Random Updates and Things.

As you've probably noticed from my lack of updates, things have been a bit all over the place lately here.

We're really busy, but there's really not much going on. So today I just thought I'd fill you in on some of the randomness that's going on right now. It's really not all that interesting, but I'm sure my parents are dying for an update of some sort.

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So, as you know, our heating has been on the blink. Last weekend it got so bad we decided that maybe there was something wrong with it and we should call someone out.

And with our luck lately -- we seem to be hemorrhaging money at the moment -- we fully expected to need a new furnace. When we bought the house, the inspector told us it really wasn't sufficient to heat our whole house. Which is why we weren't really clued in that it may actually be broken.

So, I called out to a neighbor that has a HVAC company. He came over and said ignitor switch was broken. $55 part, $65 labor. Needless to say, we were thrilled at the $120 price tag as opposed to the $5000 one we thought we may need.

And he said the heater WAS good enough for the house and showed us how to actually set the flow to regulate upstairs-downstairs. We've all been very happy and warm this week!

Our garage door is still hosed but that will have to wait. We're just parking outside at the moment.

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I've been doing a lot of substitute teaching for Sam's school this week. Even though it's only 4 hours a day, it's so tiring! We get home and it's almost time to get Josh from the bus. I never realized how much I missed my mornings and how much I got done until I didn't have them.

One of the teachers at the school is quite ill -- she's in the hospital with some sort of virus and they don't really know what's wrong at the moment. The school did some teacher shuffling since it looks like she'll be out for a bit longer, so I'm only there 2 days this week, and they're short days.

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And finally, as most of you know, we're a bit uncertain what will happen with Rich's job this year. He works for an IT company that has a contract with a large mobile phone/telecomm company. Rich works on the billing application there. The "client" has decided to not use that outsourced application any longer and instead migrate everyone over to their own in-house system.

Which really makes sense. Why run 2 billing applications when you can run one and why pay for outsourcing when you have a team already running it.

So we've known for over a year that Rich's job would be going away eventually. Well it looks like "eventually" is sometime this year.

He's been looking for jobs internally and found a prospect with the same client in the same building doing something he's quite excited about. He's been persuing this opportunity for about 9 months but it looks like things will finally fall into place in February.

He found out yesterday there are some internal politics at play that may have been the reason for the long, drawn out process. But the manager of the group wants Rich and has a good case for him. Hopefully the decision will be made this week or early next week.

Rich is really excited about working with this team, the manager and on the team. He'll be learning something new, and we all know how he loves to learn!

So, please keep us in your thoughts, prayers, whatever... and that this finally comes to a conclusion (one way or the other) this week. It's starting to stress Rich out a bit!

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I've been knitting like crazy. Once I finished Rich's sweater I got the bug! I made a pair of "topless" mittens that I love (I'll post a picture soon). And I am working on a baby sweater for a friend who is having a baby soon.

I still have a queue a mile long of things I want to make. The boys still want me to make some hats for them and I really want to make something for me. I can't work on more than one thing at a time -- I'll get confused!

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That's about it for us for now. I'll try to come back again this week and post more. I'm solo parenting Sam this week. Josh and Rich are on an adventure together and have my camera. More about that later.

Exploiting My Friend's Kids.

Facebook is one of my new obsessions.

Yes, I feel a bit "stalker-ish" sometimes -- or feel I've been stalked, but still, when you have moved around as much as I have, you have friends far and wide!

Of course one of the true advantages is when you meet up with an old friend -- or friend of a friend -- they can ask you for favors. This has happened to me.

One of my friends from way back when asked me to exploit his kids. His name is Bob Osborne and he's a red head. And... he has three of the most beautiful red-headed daughters who are lucky enough to be part of the Little Red Head Project... "Little Red Heads Across America." This is a book all about Red Headed kids.

Bob's kids are in this book, and he asked me if I'd help spread the word. The Book, "Little Red Heads Across America" features pictures of red-headed children from all over the U.S., fun facts about red hair (did you know only 2% of American's have red hair? In Ireland... 10%), some funny myths and superstitions about red hair (like they're all related), famous people with red hair and other bits of trivia and tidbits that will make your red headed child feel special.

The webite is very cute and the book looks cute too. My sister has red hair -- she was strawberry blonde growing up and now has the most beautiful shade of hair -- sort of auburn-ish... it's beautiful. And her youngest has gorgeous red curly hair just like she did! Maybe this would make a great gift for Katy and Hannah!

Check out the book and if you have a red head in your family -- or wish you did -- this would make a great gift!

And if there is a Little Red Head book 2, I know the most gorgeous toddler that would be the perfect cover girl!

They Say Things Come in 3's.... Right?

Well, if that's the case, we're set for a bit...

I'm sure you all remember our little car issue -- the transmission needing to be replaced?

If you've friended me on Facebook, I'm sure you're aware of our heating issue... if not, let me fill you in.

We've had unseasonably cold weather here in Georgia. Now, for those up North that are accustomed to sub-zero weather... more power to you. Our problem comes in when we get zero degree weather -- or just below freezing -- our heater can't heat the house.

Luckily, we have a fully furnished, comfortable basement that has it's own heating system. This weekend in Atlanta the highs were in the teens and the lows were below zero. Our house -- the main living area -- didn't get above 49 degrees all weekend.

So we moved into the basement. Thankfully, it started to warm up yesterday and we actually could spend time in the main house and sleep in our beds again! But we're expecting a few more cold days this week so I have someone coming out to look at the heater this evening.

And, because when one thing falls apart, so does another and another.... We were getting ready to go to Target this weekend -- just to get out of the house and warm ourselves up -- and the garage door broke. The opener ripped a huge chunk right off the back of the door.

When that happened, Josh said, "Man! It seems like the whole house is falling apart!"

But, even though we've had a string of "issues" come up -- at least all have our health and we had some nice "quality family time" while we were stuck in the basement together.

And I made a hat for Rich to go with his sweater....

Here's Josh modeling it... and looking quite enthused.

Finally Finished!

I started knitting a sweater for Rich way back in July. My goal was to be done by Christmas.

Well, I didn't make it. I Was almost done -- only one arm to go -- and I ran out of yarn. So I changed my goal to be done before the end of this month.

I finished it yesterday.

Here he is modeling it. It's called the "Backbone Sweater" because of the cabling up the back...



The front has a "hand print" knitted in by using the knits and purls...




And the front detail.....



And the back detail....



Even though it took me forever to knit it, I really had fun with this. I found a mistake in the pattern, and since I'm still learning, I didn't know what to do. So, I contacted the designer, both by email and Ravelry (fantastic knitting site) and she emailed me back! She said no one had ever caught the error before so she fixed it for me and is updating the pattern.

I'm making him a hat out of the left over yarn now. Then after that, I think I'll make something for me!

I'm torn between a warm, cozy wrap/poncho -- like the one on this blog. But the time it would take is a bit daunting.... or a and a summery-lacy top like the one on this blog.

Of course the boys both want me to do something for them. So maybe I'll sneak in a hat for the boys.