One Year In

We're one year into this working from home pandemic thing.  I'm checking in.

I'm still doing great.  I think I've gained 5 pounds, which I'm not happy about, but comparative to many other things, it's fine.  I still work from home.  That too is going really well.  There is an informal agreement at this time that if your schedule works for you, your boss, your division and your job, then chances are strong you can keep that schedule.  I have offered to go in like once a week and I think it will all work itself out.  I'm not worried.

Of course, that being said, I've just asked to work full time for a week in another building to kick off a project with the developers.  It would seriously just be easier if we can all be together and understand each other before we try doing the rest remotely.  So now I've got to figure that out.

Mentally things are fine.  I can sense a few people who are introverted retreating more inwardly and so I need to reach out to them.  But we are fine.  Ted is an online person and that community is thriving.  Renee is isolated up at school but she's figuring out.  I've seen one nephew twice in 6 months because his over the road driving had him ending up here.  I've seen his brother a few times as well and he's coming for Easter next week.  My sister is coming home in early June and we already have a few things planned.  (Yes, we plan on going to cemeteries.  No, we do not find this weird.  Yes, Ted is coming with us.  And yes, he has family buried in some of the same cemeteries that we do.  It all works out.)

Health-wise, I just finished my series of shingles shots on March 9.  Opinions differ on how longer I need to wait for my COVID vaccine, and I'm going with the longer option.  That means mid-April sounds about right.  So I will worry about this in another week or two.  Ted also finished his series of shingles shots and he's going to wait even longer than I am.  Everyone still wears masks, even though I personally hate them.

Oh we did suffer a dead dishwasher.  We need to get that replaced.  And the garden has been planned....

Well, There That Went

 Yeah, I got lots done crafting-wise in January.  February was so-so.  March was a bust.  Ahem.  I'm not sweating it.  I craft for fun.  So goals are good, but not earth-shattering.  Enough about goals set in the past.  So where could this go?

New Goals!  Of course I have new goals.  I crack myself up.

I love Bonnie Hunter's denim quilt, so I found all the jeans I have and I started deboning them.  I think it's about 50 pair of jeans in there.  It's about 60 to 72 columnar inches of denim.  Frankly it's impressive.  Some pairs had their back pockets already removed for potholders, but not all of them.  I have a pair from a coworker who suffered a wardrobe malfunction / structural failure of her jeans one morning and she gave me her dead pair.  I have many, many pairs of 5 Slims, which were clearly from my nephews.  

I have one denim quilt underway.  I need to finish that one.  Then make the Bonnie one. And then figure out what to do from there.  I have a few ideas but we shall see.  I do hope to make my coworker a little pencil pouch or something so she gets something upcycled from her jeans.  She thought I was nuts when I asked for them!

I do have a UFO intended for someone with a late May birthday.  That is another goal to complete.  I also have a wedding in June and I need to get that quilt underway.  I have a small wallhanging cut out for my bathroom to do.  I have plenty of fun things to start, finish and work on.  Just gotta do it.

Otherwise life has been going well.  Separate post for non-crafting things...

Crafting Report: Jan 2021

So I set some goals for January of crafting / creative nature.  Why not?

I set 16 goals.  I did 11, which is 68.75%.  Not too shabby.  Here's how it went.  

Done:

Black spiderweb - I made one row and 2 corner blocks.  

Sox - Mend two pair.  Done on MCU Thursday.

Patches - sew on 15 to sweatshirts.

Trail Mix - started.

1 UFO - I totally cheated and just did the handwork for a binding for lap quilt.  But it counts.

1 bag scraps - OMG, I did a thing!  Yes really I completed a bag.

Temp quilt data - recorded another month

1 recipe per Saturday - not really quilting, but I did indeed add 5 recipes to the book.

Operation Christmas Child - made hats

IJDC - Started cutting out the 2 inch squares.  Think that step is done.

Frankenbatts - made 30 11" ones.  Think these will be blue, as that crate is overflowing with fabric.

Not Done:

Fix / Fit / Block / Finish one sweater - Just didn't get there and since I don't need the sweater for work attire....

Inventory - 2 Christmas stockings.  I did buy fabric and a new pattern.

Inventory - 2 quilts for inventory.  Just didn't get there.

1 wool hexie

Clean 1 machine

Bonus: 

Finished another pair of sox

Made storage bags for 2 Christmas wall hangings

Catitudes DS - top done, sandwiched, 1/4 quilted

1" QAYG strippy - 12 strips added

Purple and White B&SS - underway

Frugal Challenge Days 2, 3 and 4

Day 2 was long term goals.  Ha Ha Ha!  That's all been covered in the last posts!

Day 3 was the 72 hour rule before buying anything.  I will remember to be mindful.  Of course I actually bought something that day, but it had been 3 days!  I was able to buy the $9 item with Amex points, so technically it was free.  Right now I am making a quilt stop list and I have 3 things on it.  I do have gift certificates for the shop, so when I go, I can offset the expense.

Day 4, which was today, was buying food for a week and then committing to eat that food!  I did meal plan yesterday and I am good through Friday and there are ideas for the weekend.  I broadly plan about 20 meals out and then list about 6 to 8 that I am willing to make over a 5 day period and work that way.  Not too shabby.

I did plan a takeout lunch for Friday, but I am grabbing 2 meals and going into the office to meet my new boss.  She has been there a month, but it's not like we can go to the cafeteria or anything.  So we will eat and yak and all of that.  

C&C Goals 2021

Oh Coverlets & Counterpanes, how you drive me to distraction!

I just need to do it.  Nike was right all along.

I am a project manager of accounting things at work, so I just need to apply my work skills to this process.  I have a mental block and I just don't like doing work things at home; I already do them at work!  But once it's set up, it will be fine.  2021 is the year of setting it up.  

Ted is on board with this and really will push both me and himself to get this accomplished.  The biggest thing that happened was that he told me to buy a longarm.  This is not a small purchase.  It is a big thing and a big expense.  It is also my dream and he knows it.

So how does this all tie together - the last posts?  While I could technically buy a longarm tomorrow, I don't need that kind of financial stress.  I also don't want to wait until I am 100% out of debt; that could be up to 10 years! So Ted and I came up with an agreeable compromise - the Discover bill must go.  

So I hope that can be done in 2024 sometime.  

Meanwhile we have to get the house ready.  We're lazy and while we are motivated, we will take a long time to get things where we want them.  We've talked through some of it, and so we have an idea generally how we want it to go. 

We can do this!  

Meanwhile, back to work.

Retirement Goals 2021

 Oh wow, this one is a doozy.  Since I wrote my 10 year goals on my birthday, my work changed a few things regarding retirement (basically eliminating one decision point date on my timeline - really nothing big), and so it got me thinking.

Right now I am set at 6% with a traditional 401(k).  I need to up that percentage methodically over the next 10 years.  I just have to.  I'm just trying to figure out exactly when.  Just thinking here - I would love to up it by one percent each quarter so that I can eventually max out my contribution each year.  That is not foreseeably possible for this year, so for right now I will consider it a win to up it by 1% by my birthday.

Ted is at 10% in his and his a Roth one.  I will set the same goal for his contribution, but not by his birthday which is in 3 weeks.  I can't swing it yet.

I do have 2 small Roth IRA's.  One takes some doing to change the contribution amount, which is set at $50 per paycheck.  I hope to up it by $50 each year on my birthday, so in September.  This is fondly known as my quilting retirement fund.  My sister laughed at this and then she thought for a minute and said that this was pretty hecking smart on my part.  I know.

The other small Roth IRA I have is on Stash.  Right now it's $5 per paycheck (don't laugh) and I will start my quarterly $5 increases on this starting with my next paycheck on Thursday.  This is fondly known as my knitting retirement fund.

My last investment is also with Stash and is just a personal fund invested in mutual funds.  I do $20 per paycheck, and I will start my quarterly $5 increases on this as well on Thursday.  This one actually doesn't have a name, but I think of it as pizza and beer / travel / whatever funds.

I just did my usual 5 minute retirement calc.  They say you need 80% of what you make when you retire.  I do have a pension, which will fund 45% of my retirement income.  I need another 35%.  I logged into SSA and if I retire at the max age, I will get that other 35% no problem.  That means all the saving is for other stuff, which is ideal.  Yes, I do have a better retirement calc process.  I just haven't done it in a while.  I'll make that a 2021 goal.

Lastly, there was a commercial where the financial guy asked what do want to do when you retire and the customer answered.  Then he asked what do you want to do between now and then.  She answered that she wanted to run with the bulls.  I remember this because I am trying to remember to do what I want NOW and not wait for retirement.  

Debt Goals 2021

Mortgage - no anticipated changes

My mortgage comes out of my paycheck every 2 weeks and I make sure that I am overpaying every paycheck, even if it's only by $2 at a time.  I am due to be done with this in 2028.  If I need to pay more into escrow, I will make sure to up my payment by a few extra dollars when I approve the paycheck payment.

Cars - no anticipated changes

Without doing anything, my car will be paid off by Memorial Day and Renee's will be paid by Labor Day.  Mine is right on time (another paycheck draw) and hers will be a year early, due to micropayments and quarterly $5 increases to those micropayments.

This makes life wonderful.  My 10 year plan has replacing both my car and Ted's car one more time in our 50's, and as long as we are both working from home, the day we need to replace either car extends longer out.  My goal is to get one year with no car payments for a car before replacing it.  For Ted, that year has long past and being home from work has been amazing (he drives 110 miles roundtrip every day).  

Capital One - Visa and MasterCard - no anticipated changes

I pay these handsomely each month, but we do use these each month too.  The payments generally are more than the charges and interest, so I don't get too worried about it.  Renee uses the Visa for textbooks.  While I would love these bills to go away, they are not the highest things on my list.

Discover - this must die

I hate this bill.  The interest rate is insane and so is the balance.  Not my proudest moment, but DH and I both know how we got here with this one and why we need it to go away.  

Student Loan - no anticipated changes

This is the parent portion of Renee's undergrad student loans.  I do not understand why anyone defers this - you gotta pay the piper so just start when you have to.  I did not have any student loans as a student, so this is all new to me, and I am learning as I go. I do use my micropayments and $5 quarterly increase approach on this as well.

So basically Discover is the goal this year.  Right now I pay $500/month which is a slow path to nowhere on this one (just trust me - it's bad). So the goal will be that by October's payment, I am paying in $800/month and by year end, the principal will need to go down by $1,000.  This may not seem like much but it will set us on a path.  Once that's the payment, then I'm hard pressed to change it.  

 

Frugal Challenge Day 1

 So last time, I wrote:

I want to be 100% out of debt.  This is doable, based on current trajectory of things.  We refinanced to a 15 year mortgage a while ago, car stuff should sort itself out, Renee's student loans will need some prepayment, but I have that sorted in my mind, etc.

I need to do some planning for retirement.  Kim retired at 56.  I of course work in a different industry, so my planning is different.  I have a decision point in April 2028, so I need to set some goals for that timeframe.  

I need to ramp up Coverlets & Counterpanes.  The long term goal for that is for that to be the side gig for retirement; the proverbial pizza & beer money.  I need to do a bit of a business plan and build up some inventory.  I'm just being a bit lazy here; I freely admit it.

So here I sit on January 1, 2021 (Happy New Year!) (Stay inside - it's an ice storm out there!), thinking about these goals in a jumbled fashion.  I've joined the Frugalwoods Uber Challenge and today is thinking about goals.

The above goals are still my goals.  They are pretty much my 10 year goals.  Now I need to break it down into 1 year goals here for 2021, and then even further into quarters and months.  I'm going to give each of them their own posts this month, and I'll start with Debt.

On Turning 50

 Yes, today is that day - I am 50 today.  

I am not upset about this - not at all.  I look at where my mother was at age 50, my sister at age 50 and where I am at at age 50.  By the time my mother was 50, unbeknownst to her, she had lived 90% of her life, as she would die at age 55.  At 50, my sister was overcoming Bell's Palsy (it was a rough bout) and starting to plan her next adventure post-retirement.  At 50, I look around in this COVID-19 world, and I grateful for my health, my family and everything else.  Yes, even my job; I work for a great employer.

I did some analysis when Kim turned 50 and there were 3 things that she (and I, I realized) have done differently than our mother.  3 key decisions that made all the difference.  They are:

No smoking.  Mother smoked at the end 3 packs a day for years.  Nicotine stains everything. Trust me.  This ultimately made her ill, but it was a habit that kept her chained mentally I think as well.

Working.  Mother stopped working when Kim was a toddler I think, and you can see a marked change in her in family photos.  She was someone who should have always worked to maintain her sense of self-worth, but she didn't.  She did raise us, however, to be self-supporting.

Not being the victim.  Everyone goes through serious shit.  I mean, some serious shit.  If you haven't, I am happy for you, but most of us go through something that rocks us to our core.  Without sharing stories that are not mine to share, I can say that my mother went through some serious shit and Kim has gone through some serious shit.  I have been through some serious shit (dead children, anyone?), and I can say that while you feel some self-pity and you feel like a victim (Oh why me?), at some point to move on and thrive and live, you put that pity and victim mentality aside, realize that shit happens and move on, absorbing what life lessons you can from it all.  Mother went to her dying day indicating that everyone else was responsible for her oppression; everyone else kept her from doing what she wanted.  Everyone was at fault; she was faultless and a saint.  

Based on these 3 decisions that Kim and I have made, 50 was just a pivot point to start planning next adventures.  We had/have no intentions of stopping living - it's just begun - as our kids were/are materially grown by 50.

So I sit here at 50, thinking of my next goals.  I try to set them by decade.  I had 2 for turning 30 and I met both of those.  I had one for turning 40 and I met that one.  I don't think I had one for turning 50, but that's OK.  I have a few percolating for turning 60.

I want to be 100% out of debt.  This is doable, based on current trajectory of things.  We refinanced to a 15 year mortgage a while ago, car stuff should sort itself out, Renee's student loans will need some prepayment, but I have that sorted in my mind, etc.

I need to do some planning for retirement.  Kim retired at 56.  I of course work in a different industry, so my planning is different.  I have a decision point in April 2028, so I need to set some goals for that timeframe.  

I need to ramp up Coverlets & Counterpanes.  The long term goal for that is for that to be the side gig for retirement; the proverbial pizza & beer money.  I need to do a bit of a business plan and build up some inventory.  I'm just being a bit lazy here; I freely admit it.

And so in closing, 50 is looking pretty damned good!

6 Months In

 It's Labor Day weekend and we are pretty much 6 months in captivity sheltering in place working from home.  Many things are the same and a few things have changed and many things are just like whatever.  It's all good.

I have been told that I will be working from home through the end of the year.  Additionally, they have asked us if we are interested in the arrangement for a more permanent arrangement.  While all of this has been going on, I've actually been in the office more often than normal, moving things and packing up my temp workspace for them to move me back up to my new workspace.  While the new workspace seems smaller (there is way less drawer space), it really isn't.  I haven't needed any paperwork at all for the last 6 months, so I think it will all work out.  Plus I lost a shelf, but by changing jobs, I pared down so much junk on the desktop that I can put my books back on that back desk space.  It's all working out.  Ted's also home, so basically the work side of things remain the same.  

Renee has returned to school, even though most of it is remote learning.  She is doing fine.  She was home these last 6 months and she was ready to go back to school.  So while it's a change, it's actually just what it should be.

On the crafty front, I was going great guns for a while there, with one creative finish per week.  Then I just didn't keep it up.  I need to get back on this and also get caught up.  I am about 9 weeks behind!  Things just got weird and I am not sure how it all happened, but I'm trying to get back into the groove.  There are 2 shop hops coming up, so I hope that helps.

Finishing Week 21

Today is the last day of the 21st workweek that we have been working from home.  Pandemic update:  everyone is well, has jobs, and the garden is thriving.  Our biggest crisis as of late was our HVAC (well, the A/C) dying.  Thankfully, we had just enough money to pay for a new one in full.   I am so grateful for that!

Now we get ready for Renee to go back to school.  Once she is set up back up there (not in a dorm, in an apartment), then I think there will be an overhaul of things.  This extended time that she has been home will more than likely be the longest she will ever stay with us ever again.  (She came home from spring break in early March and never left.)

Ted totally has a work at home station in the basement.  There are a few more things he needs to make it be more optimal.  I, however, don't have anything.  I've been working in a barrel chair from Grandma Mary and one of her old TV trays.  If I am to stay put (and I wish to), I need to figure out a workspace with 2 monitors, a docking station, a real keyboard and an office chair. That's a fall goal for sure.

I also need to redo Renee's room.  She knows I am doing this.  This is redoing the room for her to use and maybe an occasional guest.  She is not a neat freak so I think she will be happy that I try and make sense of it all.

The spare bedroom is painted a lovely spring green and is simply called the Green Room.  I got about 2/3 of the way through getting it set up when this all hit.  Then it became a dumping ground.  I need to get this back in order as well.  The goal would be to have this be a handwork / knitting / other crafts room and add a TV to it with an Amazon fire stick.

I really want to go through all of my clothes, be ruthless in regards to them, pack up a ton of them and just admit that I will be in comfy clothes for the duration.  Ted wants to paint the interior of the house, and I think our room will be purple.  This means new quilts!  HAHAHAHA!

This is more than enough home improvement to last me for a while.  Basically it's the empty nest makeover to make the house work to our liking.  

Anyway just a quick update that we are, in fact, OK.

Week 17

It's week 17 of working from home, and I'm hanging in there.  Just a quick check-in.

I've been creating all this time.  Some things are large, some are small, some are all new efforts, some are finishing up UFO's.  But a finish is a finish and so I will continue on this quest of one finish per week.

Stay cool.  Stay well.

Hello from the Flip Side of the Shit Show

There really is no other way to describe April from a work point of view.  Let me give a few disclaimers:  everyone in my house is employed.  We have housing, food, money, health and each other.  Seriously, from a pandemic POV, we are just fine.

All that being said, April was just a shit show with work.  First there was the concept of trying to co-own a program and all the work underneath it with another person.  Then add in the fact that the person you are working with is just disengaged.  So disengaged that he in face left the company mid-month.

So then came 2 weeks of hard core scrambling to get a mission and vision crafted for folks.  Got that done and signed off on last week.  Today, I got them to agree to stop 2/3 of work efforts to focus on a few key things.  The formal announcement of the idea that all work must flow through me and allowing me to get just get to work goes out on Tuesday.

I now can breathe.

On a crafty front, I finished 3 sweaters for Loopy Grad School.  I'm #9 on the queen's list so I need to finish a UFO ASAP.  I'm working on a braided throw rug using old t-shirts.

Renee is done with freshman year.  Ted's in a code freeze.  All is well.

Fab 4 and Masks

So my Fab 4 last week was:

Fab 4 - Quilting
Clue 1 - Quilted Twins - nope
Clue 1 - Quiltville Unity - starting today
Blocks 1 & 2- Laundry Basket Quilts - nope
Finish all fabric bowls lying around - nope

Fab 4 - Knitting
Tudor Tweed - Weave in ends, block - nope
Daffodil - Finish second sleeve through increases - done
Daffodil - Finish body and separate - done
Pink - Knit through separation for neck - about halfway

During the week, the decision was made that we need to wear masks.  I haven't sewn any up until then, and when the call came out, 3 people contacted me in 15 minutes.  So I finished cleaning up my sewing space.  I pulled fabrics for masks.  I made a prototype and people agreed.  This morning, I have enough cut out to make about 90 masks.  I do not have all the ties cut as of yet.  Thank goodness for The Ten Commandments, because I love that movie and I was working up until after the parting of the Red Sea, which is when I usually need to go to bed.

My goal is 3 masks per person.  One is not enough.  I assume the following:  You can only wear a mask out for one outing.  You don't do laundry every 5 minutes.  You might need to go out unscheduled.  So I assume one is in the laundry, one is the one you're wearing right now and you've got one in reserve if you need to run out.  

Anyway my revised Fab 4's:

Make masks for all 38 people (and one cat - don't ask) and get them mailed.

Fab 4 - Quilting
Clue 1 - Quilted Twins - collect clue
Clue 1 - Quiltville Unity - through clue 2
Blocks 1 & 2 - Laundry Basket Quilts 
Finish all fabric bowls lying around

Fab 4 - Knitting
Tudor Tweed - Weave in ends, block
Daffodil - Fish sleeves to desired length (before cap shaping)
Daffodil - Do fronts and back to 7.75 inches from armhole 
Pink - Knit through the front

Two Weeks In

We are all doing well, here in the Schwitzner Shelter.  (As an aside, I've been working on figuring out an alliterative word for home for like FOREVER.  Shack has been rejected for various reasons.  This situation presented Shelter as an option and so I claim it.)  We are all back home, moved out from university, offices established here at home, etc.  We have routines, etc.  Frankly, we do this every year-end around the holidays when the university (wherever Ted is working) goes into Shutdown.  I joke about it and call it the 12 Days of Shutdown, and right now we are doing the same thing, but without snow and winter weather.

We are equipped with 2 deep freezes and a pretty robust pantry.  I have spent more on groceries than I would normally but there is nearly no eating out, so it all evens out.  I am now grocery shopping only once every 10 days and I am the only one that goes to do it.  My CSA's are prepared to continue in these changing times.  My beef, eggs and chickens ones are arranging alternate pickups and the fruit and produce ones are also committed to getting us our healthy foods.  Food is somehow the one thing that worries me the most.  I don't know why.

Since I am working full time, I am not crafting as much as some people think.  I really did not get any more time back to my day by working from home.  (Ted gained 2 hours, one of which he uses for sleep.)  Luckily there have been 4 different quilting communities online who are doing online mysteries or Quilt A Longs (QAL's) to keep us sane.  I missed the first one, but the other 3 are in various stages and I am collecting the steps.  I also have a large knitting deadline on April 30, so I am knitting like mad to get this accomplished.

So now that I think we have a groove being home and I personally think we will be home for a lot longer than Easter, I'm going to start a Fab 4:

Fab 4 - Quilting
Clue 1 - Quilted Twins
Clue 1 - Quiltville Unity
Blocks 1 & 2- Laundry Basket Quilts
Finish all fabric bowls lying around

Fab 4 - Knitting
Tudor Tweed - Weave in ends, block
Daffodil - Finish second sleeve through increases
Daffodil - Finish body and separate
Pink - Knit through separation for neck

While knitting is all about finishing things, quilting is all about starting things.  I know I don't need any more new starts, but hey, this are weird times.  A few new starts will not be the end of the world, in perspective.

Be well.

WFH: Day 2 EOD report

Today went much better.  I felt the groove coming on late yesterday afternoon and then today it was finally in effect.  I can handle working from home for a while.  I got the phone thing figured out on my laptop, using my Jabra (best $75 office gadget I've ever bought!), and had successful meetings, in which I could KNIT.   That was 100% fab.

Got 2 meals on the table for us today, with breakfast being sort of DIY.  The only venturing anyone did today was for Ted to go vote; Renee and I voted last week.  I bet we should probably venture out to get the mail.

I'm slowly doing a set of kitchen cabinets every day, trying to get food put away and also to understand what I have to work with.  That also feels good, to get some needed organization accomplished.  I hope to do one such task a day and really have something to show for my time at home.

Crafty-wise, there was no sewing today, but I did work on Loopy Grad School Sweater #2, now to be called the daffodil sweater.  I'm nowhere near as far as I'd like to be on it, but I have a few milestones / goals in mind.  Sweater #1, called the Tudor Tweed, is at the point where I have to put it on waste yarn, try it on and make some decisions.  I hope to get that done this weekend.

We survived another day.

WFH: Day 1 wrap up

e survived today.  Ted went into work and then was sent home.  Renee slept past noon.  I worked and it was horrible.  I was super-fidgety.  But by the end of the workday, I had a plan set up for the next few days, so hopefully it will be OK.

My guild has just cancelled everything for the next 2 months, including our annual show.  Our guild year ends with the school year, so we are hoping to at least get to hang out for the last meeting before we break for the summer.  The other guild in town is the modern guild, and their calendar runs the calendar year, except for December.  I went to my first meeting in January.  February's meeting was cancelled due to snow (it was a sloppy ride home and Ted described it as one of the worst commutes he's driven).  March was cancelled last week.  We'll take it from there....

I did reorganize one set of cabinets this evening.  A lot of my groceries ended up on the kitchen table, and this week, my goal is to get them all away.  I did stock up on food as I would mid-December, when we are home for 16 days straight.  Then I also bought as if a blizzard was coming.  That means I have planned for a month of meals.  So I have more groceries than normal.

I did sew for 1 hour and 10 minutes today and now I'm off to knit!

WFH: Day 1

Late on Friday, after so very many people left, my employer decided to make  everyone who could work from home do so.  This is not my preferred method of working.  It comes in handy when you need it, but I really prefer to go in.  My commute is short and with my hobbies, home is so tempting.

Anyway, here I am.  I log into the network in about a half hour.

I have made a Plan of the Day (POTD).  3 meals and tea time planned.  Today, Ted is going into work and Renee is still on break, so dinner is the only meal we will have together.  I also have a variety of tasks to do and some crafting. 

Discipline will be key.   We will get through this.

AOG: 11/28 - 11/30

Yesterday I was thankful for the ability to craft.  I got in a full 4 hours at one crafting station and some more time with the crochet hook.  My crafting list for Christmas doesn't look too bad.

Today I am thankful that it is Saturday.  I kept thinking yesterday was Saturday, so today feels like a bonus!

AOG: 11/28/19

Hapy Thanksgiving!  Gobble til you wobble!

Today I am thankful for everyone being ready to go on time, for all the food finishing on time for us to go, for my great-niece to be in a great mood today and seeing Kim.

Harleigh was over-tired but very happy.  She interacted with all of us, which is progress.  She doesn't see us that more often, so we let her warm up to us.  We will be seeing her again at Christmas, so we will keep at it.

We had a great time.  We like to say that although we are a small family (only 8 of us), we are strong.