I have internet access at the house...finally.

I have finally have a new computer...a netbook actually.  Kind of a baby laptop.  So far it's pretty cool, not terribly fast but nifty none the less.  There will be some challanges that I will have to overcome.  I'm going to need an external drive so that I'll be able to upload pictures and perhaps a wireless mouse, because the little pad thingy can become cumbersome.  But I'm just tickled to be online.  I was feeling very out of touch with the world without internet access at the house. 
Now I can be portable and be able to join the family instead of being relegated to the guest room.  Then again I like the guest room, its the one room that has stuff I brought to the family, my decor and my color choice for the room.  I find it a calm room.  I'm able to relax in this room and be myself for a few minutes.  Plus it has the added benefit of being able to lock out the animals.  If I hang out where they can find me Jimi (my stalker) will waller all over me.  He's doing it right now, so forgive me for typos, they are most likely cat induced.  
It's amazing how much we rely on the internet.  Most of my news comes from there.  I'm able to cherry pick what I will and will not listen too.  Since having a child I find that I have a very low tolerance for stories that involve harm to children.  Mostly I skip politics, the hubby and the rest of my family listen to enough of that for me.  I get to hear both sides very passionately whether I want to or not. 
Work is over an hour away from the house so I don't have a big social life outside of the hubby and kiddo.  I get up, go to work, go home.  So most of my contact with friends is though the internet.  Without that I would probably go nuts, sometimes a mommy needs other women around.  Well I'm going to go play with my new toy for a while. 
Talk to you later.

A few ideas for the coming year.

Well, the holidays are now since past and we had a fantastic time.  We hosted our first ever Christmas with our guests being my FIL and a family friend.  Not a big event but lovely none the less.  This was the kiddo's first real Christmas, he's finally starting to grasp the idea of Santa.  He had a great time and has played with everything that the Big Man provided.  His favorite toys being the Spiderman figure and his easel and the "blue one" Bass boat and Hummer that he specifically asked for from Santa.  He has requested a bath every night since Christmas because of that boat.  Sometimes more than one a day.  

New Year's wasn't a big deal.  We had a lovely dinner with flank steak, bruschetta, black eyed peas, pico de gallo and fudge.  A little eclectic but tasty.  I was asleep before midnight and I think the hubby wasn't too far behind me.  

But now it's time to look backwards and forwards and figure out what I can reasonably improve or change.  So here are my "ideas" for 2010.

1.  Try to be healthier.  Walking more and eating better are good ways to accomplish this we'll see if I actually do it.  Odds are that this is the first idea that will go out the window.


2.  Learn how to knit socks.  As soon as I finish my scarf/wrap, I'll start this project.  I'm very excited about it and a little nervous.  It seems very difficult and I'm pretty sure I don't have enough experience to even attempt it.



3.  Post more often.  This has been hampered by my home computer crashing on me.  I'm now waiting for Dell to build my cheap netbook and ship it.  Should be here by early Feb.  Can't happen fast enough.  I just hope it works.


4.  Get out of the house more often.  I'm hoping to join a local knitting group.  I don't make friends easily and it scares the dookey out of me to put myself out there.  What if they don't like me.


5.  Figure a way to decrease our debt.  I know...spend less.  I'm trying but unfortunately life keeps throwing obstacles in my way.  (the aforementioned computer crash).


6.  Figure out alternative sources of income...any ideas?


7.  Be a better mother and wife...spend more time in the moment with both husband and child.



I think these are somewhat do able.  I don't want to call them resolutions because that is a definite road to failure.  But they are some ideas that have been germinating in my little brain of fluff.  

Until I get the computer posting is going to be hard to do.  I will shoot for minimum once a week but don't give up on me if it doesn't happen.  

Talk to you later (soon I hope) 

Bah Humbug and the evil of premade cookies

Bah Humbug…yeah you heard me.  I’m having a very hard time getting into the holiday spirit.  If I could get away with it, I would cancel it.  I know that the holiday isn’t about material things.  But it’s expensive no matter what.  As mentioned in a prior posting, everybody is pretty much getting whatever I can knit.  It’s saving money but it is still not cheap.  You also need to know that it’s baking season and that costs money as well.  Our heat is electric and we discovered last year the hard way that is very, very expensive.  Every time I hear the heat come on, I sneak around and turn it off.  The outflow of money is exceeding the inflow of money and I’m almost at my breaking point.  Work has me so stressed out with the need to make my numbers and then some that I’m pretty close to a breakdown.  It’s the end of the year and everybody is trying to return products that they didn’t use and it is making my numbers go backwards and my heart rate go upwards.  What to do?  I need to make Christmas happen for the kiddo, this will be his first that he starts to “get” Christmas and the concept of Santa.  The tree needs decorating, I can’t seem to get that done, the tree has been up since the day after Thanksgiving and I’ve plugged in the lights and put one crystal on.  I’m trying, I really am.  But, I’m scared of what will happen if I fail at work and that’s probably what has put the biggest damper on the holiday.  It’s starting to keep me up at nights.  Either I can’t fall asleep or I do fall asleep but wake up at 3:00 am and just lie there thinking in the dark.  Hopefully things are as bad I think they might be.  I am a worry wart after all.

Also shouldn’t people be nicer and more accepting at this time of year.  Last few years my experience has been the opposite.  People are grumpy (present company included) and demanding.  In our world of instant gratification people refuse to accept that things take time.  Processes have to be followed on all fronts.  In part, I blame the pre-made cookie dough for the deterioration of our society.  Because of this little wonder of science, people and children expect things to just appear as soon as they think of them.  Want cookies?  Take the preformed dough out of its little package, place on a baking sheet and voila! You have cookies.  What’s wrong with the ritual of baking cookies from scratch?  It shows children that things don’t instantly appear out of thin air.  It forces you to think about what goes into the cookies, the time, the ingredients and the caring that someone puts into each batch.  Only on rare cookie emergencies are the “fake and bake” cookies allowed in my house.  I just can't do it.

Sorry for the rambling, I just needed to get this out to the universe.  Wish me luck, send me good thoughts and I’ll reciprocate.  If you are extremely wealthy send me money…j/k.  Sort of.  Don’t worry I’ll keep trying to build the Christmas spirit and hopefully by Christmas Eve I’ll be overflowing with spirit or cookies.  Perhaps both. 

Talk to you soon.

 

I'm back

So I've been away for a while.  I don't have a good reason except that I haven't been motivated to write for a while.  Work has been extremely busy and we have had an episode of strep and an infected toe to be dealt with.  Because of that there was the Halloween that wasn't as we stayed home and handed out candy.  My poor son hasn't had a Halloween costume in 2 years due to illness.  Next year buddy, next year is your year. 

That brings us to November where I have been busy trying to knit scarves for Christmas, since I'm so slow at knitting that leaves little time to post.  But I'm making progress.  See...I think I'm improving.

I think I'm improving the hardest part is staying on task.  It's very easy to get lured in to all the pretty colors and ideas.  I have to fight to finish each and every project.  Otherwise I will end up with at bunch of half finished projects of various colors and styles.  I keep telling myself that after Christmas I can actually work on something for myself.  I have a ton of things that I want to work on.  Of course I live in Texas and by the time that I finish my projects for myself it will be summer and I'll either have to turn A/C way down or wait patiently for cooler weather in sometime in December.  Well back to knitting.  I have a scarf I want to finish by the end of the weekend.

Wish me luck.

Oh and I promise I'll be posting more often.

Talk to you very soon.