Domestic Geek

Wow, a whole 5 posts in the past year. I rock. 2013 will be better in the blog posting department.

2012 wasn't a bad year. It's not like the year I lost my mother or the year I had to go on unemployment or the year I messed up my knee delivering pizzas in the snow. I have a job (albeit one I really don't like). I'm fortunate that Marcus still loves me and we still enjoy each others company after 20 years. Our house moved to South Dakota. We finally got a dog.

The biggest problem with 2012 is that it was stagnant - a big waiting game. I'm really itching to get moved up to South Dakota and start a new chapter in my life. It just can't quite happen just yet. Anybody that knows me knows I have very little patience. When Marcus bought the land last December, contractors kept telling us it wouldn't take that long. Our current one said he'd have us up there in six weeks. Man, that was months ago. The project is over budget and on hold for the moment. We're really hoping I can get up there in the Spring. I want to find a new job, but finding one in Denver is pointless when I have no plans of being here long term. We thought for sure I'd be able to move up there before Thanksgiving. All of our stuff is in storage and we're in an overpriced apartment. Marcus and I both hate being around so many people and it is frustrating not having access to our things (like our washer and dryer). I hate this limbo we're in.

I did very little crafting/creating in 2012. I finished a whopping 2 (yes, two) knitting projects. Even the hat I am making for Nina's Christmas present is 18 rows from being completed. I've spent entirely too much unproductive time on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest & Ravelry. My poor blog is still broken and my web skills are getting rustier. I haven't tried any new recipes lately and in this apartment, I can't really bake or cook anything other than very basic things.

I know I've spent a good part of the last year depressed. Society doesn't help. The ugly politics. The mass shootings. The ever-increasing amount of stupidity among the general public. The non-apocalypse. Now this fiscal cliff bullshit. I just get so sick of all the nonsense around me.

Anyway, that's why I'm itching to move on. I know I can accomplish really cool things when I set my mind to it. Right now, my mind is too cluttered with other crap. Astrologically, 2013 is supposed to be a year when we can move forward. I'm really hoping this applies to me, as well.

*blows off dust*

Man, I've really been neglecting the old blog. Looks like I've made a whopping 4 posts since last year's failed NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month) attempt. When I got the email from Blogher the other day about this year's NaBlogPoMo, I figured it was as good a time as any to get back into this.

I'm just realizing what a sorry state things are in around here. I think one of the reasons I gave up on this was because so many things broke after the last Expression Engine update that I did. Also, I let my web coding skills get rusty, so trying to fix things was aggravating.

Anyway, hopefully I can spend the next month getting caught up with recent events and maybe fix a few of the bugs so that I can do another upgrade. Today's post is short and sweet because things are crappy at work (that's a whole post of its own), I got home late and I'm tired.

Anybody who has known me for a long time knows that I'm crafty - not like the Beastie Boys song, though Marcus does sing that whenever I say I'm crafty . The lame thing about me is that I'm extremely fickle with my crafting. It leaves a lot of UFOs (Unfinished Objects) and a huge craft room full of supplies.

When I was little, Mom taught my sister and I how to crochet. I made god-awful granny square (everything you could image - scarves, vests, doll clothes). We also used to sew a lot, too. Those desire waned and were replaced by cross-stitching. I'm not even sure exactly when I started, but I remember that even in college, I had a cross-stitch project every where I went. I even used to stitch during orchestra rehearsals (contrabassoon players had a lot of resting). That gave way to decorative painting (plaster, wood plaques, clay pots). I remember doing a lot of that the year that Marcus and I lived out in Deer Trail. When we moved back to Aurora, I was huge into digital art. I was pursuing my graphic design degree, so I drew, I made digital art, I coded web sites. Not crafty, per se, but it was my method of creation at that time. I started collecting all of my scrapbook supplies at this time, too. It's funny, I've yet to actually finish a whole scrapbook page, yet alone make an album. I think I was more in love with the supplies than the act of producing anything with them (though they do come in incredibly handy for things every now and again).

I've always wanted to learn to knit, but mom absolutely hated doing it, so she wasn't the best teacher. I tried to teach myself over the years (Marcus' mom even sent me a "Teach Yourself to Knit" kit for Christmas) and it never took. Finally, for my birthday present to myself in 2007, I splurged and took a class. The bug had been caught and every spare minute was spent knitting. I spent lots of time perusing yarn stores, I met up with knitting friends every Sunday, I surfed Ravelry a lot. Last summer, though, I was at a quilting store in Rapid City, SD and I found the cutest wool embroidery kit. I was really enjoying hand sewing again, and I put down the knitting. Last November, the Counted Cross Stitcher group on Ravelry started a Christmas swap and, on a whim, I signed up. I hadn't done any cross-stitching since before Mom passed and I figured it was time to give it another go.

The weird thing is now I have absolutely no interest in yarn whatsoever. I drove up to Estes Park today to go to the annual Wool Market. I stopped at the yarn store up there (The Stitching Den) and found absolutely nothing I wanted. It was surreal. I did actually make a purchase there, but it was clip-on magnifiers for my glasses so that I could see my stitching better. I made my way to the local cross stitch shop (a collaborative shop of other area shops that I frequent) and picked up a couple of charts. Wasn't terribly exciting as I've seen all of it before. Then I went over to the Market and thought for sure I was going to be in danger of draining my meager checking account. Except for a print from Sheep Incognito (I buy one crafting-related one each year for my craft room), I only found one skein of yarn I wanted. Unfortunately, it was alpaca/bison and I refuse to pay $60 for 200 yards of yarn. I walked around the vendor barn 3 separate times hoping something would catch my eye. Nothing ever did. Oh, well. Even strolling through the alpaca tent (which was very empty exhibit-wise this year) did not get me excited. I found myself at one point wishing I had just stayed home.

So, I guess I'm going with embroidery, cross-stitching and quilting at the moment. Let's see if I can actually get anything finished before I'm bitten by another crafting bug.

Ugh, today was not a pleasant day at work.

I wasn't in a bad mood when I got up. I'm not sure exactly when it turned, but shortly after I arrived, I was enraged.

I get tired of the people around me not doing their jobs and not getting in trouble for it. I get tired of supervisors complaining about people not doing their jobs and not firing people. I get tired of customers not having their shit together and wanting to stay on schedule. I get tired of redoing work needlessly. What I do now sucks bad enough without having to do it over and over again. I hate having to sit in department meetings when the topics covered don't pertain to me because I'm doing my stinking job and we wouldn't be having said problems in certain people got fired.

I'm tired of Christmas already. Knock it off people!

I seriously wanted to punch 75% of the people I came in contact with today.

Are the planets aligned weird or something?

On a positive note, the engineer thinks our house/septic/well on the land in South Dakota we looked at is doable. Marcus is going to get a purchase agreement tomorrow to get the bank involved to see if they'll lend and we'll see where we go from there. Really keeping my fingers crossed continuously on this.

I'm going to bed and hoping to get a little knitting in before I nod off. I sure hope tomorrow is a better day.

I'm so sick of Christmas already. I hate to say that, because I really do love the holiday season, but with stores already decked out in trees and wreaths before Halloween was even here was ridiculous. People have their lights up and on. Even my neighbors put out their decorations today while I was at work - a whole yard full of tacky plastic statues. The commercials are in full swing on the television. The hotel we stayed at in Hill City the last week of October had all of their decorations up. I'm seeing Christmas movies in the programming guide. ENOUGH ALREADY!

What used to make the season magical was its brevity. It started Thanksgiving morning when Santa arrived in the Macy's parade, then you had the full onslaught for a solid month. Christmas carols didn't get old because you only heard them for 4 weeks, not almost 3 months. Now, by the time Christmas morning actually arrives, you've had such an overload that you're over it before it begins. I'm not the only one who believes we shouldn't start the celebrating early - I found an article titled "Just Say No to Early Christmas" while surfing the topic.

I wonder if any studies have been done about the effects of too much Christmas on actual holiday sales. I know I'm less inclined to spend money in stores that are pushing Christmas already. I want to see Fall things - turkeys, leaves, pumpkins, scarecrows...not snowmen, Santas and angels.