Life's been good to me so far (pics)

I've got some cool things to share I'll try to keep it short vs writing a novel ;-)

We got a small stack of letters in from the IRS Saturday afternoon in the mail... Good news - they accepted my amended returns, and I need to contact them to get the new figure as Gaelon opened the mail (his name on them too and he got everything out of order and I'm kinda OCD about stuff like that) but the gist of it is we DON'T OWE 26K ANYMORE and we likely have paid what we do off already. If we haven't - it is going to be covered easily by the check in 2 weeks that will have 17 days of vacation time included in it.

*Wild Grins*

Spinning has been faboo, and I need to adjust the drums on my drum carder, and wash some wool up so I can card and then spin it (OMG what a deal on some lovely lovely lovely Jacob Wool that I have raw) I'm finally starting to get consistent with my spins I think and have gotten the knack of Navajo Plying. I've not been to Knitting in a dogs age, but I may be going bearing a skein or two for a certain friend and getting her opinion on my work (and then leaving it in her care to become something lovely - she's been knitting purses lately and I bet some of this stuff would felt all pretty like... hee hee.)

From the news of the weird... I wonder what this kind of fleece is like to work with... and shearing has got to be a real pain in the arse, and OMG the fleece is likely soooooooooooooooo icky.... it's the pig that thinks it's a sheep. For real...

I've gotten to a comfort zone with my spinning to start the research on where I want to go next with fiber arts... We eventually want to have some land and we keep coming back to the idea of doing a barn conversion... it's so damn appealing, and depending on where it's set at would affect what we did. It's still a couple of years away but I'm feeling reaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaallllllly good about us not just settling and putting out into the universe what I need and going from there.

Life treats us kindly when we ask for what we want and then take steps to assure that we can handle what comes to us. I am hoping that where ever we end up that I can have a room for crafts with lots of southern exposure, something where I can set up my wheel(s) and other spinning/dying supplies/equipment as well as eventually getting a loom. Yep - Weaving will be on the plate next, although I plan on starting with much smaller looms than a big old floor loom. I'd rather walk before running. The idea of weaving my own tapestries, baby wraps, etc from yarn I've dyed and spun my self - it's heady. I won't be able to get the big loom for a while, but I'll be growing a dyers garden next year and have a small loom on my list for Christmas this year.

Thursday night I took Tessa out and left the boys home. Garret got some much needed one on one time with Daddy and Tessa got a girls night, as did Daisy... while Daisy was getting a bath, Tessa and I went to Friendly's for ice cream. Yummy. She likes Cherrys... and kept asking the waitress for more, and then when we left she took my credit card to the register and said "I pay for my Ice cream and balloon now please." Cuteness - not just a natural defense for kids these days.

Garret's been a doll. Teething like mad though. Doesn't matter to him what he chews on as long as his mouth gets some relief.

Last night we hung out with Tessa's godfather. His wife got to meet Garret for the first time... and she seemed pretty upset that Tessa cried when Tara tried to say hello to Tessa. There's a whole history there that's ugly and lets just say when you go poof from a child's life they remember. Tessa was very much the unhappy girl when she had to say goodnight to Uncle Brian, although she was very happy to go home, as she was tired and it was later than I'd expected to be out with the kids. (Gaelon went to the movies with a different group of friends and I didn't want to try to find a sitter so I made alternate plans.)

Saturday - I took Garret with me, and went to lunch with my friend Donna and another friend Dan, he's best man in her wedding, and while her sister is technically maid of honor, I'm basically it without the title... suits me fine. Lunch was awesome, poor Dan was a bit flustered that I nursed at the table, but whatcha gonna do - Garret needed to eat too and I've never been one to hide out in the bathroom or a corner to nurse... and since I'm not out for Mardi Gras beads ( my days of being a thin sexy young thing went by when I stopped being a young thing ;-) ) I really don't care to be all flashy. So he saw a whole lot of Baby sling and back of a platinum blonde head, but no boobage LOL.

I think this is the first real pic of my shorter hair I have out on display. Needless to say - I actually like it this length, and it's all back to it's natural color - including gray hairs. I needed to actually look as close to my age as possible when interviewing for jobs this time, or there was a risk of not being taken seriously. I don't get taken serious in the professional world as often as I'd like because I look younger than my 38 years.

Sat Night - Dinner with Lonnie, who I've not seen for maybe 4 months. She's always a treat and I enjoy her company. I wish Tessa hadn't been so overstimulated, and I'm sure Gaelon kinda came across as overbearing, but she'd really given him a time of it, and we probably should have stayed in but we had some errands to run before dinner and then getting the chance to see Lonnie was presented and we went for it. She and Garret hit it off well, when Garret wasn't chowing down himself. My poor single friends - the whole exposure to nursing in public has to be culture shock for them... if nothing else though, hopefully I am helping normalize it for them so it's not so shocking when our other friends or they themselves have kids.

Life has been good lately. I thank the powers that be profusely each day when the day is good. On the bad days - I'm trying to figure out what lesson the universe has in store for me that day. There's got to be something.