I’m Beautiful Like Me.

My life has been overwhelmingly busy since I returned to school last fall. Here are the highlights:

I pulled through with straight A’s last semester, although only barely in one class. I really enjoyed my first semester back. Now, in the middle of my second semester, things are moving along. I still have no idea what I want to be when I grow up and that is the biggest, most painful thorn in my side, but otherwise it’s okay. I have hit a few kinks earlier in the year, but I think we’re all smoothed out now. I hope!

Last October, my mom fell and broke 3 ribs. During the x-rays, they found she had pneumonia. She stayed in the hospital for almost a week. Then, just after Christmas, she suffered a stroke. They released her after only a few days. Her sister, my aunt, came up from Florida and spent a month helping her out. Meanwhile, I had another major falling out with Big Rob. Once again, we are not on speaking terms and of course, this only increases the tension between me and mom. In any event, I did nothing wrong and I’m trying to distance myself from the drama as best I can. And mom is doing really well.

Joy’s dad got himself into some trouble, as well. He has been on probation for a little less than a year and had a little less than another year to go, but he violated and then avoided going back to his PO. The police finally caught up to him in early February and last week he was sentenced to 13 months in the state penitentiary. Husband and I have been discussing adoption with Joy and she is very enthusiastic. She’s already told a few of her friends that she’s changing her last name to Husband’s.

Between the family drama, school stresses and the lousy weather, the past few months have been a bit tough on me with regards to mental health. However, the sunshine and taste of warmth we were blessed with this week was invigorating!

Just yesterday, P and I went for new tattoos! I’m terribly thrilled with them. They represent my beautiful kids. The yellow/orange one with the Libra glyph is Joy and the green/blue one with the Pisces glyph is Buddha.

Speaking of Buddha, he celebrated his 3rd birthday last week. Can you believe he’s 3 already?! Remember his 1st birthday?! How about his 2nd birthday? Crazy. I was taking it really well until the end of the day when I was adding the new videos I took of him into the computer with all of the old videos. Of course I had to watch the old videos and see just how much my baby has grown! Oy. I don’t think I cried, but I certainly could have. Nothing like becoming a parent to make a person feel old! Anyhow, I don’t like 3 so far. He’s whiny and prone to tantrums in recent weeks and I have little patience for it. Sigh.

All else is going well. I have very little time for leisure, so I haven’t knit or read (for fun) in too damn long. Heartbreaking! Between going to school full-time and Husband working and going to school, as well, it’s hectic. I’ll try very hard to be more consistent in posting! I miss you!

I have no intention of leaving the house anytime in the remotely near future. I hate this weather and am content to stay indoors until it passes. Husband, on the other hand, along with the children, braved the ICK and got some photos.

Meanwhile, work was closed today. I tried to call in at least four times, but there was never an answer. This evening the boss called to see if I could make it in tomorrow. Not likely, as my entire apartment complex is a sheet of ice at least two inches thick. Sorry, dude.

I hafta admit, though, that it is quite pretty. It’s scary how much damage a little frozen water can cause. Trees are down all over the city and hundreds of thousands of people across the nation are without power. I feel quite blessed that our power is still on, especially considering that it flickered quite a bit in the late hours last night. I can’t imagine how we would cope without it - our heat is electric and there isn’t any foreseeable way off this block.

My insane daughter is actually lying down in the snow. WTF?!

My apologies for a long absence. The truth is that I’ve been otherwise occupied and trying to limit my online time. I will try to catch you up without dragging on.

I was offered a job with a starting date of January 5th. So after the latest incident at my job, I quit on New Year’s Eve. The family spent the day running about town on errands, just being together. After, we headed out to P’s place for another ringing in with their family. Last year was a great success and I’m rather fond of building traditions. I told P that she was forever stuck with us celebrating transformation - the end of one year and the beginning of another.

We had a great time. We paid for it dearly the next day, but it was worth it. We spent most of the night outside in the gazebo with candles, space heaters and a small firepit, drinking and being belligerent. Big Rob had to have a photo of P’s “eyebrows” made by shadow cast from candle and eyeglasses. P’s sister H joined us, as well. When P’s husband B arrived sometime after midnight still very sober, I managed to catch this picture of him in the unfortunate position of being in front of our empty bottles. It’s my favorite picture.

P and I; L and Joy; me and Buddha (still sober)

P’s “eyebrows”; Husband and I; L, Joy and C

P, P’s sister H and Big Rob; classic Big Rob; P’s husband B’s unfortunate position

Suffice it to say that New Year’s Day was spent in a haze of frequent bathroom trips and fitful sleep.

On the 5th of January, I started my new job, also waiting tables. It’s a great job: the hours are awesome as the restaurant only operates 11-3 M-F and closes on all major holidays. The pay rate is slightly higher than average ($2.85 vs. the usual $2.13 per hour), the guests are mostly regulars and I’ve made pretty decent tips every day that I’ve worked.

There are some down sides, though and they mostly center around the restaurant owners (a married couple). They are unfriendly, rigid and absolute control freaks. The man tends to follow me around in front of the patrons and nitpick every.little.thing I do that isn’t to par with his standards, as though I have never waited tables and he thinks I’m an idiot or has little faith in me or both. I’ve tried to convince myself that the trade-off is worth it. Nonetheless, I have started searching for new work. I’m happy to report that I had a job interview yesterday that went pretty well. Hopefully, I’ll hear something very soon.

In the meantime, I’ve been knitting and reading a lot. I made 3/4 of a purse for my niece for Christmas (I got to the hand-sewing part and just stopped), started and frogged a sock, and finished a leg warmer. I’ve enjoyed reading so much that it’s been over a week since I’ve even thought about knitting! I’ve finished both Odd Hours by Dean Koontz and Twilight by Stephenie Meyer. I’m eager to start another book. Last year (or was it the year before? Wow, time is flying!), I purchased the last book in the Harry Potter series and never read it. Same story with Dean Koontz’s The Darkest Evening of the Year. Of course now, I’m eager to continue to New Moon, as well.

Buddha is as obnoxious as he is cute and Joy had her first pep-rally and basketball game last week. I took video, but it wasn’t very good. I’ll try my best to get better video to share when we go tonight. The Step Team was so good, they received louder cheers than the basketball players and the cheerleaders! Naturally, Joy is very excited to be a part of all this and I’m thrilled, too.

Christmas went just the way I’d always dreamed. I’ll summarize the past week briefly and let the pictures following speak for themselves.

On Christmas eve, my dear Aunt Ruby decided to visit. Blech! I called into work and was told I may lose my job because of it, so I spent the better part of the day worrying about that. Buddha had a mild fever for most of the day, as well.

I had conspired with my mom and brother to get the Christmas decorations - originally I hadn’t intended on doing any decorating or gift exchanging, but after the wonderful kindness of my friends the knitters, things changed. I got the box of decorations from my mom on Tuesday when I helped her out at the shop. I managed to get them into the house and hidden without either of the kids being any the wiser. When we returned from some errands on Wednesday with both children, our neighbor intercepted us in the hall to give me a box that had been delivered while we were away. Joy spotted it, but we swiftly carried it to our bedroom and later I managed to convince her that it was the decorations in said box.

My brother, Big Rob had nothing much to do with his evening since his girls were both spending the day with their moms, and since we had planned to go to The Healing Place on Christmas Day, I invited him to spend the night at our place. We made pizza and beer for dinner and then packed into the car to drive around looking at Christmas lights (Buddha’s favorite). When we got home, I surprised the kids with Christmas decorations and our puny-but-lovely Peanuts-style Christmas tree. Joy helped decorate it while Husband prepared sugar cookie dough. As she patiently waited for the dough to chill, she and Big Rob whipped up a double batch of Rice Krispy Treats. Then they cut out sugar cookies and decorated them.

After the girl finally made it to bed, we snuck the gifts out of the bedroom and placed them on Buddha’s table and chairs. We prepped our morning coffee and headed to bed.

In the morning, Joy was a bit confused about the gifts. “Whose are these?” she asked me. Buddha walked right past them! He discovered the (American) football first. That was followed by lots of unwrapping gifts. The boy was confused, I think. Usually, we yell at him for tearing things up but here we all are, encouraging him! They were both pleased with their new goods.

Joy’s family sent her some gifts and my in-laws sent some nice stuff to all of us.

After coffee and breakfast, we went out to the Healing Place for several hours to help out in the kitchen and in whatever way we might be needed. However, there were more helping hands than hands in need, so we didn’t stay as long as we’d planned. We were met with great welcome. Everyone was so kind and gracious. It was quite a lovely experience.

The whole work-worries thing was for naught - they had over-staffed and were dead. I actually did them a favor and saved them a few bucks by not coming in. But Friday and Saturday were insane - I made so much money! But by golly, I worked my ass off for it.

Some nice cards made it in the mail after Christmas, including some money and gift cards for Joy.

Tonight, we went to my mom’s for Christmas dinner. Big Rob brought both his girls and the four of us went. We ate so much turkey, ham, potatoes and stuffing with gravy, asparagus, corn, sweet potatoes and rolls. Afterwards, we exchanged gifts. Mom laughed so hard at the washcloths I made her and swore off ever using them. Both my nieces loved their gifts from us. Mom got Joy Guitar Hero for her DS - she was so excited! She gave my younger niece the board game Cranium and we had so much fun playing it. For us, she gave us gift cards to the Olive Garden which totally rocks ’cause it’s our absolute favorite restaurant.

Overall, it was an amazing week!

Christmas Eve

Christmas

Late Christmas Night… the boy’s been teething and not sleeping well. So we all curled up on the couch and cuddled together. Note the sheep (from Gramma and Grampa) - the kids love ‘em. Husband thinks it’s amusing that his folks gave his son the black sheep.

Christmas Dinner @ Mom’s, playing Cranium

My apologies for the delayed absence. As you no doubt have read, things have been rough ’round here lately. It has made it hard for me to find inspiration to write. But things are getting better. Not necessarily financially, mind you. Work is still extremely slow and I am still having issues with colleagues and getting a decent section at work.

However, last Friday I was given a pretty good one and made the most I’ve ever made in a single shift at work. Further, our deposit on our electric bill was returned to us and it covered this months bill. Husband and I have both been actively looking for jobs and I did receive an offer for a waitressing job at another restaurant. I have mixed feelings taking the job when they are only open 2 days during Christmas week and 3 days the following week, particularly considering we are so broke. Husband applied for a job that sounds pretty promising. We should hear back by tomorrow. *Fingers crossed*

Things have been good in other areas of our lives, though. Throughout the month of December and in lieu of a more traditional American Christmas, members of my immediate and extended family are volunteering in our community at The Healing Place women’s campus. The Healing Place is a “Home Sweet Homeless Shelter” and recovery center for addicts and also serves as shelter for victims of domestic violence. It is immensely rewarding. It is also incredibly humbling and therapeutic for me.

Joy has joined the school’s Step Team. She’s been practicing and doing quite well and - most importantly - really enjoys herself. However, she has been really whiney and argumentative lately.

As for the boy, we went to the doctor for shots last week and he is almost 30lbs! He learns new words everyday, crazy fast. He is getting tall, too, measured by all the new stuff he can reach, thereby keeping us on our toes non-stop!

My kids are pretty great. Buddha adores his sissy and Joy has her moments when she will play with him for long periods of time (like last night when I took this picture of the two of them “fighting” over the spot on the rocking chair).

After a rough number of days with knitting, I’ve rediscovered it’s joy. I’ve started some projects and completed a hat (although - admittedly - I’m not terribly fond of how it turned out. The top is too nipply for my tastes! I will very likely rip that part back out and try to repair it).

I can’t imagine ever running out of things I want to make. When I told a fellow knitter that several weeks ago, she replied “That’s the best argument for reincarnation I’ve ever heard.” I am now working on a cable scarf. I’m using some acrylic yarn from my early stash and finding that it really is lower quality. Besides being a pretty boring pattern (that makes a beautiful fat cable), I really hate the way the yarn squeaks between the needles.

It’s official: I’m a yarn snob.

I learned a few weeks ago that Henry Rollins was going to be in town last night. We scraped and scrounged every last penny for one ticket. My brother, Big Rob, did the same and the two of us went together.

It was absolutely amazing.

The video contains strong language - not kid or work safe. And yeah, I had a few beers, so it gets wobbly in places. (A mere 2-3 minutes of a spectacular 2 hour and 45 minute show!)

Henry Rollins @ Headliner’s Music Hall in Louisville KY November 5, 2008