I've Been AWOL

Bet you thought I dropped off the planet (or moved to Pluto.) Alas, neither ~ work has been keeping me busier than a one-armed paper hanger. I walked in ~ after 3 glorious weeks off ~ to hideous issues while I was also trying to get a global labeling system project off the ground. Then, in the midst of the insanity, my boss decides to send me to Chicago. He confessed that he was originally going to go, but decided to send me and the package engineer instead. So I see how it is, it's nasty cold in Chicago right now, so we'll stay here in southern CA where it's warm and we'll send the old arthritic lady. Yeah, let's do that!

Work has been so stressful, that I haven't done much crocheting outside of a few washcloths. Usually, crocheting is a great stress-reliever, but this much stress just puts me into "stare and drool" mode. But I'll be picking up the ol' hook again on the plane.

I did manage to clear out my craft room before going back to work ~ you can actually walk into the room now! 3 large boxes of yarn and assorted goodies ended up with a friend, who may have been excited to first receive it all, but who is sure to be cursing me now that it's taking up precious space in her house :D

So far, I haven't renigged on any of my New Year's resolutions, but I'll tell ya that I DID place orders up to and including New Year's Day LOL. I bought a mitten flex-loom set (they're like Knifty Knitters, only much smaller for making mittens), another set of purse handles for yet another purse WIP, and 5 more balls of Cebelia in camel (because I just might live until 203). I think there was an online pattern download here and there too, but couldn't really tell you for what (hence the resolutions.)

On a family note, the trailer park that my mom is currently living in will be closed down. So that put me into major panic mode as well. I love my mom dearly, but my house is small and we get on each other's nerves in less than an hour. So there's no way she could live here and still maintain any kind of mother/daughter relationship. Plus she's got these horrible poodles with major underbites that I totally can't stand. But as luck would have it ~ as it always does when it comes to sucking out money from our savings account ~ my husband's weird friend told us of a trailer in his park that was for sale. We jumped on it and I'm now the proud owner. So yesterday was spent going through it and identifying what needed to be fixed, redone, etc. Then there was the running back and forth to Home Depot and (ick) Wal-Mart. However, we lucked out again as very little needs to be done ~ at least compared to the last one we bought for her :\ One more weekend should have this place ready for her to move in. Then comes the task of purging her old place, packing her up and moving her.

So there it is. That's what I've been up to while I've been AWOL from blogland. Didja miss me? :D