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| My new sewing box...since I've taken up sewing. |
This past year has been a roller coaster. Russ started a new job in October of last year working 12 hours night shifts for 3-4 days a week. I've finally acclimated to being able to sleep and be home alone without crippling fear...although I still sleep with a loaded rifle and car keys with an alarm next to the bed. The plan is if I'm ever attacked in the night or someone breaks in...the house alarm should go off...I'll grab the car keys and sound my car alarm...grab the gun and try to protect myself in the eventuality they try to come after me...if they leave, well it'll be great for them on multiple counts. 1) They won't see a naked...fluffy woman wielding a gun and squinting to try and aim as to not kill them, only maim them. 2) They won't get shot. 3) They won't accidentally die because my aim sucks and it'll most likely be dark and my night vision leaves much to be desired.
This past week they had a huge shake up at the plant. They laid off/fired over half their work force because they decided to take the plant in a "different" direction. Luckily, Laura and Russ were safe...in fact Russ' entire shift was laid off or transferred departments except Russ. He's still not feeling secure in his job...but he is extremely grateful he still has a job.
For Christmas last year Russ' mom and sister came down for a visit. I can't tell you how excited I was for that. I've been trying for years to get them to come down and visit since the wedding and when they did...boy was it a time. Deb brought her girlfriend and they spent the week antique shopping. Mom and I spent a good amount of time talking and laughing about the girls and Russ well frankly he worked a lot while they were here. But he still got to spend some quality time with mom and his sister.
In January, I went to an event called Newbie Collegium. I'm not sure if many remember or if your new you don't know. Russ and I reenact the middle ages with a group called the SCA. This group is all over the world and have created Kingdom's the people are apart of with Kings and Queens and Princes and Princesses. They have tournaments to determine the next King and Queen. Once you win the crown tournament you become a Prince/Princess until the reign of the King and Queen is over. This is typically a 6 months long processes. Back to the event. I've recently started fencing and at Newbie I was authorized as a fighter...this was extremely exciting for me and also a proud moment as I thought the day would never come. I've since come to find that even though I don't have anyone near me to play with or practice I'm still pretty good. Which makes me even more proud. I can't wait to make some regional fighter practices and a couple of our older fencers who had stopped playing for awhile are since coming back to play. YAY!!!!
This year my friend Kristen participated in the Cystic Fibrosis Walk for the Cure and I tagged along. It was so fun and I finally got to spend some quality time with her new friend Laura. She's quirky, funny, and definitely fun to be around. I've gotten to spend some more time with her over this year and plan her bridal shower which was this past weekend and it was great!!!
This year my hair has gone through a lot of changes too! I was so tired of the mousy dark brown hair that looked black sometimes...so I decided to go blond again as an homage to my youth. People loved it...Russ loved it...and I loved it...for a time anyway. Then my hair started getting super hard to manage and breaking off and I couldn't keep it hydrated enough that it was healthy so I decided fall was around the corner...we're going red!!! Back to my beloved color. We kept a couple of peek a boo blond streaks because I wasn't ready to give it all up. But in the 3-4 weeks my hair has been colored...it has been much healthier...mainly because I'm not bleaching it every month.
In May, my job laid me off. I was a devastating time for me as I loved the crap out of my job. I had decided to not work for the summer and enjoy a break and then try to be a substitute teacher and work on getting my teaching degree. But after a week I was climbing the walls. I couldn't stand not working. I ended up at an interview for a company we used a lot at my old job and they offered me the job on the spot. It was part time...but at least it was work. The funny thing though...is 3 weeks to the day after I was laid off...my old job (well really my immediate boss..the office manager) fought to get me back and they realized they didn't want to get along without me. So I was offered my job back. Not at the same pay, but I had better hours. The hours have since changed, but their not too bad. I get off at 4:30 in the afternoon...I still miss Russ because he leaves at 4:30 to go to work...but I found I really really hated working till 5pm.
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| Russ trying Bliss Cupcakes for the first time. |
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| Hiking at Devil's Den State Park |
My birthday this year was going to suck...Russ had to work that weekend so we really couldn't do anything. He sent me flowers which normally if I don't ask and keep reminding about them I won't get them. But this year I didn't ask or remind and I got the most beautiful bouquet!!! Then my best friend Ashley asked me what I wanted to do. I really hadn't gotten to go swimming all summer and my usual birthday trip to the Mulberry River was cancelled...I'm not going into why. So she planned a small pool party for me. It was beautiful and fun and filled with everything that I loved. Friends, Smirnoff, pools, chicken and vegetables, and strawberry shortcake for dessert. It was just a great day. Then Sunday on my actual birthday my mom turned Family Sunday dinner into a Cassie fest. Some family members were not too happy about that, but she made all my favorites. A pot of beans with bacon, fried cabbage, ham steaks, peach cobbler, and an apple dessert. It really solidified to me that my mom was trying to repair our relationship and we're doing much better on communicating and being with each other than we have in the past. It's not like it used to be...but we're getting there.
This month we took vacation to go see Russ mom up in Michigan. I met my new soon to be niece. Debbie & Laura are adopting a beautiful fuzz ball named KenLee. I may be biased, but just looking at pictures of her smiling face can brighten up an otherwise dull day. (Coincidentally it has also just hastened the inevitable..."my ovaries are hurting, lets hurry up and make a baby already" feeling.) Coming home I told Russ its a $h*t or get off the pot moment. One way or the other we are going to have a family and he just needs to commit to whichever way he wants that to be. So while we were up there we/he spent lots of time with his friends and family and I cooked the whole week we were there. Not complaining...just tiring and shows me I need to practice cooking for 6 without feeding an entire army. I also developed stomach issues while up there. Not going to go into details...but it wasn't fun and caused me to stick around the house a lot hence Russ spending lots of time with friends...without me. We did however manage to make it to a friends church. A baby shower for his friends daughter and a Mexican restaurant while up there. Sadly, no margaritas for me because it was the first day I felt remotely well and I wasn't jeopardizing that for anything. So we drove the 17 hours home and promptly unpacked my car, parked the trailer we hauled home again. Put up a fence around it and went to bed. Woke up bright and early the next day. Ran a couple errands around town, packed up the car again and headed out to camp at an event that was 4 hours away up near Mountain Home, AR. We get everything set up and figure out...oh no...our sleeping bag that we thought would unzip and become two...doesn't! As it was going to be 46 degrees that night I made the executive decision we were driving into the nearest town with a Walmart and buying Russ a sleeping bag. (He was just going to sleep with one...yes...ONE blanket.) That weekend was so fun and just reinforced why I keep fencing and why I keep pushing Russ to stay involved with the SCA. It's not so much he doesn't want to fight or go to events. It's really hard for him to. He'll get off at 5 am on a Saturday after working 12 hours and not really sleep all that well while I'm driving to an event. Then he's up the rest of the day. It's exhausting and gets frustrating sometimes because he can be very crabby. But hopefully, we'll hear about a hope soon and this won't be an issue anymore.
The rest of this year is just going to fly by...we have upcoming test results on a sore on Russ' lip. A wedding for my best friend Kristen and her love John that I am helping to plan and put together. Then a couple days later it's Thanksgiving at my house for the family. I really need to get that planned out pretty quickly because I want to try and make my Granny's Thanksgiving in Clarksville since she eats early...but I also can't have a regular dinner time because my Grandfather is traveling down from Rogers to spend Thanksgiving with us this year. I'm so excited because my Grandpa has never been to my house. This is huge...people don't ever come over to my house...I mean nobody. It's a sore spot with me...but I am working to overcome it. So when people specifically plan to come over I am like a kid in a candy store whose just been told its free and Christmas is coming early this year. Christmas is at my sisters new house and New Years...I just don't even want to think about yet. The new year brings a new series of events for me to fence at and also brings Russ' family coming to visit again around Easter.
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| Kristen and I at her brother Vince's Wedding. |
