Time to get cracking

This past Friday a cold bug decided I was a good person to visit for a while. Not an enjoyable way to spend what was probably the last nice weekend of the year. 

Today is the best I've felt. I'll spare the details, not that there are any gory ones.  I will say I probably should have stayed home from work but I was "functional" and my work to-do list got the best of me.  I told myself I wouldn't go in if I felt crappy but my sense of responsibility got the best of me. Time was spent in the office, with little interaction with coworkers.  When I did venture out I was sort of treated like I had the plague, despite how nice some of them were about it.

Today was my usual work at home day but there was a surprise farewell lunch for a person who is leaving for a job overseas.  So I went in and tried to touch as little as possible. It was a lovely luncheon. It was German-themed and a few of the ladies cooked a really nice variety of food.

Dashed back home as quick as I could. Weather people said our area is to get a storm starting tonite.

When I went out to do chicken chores I could tell something was up.  There was a certain *something* in the air and how it moved.

Gray clouds, just a bit of wind and the start of some sprinkles.

Seriously, this was at 4 p.m. How depressing.

Secret knitting has been put in timeout.  Not because it was bad.  A few kinks need to be worked out before I continue on.

In the meantime my attention has turned elsewhere.  I've signed up for two swaps this month.  One is with a group of knitters I've been friends with for many years.  The other one is through a FB group I've been a part of for a couple years. My work announced a crafting sale.  Last year I didn't bring anything in and some people expressed their disappointment.  So this year I am aiming to please.

Since I want everything to be a surprise I can't post anything I've made so far.  I will post a pic of some fabric for a craft that will be for sale at my work sale. Any guesses on what this will be?

So, since I can't really talk about my crafting, I thought I'd post a bit of a farm update.

All my ladies are doing good and giving us lots of gifts every day now. It's better than Christmas!

Every now and then we get what is obviously a first egg. The eggs are so wee. There are still lots of double-yolkers.

I got a pretty decent side shot of our male turkey. He is *such* a pretty boy. He's starting to have a hard time now.  It shows in his walking.  He's got a bit of a wobble now and a slight limp. He's still looking for a girlfriend. I'm a bit amazed no wild turkeys showed up in our yard.  Some were spotted about three-quarters of a mile away.

I've got some videos!

I was waiting for the turkey to gobble.  He's *so* camera shy. You do get to hear Skips crow. 

Here I got a good vid of the turkey vocalizing. When I see him I can almost hear him go "I'm a pretty boy, I'm a pretty boy." He's got such a sweet little personality.  

Whenever you open the coop door wide, the birds *pour* out of the coop.  They don't even wait for you to move out of the way.  There are at least three, maybe four, who fly from the top rung of the roost and glide out of the coop and go way into the yard. I need to duck my head and sometimes I've had to jump out of the way.  

In this video I thought one of the Americaunas was going to do it.  Then she decided to hop down and walk out. 

In other news, my son's Halloween costume was a hit. Lots of people raved about it during Trick or Treating, and he got lots of extra goodies because of his costume being homemade. 

I've started listening to "Legend" by Marie Wu. It's really helping the commute go by. I'm starting to really appreciate duo voices in novels.  Or however it's called. The audiobook readers do a nice job.

I'm slowly getting back into podcasts.  Seems a fresh crop has popped up in the last year or so. It's kind of nice to see some new faces.  Haven't decided on which might be keepers.  

Back on track

Maybe ...

Yesterday I woke up and decided that I couldn't go to work.  Sick day! I brought my son to latchkey came back home and crawled back into bed.  Then I spent the rest of my time home alone on the couch watching Me-TV.  I felt awful.

This morning I felt marginally better and decided to head into work.  I got caught up on work and did some stuff early.  My coworker was really sweet and picked up a Bolthouse Farms Smoothie drink that has mega Vitamin C in it.  My first time having one of those.  They are *really* good.

Tonite was religious ed night and I used my "free" hour to work on my dishcloth and I listened to episode 3 of Dark Matter Knits. This episode spoke to me.  Her topic was "quiet" and she discussed an audio book she recently listened to. The book was "Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can't Stop Talking."

Turns out I had listened to this author in a video several months back.  Now I realize she was discussing a book and not just giving a presentation.

On the way home I was fighting the wind.  The wind was pretty strong tonite. I made it home in one piece. I've been told that we are to get some more snow tonite (boo!) and tomorrow there will be windchill factors in the -40 degrees F.  There's already chatter about schools closing. So far our schools are still open.

The babies are still growing by leaps and bounds.  A  couple of them have managed to "fly" up to the top of the tote.  Then they look around and don't know what to do because it's so big outside the tote and usually they jump right back in.

I noticed some new vocalizations tonite.  I think it was the black one.  It was kind of a trilling sound.

I just love the way this one looks.  I can't wait til she's bigger and a full mini version of her mama.

This one tried hiding under the black one.  She couldn't get away from me. .

They didn't care for the camera invading their space. The white one was a bit curious.

Daily 5 of things that made me happy today

1. How sweet my coworker was today.  I also had a blast chatting with her.

2. My magnetic board at work is all fixed. Yay!

3. Being able to watch a podcast during my son's rel. ed class.  I'm way behind on all my "shows".

4. The new season of Survivor started tonite.  I won't be able to watch it til tomorrow.  Then my friend and I can chatter away about it.

5. Being able to take a sick day and not worry. I have close to 100 days accrued.  Might as well use them if I need them.

I just realized that today is my blogoversary.  I've had this blog for seven years.  That is amazing to me.  It wasn't until the last couple years that I think I found my voice and direction however.

Well ... until next time :-)

Christmas ornament swap 2011

This year I participated in the ornament swap that my online knitting group does. A couple days ago my package came in the mail.

I love it all. My partner did a wonderful job picking out goodies for me and the ornaments are adorable and sweet.

She picked this one with a 'spinner' in mind. I thought the bell was a very sweet touch.

This is a tatted Christmas ornament. OMGoodness. I am so amazed at this piece. I have no idea how tatting goes. To me this is so elegant and intricate. I tip my hat to those who can do this.

To my swappee L, thank you! I will treasure these ornaments for many years to come.