This week's question

The question posed by me Etsy group this week - Which song most resembles you or your life? Why and how?

This is such a difficult question for me to answer. Those that know me personally know that I was very involved in band throughout my school years. Music is vital to me, and ever changing at that. The song that resembles me now will be completely different an hour from now.

I think at this exact moment, the song that defines my life is a country song that came out a few years ago.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bItpnDFh2pA

The song is called Ready, Set, Don't Go. Written by Billy Ray Cyrus, and - in this video - performed by him and his daughter Miley Cyrus. In an interview Billy Ray spoke about teaching his daughter to ride a bicycle and how he'd tell her "get ready, get set, go" as he let go of the seat of the bicycle. But as she got older and got ready to embark on her journey as an artist and an actress, all he could think was "don't go". While it's not nearly as dramatic, with my only son preparing to go to school, I feel the same way. He's ready - he's excited about school and can't wait to go, but I'm not ready. The little baby that I brought home from the hospital, grows a little more every day, right in front of my eyes. So I guess that would be the song I would choose to answer our question. Watch the video and enjoy.

A favorite story from my childhood

So an Etsy team I'm in, Create Crochet, has started offering a weekly question for us to all answer on our blogs so that we can better get to know each other through our answers. This week we have all been tasked with sharing a favorite story from our childhood. For me this is a difficult question, because there's not one instance that jumps out over all the others as a favorite.

I'd have to say that the time spent with my grandmother is the thing I remember most fondly about my childhood. For those that don't already know, I was raised by my grandparents, so were a constant present in my childhood. And since they were older and more financially stable than most parents are, Grandma was able to stay home with me while I was growing up, something she hadn't always been able to do when her own children were at home. She took me to school and picked me up almost every day (especially in my elementary & middle school days). I remember that she'd so patiently listen to all my prattle on the way home from school. She always had a snack when she picked me up - usually some cheez-it crackers with some cheeze-whiz on top. LOL, looking back, I think that's one of those things that only a kid could appreciate, kind of like Chef Boyardee spaghetti - have you tried that stuff as an adult? Absolutely awful. Most days we never went straight home, we were always off to Wal Mart or the grocery store, or in later years, perhaps the mall. I remember sitting at the kitchen table when we did get home working on homework while she cooked dinner, asking for help with any questions that were too hard.

I remember that as I got older and started wanting something to do after school, Grandma enrolled me ceramics class at the Rec Center. She had done ceramics when she was younger, and she passed the appreciation of it, and various other crafts on to me. Grandma was always crafting in some way or another. In fact, I credit her with me first trying crochet. If she ever saw something at a craft store or craft sale that she liked, she could usually figure out how to make it. When I became fascinated with crochet, she bought be a book that showed the basic stitches, and hook and a skein of Red Heart yarn, and told me to go for it.

As I got even older and got more involved with band then color guard, her and Grandpa never missed a performance. She taught me everything. At least everything important. And now, there's little I like more than watching her play with my son, and get to truly enjoy being a grandparent for the first time.

Chillin out

So I think I'm settling in at work. I'm learning A LOT, and I'm starting to find a rhythm with all the people there. This was my first Saturday really working the register and everything. All the adoption pets were there which made for an interesting (and loud) day. I think that's one of the hardest parts of the job. Seeing all those animals and not being able to take them home.

There's a particular pom-sheltie mix that's up for adoption. He's with a foster family right now. He's been adopted out three times since the rescue group got him (so 4 owners all together). It seems everyone keeps returning him because he's hyper. I can't understand why anyone would take a pom if they wanted a relaxed dog. Poms are hyper by nature. It just drives me crazy. But he's got an awesome foster family, and all I can do is hope a permanent solution comes along for the little guy soon.

On the personal front, I got my son's Pre-K packet in mail yesterday. That made for an emotional night. I can't believe he's getting ready to start school. I miss my little baby boy that would fall asleep in my arms. It's so bittersweet for me. Of course, hubby is thrilled at the prospect. I'm sure after a week or two, I'll find my rhythm with it, but right now, it's a little overwhelming for me. And seriously, when did Pre-K become an all day affair? He's going to be going from 8-3:30 every day! I could've sworn that my Pre-K days were half days. Maybe I'm wrong though. Who knows.

In addition to all that, I had a Dr appointment this week. It seems that I'm beginning to develop high blood pressure. So I have to start taking low dose water pills and start making some dietary changes to see if we can bring that back in line. Of course, hubby is all "I told you so" about the way I eat, but that's okay. It's just because he loves me and is looking out for me.

For now, I'm going to clean up from dinner, and get little man ready for bed, and hopefully get in some stitching. I've been a bit too busy the last few days to get much of anything done.

Awesome Monda

For a Monday, today was pretty awesome and relaxing. I got a few chores done this morning. Before typing up the care instructions for the baby gifts that I finished up last night. I can't wait till Ms. Mandy gets them. I really hope that she likes them. Now I just have to box them up, and they'll be all set to go in mail Wednesday morning.

After wrapping up my chores I was able to squeeze in a workout. I haven't worked out regularly in ages. But 45 minutes with Billy Blanks, and I remember why I love working out. I don't know if I'll be able to squeeze one in tomorrow since I have to be at work in the early afternoon, but I'm definitely going to try.

Other than that, I've been able to get quite a bit of work on the gloves I've started on, and I'm going to get back to work on that while I was the season premiere of The Closer and Rizzoli & Isles.

A nearly wasted day off

So after finding out that I was going to have two days in a row off work, I planned on getting the house cleaned up, and spending the rest of my free time stitching - hopefully finishing up this baby gift I'm working on. Well, I woke up this morning with a killer migraine and wasted half the day laying around trying to recover. Once I shook the headache, I had a little time to work on my project before starting dinner.

I got the tacos done right after hubby got home, only to find out that I had failed to buy sour cream and cheese at the store earlier. Ugh. So after cleaning up the kitchen I got back to work and quickly ran through the current stash of yarn. I need one more ball to finish this project up, so I'll pick that up next time I'm in town. For now, I think I'm going to get started on another set of gloves to keep my busy tonight.

Busy busy busy. Story of my life. LOL. This week as been a little bit crazy with the holiday and all, but I figure I'll start falling back into the routine of things just in time for the weekend. I started my new job this week - sort of. So far all I have done has been watching the new hire videos and such. I'm anxious to wrap up all that and get into the real work. I'm working at PetSmart now. A definite upgrade. So much closer to home, more $ (plus more $ saved in gas), better hours. And so far everyone seems really nice. I think I'm going to like it there.

I went up today just to drop of my tax paperwork, and then it's back tomorrow. After that it waws back home to start the laundry mill again. I was going to spend some more time working on stitching, but I've made myself take a break to take care of some paperwork. And since some of that paperwork had to be printed, I thought I'd take a moment to pop in and update.

On the Etsy side of things, I've taken a semi break to work on a baby gift for a friend. After that, I'm thinking probably another pair of gloves since I have some yarn already stashed for that pattern. I'm also toying with the idea of adding baby layettes to the shop, but I haven't decided yet.

For now though, time to clear some space off the table, and get back to work.