Gotta get this working better Frustrated? who...ME?! grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
I have got to get this blog working better. I'm still not getting the email post to show up to say nothing of the email photos. I just don't have as much time to trouble shoot as I used to. I also don't have as much time for template tuning by html like I used to. Something's got to give. I might go back to a blogger hosted address and let it do most of the work for me. If anyone has easier suggestions, please feel free to send them along.  ¶ 7:12 PM 0 Comments

  Lots of good stuff! Comment from "Nanna":

Please correct me if I am wrong but do you not have 3 sons?? Whats been going on in your eldest sons life? Curious minds want to know. :)

LOL Ok, I'm busted! (and I know who you are "nanna" ;-} )
Indeed, I do have three sons and I failed to mention the eldest. Why? Well, it's not because he isn't doing wonderful things, it's more that he IS doing wonderful things and so doesn't cause me heartburn like the others. LOL ;)

My eldest son Nik, earned a promotion at his work to Sergeant and moved to a bigger and more "interesting" (his words) jail. He worked long and hard for that promotion and I am VERY proud of him. Waiting paid off though and he now has more work but also more opportunity. He is also a 2nd (?)) degree black belt and teaching at his own martial arts classes and at the school for Corrections Officers! Do not EVEN mess with me! I have my own bodyguard. hehehe
I also have a Daughter In Choice (I hate the term 'In Law'. It sounds like she's only there cause she HAS to be. ) and she has also moved into a job that she seems to really excel at. She works with Social Services and has spent the past year training for her responsibilities. It's so wonderful to see them both relaxing into professions that they really enjoy. Many people never achieve that.
Of course it's their joint effort that I'm most proud of. My beautiful little GrandPrincess. Darn, my photo uploading isn't working today. I'll get that fixed. for now, you just have to trust me when I say she's the prettiest granddaughter I've ever had. :D
UPDATE!
The hubby just came in from his latest flying lesson. He completed his FIRST SOLO FLIGHT!!! Woot! Big ole certificate and everything! OK, so I'll work on figuring out how to fix the photo thing and upload a pic of that too.
Wow, enough for one evening. I'm happy.   ¶ 9:06 PM 1 Comments

    ¶ 9:06 PM 0 Comments

  Cough...sneeze...sniffle.... Wow, it really got dusty in here didn't it?! Nov 25! yikes. It's been 5 months since I last posted. I'm so ashamed of my bloggin' self. OK, so the updates:

• Work - I still love it as much as I did 6 months ago. Everyday I learn something new even if it's how NOT to do something or who NOT to rely on. That's not cynicism, it's just reality. We did get new uniforms though and that makes life a bit more pleasant. OK, so the new uniforms are Ceil blue and Brown. Yeah. special. Well, it could be worse. OK, whatever, at least I have options to mix and match now. Even a person who surrounds herself in cobalt blue can only take a solid blue uniform but so long.
  
• Toys - well, at last report I was playing with a MotoQ. Unfortunately after about a week I developed a nasty blister on the side of my right thumb from trying to negotiate the obnoxiously small and stupidly sized buttons. Just not feeling the love anymore. So back it went and I picked up one of these: Yup, an iPhone. Do I still feel the love months later? You betcha. Granted, it's not the workhorse I'd hoped for, but for sheer entertainment, it's worth it to me. And since Apple opened up the software for developers to play with, I'm starting to see some truly functional work type applications coming around. The only complaint I would have is that all the functionality is web based...and the facilities I work in get zero reception nor do they have wireless! Once I walk into a nursing home I have a $400 iPod. So in true geek fashion, and not to be thwarted, I went out and bought one of these: Oh mamma! now that's a work horse! I actually manage to get reasonable reception at one of the nurses stations close to the back of the building because this puppy has newfangled ways of receiving signals. If 3G means anything to you...yeah. This is truly like having a small computer in my pocket all the time. I can seamlessly sync my computer files to this thing and with Orb service I can even access my home computer! Sweet. I've cut down some of the paperwork mess saving me hours each week...which is good because they keep expecting us to squeeze more and more into the hours they give us.
  
• The car - still mine, still in love, still dirty. Oh well.
• Health - You knew something had to give, right? Yup, all the writing finally did me in and I am suffering pretty regularly from Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. Interestingly enough, writing is the only thing that really hurts! Spinning is ok, knitting (on small, light-weight stuff) works ok, as does typing. Knitting my EZ Adult surprize sweater is a bit out of the question at the moment though. The weight of the thing even with circular needles is pure torment. Socks are just right! :)
  
• And the bunnies... Well, there are fewer of them in the barn but I'd like to think that the ones out there are well loved. At the moment, "well loved" means nekkid. Some of the decrease has been through giving away to other breeders, a small amount to culling, and more to natural attrition. That's a nice word for 'died of old age'. Speaking of which, one beloved sweety of mine, Radar aka World's Greatest Bunny, is truly a hospice bunny at this point. He's no longer able to stand up so he lays in a bed of soft stray/hay, is turned and cleaned a few times a day, held while watching TV and fed anything he wants. He IS ten years old afterall. He's hung with us through some incredibly tough years and lots of changes including a house fire (which he rode out INSIDE of), homeschooling years, the mennonite church, serious poverty, multi-state moves and drastic climate changes. He deserves a little TLC and he's getting it.
  
• Rabbit shows, ARBA, ATRBA and other ancillary activities...
  
• The only show I've been to or plan on in the near future is PaSRBA. I did well there with Thriantas but my job as the Wool Room Superintendent was as miserable as usual. Will I do it again next year? probably. Will I still complain? Most likely.
  
• ATRBA - I'm the sorriest of District Directors ever known. I haven't gotten a decent article out since I started work. I keep thinking I should just resign but about that time I get a new schedule worked out and think I can make it work. I have to keep thinking on that one.
  
• Alpaca Spin Off judging - I just finished what will probably be the last contest I'll mess with for some time. I turned down the Nationals this year. They wait too long and are way too disorganized and I always have to fight for my money. Life's too short for that mess. I did train a new judge to fill in my spot so it's not like I left them dry.
  
• Family - Let's see...JJ moved back to PA to live with my parents which is great for my Dad. He's going to start working with my husband this week which should be um..."interesting". Alex has a fiance named Dannielle and they plan to be married in August. She seems like a nice girl though I don't know her real well yet. We do have some interests in common so there's that to build on. Ken is now learning to fly planes...big planes...REAL planes. He's taking flight lessons as well as ground school right now and he seems to really love it. I can't wait to see where that goes in the future. He also wants to get a motorcycle to help with gas costs and plans to get something comfortable enough for weekend trips. Yippee! I miss motorcycle rides on hot summer days.
  

So that's about the sum of it. I'm still really busy and still enjoying life. I'm going to try to start sending short blog post-ettes if I can get my two phones to talk to blogger. It's not rocket science, I know, but probably will require a bit of playing to get it right. I also plan to re-structure the sidebars as soon as I decide what to put on them. There are so many widgets and lists out there but I hate an overly busy blog-page. Suggestions are welcome!
Elaine  ¶ 4:20 PM 0 Comments

  Life in the working world Hello out there my lasting and adoring fans....both of you. :)
I know...it's been a LONG time! Well the reason is at least a good one. I've been trying to get used to a full time job and the schedule that goes along with it. The good news is that I'm finally feeling really comfortable with the day to day of it all and the paperwork is FINALLY starting to make sense.
As for the job.... I LOVE IT ! I can only hope this affection lasts for a very long time because I also love some of the new things in my life that go along with it. (more on that later). The biggest thing to get used to hasn't really been the early mornings (that worked out in about a week) or the 5 days a week lost to my knitting (I'll never get used to that) but the PAPERWORK! I thought hospital nursing had some overwhelming paperwork. HA! Every hour that I spend generates a minimum of 5 PAGES of notes and that doesn't take into consideration if I consult a doc, therapist or even another nurse. Those all generate their own collaboration notes. If I actually have to DO something like put the patient on a higher level of care that costs me no fewer than 10 extra forms. Holy rain forests Batman! that's a lot of paper. The powers that be know what an advantage computers would be and they keep teasing us with "maybe next year". Yeah, right.
In addition to the paperwork I generate, they expect us to carry around reference books. I weighted them - 25 POUNDS of reference books! That's in addition to the huge traveling-nurse bag with our equipment. I don't think so. I took those matters into my OWN hands and bought this. It's a Motorola Q PDA/Smartphone. Now all my reference materials either reside on the pda or I can look them up online. Yup, online goes with me. I can also use it as an MP3 player for those days in the office doing more paperwork. I could also justify it's use by taking photographs of wounds or videos of behaviors if my bosses would actually get our charting ON COMPUTER for gawd's sake. The other major advantage is the bluetooth. Our company cell phones - think umbilicus to the mother ship - don't have bluetooth. Now, consider this; we are 100% mobile...we (nurses) travel in our cars constantly to get from one patient to the other...our patients by definition are terminally ill and expected to die anytime...the whole point of the phones at all is to be able to respond immediately... and we are expected to hold a phone in one hand, DRIVE with the other and take notes with what? Our toes?! COME ON. It's only months before they make talking on a cell while driving illegal in this state. Must I risk my life and that of other drivers? Nope. Hence...bluetooth.
Oh, and about all that driving... my 10+ year old Stratus that survived teaching 3 teenage boys to drive, untold rabbit shows, a house fire and 3 or 4 multi state moves just couldn't cut it anymore. The last boy-child was all it could take. I found myself putting in as much tranny fluid as gas and the oil was getting a bit worrisome again too. So my most extravagant purchase was this...
(no, that's not MY actual car, mine needs a bath at the moment) It's a 2008 Toyota Matrix and I LOVE IT. This thing was made just for me, I'm convinced. It thinks it's a small SUV but it's "me" sized. The seats fold down flat in every conceivable way, even the front passenger seat folds into a desk! It's heavy enough on the road to be extremely stable. It's built on the old Corolla frame so has many many years of bug eliminating behind it and gets some of the highest reliability ratings from all the car-geek magazines. It even has a power inverter BUILT IN and household type outlets on the dash! Very cool for a traveling 'puter geek. Of course it comes with a hefty monthly reminder of just how cool it is, so that's why I hope I love this job just as much for the next 60 months.
Remember when this was a bunny and knitting blog? Well, both activities have suffered while I became acclimated to my new life. I actually did get 2 SA does bred and they get boxes today. I acquired two of the most gorgeous Thriantas from a top breeder out in the northwest - with generous assistance from a very good friend (hugs Eric!) and I've managed to start my herd thinning a bit with more tough decisions to come.
As for knitting...not so much. Every so often I get a stitch or three on a sock but that's about all I've managed. My mental knitting is going like crazy though. In my head I have all sorts of amazing projects planned. The advent of these... (yes, they are clear sneakers) has made sock knitting even more exciting! They are the Nike Airforce 1 clear sneaks and they would make some killer work shoes. I bought just exactly the right sock yarn for work socks too (back at Rhinebeck). So as soon as I get my hands on these in a size 7, look out!
So there's my life lately in a rather large nutshell. Other little diddies include I can't leave for any of the holidays like I'd hoped but I will be able to work the Farm show (nobody else asked for those days off), I am actually on call Christmas Day and the weekend before and Thanksgiving was way too quiet. I miss Miranda horribly. And JJ is out of school before graduating. That's extremely disappointing but he has to have the chance to work it out on his own. It's not the fun part of parenting, but it's one of the parts. Good with the bad and all that.
Until next time....   ¶ 8:18 AM 4 Comments

  Exhausted... .... but happy.
The job is awesome, I can't believe that I have the opportunity to work for a company that actually provides the compassionate care that every person deserves. The goal of patient care is the patient's un-questionable satisfaction, comfort and quality of life. Amazing. The staff work together and actually LIKE each other! Incredible. The company puts patient care and comfort ahead of profit and ends up profitable anyway. Un-freaking-believable.
Rhinebeck was a blast. It's funny. I read tons of blogs from people I know who were there and I didn't run into a single one. I went to lengths to avoid the Ravelry, Blogger Bingo and celebrity entourages. So I had a great time with much smaller crowds. I'm just not into all that stuff. I was there with a very real friend and a brand new and excited knitter. That's what a fiber festival is about for me. Oh, there was buying involved. :)
Convention apparently went just fine without me and 2 beautiful Thriantas came home from Michigan to my barn (thanks to another very dear friend who went out of his way to help me with this transaction), one of which is the BOS Sr Doe. Both bring with them the fur and color qualities I need in my own herd and I look forward to breedings this winter.
It's been a very busy month for me...but very satisfying and I'm very happy.   ¶ 9:39 PM 1 Comments

  T minus 9 I have an official start date for my new job - October 11. Naturally that was the day we were to have the Direct TV installed so that will have to be rescheduled but at least my free days have a deadline now. 9 days to goof off... 9 days to sleep late... 9 days to get my house clean. Heaven help me it just might take that long too.   ¶ 2:16 PM 0 Comments

  WHOOOOOHOOOOO! I FINALLY got the archive to work! Now, if I could just get the RSS feed to cooperate. Then again, if it did work I'd have made a real mess of somebody's Bloglines account by republishing my entire site. Yeah, you're welcome.  ¶ 11:42 AM 0 Comments

  A little bird told me... Frankie's day out...


Frank Sinatra the Swinger



If I sit really still.....








Hand over the apple ...or ELSE....







At the risk of being a total pet foto nerd... I really do enjoy my silly little bird.
  ¶ 10:49 AM 0 Comments