Denver

If I were doing this chronologically, I would have Denver come before the move, but I am not that organized. Anyway, I went to the Journaling Conference in Denver last month. I copied the home page for the conference to post here. It was great fun, and I got to meet so many of my Collective Journey friends:


Connie (my roomie at the Denver Sheraton)


Gina


Fran


Paula


Linda


Kay


Betsy (and Bob)


Elaine


Amy


Ellen


Debby T


Mari


Catherine E (and Sam)


We all hung out together and had a wonderful time. Lots of great journaling ideas. I actually have started writing in my journal again. I took apart my program and put the great parts in my paper journal.

Don't we look like we are having fun? Kay and Linda were not there, being so busy being the hostesses for the whole thing. I don't know where Gina and I were when this was being taken. I think Paula took this picture. Mari popped in an out, as she was busy with her music teacher. I would do it again in a heartbeat, if it meant I could meet so many CJ members in one place.

I only spent 50 dollars on books, and treated myself to a new journal. I realized I am such a word person, and visual journaling might be fun. I took classes in bodywork, writing my way through transitions, (not doing a good job of that), memoir writing (handling secrets), bibliotherapy for kids (Amy's class), and then we did a panel discussion on CJ and how we operated. It's amazing that we have been going for 10+ years now and are still as strong, if not stronger than ever.

My new home

I know, it's been forever since I wrote anything, but I have been busy. I packed everything up and moved to Portland this past month. The pictures above are from the online web page for the place, and does not show any of the apartments. They aren't too bad, but they are about 30 years old. I am sharing a place with Heber to save money. It is a challenge, but I think we are doing all right. After living with Heather, I am sure anyone would be a breeze. The weather has been right for walking and I am doing quite a bit of it. We walk in the evening and go out into the neighborhood. The trip out here was three long days of driving into the sun, which gave me a constant headache. We spent essentially one day going through North Dakota, and one day going through Montana. The last day was spent crossing Idaho, part of Washington, and then heading into Oregon.

I miss the Midwest big time. It's a lot more laid back here, and will take some getting used to. Of course, I miss all my friends. After all, I had lived there for 10 years, almost to the day. It will take some time to get things sorted out.

I am job hunting, which has taken a lot of time, and not resulted in any positions yet. I am hoping that will change this next week.

Isn't it nice to see me writing about something besides socks?

Latest Pictures of the Divas and More Socks

Socks for Soldiers Socks:
Lots of other knitting going on. I will post some other socks later when I have given them to their intended recipient.

These socks are probably on their way to Iraq or Afghanistan by now. I struggled with the Opal yarn for months. Glad to have them out th door.

Just a quick post here. These are the latest pictures of my grand daughters, the Divas. For their protection, I will not go into names or locations. The baby is growing so very fast, and her big sister is just being such a cutie!

I am not sure Alix likes being lugged around, but she seems to be a good sport about it.

She is a happy baby and has even learned to sleep through the night earlier than her big sister.

January Socks Finished and WIPs

WIP (Works in Progress)

Liam's Birthday socks. He turns 4 the first of February!

I finished a pair of socks for my daughter for her birthday (which is Saturday), using the gogeous Tofutsie that I got for finishing socks in October. I had never used the yarn before, and it made beautiful socks. I have enough left over to make a pair for my 2 year old grand daughter, who adores her aunt. They will love having matching socks.

I am knitting socks for Soldiers. It's an online group who knits socks to send to soldiers serving overseas. This is my 7th pair I have knit for them. I am trying two socks on one long Addi Turbo needle. I have no idea what I am doing, but it is slowly coming along. Mens socks with 12 inch cuffs take forever to finish, even when someone else does the cuffs on their machine. We can always use new members. For more information, go to sockforsoliders@yahoogroups.comIt's been a productive month!

The official announcement

This is the official announcement that Nancy created. Since she is a professional photographer and graphic artist, it's a really neat one!
I will post Jordyn's too sometime. She does such a great job.

News Flash!

She is to be named Alixis. We will call her Lexi. I am glad they finally nailed it down!
Jordyn is torn between loving the little one and having to share the spotlight with her. It takes some time for the big sister to accept the little one. I know. I am a big sister. In my case, it took over 20 years for me to accept her as the way cool person she is.
Anne

Good News!

My daughter-in-law, Nancy, is amazing. She delivered her first, Jordyn with about seven hours of labor. This time, after being sent home twice for not being far enough along, she delivered the new one (as yet unnamed) after being in the hospital for 9 minutes! She did most of the hard work at home, and was still afraid they would not admit her!
Anyway, the little girl weighed 7 lbs, 5 oz. Her Apgar score was a 9, which is excellent. I wish I knew more. I got some pictures from the hospital. Nancy says they aren't the best, but I think they are darling. She looks a lot like my babies when they were born years ago, and nothing like Jordyn!

Last I heard, mother and baby were doing well. they are home and big sister had having a great time with the little one.
More to follow!