Meanwhile, back at the ranch...

Wow, what a year it's been! I won't try to put down everything that's happened - for one thing, I'm sure I've forgotten some of them, and, for another, there's only so much I'm willing to put into a post. Anyhow, the stuff that's happened since my last post, in no particular order:

• One of my nieces graduated from college. Well, she still has to finish this Fall semester, but the college allowed her to walk across the stage with the rest of her class. She has a semester left because she took one off to do some really fun stuff in Europe.
• Another niece had her second child in February, a little girl. Mother and both children are doing well. I knit a sweater for the wee one - a February baby sweater without the lace but with alternating stripes of color.
• My dear husband "J" has improved his cooking so much that I rarely think about fixing dinner any more. I love eating his cooking but I occasionally worry about losing my "cooking muscles". As Fall gets going, I may have to make some of our favorites to try to remedy this.
• I lost my job. There, I said it. I was let go in April of this year for budget reasons - thank you *so* *much* Congress! I am still not completely over the shock to my emotions and ego. I have found a "life raft" job, but the pay is half of what I had been making, and the commute is 5 times the distance (though "only" a bit more than twice the time), so I'm still looking.
• I have not knit as much as you might think, given the above item. The time I spent unemployed was taken up, in large part, (surprise!) looking for a job.
• I have finished some things - they include a sweater for my husband (though it's not sewn together, yet), a pair of kneesocks for myself, a pair of "regular" socks for myself, and various pieces of Christmas knitting.
• I still like to bake bread, but since we're eating a lot fewer carbohydrates, I don't do it as often. I do think that, again, as Fall gets going, I'll start to make more bread. It's not hard to do, it puts a nice rhythm into a Saturday, and it's really tasty.

I'm sure there are more things that have happened, but I'm starting to think too hard about what to say and how to say it, so I'll just stop talking for the time being.