Update.....

Wow, it seems as if I haven't been here in a dogs age! Well, let me give you all a little update.

After almost 21 years in the insurance biz, I finally packed it up and moved on. I haven't talked about it much but at the urging of my mom (THANK YOU, THANK YOU!) I took the Nassau County Civil Service exam almost two years ago. She went for bi-lingual clerk typist and I went for regular clerk typist. She scored very high on her exam and I was about average. A few letters came for me, but some of the salaries were way too low. I was unhappy in my situation, but I wasn't going to settle for such a low salary. If, on these letters you indicate you are available but not interested for a certain reason, they will not offer you anything in that salary range. So, for a while I didn't hear anything. All the while I was riding an emotional roller coaster at work. Some days were good, most were bad. I was under a lot of pressure. Whether this pressure was real, or imagined, I felt it. It was horrible. I felt as if I couldn't do anything right. I felt I was just screwing up all the time and in the insurance business that 'aint good! So, I prayed and asked God to please send me a job offer in a school within a reasonable salary. I promised him I wouldn't squander my chance and that I would do my best. Last December I received a call from a local Elementary school and went in to interview. I nearly had a nervous breakdown! It was right around Christmastime. Right after the interview, we received our Christmas bonuses and went to our holiday party, and my manager gave me a beautiful gift. I felt like crap at the thought of giving my two week notice. It was all for naught as that job fell through. I got back on the roller coaster and plodded through another six or seven months. I got a few more letters. Some I answered with a yes, some I did not. Then, I interviewed for a position in a Middle school. I got lost and arrived 15 minutes late. I actually think that worked in my favor. I was a little flustered but I interviewed really well. I remembered some of the questions asked of my at the Elementary school and felt better prepared to answer them. I also did a quick search on the schools within this particular school district and in the course of the interview, it came out that I had done that. It turned out that one of the women sitting in on the interview was the mother of a former high school classmate. She brought it up at the end of the interview and we chatted for a few moments. So as I was taking my little typing test, the secretary whose desk I was using came over and whispered excitedly to me.."THEY LOVE YOU!!" She implied that I was a shoo in, and I was excited, but afraid. I didn't want to take it too much to heart, but I left there very happy. I went on with my life, making plans, working, stressing and praying. A short time after that I received a call asking me if I was interested in the position and with barely a moments thought I said YES!!! I gave my two weeks notice on August 28th. My last day was September 11th (weird, who would've thought that day 8 years ago I would be starting a new life?), and I started a new chapter of my life on September 21st. Getting to work at 7:30am is a challenge, but I don't mind it. I love my new job. I haven't been this happy in years. Truth be told, I was pushed into that other job. Don't get me wrong. While I hate insurance, I love the people there. The company was good and fair, I just couldn't do it any more. I am so much happier now. I am still paranoid that I'm not doing a good job. I guess that's something left over from before, but everyone is so nice and I just got my 5 week review and it came out excellent, so, I guess I'm doing OK! Things are good. I'm happy. Really happy. It's a weird sensation, this relaxed feeling. I think I can get use to it.

My Special Half Day Off

On August 5th I took my half day to go into the city with my friends for a concert. We went to see Chris Issak at the Beacon Theatre. I highly recommend that you go see him...even if you only know a song or two of his. He's not just putting on a concert, he's a performer. He is so funny, and sexy, his band is awsome, and he just goes out of his way to please the crowd. He also has a meet and greet after the show. If you purchase something at the concert, he'll autograph it and take photos with you. We didn't wait around this time, but we had a great time.

Paige & Diane on the LIRR

The inside of the newly renovated Beacon Theatre.

Chris (yes, I've seen him so many times we are now on a first name basis) singing my all time favorite song, Wicked Game.

A few shots from the very long taxi ride to Penn Station.

Holy C---!!

Wow, so much has happened over the last few months I don't know where to begin. I don't know why I've not been blogging other than life has been busy. I also sometimes feel overwhelmed and after being at work all day my brain is scrambled. I tend to retreat into fantasy land rather than face reality.

Things are going OK at the moment though. I'm waiting to hear about a couple of opportunities that could have a positive effect on my life. I need a change in my life and hopefully one or two of these situations will go through.

More to come.....

Holy Crap! Has it been that long?!!

I can't believe I haven't blogged in so long.  Well, it's been even longer since I've seen this crowd.  I went to my 25 year High School Reunion.  I can't believe it's been that long since I've seen some of my friends.  Some of us have kept in touch via e-mail.  A handful even went to our 10 year reunion.  This one was special though.  It was organized by one of our classmates who put it together from out of state.  I had such a great time.  It was nice seeing everyone, reconnecting and getting to know some people that I was too shy to talk to at the time.  

Some of us ended the evening where we spent a lot of time over the course of 4 years...the Palace Diner.  It's been refurbished and looks a lot different, but it brought back great memories. I personally spent  almost all of the last 4 months of my senior year there.  I heard stories of some of my classmates getting caught by teachers or the truant officers, but I never got caught. I really had a great time!  

I'm alive, really I am...

Wow, almost a month since my last post. I can't believe it. Well, I've been a very busy girl. I was recently inducted as the Knitting Guild's newsletter editor. It's lots of fun and so far we've gotten positive feedback on the new look and layout of the newsletter. I'm really trying to make it fun and informative. It was always the thing I looked most forward to when I was a memeber, so I want the same for the rest of the group.

I was also working on a surprise gift for my brother. I can't believe all three of us are now in our 40's! (woohoo). We celebrated two weekends in a row. First we went out to two wineries and dinner on the 1st, then dinner at my parents house on his actual birthday (the 4th) and then his fiancee organized a wonderful surprise party for him on the 7th. As part of the surprise I got a nice digital frame and put a bunch of pictures of him, us, friends and his fiancee and son on it. Because I am so uptight about these things, I tried to keep it in chronological order. We set it up at the party and had a slide show going the whole time. I also made some CD's to give out to the guests. It was a great party and the biggest surprise for all of us came in the form of my brother 'A' who lives in North Carolina. He surprised us by flying up for the party! It was like a dream. I can't believe he was there, but I have the photos to prove it (which I will post at a later date).

So that's my news for now. The first few months of the year are always so busy for us as a family. We have birthday's starting on 2/26, then 3/4, 3/15, 3/27, 4/11. And we can't forget Palm Sunday, Good Friday and Easter. In May we have Mother's Day, and a very special first birthday on 5/17. I think we have a break in June, then there are two birthday's in July, one in August and an anniversary in September. We have a nice long break until December where there is an anniversary and two days later, a birthday, then Christmas and New Year. I'm not even putting in the birthday's of my friends!! Is your head spinning yet?!

Random photos

Vernal Equinox Shawl Part 2

So on the advice of P, I bound off the bit of shawl I had done the other day, blocked it and gave it to her daughter for one of her dolls. Then I restarted the shawl. I am much happier with the way it looks. I breezed through clue 1 and just started clue 2 last night. I'm going to try and work through the pattern. As much as I'd like it to all be pretty and lacy, I decided that I'm not going to drive myself crazy. At the first sign of trouble, I'll rip back to clue 1 and just knit that particular section.

TGIF and have a nice, long weekend!

To The Pond I Go!

I don't know if any of you know this but I've been working on this pretty little thing:

It's the Vernal Equinox Mystery Shawl. What I like about it is a one row pattern. You only knit two, purl, then knit the last two stitches on the wrong side. What you see here are clues 1 and 2. I am now going to have to rip it all out and start from scratch. Many of you are saying, 'Oh no! Why?! It looks so pretty!' Well, here is why, 1) The above photo is an old one only showing clue 1. It looks like this now:

This is knitted up to the very beginning of clue 3. What happened to the lacy part in clue 2 you might be asking. Well after ripping it out about 3 times I decided to just knit that section (the designer said we could do so at any point of the shawl if we wanted to.)

2) You see the little, um, nipple looking thing at the end there? The thing that looks like a handle to a fan? Well, it always bothered me and after looking at a few photos of shawls that have been completed on Ravelry I realized why. Dorky over enthusiastic me did not read the pattern correctly. I started it all wrong! And while I have been known to say, 'I was told by my knitting instructor that the Amish put something a little wrong in everything they made because the only one perfect is God', I decided that this was more than just a 'little flaw' and I am going to rip it out and start all over. There is just no way I can see to work around this little nipple thingie. I can't tuck it in, I can't cut it out, and it just doesn't look right! So, later on this evening, while I am watching Lost I will be frogging and restarting. Oh well, maybe it will go faster for me now that I know what to expect!

25 Random Things About Me

I'm on FaceBook now and got tagged with this. I thought it would be nice to put it up here too.
1) I love Matthew, Danny and Gabriel more than anything in the world.
2) I pictured my life much differently from what it is, but I am not unhappy.
3) I wish I were braver.
4) I love looking at maps and can't understand how people get lost.
5) I would love to be the first Hobbit to attend Hogwarts.
6) I still have dreams about walking around my high school.
7) I wish I had dated more boys in high school.
8) I pray every morning.
9) I find that I go to bed late because I don't want to face another day at work.
10) I would love to knit myself a sweater someday.
11) I wish my dad would retire so he could enjoy himself a little.
12) I miss my brother and his family.
13) I like the thought of one of the photographs I've taken hanging in someone's home and it giving them pleasure.
14) I daydream. All. The. Time.
15) I constantly worry about my family.
16) I try to notice people's eyes and smiles before anything else.
17) I like movie soundtracks.
18) I want to buy an astronomy book and learn to recognize some of the constellations.
19) I wanted to be a mermaid.
20) I also wanted to be an astronaut so I could take pictures of the earth from the moon.
21) I wanted to marry Mr. Rogers...and Underdog.
22) I want to go back to PR and visit my cousins again.
23) As long as I live near a body of water I will be okay.
24) I worry that I am not living my life to my full potential.
25) After watching Eternal Sunshine of The Spotless Mind I decided that I wouldn't want any of my memories erased.

Here are some photos from Christmas:

Sad news...

I'm very sad today. One of my good knitting friends 'lost' her husband. He'd been in the hospital since before Thanksgiving and he finally passed away today. P was such a dear, sweet man. My heart goes out to D and her family.

All Right, All Right!!

I've been getting a lot of slack for not updating my blog so, I am making a feeble attempt now. Of course I am at work so I'm doing this on the sly. It's going to be weird to work past 12:30 today. For the past two weeks we've been getting out early. This is going to be a shock to my system.

So, let's see, my brother and his family came up from NC and stayed for about 5 days. The boys had a ball with their new Wii. We had a great time. New Year's was quiet. We just stumbled across the street to a friends' house. We ate and played 'Name that Tune' the 80's edition. I did fairly well with some rock, lots of alternative and forget about the big hair bands. My parents even got in on the fun.

On the knitting front, I made a pair of these mitts (Evangeline can be found on Ravelry). I made them out of Manos Silk in a beautiful coral color. I used probably about half a skein for both mitts. I now want to run out and buy a skein in each color, make a bunch of these then use the leftovers for a funky scarf. Until I do though, I've started another pair in Lion Brand Wool Ease in Gray. I finished one last night and am planning on starting the second one today. They are an easy and quick knit. In fact, the one you see started in this photo was done by the time I finished watching Mamma Mia...which was a great movie. I loved it as much as I did the Broadway show.

I promise to post a few photos from Christmas. My nephew looks adorable with no front teeth. You can't help but smile when he does!

Okay, that's it for now. I need to get back to work!