I haven't updated this in almost a month so I thought I would do a little post about all the goings on since I last posted. I also can't remember if I ever posted pictures about the finished Adamas shawl from way back in July, so here's a pic just in case. School is up and running and boy let me tell ya, it is kicking my butt! I have never read so much dense material in my life! I have been having a hard time concentrating for long periods of time and I also find my mind wandering a lot more than it normally does, but I am making use of some note taking strategies I've found online that have helped me to make sense of all the reading in a more synthesized way.
I am thinking the lack of concentration is something that will get better with time, at least I really really hope so. I have also noticed that my brain-talk filter is g.o.n.e. I have said more seriously stupid things in the last two months than I can remember. Like tonight, talking about taking a quiz online I just rambled and rambled and rambled on about how I hate taking quizzes online because I don't trust myself and blah blah blah, probably came off as totally wacko, what I meant to imply was that I don't like the format of taking assessments at home because I study and study and study some more and wait to take the quiz/test until the last minute and end up knowing that I could have gotten it done and over with earlier because I was just overpreparing. Why can I come up with what I mean to say after the fact, but when I am talking it comes out so disjointed and weird? I am definitely not feeling like myself!
Jered and I went on a bike ride with our friends Kristi and Casey on Sunday. It was really nice to get out on the bikes and ride, the weather was a little warm but not too bad. Saturday we went to a Gin Blossoms concert which was interesting. The band sounds just like they do on the radio, but the band members were all a little less cool than I remembered them being in 9th grade! Overall the concert was good, it felt pretty short, but they had awesome kettle corn at one of the booths that made up for that :)
I took some pictures of the Saffron Cables afghan that I started as well as the new lace project I started a while back and the socks that I am knitting at school, but alas, I can't find the cable to connect the camera to the computer, so no pictures today. Since I never keep my promises about posting pictures I won't promise to post them and we'll see what happens later this week.

Had a nice long weekend and got to really relax with Jered for a while. My mom and brother went to Tennessee for the long weekend which was really nice for them (they got to get away from the house, paperwork etc.) and really nice for us (we got to have a little time for us). As odd as it is to say that it was nice to have a break, it seems almost mean to think it, it really has been nice having some down time for just the two of us. I have needed it more than I knew.

We had a very inspired weekend. We decided to rearrange some furniture in the house and make use of one of the rooms that was basically just sitting empty. We decided to move our office stuff into our downstairs "library," but instead of making it a traditional office, we've done it starbucks style and made it very loungy and multi-purpose. We bought a HUGE solid oak table for next to nothing at a local discount furniture store. Then we moved some of our organizational stuff and bookshelves from upstairs into the downstairs room and set up a nice, clean and organized space around this great new table. If we do have the big family that we want one day, we will all be able to fit around this table, it comfortably sits 8-10! Right now we have two chairs set up and little banker lamps on each side. I will take pictures soon. We also bought a printer this weekend, which we have been needing. Jered tried to network it wirelessly but it didn't work because we are on Macs and the print server we bought only networks postscript printers, which ours is not. But that doesn't really matter because we have an awesome printer that copies, scans, faxes and prints pictures (it even does it from negatives!).

I worked a little on the Afghan I started from the latest version of Interweave. It's been fun doing a project with cables because I haven't done one in a long long time.
Tomorrow its back to work and school for both Jered and me. We've got a semi-busy week ahead of us, but it has helped to have a restful and relaxing weekend at home together.

This picture sums things up.
My mom is spending the night tonight and my brother is over at a family friends' house. We are making sense of things slowly but surely. It's good to have the support of family and friends. It has made all the difference.
Today we were out and about getting things done related to paperwork and "business" stuff until 9:30 pm. It was a long day.
I'm off to bed early, and hoping to get a little more work done tomorrow but also to do some yard work and maybe go on a bike ride.

Thanks to everyone who has been there for us through the last week. My dad's funeral was Tuesday. He got full military honors at the cemetary and it was a beautiful ceremony. We had family come into town starting last weekend including Jered's parents and Uncle. Everyone has gone home now, so its the first day that without tons of people around, which feels very weird. We are sorting out paperwork and all of the "business" that goes along with the death of a family member. It is so weird.
I'm actually feeling quite a bit better. I have my moments, but things are starting to get back to a state closer to normal.

I really appreciate all of the support and comfort you all have extended to me and my family. It has helped a lot!

Graduation, May 2006

My dad passed away yesterday at 4:07 pm. We don't know what happened. It was too quick, he was in the hospital for neck pain, his biopsy came back after he died, it was large cell lymphoma stage IV. He was scheduled to start chemo in a few weeks. We don't know what killed him, his heart just couldn't take it anymore and his blood pressure and heart rate went and his lungs failed him. They think it might have been a pulmonary embolism. I hope it was painless. We left the hospital two hours before he went code blue. We thought he was getting moved out of the ICU, they said he was doing better and that his surgery was healing well. He wanted chicken and canteloupe for dinner. My mom fed him pineapple and liver and onions for lunch. He was in and out of it but the morphine made him pretty sleepy. I didn't get to tell him about our trip. I didn't get to hug him because I was afraid to touch him and hurt him. It hurts so bad.
I love you dad. We don't know what to do without you.

We're leaving for our two week vacation tomorrow morning (eaaaarly, 0:dark thirty). I am ready to get out of town for a little while and just relax, no work, no school no pets to take care of, just leisure and relaxation, well except for the 360 mile bike ride... ;)

We are going to finish packing tonight and take the dog over to my parents' place before we hit the sack tonight. I'm hoping we can get the car loaded tonight so that tomorrow morning is a shower, load the cooler and go kind of thing. We are driving somewhere around 15 hours tomorrow and 5-6 on Sunday.

I will be "unplugged" for the next two weeks, no internet ergo no blogging. I will post pictures and updates when we return after the 6th :) I'm hoping to get a pair of socks knit and finish my second Madli stole.

Here's to well deserved vacations!