Snail Spirals

Well. So. How the heck have you been? Apparently I needed a break.

Let me esplain. No, there is too much. Let me sum up.

In the past six months that this blog has been silent:

• I went back to work, part time, again. It's been slow but relatively steady, and I've been working 4 hours a day on average. We had some personnel rearrangements in my group - we hired two new people, then the senior biologist (my supervisor) left for a new job, we hired her replacement, then one of the first new hires left, and the other was transferred to the engineering group. So we're back with only two in my group. I did get a raise.

• I completed my first successful season as a vendor at my local Farmer's Market. I went into this with no real expectations for success; I mostly wanted to see if anything sold. My goal was to sell enough to make up the vendor fees. In actuality, the market exceeded my wildest expectations, and we made up the vendor fees in the first three weeks. It was a family endeavor - I had hand dyed yarn, handspun yarn, and woven, crochet, and knit items; Shaun made hand turned wood pens; and Emma made beaded earrings. Of all of us, I am most proud of Emma. My little girl made $401.25 this summer, selling $1-$3 earrings. This was a fun craft for us to learn together when Shaun was away at Friday Harbor for two months teaching. Better than a summer of TV, that's for sure. Anyway, Shaun and I are proud of her and she's immensely proud of herself. She put most of her money in her shiny new savings account, smart girl.

• As mentioned, Shaun was away in Friday Harbor for almost two months, while Emma and I held down the fort here. I think she had a fun summer, between playing with beads (shiny, shiny beads! The Fire Mountain Gems website is way too much fun...), the Farmer's Market every Saturday morning, and a combination of playdates and daycare while I worked. Having Shaun gone is always stressful and we miss him, but at least we got to go to Friday Harbor twice, to take him there and pick him up. I really wish that Emma and I could have stayed longer than one day each time, but it just didn't work out that way. Maybe next time.

• Emma and I took a trip to Arkansas for my grandmother's funeral in August, while Shaun was in Friday Harbor. A sad occasion, but it was great to see my dad and my mom's siblings, including all my cousins and their kids. Plus my sister, brother-in-law, and their baby bump! Emma was a champ during all the traveling, as always.

• My computer suffered a catastrophic failure. I was required to purchase a new one, and getting used to Windows 7 has been traumatic to say the least. My photo filing program, ImageExpert, doesn't work with Windows 7, and neither does WinWeave! Argh! I hate upgrading. The one bright spot about the whole mess was that a wonderful computer tech here in town was able to rescue all the unsaved files off the crashed hard drive. Thank you, thank you!
  

• Emma started second grade and turned seven. SECOND GRADE! SEVEN! How did that happen?

• And last but not least, I had surgery last Tuesday. Nothing too serious, but it will hopefully take care of an ongoing problem I've had for a several years now and which basically ruled my life for the past six months. Another post on this may be forthcoming, unless it feels too personal. I'm currently enjoying four days off work, and being careful not to bump my abdomen on anything.
  

So there you have it. Of course, there were also all the little things that fill in the corners of life and make it interesting. Going for walks, a couple camping trips, listening to Emma read books, playing math games with her, setting up another aquarium for pretty freshwater shrimp, picking plums and making fruit leather, dyeing yarn, spinning, and all my other fibery endeavors.

I'm really going to try to post more often. I miss having this record.