Forced time off

I work an insane schedule. No surprise there. For almost a year, I've basically given up my day off each week to help out at another clinic. Yes, the extra money has been nice, but it's catching up to me in a big way. I'm on my second go round of strep throat in 4 months. So I'm spending today and tomorrow at home until the antibiotics can kick in and I'm no longer contagious. Damn, my throat is sore. I alternate between hot tea and ice cream or popsicles. Haven't decided which one works better to help with the discomfort.

Prior to these two episodes, I'd taken one sick day in 5 years. Not counting pregnancy related issues, which I'm considering a whole different ball of wax. Though maybe less stress and more down time would have warded off preeclampsia as well. Last Saturday was my first day off in 3 weeks. I guess I'm having a bit of personal crisis here. Is this really how I want my life to be? I'm killing myself for a job that is frustrating more often than not. I would love to cut back at work, but don't really have the financial wiggle room to do so right now. We're getting there, but it'll be a year or two before I can really comfortably cut back my hours.

There's no easy solution, just wanted to try and work this out. Every few months, I go through this. Still haven't come up with a fix. Which is annoying. I'm apparently one of those people who complain and never do anything to change. The kind of person that drives me insane. I feel stuck. I know I'd work hard as a physician. It's not the working hard part that bothers me. It's the lack of personal time, that there's nothing else besides the hard work. At least I get a couple days at home to knit, read, and sleep with this little bug. A blessing in disguise?

In honor of the new year, I feel the need to post on the blog. Happens every year, then drops off. I don't know why I bother, but I guess this is a good place to at least keep track of my New Year's resolutions. I reviewed the list from last year. I did okay. Lost 20 lbs instead of 40. Better than gaining, though, right? We did grow and preserve more food. We're composting again, complete with a worm bin. We did pay down some debt. Overall, not a bad showing, I think.

And so, in honor of 2011, here we go...

1. Continue with the weight loss. I'll shoot for 40 again, but may miss the mark. I'm getting closer to my goal though.
2. Keep de-cluttering.
3. Eat more veggies.
4. Try a new recipe a week.
5. Keep up with paperwork at the office better. This includes dictations. The bane of my existence.
6. Renew some old friendships. We just get busy and forget to keep in touch. Amy, Mark and Ann, Erica...that's you I'm talking to.
7. Knit a pair of socks a month.
8. Knit myself a sweater this year. Complete with steeks.
9. Make the family finances more of a shared responsibility and work to set up and follow a reasonable budget together.
10. Read more classics. Jane Austen, the Bronte sisters, and Thoreau are what I have planned so far.
11. Expand the garden.
12. Finally get my craft room organized and set up so it's a comfortable place to be.
13. Bake bread each week.
14. Be kinder, more patient, and more understanding.
15. Start selling my fiber/wool.
16. Get up 30 minutes earlier each day for some "me" time. Meditate, yoga, knit, spin.
17. Keep up the blog. Not for anyone else but me. Just to use it as a journal of sorts, more than anything.
18. Spend less time on Facebook. And online in general. Which sounds counter-intuitive given the above resolution, but I can just surf for hours. Which is time I could be actually LIVING life instead of reading about it.
19. Actually put away the laundry after it's folded.
20. Keep the car cleaned out.
21. Read to the kids more. I get tired and busy and say "tomorrow". Is that really the message I want to send them?
22. Continue the journey towards a simpler life. It's the goal I'll forever be reaching for.

So with those lofty goals, Happy 2011!

He's a handful.

I've posted this on Facebook, but I thouht I'd share it here too. We've been struggling with bedtimes with Jack lately. He'll play until 11 or 12 if he can lately. Thursday night he was in our room. Asleep by 10:00. Or so I thought. About 10:30, I heard him calling me. I tried to get in the bedroom, but he had locked the door. I got the door unlocked, and then found him. Needless to say, he hadn't been sleeping. He had found an old dictation tape that he pulled all the tape out. The tape was everywhere. He also found a brand new Costco sized bottle of conditioner. Apparently his hair needed a little conditioning. Like a quarter of the bottle.


He was so proud of himself. I was laughing so hard I was crying. Daddy didn't find it so amusing. But it was so cute I couldn't be mad. I sure do love this boy!

Updates on the New Years' Resolutions

I'm trying to hold myself accountable for "the list" I made last week. So, with that, an update on how I've been doing this past week.


I've been to yoga twice so far. The first class kicked up butt. I've flossed every night except last night (but in my defense, I was on call and didn't get home until this morning). I've resisted the urge to join the Blue Moon sock club again (this one is killing me). I started a scarf from a unfinished shawl that I frogged. I had started the shawl when Catie was a baby. It wasn't looking good for the shawl, so I'm putting the yarn to better use. I have 2 bags of stuff to take to the thrift store in the back of my car. I've hauled one load to recycling so far. Not a bad week, I'd say.

I just need to keep this up. One other thing I should have resolved...quit spending so much time online. I blew about 3 hours today just surfing. I need to spend less time looking and more time actually doing.

And with that, I'm off to bed...nighty night all.

Bring on 2010. As usual, with the hope of new beginnings, I feel the need to set some goals for the next year. So, here goes. My New Years Resolutions. There's quite a few of them. Some of them are works already in progress. Some of them are ones that I won't officially start until later this year (gardening, etc). So, for your viewing pleasure:

1. Continue to lose weight. 40 # down so far...another 60 to go. I think another 40 this year is a reasonable goal.
2. Declutter room by room
3. Pay down debt--specifically pay off the 4 wheeler and pay off at least one credit card.
4. Knit exclusively from the stash.
5. No new yarn. None. Zippo. Not even when we go on vacations.
6. Read 85 books this year. I read 75 in 2009. I think I can do it.
7. Get back into yoga. It helps with my aches and pains, as well as great for stress relief.
8. Be more patient, especially with George and the kids.
9. Floss...every night.
10.Stick to the budget.
11. Finish Catie's quilt that I started months ago.
12. Set aside at least 3 nights a month for family game nights.
13. Don't let paperwork stack up at the office.
14. Keep up on filing at home.
15. Recycle more. Since moving out to Homedale, we've been terrible about this. We will have to haul stuff to Caldwell, but it's not like I don't go there most every day for work.
16. Grow even more food this year (plant and animal).
17. Can and preserve more food.
18. Begin to set up a formal food storage system. I'd like to start by having a couple of weeks worth of food on hand, with the goal of a 3-6 month supply.
19. Compost---vermicomposting and regular. Again, we had a compost pile in Caldwell, but haven't started one here yet. And I've wanted a worm bin for a couple of years. I finally have G talked into it!
20. Start holiday and other gift knitting sooner, so I'm not in such a rush.
21. Spin more.
22. Strive to live a more simple and authentic life.

So, with that...my basic goals for the year. Really, my overall life goals. Something to strive for, at the very least. Happy new year, all!

Happy 4 year blogiversary.

I started this blog on New Years's Eve 4 years ago. I post sporadically, to say the least. Life gets in the way, as I'm sure you all know. It's not like I don't want to or mean to post. I just can't seem to get it done. Ravelry and Facebook take up my time, and probably a lot of yours as well. I do want to make an effort to try to keep this updated a bit more. More for my use than anyone else's. Probably a useless goal, but what the hell. It's the new year, right?

When I started this blog, Catie was 6 months old. Now she's in pre-school and starting to read. Jack has come along, and is the most hilarious character I've ever encountered. We've bought 25 acres with plans to build a house. The house plans fell through, and we ended up buying an existing home just down the road from the property. My knitting skills have improved tremendously. I've started spinning (though not enough). I've started sewing and gardening. I've gotten in touch with my inner housewife (and homebody). I've been trying to become more frugal. I've fallen in love with the local library system and read 75 books this past year. Now I'm on this preparedness kick. I want to get better at food storage. It's like I want to be a Mormon...without actually being one, if that makes any sense. Really, what I've become is...an old lady. I've turned into my grandmother(s). And I love it.

So tonight we're spending the night at home. We had an utterly exciting dinner of tuna casserole and green beans. Then played a couple of rousing games of Candyland. I'm about to finish a book...about food and the evolution of coooking/kitchens over the past 100 years. Yup. That's what I said. Wool socks. Flannel nightgown. So cool in its un-coolness.

So Happy New Year to all 3 of you who might read this!! 2009 was a good year for us here at the Skinner-Decker household. Hopefully 2010 will be just as wonderful, for us and for you.

Tomorrow...the obligatory list of resolutions.

I promised myself I wouldn't cry...

but I did.

Today was Miss Catie's first day of preschool. Now, I know it's "only preschool", but to me, good gosh, it's a pretty big day. I didn't get home last night until late, but George said it was easy to get her to bed (highly unusual for her). This morning she came in about 6:30 or 6:45, wanting to get up and get ready. We got ready and headed out the door at 7:30 to start a new family tradition. One of my patients had told me she takes her son out to breakfast every year on the first day of school. I thought that sounded like a pretty cool idea. So we set out for the local Moxie Java for a cinnamon roll and hot chocolate. Here she is as we head out the door. She looks so excited.

After breakfast we headed to the preschool. She practically ran up the sidewalk to the door without us. We did finally get her to stop and turn around briefly for the pic.

Once inside she headed directly for the toys. We hung out for a bit. Some of the other kids were hanging close to their moms and dads. But her, nope. Didn't even care if I was there or not. She did somehow find the time to blow me a kiss. On the way out, I couldn't help the tears. I thought I wasn't going to be "one of those" moms. Not that there's anything wrong with that. I just didn't think I'd cry. But boy did I.

Jack misses his sister, but at the same time, is loving having us to himself this morning. (I took the morning off today). He's running all over the place and doesn't have to fight over toys. I'm excited for Catie, but I can't wait to pick her up later this morning and hear all about it.

Not dead yet

Nope. Believe it or not, I'm still here. Been almost 5 months, but still alive and kicking. It's been an exciting few weeks/months. To recap briefly: gave up plans on building a house, bought a house instead, getting settled into said new house, turned 35, went to Sock Summit, and a whole bunch of other minute things that seemed important at the time, but I can't remember them now. I'd post pictures, but I have no idea where the camera is yet.

We've been in the new house 2 weeks. We're still nowhere near settled. Despite 5 or 6 trips to the Idaho Youth Ranch thrift store and 4 dumpster loads of garbage, I still find myself with way too much stuff. There's still numerous boxes to unpack and go through. I really thought I'd pared down. Now I know how much further we have to go.

This weekend I'm home alone. Tomorrow I'm going to get a massage. Maybe if I get my act together, I'll unpack more stuff and paint a room or two. But maybe I'll just read trashy magazines and novels. Hmmm...

Today is one of my days off this week. The beginning of the month, I changed my work schedule. I now usually work 3 to 3 1/2 days a week, but 12 hour days. This lets me be home a bit more with the kids. It's amazing how much this has helped my mommy guilt. I still wish I could be home more, but this is a start.

The puppy is settling in nicely. Settling into our bed, that is. I think the second night here, I couldn't stand the whining and crying coming from her crate, so she now has found a perfect spot snuggled up between G and I. If I can't listen to a puppy cry, is it any wonder that our kids still sleep with us most nights? I'm sure it's quite the picture. Mom, Dad, Catie, Jack, Annie, sometimes one of the other dogs, and maybe a cat all in bed in the mornings. Good thing we bought that king sized bed last fall! And I learned something new about dogs last week. Apparently, they can pass out after shots. Yup. G took her to get her immunizations, and after her shots, she was out cold. I shouldn't get such a kick out of that, but I do.

And in knitting news, I've been doing a fair amount. I think I've finally mastered continental knitting. It's becoming much faster and efficient for me. I still struggle some with tension, especially when purling, but it is now my preferred method. Knitting stockinette in the round is my absolute favorite thing to do! Sad, but true. I get all excited about just knitting around and around, holding the yarn in my left hand.

Here's a couple of hats I've finished lately. The first is from a kit I bought at the Nestucca Bay Yarn retreat last fall.

The second is a hat I made for George. It was one of my first full continental projects. The brown is some of the first yarn I spun. If you look close, you can see some giant slubs, as well as some parts that are way overspun. The beige is some Peace Fleece I've had sitting around. It's quite a "rustic" hat. But I love it.


Head over to Ravelry for stats on both.

There's been a bit more knitting as well. And some crocheting. I hope to get pics up later this week. Have a great day.

Newest Family Member

Sometimes things take you by surprise. Thursday night a couple of our friends said they had gotten some puppies that were too much for them. Of course I'm a sucker for puppies. Herding dogs no less. So now we have a new puppy, as do my mom and dad. Here's Annie. She's an Australian Shepherd.

It's been awhile since I've had a puppy. Way fun. But, boy does she like to chew on stuff. I'd forgotten about that part.

Historical Day

I set the alarm on my pager today for 10:00 Mountain Time. I had read that would be the approximate time Barack Obama would be sworn in as our next president. In the middle of seeing a patient, the alarm went off, and I couldn't help but smile. I just watched his speech online tonight, and was inspired yet again. When Obama was in Boise last year, I went, and was amazed. I am thrilled today is here and wish him the best. He certainly is facing some challenges, but I'm confident in his ability to meet them head on.

The images of the National Monument Mall were amazing. I can't imagine the energy and electricity that must have been in that crowd. I would have loved to have been there to experience it firsthand. Even watching the video gave me chills. Today is a good day to be an American.

Amazing 48 hours

Shhh....I'm blogging from my desk at work. In my defense, though, it is 5:12 pm, and I'm done seeing patients. Only the paperwork looms. I just had to share the utter awesome-ness (is that really a word?) of the last couple days.

1. Met with a builder.
2. Loved the builder.
3. Found out we'll need a lot less down on the construction loan that we had planned, so we'll be able to break ground sooner.
4. Work is ready for me to trial a flexible schedule...basically working fewer days, but somewhat longer hours when I am at work. The end result, though, will be more time/days at home with the kids.
5. Learned that I'll be able to buy a share in my office building, an incredible investment.
6. Got a good night's sleep for the first time in days.
7. Catie stayed in her bed all night, hence #6.
8. Finished the I-cord border on Catie's Tulip sweater.
9. Heard Jack put a two words together for the first time!
10. Tonight we're eating G's version of the Zuppa Toscana soup from Olive Garden. Yum.

Life is good. Finally.

Happy New Year

Remember when New Year's Eve was a REALLY big deal? Back then, I thought about New Year's Eve for weeks...what would I do, where would I go, would I kiss someone at midnight? Now, I'm totally and completely content to spend the night at home, curled up under a blanket, knitting and a good book as a companion. Maybe I'll be awake at midnight to give G a smooch. Maybe not. I've turned into an old lady. And I'm totally at peace with that. The past few days, I've been reflecting on the year, and looking forward to 2009. So now you all get to hear about it.

2008 was a mixed bag for me. Gesa's death has affected me more profoundly that I had anticipated. It was by far the defining event of this year. I've been thinking alot about her this week. I've had several friends and family members pass away, but this has been the one that has been the biggest struggle for me. I guess it's because she was such a large part of both my personal AND professional life. I know it won't go away anytime soon, but I'm hoping putting 2008 behind will help. Wishful thinking, I'm sure.

On a bigger and better note, 2008 had some high points as well. It was the year we paid off our credit cards (a substantial amount, unfortunately), and bought the farmland. It was the year of the Alaskan cruise. And in knitting, the year I learned to do Fair Isle (and fell in love with it). Family life was good as well. The kids are getting more and more fun with each passing day. More of their individual personalities are showing, and it's so fun and fulfilling to watch.

2009 is looking good so far. We're meeting with a couple of builders over the next couple of weeks to discuss our plans for the new house. It looks like I'll make it to Rhinebeck. More debts will be paid down, or even off. I still have a lot of improvements to make, but really, life is looking pretty damn good right now. But of course, there's the obligatory New Year's Resolutions.

So, here goes:
1. Lose weight (yup, make this one every year...but this year will be different.)
2. Exercise consistently
3. Grow more of our own food
4. Simplify our lives and our stuff
5. Read more...I joined a group on ravelry with the goal of 52 books in 52 weeks.
6. Get up earlier each morning (maybe I'll use that time to work on #2).
7. Work more towards becoming debt free
8. Recycle
9. Works towards living in the moment
10. Blog more

Thinking back, I probably made some of these last year as well. Further proof I have a ways to go. But we're all works in progress, right?

I hope you all have a wonderful and happy New Year. Kiss someone at midnight. Or get some good sleep. Here's to new beginnings.

6 random things

I was tagged by Jess for 6 random things, so here goes:

Here's how it works:
1. Link to the person who tagged you.
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. Write six random things about yourself.
4. Tag six people at the end of your post and link to them.
5. Let each person know they've been tagged and leave a comment on their blog.
6. Let the tagger know when your entry is up.

Six Random things about me:

1. I LOVE washing dishes by hand. Seriously, I LOVE it. To the point that sometimes I wish we didn't have a dishwasher. But George disagrees, so we still have one.

2. I am terrified of mice.

3. When I was little, I had an imaginary friend named Susabelle. Anytime anything bad happened, she was always to blame.

4. When I was in medical school in St. Louis and really homesick, the thing I missed most was the smell of sagebrush.

5. I think Diet Coke is the nectar of the gods.

6. Tonight I played CLUE for the first time in probably 20 years, and had a blast.

Next up...I'd like to tag

Kim
Erica
Carolyn
Angela
Lorette
Theresa

Have a great Monday.

Finally!

Months and months ago we started negotiating to buy some farm land. After some re-nogiatating and lots and lots of paperwork, I'm thrilled to announce...IT'S OURS!

We now own 25 acres of land in Homedale. The top of the hill has views of both the Owyhee mountains as well as the Snake River. There's then a slope, and corrals on the bottom, with a spring that runs most of the year. We're hoping to start building a home a year or so from now, with the goal that it will be done by the time Catie starts kindergarten, so she can just start in Homedale and not have to switch schools.

Right now the top of the hill is pretty good pasture grass. The hill and low areas need quite a bit of work and re-seeding, plus we need to figure out irrigation. But we are beyond excited. I'm hoping to have an intensive grazing system for beef cattle and fiber critters (definitely more sheep and maybe a few more alpacas). Plus I'll finally get my chickens. I'd love to someday have a market garden, but that's far in the future from now. We've signed up for a course through the extension office called Living on the Land, and I think we'll get tons of great info from that.

Here's a view from the top of the hill. We'd like to put the house out from where this picture was taken...looking east over the river.

This is what I've been working toward for years, and am a little floored that it's finally happening. Now we need to come up with a name for our farm. Right now I'm leaning towards Riverview Farm and Fibers. Any other suggestions?

Thankful

Last year, I posted about what I was most thankful for. I thought I'd continue the tradition. This year, I thought I'd make a little list.


The "Top 8 of 2008"


1. A great husband. Seriously...he went on a knitting cruise with me. How cool is that?
2. The sweetest daughter in the whole wide world. It makes my heart melt when she says, "Mommy, I love you more than anything."
3. And now she's potty trained.
4. A heck of a character for a son. He is just so much fun to watch. Mischievious and in to everything, but not in a bad way.
5. That he survived the penny incident unscathed. It could have been much worse.
6. That Aylin (Gesa's daughter) has done so well.
7. That I've learned to appreciate each moment even more, because of what happened to Gesa.
8. That this man is our next president.



It's been a rough year for me in many ways. But in the grand scheme of things, I'm quite fortunate. I'm lucky to be here and to have all the blessings that I do. Have a wonderful day.

YES WE CAN!!

Amazing. Thanks, America.

Exhausted

I was initially scheduled to work this weekend, but one of my partners needed to switch, so I ended up with the weekend off. So did I have a nice relaxing weekend? Heck no! Saturday one of my friends came over (who thinks it's FUN to organize things), and yet another friend and her kids came over on Sunday. We spent the majority of the weekend de-junking the back porch. I didn't think to take a "before" picture, but take my work for it...it was an utter disaster. A few years ago, I had put our old table out there, with hopes of it being a craft area. Well, it pretty much became a junk table. So 12 bags of junk later, it looks like this...
We organized some of the cupboards as well.

It was appalling how much stuff we had. Nothing important. Well, except Catie's immunization record that had been lost for months. Food that had been long expired (2003 even). Tons of old plastic grocery bags. Old bottles and paper that never made it to recycling. For all my thoughts that we've been scaling down, it was more than apparent than ever that we have a long way to go. Nowhere near where I'd like to be. I have this desire to get rid of almost everything and start over with the bare minimum. But we just need to be diligent on keeping thing clean and getting rid of things we don't use or need.

Next up...the kitchen...

I've been back at work a week. It's always good to go away, but it's just as good (or better) to get home. We had a great time in Portland and at the coast. The first weekend was spent at OFFF, then we headed to the coast. The first few days we were there were beautiful. The last few days it rained, but still a great time. I got a fair amount of knitting done, and managed to teach my sister to crochet. I went to a knitting retreat last weekend in Lincoln City, hosted by Nestucca Bay Yarns. I not only learned to knit (fairly consistently) with my left hand, but actually cut a steek. I thought I'd be paralyzed by it, but it wasn't so bad. I'm fascinated with color work now, and am looking at Christmas stockings to knit for the kids.

In other news, Miss C has finally figured out the big girl potty thing. She was pretty stubborn for the longest time, but all the sudden, something clicked. We spent much of last week sitting on the potty, sometimes successful, sometimes not. But in the past 24 hours, it's like a switch has flipped, and she's ready. More than ready. Amazing. I'm so excited about it, I'm telling just about everyone. And now you all.

One of the motivations for potty training was dance lessons, which start tomorrow. She's awfully excited about the dance gear. Here she is all decked out, complete with cheesy grin. I can't believe how big she's getting.

And a couple more kid pictures from the beach...who knew kelp could be so exciting...and that a 19 month old could be so brilliant?

Top 10

Top Ten Things I Learned at OFFF:

10. I can actually walk past STR and not buy anything. Not a single skein.
9. Sometimes, willpower isn't all it's cracked up to be. Now I'm regretting walking past that STR.
8. What a ratio is on my spinning wheel.
7. That I probably won't make much use of said ratios. I just sit down and spin. And that's what works for me. And that's usually okay.
6. How to really use my drumcarder for blending.
5. I'm a sucker for African baskets.
4. How to skirt a fleece.
3. How to spin for lace. Well, sort of...I need to practice this.
2. Navajo plying and me need to get to know each other better.
1. I love love LOVE spinning raw fleece. How did I not know about this sooner?

Great weekend. Unfortunately, I was too busy in my classes to take a single picture. From here we're headed to the Oregon coast. Then another knitting retreat next weekend. I don't know about the rest of my family, but this is pretty much my dream vacation...fiber, fiber, and more fiber.