For my mom

This is from my husband's surprise birthday party. Alex wasn't very happy to find out that the birthday cake was not for him.

Anyway, it has been brought to my attention that i "haven't been blogging". Lets add this to the long list of other thinks I haven't been doing since going back to work, like cleaning, sleeping, knitting, reading anything other than a text book, or any other generally enjoyable activity. I've started unit 7 of 10 as of yesterday and I'm staring down the barrel of a term paper, an honors component power point to go with that paper, and a final exam. There's barely enough time in a day for me to just finish the normal assigned work and now I have to write a paper and create 10-12 power point slides, plus we're gearing up for the primary program that I'm sure has not been written yet and this is all starting to spin out of control and it's just not fun anymore and I want someone to stop this ride so I can get off.

Dante started school yesterday and came home with the customary flurry of papers that I need to sign and fill out and sort through. I filled out what I could today at work. I couldn't do them yesterday due to spending the better part of my evening in the emergency room with my husband waiting for them to do a CAT scan on him. Finally I had to give up and go pick Alex up from my friend's so that I could get him into bed. Dante was at his young men's activity so that took care of him and a friend brought him home. Aaron didn't get home till 12:30am and I had to wait for him to get home before I could go to bed as I drove him there and he didn't have his keys. Not a fun night, and an even less fun morning. I'm coming down right now from the last of the Mountain Dew I had to drink to keep myself from crashing today.

Work is getting better. I think I've finally cracked the shell of the other tellers and I no longer feel like a total stranger in the branch. I'm still not loving it but I'm not currently hating it so I guess that's all i can really ask for right now. I'm still bored to death and I'm still thinking about how I could so be studying or writing a paper or knitting or baking or cleaning or playing with my baby right now.

Now, as far as the fun goes...I'm going to Rhinebeck!! My first ever trip and I'm going with my friend Heather S. She and I booked a motel, and registered for a beginners hand spinning class. I've even picked up a drop spindle at Bella Yarns to take with me so I can learn on the one I intend to use, and if I see one there that I fall in love with, I'll bring it home too. I'm planning to save my "nail money" to spend there, but my first contribution got spent on parking and food at the emergency room. I need to get an account, or a jar, or a mattress or something to put the money in until October 17th when I can throw it at some nice vendors for yarn that I don't have room for or space for in my home. In keeping with Rhinebeck traditions, I'm knitting a sweater (vest really) to wear there...the Ivy League Vest from Interweave by Eunny Jang in Knit Picks Palette. I've just finally made it past the corrugated ribbing and I'm two rows into the pattern when I notice that I've already made a mistake in the pattern because I forgot where I was supposed to start and I knew I'd have a problem with that so I had to tink all the way to the start of the second round. I'm going to take a highlighter to the pattern so that I don't miss the start of the row anymore. I'm just going to leave the incorrect first row as it is because I just don't care and I don't think anyone else will notice. Maybe it's lack of sleep talking...