Wassup, people?

So, life has been interesting lately. And I mean that both sincerely and in quotes; 'interesting'.

Lately, I've been much more content in my role as Parent, Wife and Mother. Home has just been very comfortable and less with the crazy-making. I don't think the kids have changed in any developmental milestone way to make this the case. (If anything, Abby has turned a corner into a she-demon stage recently and I'm ready for that to end anytime now, kthx) I think I've just been more on top of things and being more on top of things has made things more positive and doable.

School is going very well. We're in a nice routine. Kai is plugging along. Abby has taken an interest in the v.Smile and preschool computer games and is sitting in one some of Kai's lessons, so she's starting to pick up on things she's had no interest in before. Kai's such the little scholar (the little hyperactive scholar of doom) that she's been a very good example for Abby in that way.

So, yeah. We were plugging along just fine and then, whammo, Adam was laid off. He works for a construction company, so we had been expecting it, but we thought it was months away still. There was about 24 hours of panic and then another job landed in his lap. He should be starting Mondey, which means no break in the paychecks, though he will be making less while he trains in the new company. Still, it's enough for us to live on, so I'm happy. Christmas was going to be mellow this year anyway and we should be able to put together enough money as we need it to finish the rennovations. Things are positive.

On the crafting front, I've finished the body of my first lace shawl, but knitting the border on it has been freakin' me out, so I'm only about 1/10th of the way around it. I've knit up a few quick and easy gifts for Christmas. Currently, I'm test knitting the contest entries for the Just Dishcloths mailing lists. They are lovely and I can't wait to send them out to people.

I started teaching a crochet class for the women at church. We only meet once a month and at the first class I taught them to do a singel crochet dishcloth. This month, we're going to do a half-double crochet scarf with button accents on the end and I'm providing them with the yarn. We're going to use the SWTC Optimum that Jenny gave me a while back. I love it and want to spread the joy that is super-soft Optimum.

During the 24 hour freak-out over Adam being unemployed, I did something I'd been planning on doing for months now and went through the yarn stash and pulled out everything I've been meaning to trade away to put it up for sale to try to get some extra money that way. As I was finishing the photos, he came home and told me he had a job, so I didn't need to sell the yarn, but I figured what the heck, I'd been wanting to do it anyway. So, look out for that here soon. There are a few pieces from Ikea I was wanting for the new room that would have to be backburnered for ages, but if I can offload enough of my stash, I may be able to get them sooner rather than later. Then I can tell people that this is the house that yarn furnished.