New Hobby

I think I'm going to take up cross stitching.  My Grandma Irma (The "A" Grandma) used to cross stitch and was very good.  She tried teaching me when I was 8 and it didn't quite take.  I probably still have a 3 inch half finished apple pattern somewhere.  I ordered a kit for a Christmas ornament and it arrived yesterday.  After finishing my homework, I organized my thread and began to work on it.  It all came flooding back!  Once I figured out how to start, it was easy peasy.  Organizing the threat took the longest because they gave me enough thread to do any number of designs so I have more thread than I need for the design I chose.  I found it surprisingly relaxing and it relieved a little stress from the day.  I think this could be good.

Why was I stressed.  They announced lay offs at work yesterday.  My job is safe for now but that group's work is getting pushed on me and my chances of a promotion at the end of the year just went up in smoke.  UGH.  I hate corporate America.

No big plans for the weekend.  I have accepted that my littlest dog, Roxy, isn't going to get any bigger.  The rescue we got her from thinks she's a "Pocket Beagle" so she's topping out at 13 lbs.  The trouble is the little stinker can fit through the slats of my fence.  I've ordered some deer netting that's going to solve this problem and I'm putting it up so she can roam free in the yard without having to be on her lead.  She loves being outside and I hate having to put her on a lead every time she wants to go out there.  I'd also LOVE to get a doggy door but can't do that if she can escape.  Hounds follow their noses so escape is imminent.

Don't let this cuteness fool you.  She's a pita!

I tend to laugh at things rather than cry over them.  In that light, please don't be offended by my Friday Funny given the circumstances.

RIP Grandma Rose

I haven't disappeared again.  I've been out of town.

Last Thursday, my Grandma Rose died.  She was 94.  She was my father's mother and never particularly nice to me.  My dad was an only child so my siblings and I were her only grandchildren but she was never warm and fuzzy.  She came over from Germany as a teenager but the damage was already done, so to speak.  She would blame her mother leaving her at the convent in Germany and then again once she had come to the states as to why she wasn't very good at showing affection.  I don't know if there's really anything to that.  My earliest memory of her is her calling me fat when I was 10 years old.  That being said, I really got to know her the last 15 years after we moved her to Arizona.  They had always been the Christmas grandparents.  Now I got to see her at every holiday and she was always a bit crazy.  In the last year, she had really kind of lost it and when I saw her in July, she had no idea who I was.  We still had a nice visit and she got to see the girls.  Last Thursday, she got out of bed and immediately collapsed.  Her heart had stopped and that was it.  To live to be 94 and not suffer in the end...who could ask for more?  RIP Grandma Rose...I'll miss all the Grandma Rose stories.

So I went to Illinois for the service over the weekend.  It was small as the family itself is small on that side and she had outlived most of them anyway.  To say the eating has been awful and drinking has been abundant would be an understatement.  I'm not looking forward to the weigh in on Monday.

On top of everything else, school started on Tuesday.  Thank goodness for laptops as there's no way I'd be off to a very good start without one.  But start I did and so far, so good.

I also got to come to these cute little fur

babies waiting for me.

My Big News

I'm going back to school.

Make no mistake, I went to college for 4 years.  I took lots of classes...no degree.  I then attempted to go back twice after the kiddos...no degree.  I used to harbor a lot of regret over this.  I agonized over missed opportunities and wasted potential.  Then I got over it.  I really made my peace with it and felt absolutely fine about it.  I have a good job making more than some WITH a degree and everyone always just kind of assumes I have one.  I don't feel it's held me back.

All that being said, my company now offers a grant where the entire thing is paid for an online university.  Tuition, technology fee, course materials, graduation fee, the whole nine.  It's a for profit online university, Ashford University, so it's debatable how much value you get out of it, how employers see it, blah, blah, blah.  The fact is this isn't my money.  If my company is willing to pay for my degree from this place, then I may as well take advantage of it.  The only caveat is I have to get B's in all classes and can only take one class at a time.  With work and the kids, I honestly don't know how I'd take more than that anyway.  If you attend nonstop, a bachelors degree takes 208 weeks (5 week classes).  I've been told a good number of my classes will transfer over from my stint in college many years ago so my time will be somewhat shorter but not positive on what we're looking at.

My start day October 6th.  I'm excited to start something new.

My other big news that I just completely glossed over yesterday is I'm down 25 lbs!  I don't know why this didn't really occur to me yesterday but there it is!  Maybe I wasn't as excited because I've seen these 25 lbs come and go and come again but it's still worth celebrating!  I've now lost a whole Scrappy worth of weight!