Long, Rambling Catching Up Again.

I feel like I start a lot of posts with "Damn [insert month] is over/beginning?"

Life is flying here. I'm in training at my new office (independent contractor life) and absolutely LOVING it. I feel like I've hit the sweet spot - working for myself, but with amazingly strong, structured training and support. My qualms about how to build my business as the new kid grandma in town are fading fast, and I have so many ideas brewing in my head I can't wait to get into it. I am learning so much and having so damn much fun, it's crazy. I've spent 20 years toiling in the law departments of various real estate related entities, getting to know the agents and watching what they do, and wondering if I would ever get out there and try it myself. The great thing about the last couple of years is that they forced me out of my comfort zone, first by giving me the push to get off my ass and move here, and then by providing such a low-paying paralegal market, I have zero desire to force myself into a cube farm again. I am not going to talk real estate here much, but if you want to be on my mailing list and/or get a link to the work blog when it launches, email me at bossylittledogATyahooDOTcom.

The state finally got back to me with approval to take the exam, and I'm scheduled for next Thursday, April 7. Prayers/goodthoughts/whitelight for breezing through it are all welcome. If I somehow get the randomly generated test from hell and don't pass I will simply have to reschedule and retake it, but I've never had to do that in my entire life, and I don't intend to start now.

So that's the work update. Busy, crazy, gotta study for the exam too. All fun.

I'm glad my new path is so damn fun and feels so good, because the weather has been enough to make a person never want to get out of bed. Gray, cold, rainy, day after endless gray, chilly rainy day. We had that lovely brief tease of 80 and sunny and everybody cheered that winter was over, but it was only a tease. It's supposed to get better this weekend, and in the nick of time, too. I'm still doing well on WW, losing a slow but steady pound a week, but haven't walked in a week because it's just too damn bone-chilling damp and nasty. I swear to God I walked more in the SNOW than I can in this - this is the kind of weather that just saps your will to live, let alone exercise. So a pound a week? I'll take it. It'll pick up when this weather breaks and my exam is behind me.

Okay, that covers work and Weight Watchers. I will skip my new Verizon phone to the beginning of the alphabet - Apple TV.

Best $99 I've ever spent. Seriously - I held onto extended basic cable and my DVR for a few reasons, but one big reason was my addiction to the Rachel Maddow Show. RM is simply the best thing out there for cable news in this country, and I truly agonized about giving up my extended, enhanced, whatever they call it in large part because of her show. Which, duh, is available on video podcast the day after the broadcast! Which, duh, I can stream on Apple TV with my morning coffee, just like I used to record and watch her show the next morning without commercials!

Yes, dropping back to basically just the three networks and two shopping channels and some local dreck that appears to be heavy on Psychobabble for Jesus (after channel surfing a bit, I was struck by how much of that programming sounds geared to the clinically depressed) really does suck a bit, but I can still watch a lot of shows right here on my iMac if I must. I am also shopping consignment shops for a soft comfy chair that can serve as my desk chair.

Back to V for Verizon. The jury's still out on the sexyfancy phone. Its battery life is pathetic, and it has a weird "feature" I didn't notice in the store - the ringer volume control is a bar on the side. I keep accidentally turning off the ringer. My son swears he never noticed this issue, so it has to be something about the size of our hands and the way we grip the phone. Now that I'm AWARE of it I'm making sure I check it often, but yes, it's annoying. And the battery life - jeez. I swear yesterday I made a 15 minute phone call and sent about 20 texts and used the GPS for five minutes, and by the time I got home last night it was nearly dead. It's an amazing little phone, like a little computer and terrific camera and GPS all in one, but it takes a lot of power to make it go. It is spending a lot more time on the charger than I anticipated, and I am tracking my two week window for returns/exchanges while I get to know it. I will probably keep it, because, damn, what it does, it does very well indeed. But they need to do something about the battery life.

K is for Knitting - not so much progress on that front. I'm duly working my way down the skirt of the second little sundress for Supergirl, in random moments when I sit still to knit. Supergirl is an absolute riot now - talking a bit more every day. She has learned to express disapproval with "No-no!" and a quick wrinkled nose and slight shake of the head. Her mom makes the quick nose wrinkle/shake when confronted with things she doesn't like. Supergirl may be a dead ringer for her father and have a whole lot of HIS traits, but her mama doesn't need to fear - she's a mix of both.

I have resisted the temptation to start knitting or shopping for Girlmama's Bun in the Oven. Until we know the gender of said bun, I am going to be strong - which is easy, because the neutral baby stuff really is pretty damn boring. I do have a nice white organic cotton on hand, and it could become a soft blankie or little sweater and hat combo, but naaah, I bought it for a cropped cardi for me, and I'd much rather knit something specific and special for the bun, once we know, which won't be for a while. Which is good, because I'm not spending much time knitting lately.

But I did discover a place to learn to use my rigid heddle loom, which has been languishing in my closet. I would say it's "Not until July!" but at the rate these weeks are sailing past, that's tomorrow in my world. Friends and Fiberworks Summer Retreat looks great, and is about 15 minutes up the road. I will be there. Learning to properly warp a loom is one thing; forming a warp in the space-time continuum to find time to really learn to weave??? Standby.