Settled! And possibly back for good...

Wow. Where does the time go? Hard to believe I started this blog in 2008! Life has seriously gotten in the way, but it is entirely possible that we have a handle on things now. Oh, how I've missed you!

Quick update:  We bought our home August 31, 2012. We spent our last rental year in the inner city of Schenectady, NY. It was beyond miserable, and I'm not quite sure how we managed to get through it. I've never been so homesick in my life. But now we're in our sweet little white and green foursquare on a quarter acre in a tiny town on the Hudson River. Back to the mountains and homegrown crunchy hippie land. WE ARE HOME!  Insert big smiles here.

The Tall Guy continues his battle against chronic Lyme disease and related co-infections. He's been on antibiotics almost non-stop, and had a PICC line in 2011/2012. Like I said a hundred weeks ago, I won't go into his illness in great detail here. It has eaten our lives and I want this blog to be a safe place where I don't have to think about it. That said, if you are struggling with vector-borne disease, or want any information, please feel free to message me. I would be more than happy to help you locate resources. And my heart is with you.

I have a grandson! We call him Mander, and he may just be the most perfect child in the history of humanity. Grandmotherhood has completed me in ways that single-motherhood often fell short. Love him this much.

Oh, and one more big piece of news: I quit my day job! Yes I did. I opened my own business. Actually a few different lines of business. I have a jewelry/craft thing that soothes my spirit, a home-inspection gig suits my need to ramble, and a construction-consultancy that actually pays the bills.

We continue to take baby steps on our path to off-grid self sustainability. Gardening was impossible this year, we're working on getting the house together, and it's a challenge with The Tall Guy's health. But we are fortunate to live in an area loaded to the ears with local farms, markets and CSAs. More pickles this year!

So now you're all caught up :)  I have pics of a recent knitting machine rehab that I want to post, since info is scarce for my particular model (Singer LK-100). I'll also put up some pics of my jewelry and crafts. I promise to stop by more often with tutorials, tips and tricks for living simply in a complex world. Blessed be, my friends.

COMMUTING

I am always on my way to someplace else
I am always late

As a general rule, only my first stop of the day is on time
Something always happens before 9 am
And I spend the rest of the day trying to catch up
The clock is my enemy

I tend to the larger issues and hope the details will take care of themselves
But they don’t

Then I load my car that was unpacked an hour ago:
Laptop, files, folders, notes,
Red pens, blue pens, calculator
Lunch box

I feel like a pack mule

Back on the road
Heading out of town
The driver behind me goes too fast
The one in front of me is too slow

Stoplight, stop sign, pedestrian, cop
A quarter mile
Half
One and a half
Two…three…five

There. Now I’m on the open road
Through the countryside
Trees, fields, farms, lakes
Sun, rain, falling leaves
Snow tires crunching over frozen ruts

This is the best time
The only time
I am all alone
With my thoughts

Sticky notes cover my dashboard
Overflow from my glove box

Things to remember for work
Ideas for a story, a house for sale
The name and address of an interesting shop
A reminder to tell my husband about the sunrise this morning

My life’s experiences recorded on
2 x 2 squares
Up mountains and down
On highways and off
Jotting it all down
Overlooking nothing
And always arriving late.