2015 everyone was flipping out and getting butt hurt over every little thing. Yup, I played my part in this…even against my better judgement…red cup, anyone? And evidently, it’s not politically correct to say merry Christmas, except that it IS politically correct to say it and whenever I said happy holidays, I was promptly corrected that I should be saying Merry Christmas. Except that it wasn’t CHRISTMAS…it was a week after Thanksgiving…

Today, I see 2 anti-Muslim posts by friends of mine…one was bitching about house resolution 569 which condemns violence and hate speech against Muslims. The ranter said, “can you f#%*ing believe what our House just passed?” And the other post was about “teaching about Muslims in schools and how it must be the PC thing to do and our American kids don’t need to know such things (like what kinds of clothes Muslim people wear…apparently, clothing and culture aren’t things we want kids to know about or something? I don’t know…)

Nevermind that 15 years ago I was teaching peace in the Middle East to 7th graders when I used to teach. Nevermind that in order to understand the conflict, you need to know the history of the conflict and unfortunately, part of the conflict is religion. But what do I know? 

In Denver not too long after the Paris attacks, a bookstore called “Isis” was defaced. Isis is an Egyptian goddess…but people don’t particularly care and vandalize because they are ignorant and happily so. Not just that, plenty of backlash against Muslims all over the country. 

I’m just over it. I’m done. I can’t deal with the racism, the xenophobic behavior, the hate. 

I’m over it. Over it all. 

  
I did end up frogging my work and restarted it using hunter green as the border. I’m enjoying this pattern and how it’s turning out. Looking at a possible color change tomorrow, which I’m very excited for!!

  
Today, we saw a color change…no such luck for tomorrow, as forecasted. I’m really excited to see how cool this thing is going to be! I almost feel like I should frog it and get a different base color to use for edging later…it was a lot of work, but it didn’t take too long…I don’t know. 

I’m going to Joann today anyway to use a 60% coupon, so I may pick up a different color skein to use as the base/border color…I will keep you updated!

  
No color changes yet, but this is 2 days. I decided that a wheel is a full day. Since the first row is 1/2 a wheel, dec 31 will also have to be 1/2 a wheel. Maybe even match and if they do, I might even edge it with Pumpkin. Gah! I’m so excited! Can’t wait to see how this will work up!!!

Thinking about my hobbies, I really just want to narrow them down to just a few and put my time, energy into just those and do away with those hobbies that I never accomplish much or are abandoned projects. 

I remember someone telling me my grandpa was a gadget guy. Thinking of this revelation, if he’d lived through our tech age, he’d probably be an early adopter. I bet he would probably have the best tech and knowledgable. That is, if he were my age now and here now…

Which brings me to this point. I bought a Samsung phone today. Got quite a few freebies with it…freebies I neither wanted or needed, since I told them SPECIFICALLY that I was not sure I wanted to keep the phone, since I was keeping my iPhone and probably not going to switch to Samsung. And so, until Jan 15, I am rocking the iPhone 6s and a Samsung S6. If you know me, you know that I have never been happy with the android. I keep thinking that if I use it long enough I’ll get used to it. If I try it long enough. But I just don’t think that will be the case. I fully charged and updated my phone. I used it quite a bit less than my iPhone and the battery life is still HORRIBLE. I only have FOUR apps on the damned thing. Facebook, kindle, audible and messenger. I have made setting adjustments to stop the battery from being used. It’s at 80% as of right now. It’s been 7 hours since I last charged my iPhone and have done some heavy websurfing and video watching and my battery is at 65%. 

Don’t get me wrong, I think the Samsung is a beautiful phone, which is why I want to love it, plus, I am getting a free tv and got a $200 gift certificate. But, I will give the phone more than 24 hours…I’ve never gotten past the 24 hour mark, this being the 3rd time I’ve tried to switch now. But I honestly don’t think I’ll be keeping it. As I type this on my iPhone. And here I say, “android no more”

So, tech is definitely a hobby…a hobby my hubby wishes I didn’t have. 

Crocheting is another hobby. I’ve spent a lot of money on hooks, yarn, patterns etc. many projects have gone uncompleted. I will work on my projects and refrain from starting new ones until the old ones are done. I did just start the temperature afghan and I have a new one I signed up to do starting when Downton Abby starts. It’s an 8 week mystery crochet along project. 

Photography is another one, but I haven’t bought anything for this one in a very long time and I haven’t asked for any glass or accessories for this hobby in a number of years. I sold my Nikon and the glass for it long ago and bought a canon and 1 lens and I don’t use it that often. It’s actually still at my apt in pueblo. I didn’t even bother to bring it home with me over break. I’ve been using my phone exclusively to take photos. 

Bowling. But I haven’t bowled in years…I thought I might go since I was alone in pueblo, but it turns out, not at all. So, I have a custom ball and bag and I don’t even know what to do with it. 

Reading is always a joy for me. And I have my kindle fire, which I have been using to read from. I absolutely love it. I have kindle unlimited and find a lot of free books through email subscriptions. 

I think, though, I should pick just 2 of these hobbies and just stick to them. Reading is the #1 pick and crochet is #2. 

New year, new project. I have a couple in the works, including a Catherine Wheel scarf using Noro wool and a granny square sweater. I thought I’d have time to work on them over the holiday break, but no such luck! Been spending a lot of time with my favorite people! Everyone goes back to school and work on Tuesday for a week, so I will have time to work on some projects. 

A gal from my nursing class asked me to make her something, so I decided to make her a flower scarf which I will actually knock out next week sometime. 

For my temperature afgahn, I will do it in the Catherine Wheel pattern as well. I have really fallen in love with the stitch and it will work well in the pattern, I think. I think I’m going to work a whole wheel for a day, though. Possibly using one side as the high and the other as the low. Hopefully, it’s not too big, though. Trying to figure out how long to make the afghan, is the other struggle I’m having. 

The yarn is all stuff I bought years ago and needs to be used up! My hubby found a big Tupperware tub of half used skeins. I’ll just use what I have! Here’s my guide  

 I’ll update progress as I go along! This will be fun!!

I deleted my Facebook app on my phone. I didn’t delete my account, at least not right now. I need a break. Everything on my feed is political. Everything for the last three days has been nothing but Dr’s Stethoscope.

I’m so distracted with Facebook. So, I’m taking a break. It’s nothing against anyone. It’s not you, it’s me. 

I am on my way out the door. I have a hospital orientation this morning. But, a few things really struck me this morning. I want to get my thoughts out about things I’ve noticed. But just doing this so I can remember what it is that I wanted to talk about later. Also, this will give me a chance to fully develop those thoughts.

Mainly what I want to talk about is nutrition. But many other things come along in thoughts. They’ll be more solidified as I have time to mull it over.

Stay tuned!

It’s been a while since I’ve blogged. There’s not much time in nursing school. To which, I have completed and passed the first semester…AGAIN…lol. I guess that shouldn’t come as much of a surprise.

I had a long weekend with the family over the 4th of July. It was a great weekend. Lots of love and cuddles.

I’m home on a long 3 week break. The kids are doing well, I’m doing well. It feels weird not to “have anything to study” although there is plenty to read…I’m trying to work my way through the chapter on electrolyte balance in my med-surge book. Being that it’s one of the most important things I’ll be dealing with as a nurse, I feel it’s prudent to get a jump on it…but I simply can not find the motivation to actually get past the first few pages. I start to read and I get distracted…yet, I’ve had no trouble at all with pleasure reading or catching up on my facebook or netflix…

I’m also finding myself less inclined to stay in several of my infertility groups. Although Rob and I have decided that we might try for #3 over the winter break, we have done the math and us trying this break would not be feasible and would likely require me to drop out again. We want to make the separation worth it…make it count, as it were.

Well, at any rate, there’s really not a lot going on. I’m leaving to head back to Pueblo on Saturday. I’m not looking forward to leaving the kids again, but Thanksgiving will come quick this year…as time seems to go more quickly as I age.

Speaking of time, we took the kids to the Children’s Museum yesterday and V1 wanted to go to her friend’s birthday party and she wanted it to hurry up. I told her I couldn’t make time go any faster, but that it would be here before she knew it. She got mad. Funniest thing ever. She was mad at me because I couldn’t make time go faster. I told her that she shouldn’t wish for such things because before she knew it, she would wish that time would slow down just a bit. I’m not lying about that.

I was reading through my old posts. Sometimes I can hardly believe that I wrote that stuff. The word choices that I had made…or the topics. Seems so long ago in a far away place, yet I know that the words came out of my brain and I typed them with my fingers…

Anyway, better get a move on. Have to switch the carseat…V1 has a birthday party to go to!

  
Probably the most poignant phrase that describes my life right now. 

 It is so hard to leave— until you leave. And then it is the easiest goddamned thing in the world. – John Green 

More excellent quotes:

 What a treacherous thing it is to believe that a person is more than a person.