Winds of Change Are A Blowin'...

Before I forget I want to tell you to watch Oprah tomorrow (Friday, Apr 4th).  Lisa Ling is doing a story on puppy mills.  I've heard it's very moving but really gets the point across so I'm anxious to see it.  Speaking of... Dan got to meet and have lunch Saturday with the woman that actually rescued Lucky from the mill in Missouri since he's there right now for a course.  He's less than an hour from the mill where Lucky was rescued.  I tried to talk him into sneaking there in the middle of the night and letting all the dogs out of the cages but, being a stickler for the law and all, he wouldn't do it.   Not that I thought for a minute that he would but it was worth a shot.  Dang it all.  I posted new pictures of Lucky a few days ago so be sure and check those out too. He's become a beautiful little dog and is sweet as can be.

I hit a snag on Lilly.  I didn't want to knit the lace edging by itself and then sew it on.  I like short cuts and I find one anyway I can.  Even if it ends up costing me more time than if I'd just done it the long way in the first place.  I want to attach it as I knit it but I can't think for the life of me how.  Me.   The woman that used to knit lace edgings onto countless shawls can't figure out how to knit it onto the edge of this sweater because of the pattern stitch in the main part.  I'm too stubborn to move on and I'm too lazy to try it out.  For the past several days I've said I was going to sit and knit on it and just couldn't pick it up out of frustration.

I've been in a weird funk.  Dan's been gone for two weeks and it's the first time he's been gone for more than a couple of days since he got back from Afghanistan.  It's thrown me out of whack.  I've been jumping from one thing to another over the last two weeks and I don't have one thing to show for it because I haven't finished any of them.  I've jumped from polymer clay to stained glass to sewing to spinning to knitting and quiting (sometimes all in one day).   I just can't seem to focus.  Dan comes home tomorrow night so I'm hoping that'll kick me back into gear.

There's other stuff going on too.  The winds of change are starting to blow for us.   Anyone know  someone hiring a really experience Federal Law Enforcement Agent?  Dan hit 20 years in the Army about three weeks ago.  We're done.  Done. Done. Done.  As in we've had it.  The move here was the clincher.    And let's face it, the pay in the civilian world is about three times what he's making now.  As you can imagine though, putting in retirement papers is still pretty scary.   He was told about a possible job in Austin with the Texas National Guard and he just found out a couple of days ago there are a lot of really great jobs in his field mostly in the Houston area.  That would be great because we'd be near his sister who I love and adore.  We'd also be near Tracy, who I'm pretty fond of even though we haven't met face to face (that'll be remedied in July)!   I've been looking at houses online just to get an idea.  If we go to Houston, we'll most likely live up north, out of the city limits, near my SIL.  The houses are HUGE (we could fit three of the one we're living in now in most of them) and the prices are very good so that's promising.  This whole process is going to take a while.  At least a year once his retirement paperwork has been approved so it's going to be a long haul.

Wow.  I guess I just needed to get all that out.  Now I'm really going to sit and knit that lace edging.  Hopefully I'll have a finished sweater to show you in a few days.

Comments

[Marie]

Just catching up with blogs, I kinda fell behind these last couple of months. Wow, you've got a lot of things going on in your world!!! Good luck!

[bets]

I have a friend in personnel at the T-Guard. Escalante. Seriously.

[jessie]

Our little poodle was rescued from a puppy mill. Good luck with the change in life plans!

[Daryl]

Wow. Getting out. Actually being able to stay in the same place if you want or move to where you want, when you want. I'm amazed you can do anything at all, other than spend hours crusing the Internet to see what is available and where. Good luck on the job/school/house search.

[Wool Winder]

It's no wonder you can't focus--there's too much going on right now. And there's probably no way you can feel totally settled until a decision is made. The right job is out there and I know you will find it. Of course, if it happens to be in Houston, I'd love that!

[Jill Schaefer]

No wonder you can't sit and relax! Lots going on. We just moved the end of July, after living in the same town for 12 years. It was a huge change, but we made it. Hang in there, and good luck!

[Kim]

Bummer...Ken and I would miss you guys..but I understand you have to take care of your family. Hmmmm...it would give us an excuse to travel south :-)

[valerie]

Oh my...where will you wear all your wool in Houston!? Where ever you end up, you'll be together and that's the most important thing.

[Becca]

Oh, I hear you. We hit 20 last year and suddenly it was like such a Chore to deal with the same military stuff we always deal with. We went and looked around at potential retirement spots, but never really felt like we had it quite right. Then a few months later, we get the orders to the SGMajor academy. So I guess we're sticking around for a few more years. We have very mixed feelings about the whole thing, but we're looking forward to moving away from our current post. Somehow the short-term, not so far away separations are harder for me than the big deployments. It's like I can't really go into full "on my own" mode because I know it's not the "real thing". Not sure how to explain it other than I know what you're saying.

[Luni]

I've heard wonderful things about the houses around Houston, great prices, amazing values, etc. It is a huge city, with legendary traffic snarls. Be sure you know where he's working and find a place nearby, or he'll be spending hours stuck in traffic.

[Tamara]

Austin??? Did you say Austin? I have a friend who works here at the TX National Guard office. Seriously. But yeah, the Houston market is better and you can get 3x the house. But it's Houston. lol