Christmas, New Year's, and beyond.

Okay.  My meds are doing great things.  Christmases were filled with great presents and conversations.  Among my favorite gifts... well all of them are great. Here's the list (that I remember)

*Kindle keyboard (I'm still not ready for touch technology) Andy and I actually got matching ones :D
*Amazon giftcard
*Silk Cocoons- heck yes
*Star wars themed usb drive
*A giant cutting mat for sewing, because my old one was too small for fat quarters without doubling the fabric up
*Some tank tops, you can never have too many tank tops
*Electronic catch phrase
*A whole mess of candies from around the world and various other goodies
*Target giftcard
*Best Buy giftcard
*Boba Fett piggybank (to go with our Yoda and Darth Vader piggybanks)
*Fuzzy dice (I love dice)
*Cash
*My camera
*Ribbon for crafts
*A remote controlled car customized for me :)

Three generations of ladies :)

My fuzzy puppy enjoying his new toy

Our happy little family <3

My whole nuclear family.  From left to right: Me, Andy, Drew, DJ, Mom, Dad

How DARE I interrupt their play time!

All tuckered out!


New Year's Eve was really nice.  We bought way too much food.  WWWAAYYY too much.  We still have unused frozen stuff.  It was just some family and friends getting together to eat, talk, and play games, especially Trivial Pursuit.  This year the women kicked butt!  It helped that we realized that last year the guys got the easy pile, and the girls got the hard pile :P

Only a portion of the food we had!!!

Yearly tradition of trivial pursuit, guys vs. girls!

With the start of the new year came a new insurance in addition to Andy's work one.  My parents added me onto theirs because they could (and probably because they want grandchildren :D), so I have extra insurance through March, which is when I turn 26.  So I am announcing now that I have been going through an insane amount of fertility tests.  I have a couple things left, including having something removed, but now I pretty much know what's wrong with me.  Andy will have all of his tests done on the thirteenth of February, so soon we will know everything.  I even have an ultrasound picture of my uterus :D  Somehow all of these things keep happening on knit nights and spinning guild, so even though I feel like I'm ready to go to one, I haven't been able to.  For example, I have a minor surgery on the same day as spinning guild.  Things just keep coming up!
I have been making social contact with people though.  Through Andy's work party, I have made some new friends that are really awesome.  I have done everything from trying karaoke for the first time, to going Irish dancing for the first time!  I am really enjoying myself and trying to open up. 

Meds, take two

Yeah, the internet sucks royally.  I wrote out everything all eloquently, but then it got deleted because of an outage.  So yeah, you now get the crazier, me trying to remember what I wrote, and typed up hastier version.
The meds that I wrote about last time worked for a while, but then I realized I was gaining an amazing amount of weight.  It was causing even worse, constant paralyzing panic attacks, and I didn't want anyone to see me, ever.  I was also changing my diet for the better and starting to work out in my home, so I should have at least been staying even for weight.  But no.  So the doctor gave me a new prescription, and everything would have been fine, except that it's expensive, so I freaked out over the price, and didn't get it for too long, and went without any meds for a while... It got really bad.  I finally just said that we had to, and gave up seeing the chiropractor to get them.
They seem to be working pretty good.  I've been feeling better, and am getting through the holidays with happy feelings.  It's nice.  I even got a camera for christmas (early) so I'll write about more cheerful things like presents and post pics soon.
I want to do stuff with people, but probably won't make the first contact for fear of, well, people.  Friends, and people who want to get to know me better, I'm not always this crazy, and I'm getting better, so I apologize for the crazy/ lack of communication.  But just initiate something, and I'll do it.
Your friend, even through the silence,
Jenny

Whistle While You Work

I've been cleaning.  And cooking.  And cleaning.  And drying herbs.  More cooking.  More cleaning.  Not just surface stuff, the deep stuff.  I'm also helping a friend build a yarn swift.  He's designing it and doing all the hard stuff, I'm helping where I can.  I wish I could do more, but what can I do?  Next is building custom shelves.  I'm changing lots of stuff up and moving furniture.  I'm even getting an elliptical that someone is getting rid of.  That will help with working out, so I'm happy.

Happiness Is...

All right.  After writing and deleting the first few sentences of this about five times, I'm deciding to open up and share something.  I have had a struggle for years with crippling depression and anxiety.  I have managed to finally get the depression part more or less under control, but that made the anxiety worse.  Much worse.  And opened the door to new problems.  But one thing at a time, right?  Anyway, I've been seeing someone, andI finally agreed to try some medication.  I have had bad luck (example: no bad, but no good emotions) with medications in the past, and that made me very nervous to try anything else.  Now I'm starting week five of my two new meds, and I think they may be working.  Others see it more than me, but that's a good thing, right?  So I'm redoubling my efforts to live.  I'm spinning more, spending some time outside, knitting again, finding more ways to actually enjoy things.  It sounds great on screen, but it's an ongoing process.  Side effects are worth living with, even though it will make getting to a healthier weight harder.  I already had issues with balance, so less balance is no biggie.  Things like that are worth more life to me.
Anyway, that's the big thing that has been going on in my life recently.  I hope it made sense.

On a more cheerful note, one thing I'm doing is actually trying out the whole 'selling' thing on Etsy.  Not much is on there, but I'm taking it slow, trying not to have a panic attack about doing this.  So yeah.  Maybe I'll even figure out how to add it to the side of the blog one day.  If you feel so inclined to check it out, my name is peanutbuster.

I hope you all have a great day, and enjoy it for what it is.

Fiber, Games, Family

First, an apology for being so negative and grumpy in the last post.  I just can't seem to figure out computer-y things like most people.  Sorry :(
The last month and a half have been pretty eventful for me.  My family's yearly vacation actually got split up into two parts, and I was lucky enough that I was able to go for all of it.  My grandparents have a small lake home on Lake Carlos that they so generously share with the family every year.  Many, many thanks to them (not that they would ever touch a computer, which I respect) for making my summer, every year.  And the fall.  Nothing beats watching my family members do their own polar bear plunge.  Anyway, our vacation always lines up with the Tour de Fleece.  This year only part of it lined up with it, so I brought my spinning wheel along for the ride.  It was awesome, and I got a lot done, considering all the other things we did.  I ended up spinning about 12 oz. and getting about 8 oz. plied up before the end.

I am happy with what I got done.

I just got back laaaaate wednesday night (technically thursday) from the second leg of the family vacation.  It was almost two weeks, and it was the BEST.  Lots of sun and water for swimming and tubing, lots of games with the family, especially shanghai (possibly my favorite card game), lots of movies for the nighttime (which gave me lots of time to spin!) and even a bit of wine from Carlos Creek Winery.  I actually have some color on my skin, and a smile on my face. 
I have to de-jungle-ize my garden, and clean the house majorly because the puppies stayed at our house and my husband had to come home a couple times for work, but it's worth it.  And he appreciates my cooking and cleaning even more :)

Grr. Just. Grr.

No one can find me, not even my mom, who's trying.  I can't figure out how to get the Flickr thing on the side.  Maybe I'm just not technologically savvy enough for blogging?
I've been spinning a lot, considering that I've been on vacation for most of the Tour.  Now I'm home, getting things re-organized, and trying to get my pictures posted.  They may not be good, but I'm doing the best I can.  So far I've spun about ten ounces, but have yet to ply anything.  I've been saving my club fiber for this, and I'm not regretting it :)

peanutbuster's photostream

peanutbuster's photostream on Flickr.