Catching up

I figured I should post at least once more before the end of the year.

I mention this each time I write, but this year was kind of insane for me at work. Long hours, lots of stress, and just no time to breathe. Add on top of that my grandmother's illness and passing, my brother's drama, and trying to have a little bit of a life, and I just seem to have no time. I think one of my resolutions for 2009 will be to not let myself get so crazy.

So a recap:

At the end of August my grandmother passed away after fighting cancer for most of the year. She was a stubborn woman who was extremely healthy her whole life and didn't want to deal with the crappy treatments and side effects anymore. She was awesome and I'm going to miss her. The family had a lot of fun telling stories about her life and trying our best to celebrate instead of mourn.

I got to go to the Shenandoah Valley Fiber Festival in October. That was really fun and made up for having to miss MD Sheep and Wool in May. I have lots of new fiber to spin and really wish I had a wheel.

In November I finally got time to visit my friend in North Carolina and see her amazing house and baby A, who is now toddler A and is about to be a big sister. (I came home with a cold, which is the only crappy part.)

On Thanksgiving we had a great dinner, fun afternoon of hanging out and resting, and then I sprained my ankle in the evening. I'd twisted it before, but this was a whole new level of pain. It was an event that made me glad I'm still at home with my parents (for just a couple more months) because I couldn't get myself in the house without help. A few days of resting on the couch, elevation, ice, and hobbling around on crutches, and I was ready to go back to work. I'm not on crutches anymore, but I'm still limping a little (worse when I've been on my feet a lot), wear my brace when I need to, and have to deal with my ligaments being tight and painful. I took some pictures of the bruising. The sprain also meant that I had to miss seeing They Might Be Giants in DC, something I had really been looking forward to.

My brother moved back home in December. It seems the girlfriend's family weren't the best group of people to be living with. He's still spending lots of time with her, but I really hope he breaks it off. It sounds mean to say it, but she's a really unhealthy person for him to be with, and the sooner he can get out of the manipulation and codependency, the better.

So now it's a few days after Christmas, which was a good day. I turn 28 in a couple weeks and I think starting in the spring I'll be looking at buying a house. It's exciting and scary all at once.

Happy Holidays!

Busy

yarn, originally uploaded by LaurenKnits.

Yarn is my first completed handspun skein. Merino/tencel blend. yummy.

Release time has always been busy, but it seems like the last two major releases have been worse. I don't know if it's because I'm not able to work as well as I used to or if something else changed, but I'm finding myself really frustrated with working long hours because I get so easily distracted during the day and night time is the only time it's quiet around here. Of course, it's night now and I'm blogging, so there you go. I'm going to have to get better at tuning out the background noises and loud people as the company continues to expand. We're almost filling up the new office already.

As a result of being so busy and working long days, my sleep lately has been crap and I've taken two vacation days all year. It'll be nice this fall and winter when I have lots of time to take off, but it would have been nice to feel like I was able to take more time off on a regular basis. Sometimes you need a day to recharge, you know? I'd really like to avoid making myself sick, and if I go by yesterday's headache, I'm already doing.

I picked up my knitting again. While I was in the beginning stages of learning to spin, I sort of dropped knitting for a while. In the last month or so I made a shirt for baby A and I started a sweater for myself. Last winter's sweater endeavor didn't go too well, so I'm going to try this pattern and then try a couple other things that will hopefully be relatively easy. I haven't taken pictures of the new sweater yet.

Oh yeah, and I got a new camera. I've been having fun playing with it, but I want to learn how to effectively use it because it's a nice piece of equipment and I don't want to waste its capabilities by always using the Auto setting.

Spinning

Ever since missing the Sheep and Wool festival this year, I've been obsessed with learning how to spin yarn on a drop spindle. At the first festival I went to, I got roving (processed but unspun fiber in a long strip) from a Jacob sheep, purple and blue merino, a sample pack, and some from a breed I can't remember the name of (but the sheep's name is Peanut Butter). And they all sat in my stash with my yarn, because I didn't know what to do with them. Finally sometime last year I got a learn-to-spin kit from someone on eBay and went to teach myself. Fail.

Since joining Ravelry and finding so many resources there, I decided to take another look at the spinning concept. I got a couple better-quality spindles (love my Goldings!), watched videos on YouTube, read tips and recommendations, and started again. This time it clicked. I love spinning. Right now I'm working on that big ball of the purple and blue merino, even Navajo plying it. I just finished my first ever skein of yarn, which is a merino/tencel blend. I andean plied it last weekend and it's drying now after its soak-and-thwack (making yarn is fun!).

Once I get off my butt and find my camera in my disorganization, I'll put up some pictures. I've got more fiber to spin, both dyed and undyed.

The universe hates me

Last Wednesday, in preparation for the MD Sheep and Wool Festival, I ordered a pair of Crocs from Amazon. They were cheaper there than at Zappos, and I get free two day shipping. It was great. They were meant to arrive Friday.

Friday afternoon they still hadn't come so I checked my tracking number and saw that they had made an attempt and that they'd redeliver Monday. But I wanted the Crocs for the weekend, so I went through the process on the UPS site to have them held at the shipping facility and I'd pick them up that night. When they called to confirm, they said to be there between 8 and 9 to pick the box up. Cool.

I got to the customer facility at 8:15 and checked in with the counter person. She said my truck was still out but was due back any minute. So I waited with a bunch of other people. One by one, they all got their boxes, packages, and envelopes. I was the last one. The women there (who were so nice and great about everything) were in contact with someone at the shipping facility, who eventually told them that they couldn't find it. Yippee. So I went home with their promise that it'd be delivered on Monday.

Disappointed, I got home and started preparing for the next day. I was tired but wanted to leave early so I started getting my things together. Right before I was ready to get in bed for a little TV downtime, I leaned over to get something and felt a twinge in my lower back. I figured it was because I had been standing for over an hour and my back was a little stiff, so I used my pillows for support while I watched TV and then went to bed.

Saturday morning, however, my back hurt so badly I could barely move. It took me an hour to get myself into a position where I could stand up. I had to prop up pillows and slowly get myself vertical. I staggered out to the bathroom, which wasn't fun, and then staggered out to the kitchen. I told my mom I wasn't going anywhere and then went to the living room where the chairs with massage/heat are. I was able to sit for about 40 minutes before the spasms made me get up and go back to bed to lay down.

I tried a little later to get up and was able to sit up long enough to eat breakfast and then had to lay down again. Finally, around 3:30 that afternoon, the medicine, BenGay patches, and heat were enough for me to sit in the living room with pillow support and massage. I stayed pretty much put until that night.

Sunday was less horrible, but still painful. My back got progressively better through the day and I was able to sit in the chair without the extra support, so I could have the heat and massage right on my back. Still didn't get up too often.

Today I was able to get up without too much pain and take a shower, which until that point would have been too much standing. I was all set to go to work when I discovered my car wouldn't start. Luckily it did start after I gave it some gas and I was able to get to work, hobbling from the parking lot to the building.

So I don't know if the universe didn't want me at Sheep and Wool, it was punishing me for buying Crocs, or if it was punishing me for cutting my hair. All these crappy things can't be coincidence, can they?

Ramblings

I have about 8-10 inches done on my first sweater. I need to take a picture to post, but I've been way too lazy about it. The stockinette is already boring, and I have lots left to do. Suffice to say that I probably won't be wearing this sweater this winter. Maybe it'll be something I can keep at work this summer, because I know it'll be freezing in the office. We'll see.

The documentation organization project that was supposed to go throughout the year took about a month. There wasn't actually that much to do. Now I'm going through stuff on the network and getting together with other people to decide what to do with a lot of it. Most of it apparently needs to be tossed, but I'll probably save it off onto CD. I'm crazy that way. At least then if someone needs something from 7 years ago, we have it.

The normal work stuff is going well, too. We're hiring a ton of people, which is good normally. I think my fears of an increasingly loud working environment are a bit premature, but not unfounded. And, as nice as it would be to have an office, that will probably never happen for me, so I need to get used to that idea and move on. I did get a raise, which is excellent because now I feel like I'm making an average salary for my position, instead of below average. That's one of the downfalls of working for a small company, I think.

C's daughter A had her first birthday! It's hard to believe it's already been a year since I held that little girl and stared into her new-baby eyes. We had a really fun party with really yummy cake. And tons of presents. The only bad part was an overeager party attendee who had to "help" A with unwrapping, and pretty much did all the work for her. Luckily A is still too young to notice this, but I think it got on C's nerves a little.

Spring is coming soon. I'll be glad for the longer days and warmer weather, but I feel like we didn't really get a winter. Sure, it was cold for a while, but the weather did all sorts of weird things and we didn't get a lot of snow, which means winter to me. So it's hard to think that it's already on the way out. I've been waiting for it to actually start.

Excitement!

You know what next week is? Assuming I get this one project done, next week is the first week since probably October that I don't have a specific thing to work on. Wow.

A couple things could affect this. I have the one project, which needs more work that I originally thought, and I have to finish part of another one but that will more than likely be done this week.

So next week is the first week I can really start on the documentation organization that I've been dying to do! So much fun! Yes, I'm a document geek. But things like that make me really happy. As messy as my personal environments tend to be, I really like neatness and order in a lot of places. Kitchens, bookshelves, yarn shelves, and document storage. I'm going to be a happy camper next week. I hope nothing comes up in the meantime. (That, right there, that's where I jinxed it.)

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I started my first sweater. It's going well so far. I like that it's all stockinette so I can work on it while I watch TV. I'm already thinking about modifications to it, but I think I'll play it by pattern this time. Next time I might make it a V-neck instead of crewneck. Assuming I like it and it turns out well. And I hope it does. I should work on that during Project Runway tonight.

Maybe Ricky will cry again.

27

Yup, I'm 27. Yay for me. I had a fun birthday, which is nice because the last month has pretty much sucked.

It's always hectic around release time but this time seemed so much worse. Probably because not only was there the normal release stress, but also the holiday stress, the I-have-to-get-a-full-week's-work-done-in-two-days stress due to days off (which were very much needed, appreciated, and used to every advantage), and just trying to get everything done. As a result of all the craziness, I ended up staying late at work every day except two.

Now that I'm approaching the end of the work related to the release, I'm realizing how burnt out I am and how much it affected me. I've been sleeping poorly, I can't concentrate worth a damn, and I seem to get annoyed/frustrated way more easily than normally.

The good news is that I have a great boss who not only notices the effort and hard work but also makes a point of telling me it's appreciated. Sometimes hearing that is what I need to get through stuff like this. Of course, emotions being so close to the surface, I tend to tear up when I hear that, but it's still appreciated.

I'm excited about the year coming up. I'm taking on a new project of my own creation and convinced the right people that it's a good thing for the company. Basically updating and organizing the documentation. I think it'll be fun and will (I hope) demonstrate that I can succeed at something else. And maybe that will someday lead to a promotion. Plus the project is different enough from my normal tasks that it'll have that feeling of something new that I like to experience every so often.

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I seem to be in a little bit of a knitting slump. I'm not sure what I want to make. I've been exploring the patterns on Ravelry and have some ideas but I need some inspiration. I haven't started my sweater yet. Maybe I should make myself start. Because I'm fine once I'm actually working on a project, it's the project choosing that stumps me. I hope that the slump is due more to the last month than being bored with knitting. Or spending too much time reading the Ravelry forums. :)