My vacation in pictures.

Well, Sunday morning we took off for our family cabins bright and early. We left the house before 6:30am, and we arrived around 11am. It would have been sooner, except for Neil’s dirt bike falling off the trailor just outside of Lytton, BC! We drove all the way to Cache Creek with our hearts in our throats as we passed over bumpy and poorly-maintained highway in some spots, then we stopped and bought 4 more ratcheting straps for the bike. In about 15 minutes, we were back on the road, our hearts lighter, as we now had straps designed to hold down about 2500 pounds holding down about 150 pounds of dirt bike. Hey, better safe than sorry, right?!

We arrived at the cabins, and Neil and I quickly set about unpacking so he could attend to his dirt bike. Morgan went of course, to the swings, and to hang out with Auntie Jo and Uncle Ted. She had a blast being oohed and aahed over, and discovered she could go a lot higher on the swings now. Neil meanwhile, fixed the damage to his bike in about 30 minutes, and then we set off for Clinton for the family fun day. I wish I could say I remembered to bring the camera, but I didn’t. Neil got some great pictures of Morgan in a bouncy castle, with water guns, and going for a horse back ride on his phone however, and I’ll see what I can do about getting those from him for my next post. Meanwhile, the following pictures of finished Tea and Scandal socks, feeding horses, Neil on his bike, and a couple other assorted photos will have to suffice to sum up the very short weekend!

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One of those weeks…

I planned this week to be fairly productive. I was only working 4 shifts this week, one of them only 4 hours long, and almost all of them ending before 4:30 in the afternoon, which leaves me several productive knitting hourse in the evening, and Neil was working his first turn at midnight shifts, which meant that Morgan and I would be home by ourselves in the evenings. I was fairly confident that I could finish the last Christmas present this week before I started on the next round of them, until last week, as I was knitting my way through the half-way point in the edging, I looked down and realized that I was going to run out of yarn.

Now, this project is not something I could just go and pick back easily, or even rip back, so I stuck it in my bedroom closet to think about what it’s done until I could decide what to do with it. Of course, I’ve used a hand-dye for it, and when I finally decided that I would order another skein to finish it with, I realized that the yarn was no longer available. Uh-oh. Good thing the dyer is a wonderful, kind, and generous woman! When I contacted her about the possibility of dying me up another skein, well, she agreed to. I will have a lot of yarn left over when I’m done with this project, but in this house, that’s never a bad thing. Ms. Dyer-Extrodinaire, you know who you are. Thank you, you’re wonderful! So, I’ll have to wait a bit for the new yarn to come in, but that’s okay, I have had other things to keep me busy!

Like, another Fixations baby hat:

And that blanket that I wanted to make to use up the rest of the Bernat Baby Sport yarn I had lying around:

I also started the Tea and Scandal Socks by VeryBusyMonkey, and the first one is finished, and I’m almost finished Clue #1 on the second sock. I only made two modifications to the whole sock, the first being that I omitted the ribbing, I wanted a lacey top, so I did one row of the ribbing to set up for the chart, and then went straight to Row 1. The second modification that I made was on the toe. The instructions called to do decreasing ever second row until there were at total of 28 stitches, and then graft the toe, but it ended up being too short for my foot, as predicted, even though I knit to the 2 inches shorter than the length of my foot as directed in the pattern. VeryBusyMonkey must have very short toes if this works for her, but I being a long-toed being, decided to decrease to the 28 sts on alternate rows, then I decreased every row until there were 16 sts, and then grafted it. Perfect fit!

I haven’t done a sock pattern in awhile that I was completely enamoured with, but these socks certainly fit the bill. The charts are nicely laid out (though I did find one mistake on one of them, but it was easily corrected), and the sock itself seems to go quickly when broken up in to clues like this. I decided to make the socks after seeing two of my Ravelry friends make them, and I loved they way they turned out. When I printed out the pattern, and showed it to my boyfriend, I asked him which yarn I should use, and held up a bag of sock yarns. He went straight for the yarn I was thinking about using too – a Knit Picks palette yarn in a nice light mossy green. I had to laugh when I pulled them out of the zip-lock and saw the name of the yarn. “Green Tea.” I was sold! I cast them on immediately, and haven’t looked back!

Knitting wise, it’s been up and down, but emotionally for me, it’s been worse this week. On Monday, I will be 28 weeks along, and officially in my third trimester. About two weeks back however, my energy started to abandon me. I’m now in bed before 10 every night, pretty much without fail, and up every morning before 7, usually though, in between 6:15 and 6:30am. I am starting to require naps in the middle of the day again, and long days at work have me wiped. I did my last two shifts stocking the over the counter items at our pharmacy this week, and I couldn’t be happier to see them pass by. I have had a love-hate relationship with those shifts. I enjoy them for the fact that I get to avoid talking to grumpy customers and patients, getting constantly asked why a medication isn’t covered, and listening to people complain about the prices of the medications they take. Instead, I can work happily at my own pace, putting the items away, and I can micro-manage and perfectionist to my heart’s content. If a section looks bad, I can clean it up if I have time. But in the process, I get filthy. And I mean filthy. My coat is permanently stained in a few places from the dust and dirt on the boxes and products, and the bending over, crouching, lifting, and moving large things around was getting very difficult and uncomfortable. I am happy to see them go now, and I can focus on doing pharmacy work, which is really what I prefer anyways.

But what a trade off! I’m back in the pharmacy, yes, but now it means I will be working with our new technician, who is nosey, bossy, rude, obnoxious, and is a total slacker. She passes work off on other people, avoids doing simple tasks that are part of her job, and is generally unpleasant to work with. There’s a rumor that she may be leaving us soon, but I’ll believe it when I see it. She is nothing if not stubborn, and when she gets it in her head that she’s worked her fair share of say, the counter, or filing, she puts it away, and cannot be persuaded to do it again, not even by her boss. I have a feeling that I will be picking up a lot of slack, doing a lot more multi-tasking, and cleaning up a lot of messes at the request of my boss (because she knows that I won’t tell her no…). Should be interesting.

And my step-daughter. Oh boy, my step-daughter. I love Morgan, I want you all to know that, but there is something about her keen intelligence that has me in tears some days. She knows that I am not her mother, and she loves to test the boundaries with me more than anyone. I think it honestly delights her to see me frustrated, and though I do my best not to show it, today, I finally cracked. We had a bad evening yesterday. I got off work at 4:30 and we went home, and she immediately got into things. Her version of tidying her room was to shove everything in her closet until it crashed against the doors and burst out. Her idea of brushing her teeth was smearing toothpaste all over her mouth. AND, she decided that when she accidentally got her own poo on her hands, not to wipe it off on some toilet paper or one of her wipes, but to put it on the wall instead. There were also numerous other little things that she did all night to test me, and by the time she was in bed, I was exhausted emotionally.

Today as well, she pushed the buttons. Even with Neil around, she proceeded to disobey me deliberately to my face. Mom always says that when kids get into this kind of mood to  do something to “change the mood.” It was something my grandmother did too, so I tried. It was pouring rain, so the park and a walk were out, so I thought…Playdough! She hasn’t played with that in months! I took the table cloth and placemats off, placed it on the table, and let her go to town. I happily sat down to an episode of Rachel Ray and my Tea and Scandal socks, and looked over now and then to see her happily playing away.

Then, she comes out of the kitchen, and I get worried. I watched her take a (clean) tea towel over to the table and squash some playdough into it, and that’s when I lost it. The playdough went away, the table got scrubbed off, and she went into time-out while I cleaned up. And then, I went over to talk to her about why she was being punished when I burst into tears. And then she of course, burst into tears. I realized how much of a cow I was being (too little, too late, I know) and so we made up and hugged, and we had ice cream, and hugged some more.

She’s been an angel ever since. I guess we were both getting frustrated with each other and needed to get it out of our systems, and consuming sugar and chocolate on top of it all doesn’t really hurt either. And tonight for dinner, I’m making Chef Boyardee. Because really, we just wanted it. I was going to be good step-mom and make a healthy dinner, but I think my super-charged hormonal self and her confused-with-how-to-deal-with-her-own-emotions five year old earned a night of indulgence.

And now, I’m going to cut the blabber on this ridiculously long post. After 8pm you’ll find me in a lavender bath, calming down, and her, well, hopefully, fast asleep, so we can start over tomorrow morning. Peace out!

Finally, we have progress!

Now and then, the Yarn Harlot talks about how the time-space continuem gets warped, and either you get to the point where you knit and knit and knit on a project, and yet nothing seems to get done, or where you knit and knit and knit and suddenly…you are finished. WAY ahead of schedule. I was experiencing the first one for awhile, my Christmas projects just seemed to take forever, and nothing would get finished, until yesterday of course. 2 out of the 3 have seen completion, and the third isn’t too far behind either. I think a good day of knitting tomorrow could possibly see it off the needles!

Socks for Little Witches for Morgan. This pair came out of one ball of Crystal Palace Yarns Maizy, and while the yarn itself wasn’t my favorite to work with, I know they will be soft enough that she won’t complain about itching, and the purple alone should be enough to make her want to keep them on her feet. I have an extra ball of yarn though, so I guess that means I’m making another pair of socks for her…

For Neil, Gentleman’s Lozenge Sock from Knitting Vintage Socks.

You will notice that one of the toes of the sock is done in a different colorway of the same yarn, Rancho sock yarn, and that’s because the skein did NOT have enough yarn in it. Yes, I cut down on the length of the leg, and yes, the length of the foot is right, but for some reason, everytime I try to knit a pair of men’s socks out of Rancho, they never work out. Oh well, Neil said that he could live with it (after having a conversation with me where I managed to evade the actual details of what he was getting, and where the color change would happen), so I’m living with it.

And last week, I got to spin on a spinning wheel for the first time! I brought my wheel to a guild meeting (where I was a “guest”), and we tried to get my wheel up and running. After several attempts to get the drive band on and stay on, it worked, and turned properly, but then, it wouldn’t draw the fiber in…no matter what we did, no draw. Luckily, there is a Master Spinner in the guild, and she is not only experienced with my wheel, but was generous too. Another spinner allowed me to use her antique Ashford Tranditional, Louise 1, and Louise 2, the Master Spinner, then took the time to investigate my wheel and figured out what was wrong with it. She graciously offered to take it home with her, as she and her husband have a shop, and they fix wheels all the time. She called me last night to tell me that it’s up and running, though it will be very, very difficult to learn on.

It seems that the Nilus Leclerc and the Ashford Elizabeth that my wheel closely resembles have a serious difference that makes learning on my wheel the equivalent to trying to herd cats from a wheel chair. My wheel has no Scotch Tension. And the maiden arms don’t move. (If you are a spinner who has worked with wheels like mine, I’m sure you understand what I’m talking about. For those of you who don’t understand, just nod your head yes and we’ll move on. It’s not important enough for me to take the time to explain). But somehow, Louise 2 and her husband got everything working, where the wheel not only turns, but it also draws too! Just really, really fast.

And that really fast part is great if you want to spin fine yarns (which I do!), but learning, well, that will be a challenge. Louise 1 and 2 have suggested (along with the rest of the guild members I met) that I learn on a similar wheel first, like an Ashford Traditional, and then progress up to my wheel. And lucky me, the guild has those kind to rent! For cheap, too! Once I join the guild in the new year (I’d like to have the baby first before I commit myself to going to meetings, etc), I will rent a Traditional until I’ve got my technique down, then I can work with my wheel at home. It’s not exactly transportable though, so if I do want to spin on the go at meetings, I will have to purchase one that does transport better, so I’m keeping my eyes peeled for good deals (and if you know any, let me know!).  But, I did want to show you my first ever spinning on a spinning wheel, which was accomplished last Thursday. I’m very proud of it!

Very nobby, very uneven, but very, very cool! I was amazed even at my stop-and-start pace, how quickly I turned fiber into yarn! And everyone says I caught on very quickly, whether or not this has anything to do with the fact that I’ve spun on a hand spindle before or not, I don’t know, but apparently I caught on quite well, so I’m happy!

And my last little bit of news to update you with, is that I finally got the bug for baby stuff again. I think it was hitting the 6th month and going,  OMG, I have tons of baby yarn left! I need to get cracking! that did it. So, another Fixations hat is on my new extra long bamboo DPN’s, and I plan on making a simple feather and fan baby blanket as well. My goal is to try not to have idle hands whenever possible for the next three months, and books are being reserved for the bus, lunch hours at work, and bedtime sleepytime-makingness. I think I can get a blanket churned out by the time the baby is born if I stick to it!

Meatless Mondays

While reading this months edition of Yoga Journal, I came across the concept of eating one day a week completely meatless – as a family. The Carnagie Mellon University calculated that one person eating vegetarian one day a week reduces greenhouse gas emissions by the equivalent of driving 1000 fewer miles – per week. I am hoping some of you will be encouraged to try this along with me. It is good for your health and the environment!

I am getting twitchy…

Okay, I’ll admit it. I’m starting to feel the third trimester stress that so many mothers talk about. But there’s just so much to be DONE!

Take today for instance. I am still in my pj’s, and in about a half hour to 40 minutes from now, my friend Leslie is picking me up and we are going to be at the Heron Reserve in town here for 4 hours, spinning. Well, I will be trying to learn, anyhow. She will probably get a lot of actual spinning done. And then, when I get home, I have to vaccumm. I mean, I can’t put it off any longer. The floors need it, and especially since I just about ran into two very big spiders last night, crawling around on the floor (and one of them chasing me…gross!), I’ve decided that a good vaccumming might scare some of them back into hiding…

And then, there’s the Christmas projects I’ve got going on. I almost want to tell you exactly what I am doing, just so you know why I’m feeling the crunch. I’m currently working on something for my mother, which is sort of on the way to being almost finished, but then there’s the project for my spouse which I’m more than halfway completed, but still, it’s big, because it’s for a big-footed man, and then, there’s also the socks for Morgan I have going on (and can’t work on anymore until I measure the length of her foot), and THEN I also want to make a pair of socks for my father again. Last year I made him a pair out of Ultra Alpacca, just a simple sock recipe, but he really seemed to take to them. So, I am going to pick up another skein of that yarn to make him another pair. He said the texture was nice, they were soft, and had enough give to be very comfortable. I can’t ignore that. He needs another pair.

And you know, I still have all this baby yarn lying around…that fixations I need to turn into another hat and some socks, that Bernat Baby sport that I want to make into a simpe feather and fan blanket, is it all too much to do? I have approximately 100 days left until my due date, and I’m starting to sweat. Will I get it all done? I mean, I know my life isn’t going to be over or anything once the baby comes, and I know I will still be able to knit, but I just don’t know how much time I will have, so I am trying not to leave anything to the last minute…just in case.

I am going to do a lot of knitting tonight. And yes, I work Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, but I have plenty of time after shift on both Friday and Saturday to knit (off at 3 and 3:30, that leaves entire afternoons and evenings) and Sunday I’m off at 6, so I’ll be able to get some knitting done that evening, but then, blissfully, I have no shifts scheduled for the rest of the week (though I can almost guarantee that they will be calling me in), so my plan, is to try to finish up two out of the three Christmas projects, and to start on the baby hat. Morgan’s socks will take virtually no time at all (the leg is only 42 rows), so I don’t mind having to put them off, but I know if I leave the projects to the side for Mom and Neil, that things could end disastrously…

And anyone who wants to come over and help me knit all this stuff up for me, well, be my guest! I’ll even feed you!

Surprise!

After trying to keep journaling in my old bound, lined journal (which I really wasn’t loving), I was getting frustrated. The pages crinkled in a bad way when I painted them, the lines interrupted my plans and lettering, and the markers I got bled right through the thin sheets, and I hated the way it never wanted to lie open properly, even when I smoothed the pages down. I was out and about in the book store the other day, and came across Chapter’s solution to the Moleskin for Canada – it’s called a Piccadilly, and it’s a black, hard cover bound journal with unlined paper in it, and an elastic band to keep it closed. I’m busy collaging the front, but I won’t share until I have it finished.

I’m waiting on an order of printed masking tape (which I’ve been humming and hawing over whether or not to buy it) for a couple weeks now. I wanted something to finish edges mostly, and I really, really hate clear celophane tape for the job. So, it’s been sitting on my living room floor, along with a bunch of other journalling supplies, so that when I get a brain wave about what else I want to do to it, I can quickly sweep in, put on the embelishment, and then go back to what I was doing. Like this morning, when I figured out how I was going to sew on the dragonfly charm I had. I didn’t have an awl, and I didn’t want to use the drill on my cover, but I wanted to sew this charm on, not glue it. I got a brainwave when I opened my sewing basket, thinking maybe I could use a sewing needle to poke a hole, and saw my seam ripper.

For all those sewers out there, probably cringing right now, please, take comfort. This seam ripper was a cheap, .50 seam ripper that came in a kit with a tape measure, set of pins, and pin cushion, and this seam ripper has not ripped a seam in years. It graduated to the take of “awl” today, when it successfully poked two holes through the cover, and the charm got sewed on.

My evening got even better when I checked the mail, and saw this in my mailbox:

It was a thank you from Hope from Paper Relics for joining her art journaling e-course! Complete with “This Journal Belongs to” plate, a note card, and a cute little do-dad which will probably get collaged into my new journal now. Well Hope, thank YOU (again!), and I will definitely be posting images of the new journal when the cover is finished!

A little food for thought

Last week, randomly on Facebook, the Jane Austen fan page put up a status post, and it said the following quote, which has stuck out in my mind ever since:

“Always be yourself, because those who mind don’t matter, and the people who matter don’t mind.”

I loved it, instantly. I thought it was perfect, it described for me every reason to be myself without shame, a concept I have definitely struggled with before. All this time, the people that I have been catering to, really haven’t been worth the effort, yet I haven’t concerned myself enough with the ones that do, and to be honest, they probably don’t care if my hair was blonde or brown or purple. They loved me for me.

I immediately tweeted the comment, and put it in my Facebook status a couple days later, and it’s come up in my art journaling at least twice since I read it. And then last night, while I was reading Eat Pray Love, I came upon another quote to remember.

“It is better to live your own destiny imperfectly than to live an imitation of somebody else’s life with perfection.”  The Bhagavad Gita

Another beautiful reminder to be yourself, because then at least it’s your life that you’re living, and not a copy of someone else’s. There’s nothing wrong in my opinion, with taking cues from other people, and being inspired to emulate some part of someone else, as long as it fits with you. We are products of our inspirations afterall. But at the end of the day, the core of who you are should still come out through everything.

A lot to think on, n’est pas? I love books like this, that really just make you think.

When inspiration strikes…

…I heed its call. Yesterday, I sat down and tried to brainstorm ideas for a book. I am one of those people who has always felt like there’s a book (or two, or ten…) inside them, and at least once a year, I try to come up with an idea for one. I get a chapter written, max an introduction on top of it, and then it fails. I get inevitably don’t like where the story is going, or find that I don’t know the subject well enough (and then discover the crushing lack of resources available on the subject from the library) and it dies. And usually at this same time, I go through the files on my computer, decide which ones to keep, and which ones to delete, and all the partially written stories and books go into the trash bin, and I try to start again.

It wasn’t until reading Tranquilista by Kimberly Wilson that I even realized what things like book proposals, and sample chapters were, and that most books weren’t written first, then published, but only a few pieces written, with an outline and summary of what else the book would be able, and why it’s different, and then you found a publisher, and they gave you some time and money to finish the book, maybe hook you up with an editor, and then you have to watch as your baby goes out into the world at the mercy of your publisher and the changes they want to make. It wasn’t until this harsh reality settled on me that I realized that at least three of the subjects I wanted to write books about, would probably never make it, not as I wanted them to. There are simply too many other books like that on the market at the moment, each claiming to be better than the last, and as much as I’m confident that I could write a good book about say, jouranling, I’m not sure that it would be an original book. And in these economic times, it has to be original if a company will take a chance on it.

So, I decided to set aside the writing dream for the moment, and find something uplifting to read. I’d heard that Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilber was great, but of course, when I tried to request it, all copies are currently overdue, on hold, or in circulation, and there’s a waiting list several people long to read it. I’m not that patient, so I did the next best thing, I bought it on sale at Shoppers, and cracked it open immediately. Let me tell you, I’m hooked.

I had a hard time putting it down when it was time to get my ass off the chair at Starbucks and head over to work, and an even harder time putting it down when it was time for me to go to sleep last night. But as I was lying there, thinking about the book and some of our similarities, I had a sudden burst of inspiration, and I literally leapt out of bed and ran for my computer. Inspiration had struck me, and  I wasn’t going to just close my eyes and forget about it. If I learned nothing else from The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron, it’s that when you get a brilliant idea, you write the damned thing down.

I had intended last night to only write a summaryof what I wanted the book to be about, it was after all, 11pm at night, but the next thing I knew, I was blinking  back watery computer-glazed eyes, looking at the clock in disbelief – 12:30am, and hitting the save button, and dragging my butt to bed. But I set my alarm, and at 7:30am this morning, I was back in front of it, and another two and a half hours of writing have been accomplished.  I have three chapters of rough, unedited, but in my opinion, brilliant writing accomplished, and I am thinking very seriously about sending it off to a few publishers. I have three publishers in mind specifically that I would love to have publish my book; Little, Brown and Company, Penguin, and New World Publishing. I think my book falls somewhere in the How to Be Single and Julie and Julia category, which would fit LBC perfectly, but it’s also kind of like Eat Pray Love in a sense, and Penguin jumped all over that ship. And then New World has company ethics that make the hippy in my smile all over – they print on partially or fully recycled paper, even when it will cost more, use soy based inks whenever possible, plant trees, and do lots of other very smart and green things while producing their books. I’m not sure if my book is their normal “type” but their company practices align perfectly with mine, and I would jump at the chance to be published by them.

Here’s the relative links, by the way: http://www.littlebrown.co.uk/home http://www.newworldlibrary.com/ http://us.penguingroup.com/

I am still full of spark and inspiration, and I still have a lot of writing I would like to do today, tomorrow, and for many days to come. but I’m going to do my best at the same time, when I’m taking writing breaks, to do some researching, and maybe even some book proposal putting together. Anyone out there know of any other publishers that would be a good fit? Or of any inside scoop I should know about? Please share!

Welcome to Yarn-doodling on WordPress.com!

Okay, I know some of you may be confused as to why this is happening, a big move, and made pretty suddenly. But trust me, it’s for the better.

I have been having issues with Blogger for awhile now, and even though I had a short victory with their theme designer, it wasn’t enough to keep me there. There were login issues, commenting issues, and posting issues that were driving me up the wall. And customer support was less than helpful. I have had several friends recommend to me that I change my blog provider over to WordPress, and finally, after researching my options, I decided to. It was easy to figure out how to export all my old posts, and to set them up here, and I’m glad I did it. Now, I’ve got a fresh start, and a new canavs in which to work on!

So, update your links if you’ve bookmarked my blog, and follow me here from now on. And please, bear with me while I figure out a whole new blogging system from scratch. I was with Blogger for three years before this move, so things like theme, colors, and overall appearence may change as I have a chance to play with them and figure out how it works.

The Art Journals Continue

Okay…call me obsessed, but I can’t stop.

Some of these are the journalling prompts from the Nostalgic Musings journalling e-class that I’m taking (click on the link on the side of the page to learn more about Hope and her journals and classes), and some are simply pages I did of my own accord. I have picked up some new materials that I have been very inspired by, including paper doilies (loved seeing them in Hope’s journals, so I hunted for them), and some pastel colored permanent markers. They bleed through the pages when I don’t have anything else on them, but that’s easy to remedy with some decorative pictures or pasting doily scraps over top of those sections.

I loved that she shared her art journals online for people to see, but kept some stuff private, so I opted to do the same…enter in folding flaps, small envelops, and cards that I picked up at the dollar store (see the bottom two images) that I paste onto the page, and then write in. No one can see but me, and I plan on putting a tab on it later when everything is dry (since when did white school glue take FOREVER to dry??) that says “private” in case someone I know wants to flip through it, but I don’t want them reading anything. I have water colored the background of several pages, and I love the effect it gives… even though this is cheap paper and really not designed to take paint, it makes the texture of it irresistible to write on. It crinkles like old papers, and when I’m having a few moments of stagnant thought, I simply flip the pages back and forth to make that sound, and inspiration comes back within minutes.

I have been working on my knitting, but I still can’t show you. It’s Christmas knitting. Yes, things are progressing nicely!

I also went on a hike to Othello Tunnels with my parents, Neil, and Morgan last weekend, and we had a blast! I wanted to share a couple of my favorite images. It brought tears to my eyes several times during the hike when I would see my Dad holding Morgan’s hand, or running with her. I’m blaming the hormones, but really, it was just damned cute and touching.

 

Neil of course is nowhere to be seen…always behind the camera, never in front of the lens that man!

And, in a little less than an hour and a half, I will officially be 6 months pregnant! How the HECK did the time escape me so quickly??!!! I’m definitely glad that I’ve begun chronicling things better with these journals, it makes me feel good that I’m preserving a lot of memories that are happening. I’m still keeping up with my regular scrap booking though, for big events like this I will scrap book them rather than journal about them, I think both the scrap books and the blog are enough… my journals are being kept as a more personal log, rather than a life one.

Okay, enough blabber out of me, it’s late, and I work another long day tomorrow. Not looking forward to it, but only a few months longer before I have a whole year away from that place! Nighty-night!