October went where?

Last month was (prepare yourself for an understatement of the massive variety) a bit busy here at chez knot. First, of course, we had my mom's visit and Otherworld (Mom comes out and looks after the munchkins while we go hang out in the woods with 70+ of our dearest friends). It was fabulous, as always, but it does require some recovery time, and this year I had insomnia at the event which only exacerbated my exhaustion. I suspect the insomnia was due to the stress of not knowing if I had gotten the job I was hoping for -- I'm certain it had nothing to do with OW. So we got back from OW late Sunday/early Monday, then Mom flew out Tuesday, then my dad flew in the following Wednesday (so there was a week in between, not the very next day). In the meantime, I heard back from the job with a reference request -- always a good sign, but not enough of a good sign to alleviate the insomnia-causing stress.

While dad was here, we went and got pumpkins,



visited a couple of zoos (both petting and non),






and I baked a delightful pie: Autumn Pear with Black Grapes in a Cheddar Crust. I don't even like fruit pies, but this was just nummy. Big thanks to Dad and Nancy for the extra-delicious pears. I may use the cheddar crust next time I make chicken bacon pie (which will probably be soon). And look -- pretty!



As you all know from the previous post (if you remember back that far), I did hear back about the job, and I got it! I started this past Monday, and a week in I'm already pretty sure it's my dream job. Yes, it's still work, and the whole driving commute thing really sucks after getting used to being able to watch movies/read books/knit/etc. on the train every day, but I actually get to help people with their knitting/crochet problems, knit and crochet at my desk (right now I'm knitting a cashmere wrap to wear in the office...mmmmm...cashmere), read blogs and articles about knitting (because I have to keep up on what people are talking about out there, since that's what they're going to be calling me about), hang out with nice people all day...what's not to like? Apologies if you're on my Facebook -- I know you're sick of hearing about how much I love my new job. I'll try to tone it down.

So anyhow, my dad stayed for a week, then the day after he went back to Dallas I went up to Connecticut for a couple of days to hang out at Stitches. So that was fun (and much thanks to Kit for rearranging his schedule to deal with the kids so I could do that), and then that brings us to last Monday with the new job. Oh, and let's not forget Halloween:







Very busy month. I'm still settling in to the new schedule, so I think I'm going to do a modified Make'n'Tell this month. The make part will remain the same -- a completed project OR 30 minutes on an ongoing project every day -- but the tell part will be more relaxed. Because really, I'm just not going to be blogging every day. I do think I can do at least two blogs a week (I may do more, but they probably won't be MnT focused), so I'm going to do a Saturday post, wherein I post pics of the previous week's work, and a Sunday post, which will consist of plans for the next week (which I may or may not stick to, but for me, having a plan means I'm more likely to remember what I want to get done). Here's this week's list:

- New MnT badge (one that doesn't refer to September, hopefully)
- Fix the backpack I made for Becky last weekend (was that really just last weekend? This work thing is really screwing up my perception of time.)
- Hem/mend work pants. Since I lost all that weight, I don't have many that fit me, and about half of the ones that do are in the mending pile. The new office is not a jeans-friendly office except on Fridays, so all my fancy designer jeans are doing me no good at all. (I'm not actually sure whether I'll count this or not. It certainly uses my crafting skills, but it's not actually creative. I'll think about it.)
- Finish Becky's sweater (this might actually take me two weeks -- since I knit and crochet at work all day I'm not doing as much at home)

Let me know if you want to participate and be added to the list over on the right! You can use either the original rules or the modified ones for this month.

posted by Laura Y. @ 10:00 AM