Welcome to the end of October

The leaves and needles in the back yard and driveway will probably take a dozen bags to haul to the curb, and there's definitely a chill in the air on the morning walks, so I think we can officially say that Fall Has Arrived. With fall comes a variety of things, things that I have been derelict in talking about lately, due mostly to the fact that said things kind of are a Huge Time Sink, leaving little time for blogging. But I digress...

First and foremost with fall comes my birthday. This year, I took my last three days of vacation around the long weekend, which meant that I had my birthday off, as well as five other days in a row. It was glorious! And hard work! I took the Thursday and Friday pretty much off. I knitted, and finished the lovely blue lace shawl! It is (still) waiting to be washed and blocked before I can give it away, but I'm hoping for this weekend. On the Friday, I also went for a pedicure. My toenails are purple. I'm a rebel. Saturday and Sunday, however, were devoted to hard work. On Saturday, as Mike left for work, I decided my birthday present to myself was going to be a clean house. I cleaned from 8:30 in the morning until 4 in the afternoon, stopping only briefly for food and drink. At four, my body gave out, but only the upstairs bathroom was left, so I was happy. Sunday was devoted to cooking. I made a ton of food and threw it all in the freezer (except for a little bit of the one we had for dinner that night, and a container for Tuesday). Monday, I was going to finish the cleaning and the cooking, but my treacherous body derailed those plans, so I read instead. We had a small Thanksgiving dinner, just the two of us, and I opened my presents. Tuesday was my actual birthday, which I spent waiting while Mike's car got an oil change, misunderstanding the phone conversation of last week with pain clinic about my trigger point injection getting moved up (on the next next appointment, not that one. She was kind enough to see me two and a half hours early, though), getting eight injections in my back (two on the left, six on the right), and going home to sit on the couch, open the presents that arrived in the mail that day, and read more. I didn't have to sleep this time, but I was definitely sore and felt odd, and the nausea started in the late afternoon. I had dinner, but not much. And I went to work the next day, even though I really didn't feel up to it.

That provides a nice segue into work, because I couldn't stay home. After three years, I know there isn't a slow season, but the first couple of months of the season are pretty hellish, and when you add preparing for an AGM on top of that, and said AGM is four days after you have the shots that hit you pretty hard, you kind of have to go even if you don't feel like it. And I love my job. I do. But I've come to realize more lately that it is a stepping stone, not an end-point. We'll see where that realization takes me.

I also have much knitting to show, but that requires things like taking pictures. Give me a bit, and I will dazzle you with photos of knitting, including (dare I say it for fear of jinxing myself?) my first pair of socks. I also want to knit a sweater for Priest, but gauge is being troublesome. Stay tuned.

Speaking of Priest, he's doing well. We had a foster for a week, and they got along, though Priest does need to learn to leave her things alone, even if they are things like Dentastiks that he can finish off in about a minute, but takes her a day or so of chewing off and on to figure out. She gave him what-for, though, when she found that he'd gone into the kennel and eaten it for her. I also decided on the Yarn Ninja costume for him, and the walk is this Sunday. He's going to hate me, I'm sure. But he's going to be so cute. Assuming, of course, that I get it finished. And he's also famous. The (now sold out) Chinook Winds Greyhounds 2009 calendar features our beautiful boy looking very goofy for November. We're so proud!

Mike had a wisdom tooth pulled this past Friday, so we're on softer food for a bit, but he's recovering, though still in a lot of pain. He's also looking forward to school, which starts in another couple weeks.

Oh! And we have a new dishwasher! I should post pictures of that too. Thanks to Dad for all the help with installing!

There, I think I'm caught up. Thanks for your patience and support and everything else, and I'll try to keep the posts coming!