They Call Me Mum

Life has been going on pretty much the same as always. I go to work, I come home and sleep, I get up and go to work again. Not much has changed.

We did lose our oldest cat a couple weeks ago. Mewp was almost 19 years old, and went very quietly. She has a really nice spot in the backyard, under one of the trees. A few weeks before she went, she actually came down to the family room for the first time since we’ve lived in this house. I think she was saying her goodbyes.

On to a happier topic – TSM is a sophomore in high school now. He finally got his braces off, just before his birthday, but then we had his wisdom teeth removed the next day. He’s also in his second year of crew, which is taking up a bit of our time. I somehow got talked into being on the Board of Directors for it, which occupied a few of my weekends this fall, but which will really consume my time starting in February/March. He really enjoys it, and it’s something he’s pretty good at it, so I guess I’m ok with giving up my weekends.

Klumpen is gainfully employed with a local information company. She’s sewing more than I am (I’m somewhat shamed to say I haven’t sewn in nearly 2 years now), and generally being her awesome self.

TOH is still working at the same place, horrible commute and all.

I’m still at the same agency, with the same Division. I just moved my office from one side of the building to another, leaving me 18 boxes to unpack. The worst part of my move was not being able to find my tea kettle on a Monday morning.

Faire season has come and gone. I missed a few days for crew stuff, and a few days because I really just didn’t feel like going. I enjoyed the days I did go, but I don’t have the same excitement I used to have for it.

I still knit now and then. I have too many unfinished projects waiting for me to talk about them. I’m tempted to just frog them all and start fresh again.

I’ve been reading more than anything lately. I’m up to 78 books read so far this year, and will probably finish close to 90 books. That’s my goal, anyway. Having that 45 minutes each morning and afternoon to read makes it easy to devour the books.

Personally, lately, I’ve been feeling an odd sort of disconnect. I’m on multiple social platforms (Facebook, Google+, Ravelry, GoodReads), I’ve got multiple newsgroup subscriptions, email, and a fully connected smart phone — but I feel more distant from actual relationships than ever. I sort of feel like an observer in life, rather than a participant. So, for the moment, I’ve deactivated my Facebook account, and I’ve never really used my Google+ or the social aspects of Ravelry and GoodReads. I’ll probably reactivate Facebook before the end of the year, but I was tired of feeling like I was watching other people’s lives and not doing much of anything with my own.

Since I’ve never really been one to make and keep resolutions, I won’t say I’m going to blog more. We’ll just see what happens. Maybe I’ll get sick of talking to myself here, and dive into the social media piles. Or maybe I’ll discover I that I like not having the distraction.

I’m just going to take it as it comes and see what’s next.

So, I’m sitting at home today, sick and feeling sorry for myself, and  re-reading my old blog posts.

What happened?  I used to have things to say.    Now, when I update, it’s mostly just to say that I’m still alive and will get back to this later.  When did I become so boring?

I still do all the same things I used to do.  I read voraciously, I knit when I can (although lately, that consists mostly of starting something, hating it, and ripping it back out), I’m not really any more or less social than I used to be.  But lately I feel as if I’m just existing.

Work has been up and down.  I have a new boss, and he’s pretty easy to work for, so that’s not a huge stress in my life.  And while I work with crazy people, I have always worked with crazy people, so that’s really nothing new there.

Maybe that’s my problem.  There’s nothing new going on.  I need to shake up the routine.

Anyone got any suggestions?  Short of dyeing my hair blue and joining the circus type of suggestions, that is.

I haven’t abandoned this, just haven’t had much to say lately.

Faire season has started back up, so that takes away weekends, and on weeknights, I’m just too tired to do much of anything.

One of these days, I’ll get back into the groove.

Wow, it’s been since early November since I’ve updated.

Work has been utterly insane.  For most of this year, I have been doing the jobs of 3 and 4 people by myself.  I finally get to hire my assistant, and replace the staff member who retired at the end of December.   That will take a great deal of stress off of me.  It comes with its own new set of stress, of course, but at least it will be different.

The New Year’s Debauchery at Stupid Big House went well.   Nothing broken, no major injuries, no serious drama.

On my daily commute, I’ve been reading a lot.  I decided to re-read all of the Wheel of Time series before I started on the latest book, The Gathering Storm.  I think Brandon Sanderson did a good job with Jordan’s “voice”.  There were differences, but nothing so outrageous that it pulled me out of the story.  Now that I’ve finished that, I plan to re-read the Shanara books, and add in all the ones I haven’t read yet.  Or, I could go with Stephen R. Donaldson’s Thomas Covenant books.  I may have to flip a coin.

Sewing hasn’t been happening much.  Sven needs a serious tune up, and the embroidery portion is just not happening.  I have a winter coat to finish, but all I have left is the fiddly bits, and I hate working on the fiddly bits.

I have been knitting a little more.  And I even crocheted the other day!  I am working on the “Spanish Armada” shawl, the “Irish Diamond” shawl, the “Spanish Christening Shawl”, several pairs of socks, a blanket, and I need to make a new pair of convertible mittens for myself. 

I’ve been staying away from the computer at home for the last several days, so I’m getting much more yarn stuff done.

In December, I had to travel to Iowa for my older brother Tom’s memorial service.  It was sudden and unexpected and I’m still not quite sure how I feel about it.  There was much drama with my mother and her trip to Iowa.  She ended up missing the service because she became ill on the train she was taking from Pittsburgh.  She wound up in a hospital near Chicago while the rest of us who could make it went to Iowa.  I’m sure my sister could say a few things about getting Mom back home, but we’ll try to keep it clean here. 

So, that’s pretty much everything that’s new.  Not a lot to say.

So, in my last post, I was lamenting the fact that August was already over, and now here it is, already November.

Faire season has come and gone, with the major high point being TOH’s and Silver’s job sharing.  It was really nice to be able to spend time with my husband.  I didn’t take a lot of pictures, but one of these days, I’ll put up the ones that I did take.  And maybe last year’s.  And maybe the 2009 cruise pictures, too.

Silver’s new garb turned out wonderfully, and eventually I’ll have pictures up.  We’re already thinking that for next year, we need to create something outrageously ostentatious.

The winter blahs seem to be setting in early this year, though.  All I want to do is sleep.  And then sleep some more.  And have a nap when I wake up.

Work is still quite insane.  I finally have a list of candidates for my assistant position.  But, the list presents new problems of its own.   I need to pick and choose between candidates, set up interviews, check references, etc.  But I have all of these other tasks to work on as well.  There’s too much to do, and never enough time to get it all done.

The commute is still meh.  Normally the trains run great, and it takes me about 3 hours round trip to get to work and back.  Lately, though, the traffic on the roads between the house and the train station has been ridiculous.  It has been taking me an average of 40 minutes to drive the 6.7 miles.  To add insult to injury, Tuesday night’s train home broke down, and it took me 3 hours to get home.  I spent about 5 hours in transit that day.

I want to get back to sewing, but motivation has been lacking.  Klumpen says I ought to make a list of all the things I need/want to work on, so maybe I’ll tackle that sometime soon.  Sven still needs to go in for servicing, and the laptop we were using to run the pattern making and embroidery software has kicked the bucket.  My personal laptop has also died.  Apparently, laptops do not like me right now.

Music-wise, there have been a couple concerts since I’ve posted.  Back in August, we went to see Carbon Leaf and Great Big Sea at Wolf Trap.  We had fantastic seats, in row 2 of the orchestra pit.  Which can be a liability when the kids say something to make me laugh hysterically during one of the quieter songs.  (Sorry, Bob.)  Then last month, the kids and I went to see Guster at the 9:30 Club.  It was a great show, as always.  They played all of “Lost and Gone Forever”, in order, as well as a bunch of other stuff and 2 new songs.  They did a few songs that they rarely play, had a guest string section, horn section and children’s choir.  And, of course, Scooter with Cowbell.

I have been reading voraciously lately.  In the past month or so, I’ve read Company of Liars, Elantris, Mistborn, The Well of Ascension, and Warbreaker.  I’m currently working on The Hero of the Ages and after that will either read The Gathering Storm (which is a continuation of the Wheel of Time (WoT) series, written by the author of most of the other books I’ve read lately), or The Autobiography of Henry VIII, or maybe even go back and reread some of the later books in the WoT series before I start on the newest one.

So, that’s what’s new here.