Whew! What a week this has been. Work is well...work. There is not much difference from one night to the next as a critical care nurse. Sure faces and exact details change, but the job is what it is.

Fred's memorial gathering was nice. It was fun to share memories about someone who touched us all so deeply. Fred was an interesting man, and an amazing nurse. We lost a brother, a friend, a comrade. There will never be another quite like him.

We are firmly into school mode. Week two's assignments are done. I proved, once again, that I can write a ten page paper in two days. On to week three!

Game night at Casa Bruss was amazing. Played one new game, and several favorites. It never fails to be a good time. I was so relieved that Game Night actually meant board games. It occurred to me on the way there that it might mean football. Thank heavens I was wrong. I'm not into hockey much...

Reindeer games has begun. The yarn is dyed, knitting has commenced. I promise photos soon.

The meeting of Midnight Home Improvement Society

For those not aware, we bought a house earlier this year. It is wonderful to have a safe-haven of our very own. With home ownership comes the inevitable home improvement projects.

Our first foray was with painting, where I learned that my ability to predict how long it would take was severely inadequate, and that there is no substitute for proper preparation. It is lovely.

This week's project involved lighting. First we took the light/fan combo out of the bedroom, and installed a ceiling light. For this, we needed help, in the form of the brother, who figured out the problem and made it work in about an hour.

Tonight's project was to install send fan unit in the front room. I am happy to report that it worked, although I still do not like being on a ladder.

Oh and the Howard Johnson lamp will be repurposed later.

Just Like Starting Over...

It's been too long; a hard, crazy, chaotic couple of years. Let me recap:

• we moved to Tucson, ostensibly to be near family, but also because of the weather
• we bought a house - nothing quite so humbling as discovering exactly how much yarn you have, and then figuring out where to put it. Oh, and for the record, I do not like palm trees or dogs. I do love my tangerine and apple trees, though. 
• Did you know tangerine blossoms almost smell like jasmine?
• I discovered that knitting is not a top priority in the Desert Southwest. Let's be real, who really needs wool socks in 90°F heat?
• night shift is a survival tactic in the desert - if it's good enough for the coyotes, it's good enough for me
• I have more writing ideas than I can keep up with - working on a viable outlining solution - right now I'm working on a hybridization of the Randy Ingermanson's Snowflake Method and Lisa Cron's Story Genius - they mesh well together. I'll let you know how it works out.
• the Compassion Project is about 75% written - yes, you read that right, 3/4 of the way there. I'm into the meat of the project. Wish me luck
• I have discovered a wealth of support and chaos that is family
• Hubs has two books doing rather well, and is writing a third and fourth. He is play testing regularly.
• Tucson has a strong writing culture, including a somewhat active NaNoWriMo group - I will be attending camp in April and am hoping to us that time to finish the first draft of the the Compassion Project

Sounds busy, right? You betcha. We have a few straggling boxes left to unpack, two sets of curtains to hang, and built-in book shelves to create. 

So close, and yet, so far...