Wow!! Has it really been that long?

I can't believe how long it's been since I've written here. In some ways it seems like just yesterday and at other times it seems like it's been much longer. I'd like to say I've been off doing fun things but sadly that has not been the case. Things aren't horrible but they haven't been great. So let's see if I can do a relatively quick update.

Me- I've been sick. First I had some problems with my heart. It sounds scary but it turned out to be a very minor irregular heartbeat. It's something I've had on/off most of my life but it reached a point where it was happening a lot and troublesome in ways. I got a clean bill of health but am on a daily a beta blocker. I have stopped all caffeine and alcohol. I'm also working on lowering my stress and walking every day. They have helped, as well as just knowing it's not something serious.

After that D brought home a very interesting virus from school. He had it, was sick a few days and then I got it, and was flat on my back for 5 days. 3 of those days I had a pretty steady fever often over 102 even with Motrin. After the fever broke I had a stuffy nose, sore throat, ear ache, and cough, only I had them one at a time. It took a good 8-9 days to really feel better and what seemed like 2 weeks to get the house back in order. Then of course G had it, then DH, then Steph. All of us are better now but it made for a not so fun couple of weeks with someone under the weather.

D- He turned 9 in early September. He *loved* his bike as well as the bike lock we bought to go with it. Steph bought him a computer for the bike that logs his miles and speed etc. He loves it. He is off to a so-so start to school. I really like his teacher and have only heard good things about her from other parents and other teachers so that is good. His reading and spelling are excellent. They've had 5 spelling tests, and he has had 5 100%. He is learning cursive and is doing really well with it, even with being a lefty. I'm so glad that DH is here to help him with that. He can teach him a few tricks that me as a righty don't know. His math is a little slow. He can do it, just not as fast as they would like. He freezes up and thinks he can't do it, but the can. They are now learning multiplication tables and we are trying to convince him it's not much different than learning spelling words and I hope that it helps. We still struggle in the morning to get him out the door since he doesn't want to go most mornings and that makes it hard for me. I'm hoping it will smooth out but we are into month two of school and so far it hasn't. I don't think he will ever love school, but I wish he was a tad more excited about it.

G- he is off to an excellent start to school. I thought he would have a problem with staying all day but he loves lunch and lunch recess so it's been pretty easy for him. Unlike his brother he loves math and says it's his favorite part of the day. I have no problem getting him up and out the door in the morning which is nice!!

Isis- she is just *nuts*. I can't believe I ever worried about her not being much of a playing cat because she is all over the place all the time. Anything is a toy, anyone is a toy, and the only time she doesn't want to play is when she when she falls in an exhausted heap some where. Its made me appreciate how well behaved my other cats had been since Isis has zero manners. We are slowly trying to teach them to her but she seems a bit resistant to learning. She has stolen a pair of Steph's earrings and stolen several bobby pins and hair bands from me. She doesn't just like to knock things on the floor, but likes to carry them away to play with them so finding the missing things has been tricky. Her and the dog are so funny together and I think the dog is enjoing her as much as we are. WE have to be really careful because Isis is always going for the door. NOne of our other cats had much interest in the outside world so it's hard to train ourselves to watch for her darting out the door. I'm assuming as it gets colder and the snow starts to fly, that will stop, but with Isis, who knows!!

DH-Dh is doing good. He has been incredibly busy at work. Most mornings he is out the door by 6am which is frustrating, leaving me with D on my own, not to mention that as a salaried employee he isn't getting paid for it. They are making a lot of changes at his office, updating equipment, they have hired an General Manager and are getting ready to get a new bigger press. All a good signs of things to come but for now he is working too hard for what he is making but he is optimistic and he likes it so I'm trying to be supportive. Fall hockey season has started and he was so excited to have scored his first goal and the team is doing well.

In the last month I have taken up knitting. I'm not very good at it and can't do much more than a garter stitch but I have made 2 hats and 3 scarves. I found it really relaxing and it was nice to start and finish something in a weekend.

I've been doing very little, if any stitching. I've been trying too but I seem to find a million things to do instead of stitching. I did drag out a project and got some progress made but it seems every time I think about stitching I then think about all the stash I have and all the projects I *should* be stitching on and I just feel overwhelmed and don't stitch at all. I'm just waiting it out and I'm sure the urge will come back soon.

So I think that is most of what I've been up to. There was a camping trip in there too that I should mention. We got caught in a horrible wind storm and poor DH and the G got trapped in their tent. It was so windy it knocked the tent over and moved it about 20 feet. It was pretty scary. I'm incredibly grateful for the couple in the camper next to us who took us in after the tent blew away. I thought we were going to have to spend the night sitting in the car, worried about a branch falling on us, instead we were warm cozy and safe in a very nice camper. I think it will a LONG time before we go camping again!!

I'm way behind on everything. This is the longest I've been at the computer in weeks!!