Such a busy time!

Alright everyone, it's been quite a busy little time for me.
Well, busy and yet not.

Lets go in order shall we?

Sunday night:
Had dream I was laid off. This was not me panicking. This was me happy, and deciding how best my day was going to proceed. I had decided in the dream that I was going to walk to the library every day, which is up quite a good sized hill. This urge to walk it every day, meant that I was skinny (less jiggly) by the time 1)I moved to England next year, and 2) the wedding.
It was a good dream.

Monday morning:
Come into work to find that 5 people had been laid off.
Go have a chat with the bossman.
He tells me that 3-4 more people needed to be laid off by the end of this week (err last week by the time I'm writing this)
Casually discuss with bossman that I've got contingency plans in place if I were to be laid off. Saw his eyes light up at that. Assured him that I was not volunteering to be laid off.
Go home, double check my contingency plans just to make sure.
Have some important discussions with family.

Tuesday morning:
Have discussion with bossman again about the whole layoff situation. Can't go into details, but I just level with him more about my personal situation.

Wednesday:
Day off of work. Spent the day cleaning. Seriously cleaned my bedroom.

Thursday:
Work a 10 hour day with no lunch.
Was informed by bossman that I was in fact being laid off. Don't worry, this is a good thing. I've got it all planned out, I've got contingencies, and I'm also leaving the country in 33 weeks. It just means that Pan (my kittah) will have to wait 6 months (That is of course if the vet tells me that he's healthy enough for the process).
Drove home with a sense of calm. Which is odd after a 10 hour shift with no lunch. Wasn't cranky. Didn't want to cry.

Friday:
Good day at work. Another 10 hour day. Pack my desk up. Drop off my badge at the end of the day. Said goodbye to my favorite security guard.

I'm one of the few people who got to know ahead of time that I was getting laid off. Mostly, it was because I had given so much to my job, and been such a loyal worker for so many years. Not to mention all the s*** I had put up with.

It was a good Friday the 13th in my opinion.

Saturday:
YAY. It's my birthday.
4:30am attempt to email from my phone- doesn't work. Drag my butt out of bed and turn on the laptop. Quickly email Guy to call me.
5am he finally calls, when I'm supposed to be getting out of bed and getting dressed. So I talk to him for a moment.
6am we leave the house. Drove up to the Boulder Tea House (with a stop at Walmart first to pick up a few needed items for the house as it's snowing and things like toilet paper are things you do not want to run out of in a snow storm)
I order a pot of my Russian Caravan. Nom. Love that tea. If anyone is ever curious what you can get me... Russian Caravan from the Boulder Tea house (yes, they are online) is a good bet. Lapsang Souchang is also another one. (There are a few that peaked my interest after I had ordered, but I wasn't going to try it on that day. Mayhaps next month)

Katte and Mimi show up shortly thereafter. It was supposed to be a huge surprise that Mimi was in town. It was great to see her. I did know she was in town, which I"m glad I knew... if only because it allowed me to make my bedroom livable while she is here.

Mark, Darla, and Aidan joined us.

We had a grand old time, and breakfast was quite nummy. And I have the coolest friend. Crystal (of the Vampire Halloween Swap rescue package fame), sent me the coolest birthday pressie. A necklace of Wicked. I loved it.

Mother of Mine then dragged all of us to a yarn shop in Boulder. Which... to be honest... I wasn't impressed with. I mean, it was alright... but... meh. I knew exactly who one of her suppliers was, as she didn't even bother changing the name.

Then we scooted down to Denver so that Mum could be entered into the Wicked Lottery.
Mum gave up her ticket to Mimi so that she could join us for the show.
Unfortunately Mom didn't win one of the spare seats. (You show up 2 hours before the show, and you get the chance to win a seat to purchase.)

We walked over to the Tattered Cover, and looked at books etc.
Then Mimi and I had to head over to the theater again.

Don't worry, Mum had her own adventure with friends so it all worked out. And next year Mum and I will go see Wicked in London, so it will be fine.

The show...

The show was FANTABULOUS!
The girl playing Elphie was just... amazing. Honestly.
The girl playing Glinda.... was a bit nasaly. Which bugged me to be honest. But she was still good.
The boy playing Fiyero was good. Much better than the previous performance I've seen. (Though towards the end he played it... lets just say "a little less than straight". Which frankly I prefer to the previous Fiyero who played it "ghetto prince")

Everyone else was quite good.
Went and picked my Mum up at another LYS (which was not the original plan, but as I said.. she had her own adventure)
Drove home in the snow storm. (Started snowing in the middle of the performance)
Stopped at Petsmart for kitty food.
Stopped at Whole Foods for the dinner fixings. Homemade pizza with Chocolate Chip Angel food cake with homemade ganache for dessert.

Quite a splendid day all in all.

Sunday:
Was spent in jammies and a Firefly marathon, as Mimi had never seen it.

Which brings us to today:
This morning, I went to look at my phone to get out of bed, and dropped my cellphone on my face, busting my lip. Joy.
I was highly afraid it would set the tone for the day, but in fact it didn't.
Started the unemployment process.

It was amusing, I didn’t get the phone call over the weekend, so I panicked, and I called my employers (not the bossmen, but the people who actually handle the contracts) as I had a few questions in regards to the form I had to fill out for the unemployment benefits…and I got a hold of her before she checked her email. And the convo went like this:
Me: Hi, I was laid off on Friday, but as I didn’t get the phone call, I was just checking in to make sure everything is copacetic.
Her:My computer is still booting up, it’s rather slow.
we chat about other things
Her:Just got the email from (Bossman). And it says ”I’m emailing you to inform you that I had to lay off Erin G*****. Please call her in the morning to inform her of this.” So, Erin… I have to tell you (trying not to giggle as it was amusing) you’ve been laid off.
Me: Phew. And yes my desk is already cleared out, and my badge was already turned into (bossman).

The reason for the amusement of the convo was 1)I’ve been aware that I was being laid off since pretty much last Tuesday. (Can’t talk about the details of how or why I knew. But lets just say the entire decision was not only bossmans) 2)It was now Monday morning, and I was laid off on Friday. 3)I was the calling her instead of the other way around.
But yup, she confirmed that I was now in laid off status, and that I am in the “Rehireable” status, and that all I needed to do was send her an updated resume. (which counts towards my UI weekly requirement.)
So I was able to finish applying for UI this morning, already made 2 out of 5 of my requirements for the week.

After that we decided to head to Garden of the Gods as the snow was finally starting to melt and the Sun was out.
Stopped at Colorado Mills to look at fabric. I finally found my wedding fabric. Of course, I've got taste. So it shall be highly expensive. Must see if I can find it online. But... I've decided on White Crushed Silk. As I will be able to dye it after the wedding, and thus my wedding dress will no longer look like a wedding dress, but instead a fabulous silk dress.

Then we get to Garden of the Gods, even stopped at the Nature Center. Which was neat.
Went through the hike on the path, it was quite a beautiful day.

Apparently they were filming The Biggest Loser in the park there. And I managed to slip on the one bit of ice right in front of about 10 of the contestants. But I spectacularly caught myself and didn't actually fall. They applauded.

Came home, been watching Inspector Lynley. Just been enjoying the rest of the day.

I can now officially do the ”I’m Free at last” dance (Which I was doing a lot this morning while I was taking the hike through Garden of the Gods)

The weight is already off my shoulders. :-)

Tomorrow I have to drive Mimi to the airport in Denver.

Don't worry, there shall be lots of photos of the Garden of the Gods, and the Birthday enjoyment, uploaded here and onto my FB.

Have gotten lots knitted.
Current book: House of Many Ways by Diana Wynn Jones

Bugs and Hisses everyone!

Too many things to list them all- Happy Halloween

I realize it's been a while since I last blogged. Or mayhaps it just feels that way.

Sadly I don't have much new to report. (Well, a few things)

Just been trying to get through the days at work.

Down to 35 weeks.

I have the best friend in Canada ever. Halifax, Nova Scotia to be more exact.
Here's the story.
I was part of a Vampire Halloween Swap.
It was supposed to be secret. Meaning, we victims didn't know who was "spoiling" us.
Well, right off the bat the secret got spoiled by my spoiler as she messaged me to make sure I was her partner. That took out a lot of the fun on my part right away.
Then the package finally arrived.
Lets just say I was less than enthused by the contents.
The colors were not colors I would choose at all, it was yarn I stated I was allergic to... and there was not a vampire related item in sight.
She reasoned that I didn't want to have to ship things.... *head desk* Thats fine, but she could have included something that was vampire related.
So, to be honest. I was disappointed. I was well within my right, as other people noticed how lackluster the package was.

What does this have to do with my friend in Nova Scotia?
Well, a package arrived to me from my friend Crystal that knocked my socks off. It was to make up for the lackluster package I had previously gotten.



The yarn alone had me drooling. It is Seacell and Silk. Meaning it is HEAVEN to smoosh.

Honestly, I was so blown away and touched by the kindness of the package.

Moving along, here are some things I've made over the past couple of weeks.




Hoot is a little hair clip designed by Ysolde Teague. Whos work I absolutely adore. Hoot knitted up in like 10 minutes, I've actually made 2 of them as I couldn't find the first one.

The stitch markers were little metal bobbles I found at Michaels craft store. I loved them so much that I went back to get more so I could make myself a set. These, and Hoot were going to my Halloween Vampire Swap partner, so they are no longer in the house.


I just made some new stitch markers for the Flirt and Flounce custom order that I have.



Yesterday I made myself exceedingly proud.
I made homemade bagels from scratch. Sure, a bread machine was involved, but that was just to save my hands from all the mixing and kneading. I do after all have early arthritis (or darn near close) in my hands, so I have no qualms about using my bread machine.
I made Cinnamon Raisin bagels.
And let me tell you,
No, they were not hockey pucks like I feared.
Yes, they were absolutely delicious.
No, they weren't beautiful store bought perfectly round bagels.
Yes, they had the perfect crust, and the perfect texture inside.
No, they weren't a pain in the ass to make.
Yes, it was amusing twirling the dough on my fingers.

I was absolutely shocked at how easy they were to make. The actual making of them... took far less time than I imagined.
The boiling in the pot was not as scary as I imagined it to be.
The only thing I might try differently shall be to use actual bread flour instead of regular flour. But pretty much.. thats the only change I'll do for next time.

Eventually, my goal is to also know how to make Pumpernickel, as Cinnamon Raisin and Pumpernickel are my two favorites.




Other than that, we had a very quiet Samhain/Halloween.
Mum made a pumpkin sauce with black pasta for dinner which was very good. You can read all about it over here. (Once she posts the blog that is. So if it's not up, just be patient.)

I guess really thats all I've got to say right now.

I guess I'll end it on the note that yes... I've had the weird realization that this time next year, I'll be in the UK and finishing up my wedding.

OOOHh! Just remembered one thing. Had an awesome dream last night. The kind of dream where in the middle of it, I was awake enough to go "Oooh this would make a great novel". Can't recall it at all, I mistakenly fell into the cocky writer mentality of "Oh, it's so vivid and I'm awake enough right now... I'll remember it in the morning." - Yeah. How silly was I.
I know it involved fast cars... A theme park... a roadway quite like the autobahn, a sinkhole that swallowed a pickup truck, and promptly repaved it's self (alright, someone repaved it.. but in the time it took me to glance away) with the truck and a body inside. A dying car crash victim, a lot of questionable money, the disappearance of the car crash victim and her body, and over all the entire sense of intrigue and "who can I trust" sensations. - Mind you, none of this is in the order it happened in the dream. It also no where near covers the depth of the dream and the complexity it had. By typing all this out for several times, I'm hoping to recall other details.. But no... no such luck.
I know, I know. I should have woken up and grabbed the dust covered notebook I have on the floor. But sadly I did not.

The only good thing that this is telling me, is that possibly the creative spark inside me that I feared was being killed by work possibly isn't fully dead. This gives me hope that next year when I can actually sit down and write, I won't just end up staring at my keyboard in vain.

Well, thats all I've got for now.
Ta everyone. Have a safe and happy start to the new year if you celebrate it.