I have not frogged the blog!

Oh, hi...yes, well, this is embarrassing...(I can just picture myself using the Geico gecko voice saying this).  So...here are the top ten (or however many I can come up with) reasons I haven't updated my blog since Heck was a pup (whatever that means...Grandpa Young used to say it and it felt appropriate here).

1. Everyone jumped on that "Blog every day in November" bandwagon and I gave up on even trying to keep up with reading all of that, let alone trying to keep up with my own postings.  I'm a rebel at heart, so I decided to do "Don't blog at all in November".  Not really...except for the not being able to keep up with everyone else part.
2. There's bad technojuju going on at Chez THT.  My trusty laptop is doing strange things these days.  It all started in late October when we installed this dandy software to automatically back things up.  I think it has evil elves in it, and I think Vista sucks rocks.  Every day is a new adventure.  The only constant is that my computer has suddenly decided it will no longer have anything to do with my camera - thus, no photos.  It's really, really hard to have a knitting blog without photos.  Yes, I'm knitting.  Using grey yarn....kind of a dark grey...making a hat...with ribbing, about six inches worth....see, you really DO need pictures for a knitting blog.
3. I did cut back on the knitting for a little while.  After the biopsy, I went into a serious fibro flare for a few weeks.  It was really hard knitting when every stitch caused that trigger point under my right shoulderblade - the one that's roughly the size of Rhode Island - to scream with pain.  So...I'm pretty much working on everything I was working on whenever I last posted.  Oh, I did make Pete a snazzy helmetliner thingy for when he walks Wilbur in cold weather.  It's grey...kind of a dark grey...with ribbing...you get the picture...cuz I sure can't download one right now.
4. I'm in the midst of "Choral Madness".  How does this happen every year?  I even dropped out of one chorus this year thinking it would free up my time in December.  As it turns out, I wouldn't have had time to sing with them anyway!  Yesterday was my ONE free day between December 6 and 21 when I didn't have a rehearsal or a performance.  Next week will be insanity - awesomely wonderful insanity, but insanity nevertheless.  I promise to come back and fill you in - really, I will!  But I probably won't have pictures.
5. I'm doing The Artist's Way and getting up at really early o'clock in the morning to do my Morning Pages before Pete and Wilbur get up and my focus shatters into a billion different directions.  I'm also trying not to hang out on the computer as much.  I can kill a whole day here.
6. I'm trying not to hang out on the computer so much.  It's like crack, only worse.
7. My blog layout seriously needs upgrading, and I'm procrastinating.  If I see those pink stripes one more time...

So...all is basically well here.  Pete's well.  Wilbur's doing super (though he did have a minor tummy problem a month ago).  I am, for loss of a better phrase, reconnecting with myself.  This past year has been a year of healing, physically and emotionally, for me.  A year ago, I was forced to quit my job due to my employer (a large and VERY beloved institution in my community) refusing to deal with a mentally ill co-worker who was bullying me and everyone around her, sabotaging my work, and making active threats of violence and destruction.  When my doctor put me on medical leave (I had developed an ulcer and was pretty much in constant pain and unable to keep food down) and we both demanded  that I be allowed to transfer to another area, said Beloved Community Institution decided to make ME the problem employee, and I resigned.  Obviously, they knew if they got rid of me, I wouldn't come back and cause violence and mayhem...and they definitely could NOT say the same about the other employee.  So...after a year of recovery, of which knitting has played a major role, I am now considering what to do to bring in an income again.  I must be creative, as I know I will never again feel safe nor comfortable working in an office environment. 

I'm taking baby steps to get back to who I used to be.  Last year, I barely got the Christmas tree up.  Yesterday, I crawled around in the maze of boxes in the basement, found TWO little tabletop trees I had forgotten about and brought them upstairs.  One is now on the cedar chest in our bedroom, and the other is on the kitchen table.  They both have gaudy colored lights which Pete loves and I usually hate, but this time I love them.  If I can work the right camera voodoo, I'll try to get a picture.  The main tree will go up tomorrow.  Oh, and I strung this sparkly garland that looks like razor wire (but prettier, trust me...and not sharp...) on the tops of all the curtains.  I've even decorated the bathroom.  I've NEVER decorated a bathroom for Christmas before.  All good stuff.  Last year, all I could do was go sing every night...and knit.  I might not have felt like I could do anything else in this world right...but I could sing, and I could knit. 

Hopefully, I'll get back into the blogging swing.  I might have to load my camera software on one of Pete's machines and blog from there, but I'll try to be a better blogger.  I've missed you all.