Marley and Me!!

I'm still here - barely!! To start with just wanted you all to know I'm still reading but most of the time that is all I can squeeze in. Work is crazy - busy -hard - stressful and I don't have a handle on it yet. I will say I am with a really nice group so far and some of their practices are a bit unbelievable - in a good way - we'll see what happens.

I have had some time for knitting and have been making progress on my socks. I bought this book from Knit Picks and I think it will help me in the whole process. Well written, great instructions and illustrations. I think I will even be able to make a simple lace pair after these 2 pairs are done. I'm hoping for a Fall finish on these. The weather has been great - 80 degrees yesterday!! I've been trying to get the yard cleaned up and have decided to keep it really simple this year, especially with the work situation. You know keep all that stress down. The chickens are doing their jobs and we have had lots of fresh eggs.

Easter saw the whole family together and the grandkids had a great time. Lots of playing outside and a game of capture the flag was going on. Those 2 at the end of the couch were enjoying chocolate pie - I could go for some of that.

Now for the title of my post. We have gotten a new dog!! I saw her advertised in our local paper yesterday and decided to go take a look at her. I have been having some trouble with my blood pressure and the verdict was more exercise, lose some weight or else we you are going to end up on medication. How do you take away the stress of a day - a nice long walk with you dog, of course!

Annie was my motivation for walking all those years and walking by yourself is a little boring and you tend to make up excuses why not to go.

Sorry I'm getting off track here. The dog shelter is right down the street from us right next to the park I walk at. The people there told me she is around 2 years old. She most obviously has just had a liter of puppies as she still has milk sacs. They found her running lose in the Metroparks in a nearby town. More than likely they got rid of the puppies and turned her loose, which is really surprising because she is such a nice dog. I really think they could have advertised her and someone would have taken her. So far the only problem is she has lots of energy so she's keeping us really busy. We were out walking before 8 this morning to take that energy off of her before we leave for church.

I'm going to try and get back here every week but you never know what's going to happe - so I'll close with hope to be in touch soon. Today is another 80 degree day and enjoying the weather day - after church and I work for a little bit. I'm not a fan of working 7 days a week but in this economy how do you say no if there is work to be done.

Until next time.......

Happy Birthday Tyler!!

Today he is 6- where did the years go - and they keep getting faster.
We went to Kris and Todd's today to celebrate Tyler's birthday. He is such a cutie, sometimes so grown up and others still needing for Grandma or Grandpa to do something for him. He is such a joy to have around. We love having him over and when he does come for the day he usually has a goal in mind "Grandpa and I are going to work. Grandma and Jessica go to the house and do girl stuff." When it has just been myself and him he tells me to go to the house that he's going to the barn to work. That makes me cringe a little bit because I know that Tom's tools will be everywhere and some we won't find a few things for awhile. I have went down to see what he's doing and he is just standing at the tool box looking. I'm looking forward to many, many years of enjoying his company and seeing where the road in life leads him.

It was a great party with all the relatives from both sides of the family and we definitely ate to much. I think it will be an early night for me tonight. Last night around 6:30 we went to pick up Tom's new glasses and after that we stopped at Starbucks where I got a latte. I was tired but boy did that wake me up. I was on a mission, watching an on line tutorial to cast on for another sock and ripping it out 5-6 times. I think I have it now but with the coffee and my intense knitting I was up until 12:30 - and believe me that is past my bedtime. Tomorrow it's Monday already. Why do weekends go so fast - could somebody please answer that question for me??

Enjoy you week. Hopefully it will be Spring where you are.

What are your plans for the weekend?

All I can say is hurray for a weekend and April. Last month was a little crazy with all the work issues, weather etc. I had been meaning to post about my son's BD but it totally got away from me. I had him out digging a hole for me one night this week and snapped a picture of the tattoo that he got as a BD present to himself. If you are an alumni of Ohio State and a huge Buckeye football fan this seems appropriate. As a matter of fact Tom and I are also fans - Go Bucks!!

It was nice enough on Thursday that I had him working in the front flower beds - doing the manual labor for me. This year is work on the front - as now mostly everything is done - meaning new roof and painting. We will be working on the back of the house over the course of the Summer - new roof, windows and possibly some new siding. Sure hope it doesn't take as long as the front. The picture below is the big, beautiful bouquet of daffodils my neighbor brought me. We have an empty house in the neighborhood and the people told her to help herself to whatever blooms - so she did. The whole backyard of this house is daffodils everywhere, planted long ago by an elderly couple, they are even in the grass. I am certainly enjoying them!

Right now I have laundry, cleaning and whatever else I can get done before Tom gets home. Then its lunch and we need to go get more wood. I certainly hope it warms up soon because we are going through the wood like crazy. I'm ignoring the fact that I saw snow in the forecast for later in the week. Tomorrow is Tyler's BD, so I will have a BD post on him. Enjoy your weekend, they are always to short for me!!

Wordless Wednesday

What have I been doing for the last 10 days you ask?? I have been keeping up with all my favorite blogs and sometimes I even have time to sneak in a comment. Below you see my desk - books everywhere and what you don't see is me pulling my hair out - asking - what did he say? I thought things were moving along well with the account and group that I have been with for some 30+ years but then we started running out of work all the time - so I was doing more sitting than typing. Last week I was transferred to another group - same company but there are just different groups with different bosses and hospitals in groups all over the company. I am now with a group in New York. This is much more challenging than what I have been doing for the past year and boy have I forgotten things - plus they do everything differently. Its a new account that we just got back after they had left the company I type for and went out of the country. They were not happy with the quality so they are back with us now and of course we really, really have to keep them happy. I will say this though the hours just fly by with being so busy and thinking so much. I did run out of work yesterday but today we had lots so I am going to take it as it comes - type when I can and when there is nothing read blogs until something pops up. Other things I am enjoying - the broccoli cheese soup my son made. I hope that little bit he left in the fridge was for me!

The weather has been Spring-like. It is a little bit colder than I would like but its better than the alternative - meaning snow.

This last picture is just what sits on an old trunk in the family room that I use as a coffee table - that I will be enjoying as I sit on the couch and knit this afternoon - after the washing, errand running, baking, etc.

Hope you enojoying Spring as much as I am. Hope to be back in a couple of days with some knitting progress and a belated BD post.