, you're cute, End Table, but for that price, you better be prepared to sprout legs and get up and get me a Coke when I want one.)
I'm finally settling in here sufficiently that I feel like crafting again. Can you guess what I'm knitting? Wait for it... yes! Another pirate hat! Who knew? I may have mentioned this to you previously: I decided to knit up a pirate hat with my spare yarn to see if I can sell it for in-game gold at NERO. Fun experiment, and it was "free" since I already owned the materials, and something I didn't have to think about before diving into, just something to keep my hands busy. It's almost finished, and I'll bring it to the next event. Afterward, I have one more pirate hat to make for Jose on request. Then I need to start knitting for Kat and Mark's baby, and my mother is already piling up baby clothes pattern books in my house for the occasion. Once all is said and done, I think Cinderella will knit herself another sweater to wear to the ball. Since I made my first Norwegian Snowflake Sweater last year, I've been enchanted with the idea of developing my own pattern to make another one with skulls in the pattern. Yay! Everyone lives skulls! Well, probably everyone reading this, anyhow. I miss unwinding (ha ha, a little fiber craft humor for there) by knitting and watching DVDs in the evening. I look forward to a whole season of cold weather to do just that.
Oh yeah, one last thing: the Fall TV season has started. It wouldn't be truthful to suggest that I don't miss having cable service at all, but I will say that I miss it very little, and far less than I thought I would. That is $60 a month better not spent.
T$
Ian did the most awesome set of things of Sunday afternoon. After the various errands of the early morning, I was tired and shagged out from a prolonged squawk and decided to lay down for a nap. While I was sleeping, Ian baked blueberry muffins. Then, on a whim, he set up these plastic shelves we bought a month ago in our office closet, and got the closet better organized so we can actually step in there now and - my goodness! - find things! Can you imagine? Then he brought me a hot blueberry muffin to wave under my nose to wake me up. In case I hadn't reminded you lately, Ian is awesome! (I certainly try to remind him of that often.)
Yesterday afternoon, I had a little project review at work. Not a Trace Review, just a project review to see how things are going. The General Counsel seemed very pleased with my progress, and kept saying nice things. My immediate supervisor is in general less generous with praise as a habit, but when asked, he said he's very pleased and likes where things are going. It's now been one month since I started work here. Still no mention of permanency, but then again, I didn't expect any mention of that for at least another month. Then we'll see who's willing to talk turkey. The job is still fun, and I'm going like wildfire on this project, working diligently to make quality progress quickly.
Meanwhile, it's just such a fantastic relief to be a two-income household again! Frugality was a refreshing change, and then it was a fun experiment, and then a worthy challenge. After awhile, the feeling of lack and financial powerlessness just really got wearisome. Thankfully, we never reached the point where we fell behind bills, or really had to feel a significant bite -- but the timing of adding a second salary was definitely right. It's nice to feel like we have some leeway to buy something not totally necessary, not planned in advance, to actually consider some larger purchases. Frankly, sometimes the most fun thing about having money in the bank is not spending it! It's a delight when you consider an expensive purchase, and decide not to do it because you don't want to rather than because you cannot. (Witness the coffee table and end tables that caught our eyes at Crate and Barrel recently. $327 for a single end table? Eh, you're cute, End Table, but for that price, you better be prepared to sprout legs and get up and get me a Coke when I want one.)
I'm finally settling in here sufficiently that I feel like crafting again. Can you guess what I'm knitting? Wait for it... yes! Another pirate hat! Who knew? I may have mentioned this to you previously: I decided to knit up a pirate hat with my spare yarn to see if I can sell it for in-game gold at NERO. Fun experiment, and it was "free" since I already owned the materials, and something I didn't have to think about before diving into, just something to keep my hands busy. It's almost finished, and I'll bring it to the next event. Afterward, I have one more pirate hat to make for Jose on request. Then I need to start knitting for Kat and Mark's baby, and my mother is already piling up baby clothes pattern books in my house for the occasion. Once all is said and done, I think Cinderella will knit herself another sweater to wear to the ball. Since I made my first Norwegian Snowflake Sweater last year, I've been enchanted with the idea of developing my own pattern to make another one with skulls in the pattern. Yay! Everyone lives skulls! Well, probably everyone reading this, anyhow. I miss unwinding (ha ha, a little fiber craft humor for there) by knitting and watching DVDs in the evening. I look forward to a whole season of cold weather to do just that.
Oh yeah, one last thing: the Fall TV season has started. It wouldn't be truthful to suggest that I don't miss having cable service at all, but I will say that I miss it very little, and far less than I thought I would. That is $60 a month better not spent.
T$