Losses and Gains

It's been a roller coaster lately.  I lost a very good friend to bone cancer this month, but I also had some wonderful times with other friends.  I finished one of my baby blankets, and got a huge portion of the other done.  The yarn for my next baby blanket project has been purchased and I have learned the basics of knitting.

I wanted to share something that I wrote for my friend Fran on her dedicated Facebook page before she passed.  I called it What it Takes to Be Loved

~~~


It's so rare that we ever truly know how many lives we touch.  It's even more unusual when we run into a situation where we are actually able to see how we have affected those around us, to know just how many of our every day encounters made a change in someone's life.

Fran is one of those lucky few.  She has gotten the chance to see just how many people she has touched.  The circumstances are not the best, but it seems that is always what makes people realize how much someone means to them.

I don't think that I even realized how profound and how far Fran's reach was until  my friend Jack sent me a very simple text message.  When he found out she was in the hospital he wanted to do something for her because "she was always nice to me.  Always."

Something so simple; always being kind to someone no matter what, it made the difference to Jack and I suspect many others.

The out-pouring of love that followed was staggering.  A wave of people wanting to reach out and contact her to let her know they cared because she had cared about them.  People that no longer worked with Fran or hadn't spoken to her in ages started asking if they could visit, send flowers or just make sure someone gave her a hug for them.  Kind words filled my cell phone and popped up all over Facebook.  At work even managers reached out to donate food and money.  Cards appeared for people to sign.

I know I was stunned.  It warmed my heart.  I am sure that Fran feels the same and if she had access to this page she would tell us how much it means to her.  Please don't stop telling her how much she is loved.  Never let her forget how much she means to us and that she made a difference in our lives.  She still is.

We love you Fran and thank you for just being you.  That was all we ever needed and all we will ever need.

New Year

I've been seriously lax in my updates.  The Christmas season ate up my time like I couldn't believe.  I forget that the holiday season takes a toll on me whether I think it does or not.  I suppose a synopsis is called for.  

Black Friday was as bad as I thought it would be, plus 10.  First thing in the morning we had plenty of people but for some reason my company decided to cut us down to one cashier for the entire day.  I was that one cashier.  It was perhaps the worst day I can think of in my 9 years of working there.  Granted all the people were very very nice and far more patient than I would be, but it was still horrible.

Moving on from there things are a blur.  My roommate and I decorated our patio in hopes of winning a place in our complex contest.  We bought new lights this year and decorated the bushes out front and everything.  It was quite the set up and we were super proud of it.  Sadly, we don't think we even placed because as of now we haven't heard anything back. 

We also did a nice job of starting a new decor idea inside.  It was a much more simple look than we do and we really liked it. :)  I'm still enjoying it and will until we decide to take it down soon.

Work went kind of crazy from then on.  People lose their minds during the holidays.  We even had a lady come out of the men's restroom complaining that there was a man in there.  I am always astounded by people's idiocy.  But for the most part it was uneventful.  The real aggravation came from my new next door neighbor.  She and her boyfriend seem to think that any time after 2am is a perfectly reasonable time to party, watch loud TV, listen to loud music, run around laughing and banging cupboards. I have called our front office so many times I am near giving up, and still the woman continues to be obnoxious. 

The highlight of December was the birth of my second "niece" Reilly.  She is so beautiful and I am so lucky to have met her the day after she came home.  :)  I am still working on both blankets, and I'm really far behind because of all this craziness. Hopefully now that the holidays are over I can get back to work on them because I have two beautiful baby girls waiting on them now.  I also got contracted into doing yet another blanket.  This one is for my boyfriend's brother's wife.  They are expecting a boy, so this will be the first boy blanket I've ever made and I'm kind of excited to do it.  I just need to get my butt in gear and get going. 

My roommate and I also got to go and see Trans-Siberian Orchestra.  We go every year, but last year we couldn't since she was in Hawaii.  It was nice to get the tradition back in order.  She left for her parents shortly after and it was just me and the cat.  Then came the snow...

We don't usually get much snow here in December, let alone Christmas time. Two storms came through and dumped something like a foot of snow on us for the week before Christmas.  It was beautiful and we are still trying to melt it all off.

Christmas was fairly uneventful.  On Christmas Eve my boyfriend and I spend time together and have our Christmas, we did that again this year.  It was a very nice night and my neighbor was gone so I got sleep.  The next day I made a massive and fantastic dinner.  I decided to try two new recipes and they turned out really good.  I was very pleased.  It was a Mexican Christmas feast!  Chicken enchiladas and Indian fry bread used for tacos.  Everyone loved it and I was so happy to do it. 

The next week at work things were very busy and I ended up getting sick.  Being sick meant that my tradition of holding a New Years Eve game party were in jeopardy.  I didn't feel well enough to make my usual chicken and noodles.  Usually I make my great grandmother's recipe for chicken and noodles.  It takes two days and is the center piece of the party so I was worried about it.  Thankfully one of my friends stepped up and volunteered to make her own chicken and noodles.  It was great and we all enjoyed it.   Game night went on no matter how sick I was and everyone had a good time, or at least I hope they did.

I'm finally starting to feel better.  I hope that I"m on the downhill slide of this and will be soon be back to normal.

Everything else is going on per normal. The fish are alive and doing well, the cat is still a crazy little ball of fur and work is still giving me too much to do with too little help and too little time.  Perhaps this year I will get lucky and have a new job.  I can only hope.